A Long Blah

It's funny with all the flurry of good things I've been involved with recently that I've put off blogging this long. We've had a pretty mild winter, but the tail end of it just DRAGGED. And I think I've been feeling a bit blah because of it. We got snow, snow and more snow. Not many school days off (maybe one? I can't even remember now), but it took a long time for it all to completely melt. Now, at the very end of March, we're finally seeing the first tiny buds of Spring popping out- not a moment too soon in my mind!

Disney on Ice with the girls. After a fiasco with a dead car battery and no cash for parking, we finally made it! 

Lydia was NOT happy about the shortened church schedule we had because of the snow.
She loves going to nursery, and thrives on routine. 

At the Blue and Gold Banquet. Since we only had three boys, we joined up with another group for this. 

Peter and I went to his friend's birthday party at a huge arcade/indoor amusement park. It was crazy.

I can't really account for most of February. The plumbing thing was the biggest issue, and we finally decided it wasn't worth the hassle of going through the home owners insurance to get the pipes fixed (they would have maybe done a band-aid job if we'd pushed), so we had someone come and replace the whole stack from the second floor bathroom all the way down to the basement concrete. Peace of mind, I tell you! We will replace the rest of the cast iron pipes in one more phase, and then plumbing should be a worry of the past here! The plumbing was our only main concern moving in, so it will be nice to have it out of the way. We're still living in the middle of a lot of drywall dust, but I've been getting motivated to make the affected areas OURS, which is a good thing.

The boys finished up a mini karate program after school. They both earned their white belt.

I FINALLY got around to finding us all a new doctor near our house.
And Nora was less than thrilled when she learned she had a few shots to catch up on.

For scouts one week, we made periscopes with the boys. They were a hit! 

March was a big month for family. I got to fly out on my own to my brother's wedding. It was so nice being free of any responsibilities for a weekend and see ALL of my siblings again. It's been years since we've all been together, and it was the very first time all of us got to be in the temple. I could not have been happier about the circumstances for meeting either. My brother Nathan deserves every happiness in the world, and is now getting that in his beautiful bride Jasmine! I can tell they are going to be a pretty fantastic couple.

Then just a week later, we had my parents come here to visit. They came on my Dad's birthday, and stayed until the following week. It was a wonderful week filled with trips to the library, the art museum, and the botanical gardens. The kids had plenty of story time and one on one time with them, and things GOT DONE, I tell you! So many of the little things I've been meaning to get to magically got done, and the drywall in the bathrooms made a lot of progress. My Dad got a swing put up  for the kids, which they were thrilled about! The funniest moment was when the piano got tuned (my Mom has offered to do this for years, and finally talked me into it), and the guy pulled out this giant piece of string-isolating felt that the last piano tuner had left in there (along with some piano tuner's business card, dated 2001)?! Yep, it plays a lot better now. Thanks, Mom! It was just good to have them here, getting to know our kids in their natural environment, and our kids getting to know their Grandma and Grandpa better.

Sorry about the long catch up post. The poor neglected blog can only get better from here, right?! ;)