Being thankful

As we near our annual March for Babies event I have to pause and look back at the last four years and be very thankful for how healthy my kid is.

An old friend had a preemie last week-at 29 weeks-and it brings up a lot of memories. A couple of weeks ago a girl quit breathing at a swim meet. She passed away this morning. I can't imagine what her parents are going through right now and there are as of yet no answers as to what caused her collapse.

What I do know: every second is precious. Trips to the doctor for no real reason are worth it. My kids give the best hugs in the universe. Expensive vacations are worth every penny. Puke is great-because it means my kid is still breathing.

The great return

It's so nice to be home! Here are some of the highlights from our great vacation...in picture format.

Visiting San Diego

For our spring break we decided to come and have a little fun in the sun. So, we packed our bags and decided to show up on our Mamina's doorstep in sunny San Diego...only it wasn't a very sunny week. We sure have had a whole bunch of fun, however, because Aunt Betsy sent our cousin Kitt to stay with Mamina for the week. We have had a great time and it has been really fun for Brody and Brady to teach Kitt all kinds of new things...some of them are even appropriate for a one-year-old! Jen has been heard running around shouting, "They're not all mine!", however, just so that no one gets the idea that we are trying to overpopulate the planet.

We've been to the zoo, SeaWorld, and Legoland. Today we are going over to the Natural History Museum for some dinosaurs and cadavers. There is just so much to do here! Tonorrow we get to go to Brawley to see Mamina and Papa Nick's new home and then we will have to go back to our own home...

Easter eggs & fish

Last weekend we made our Easter eggs. It was a bit of a mess, but we got through. The boys were very excited to color the eggs and then they put "Kung Fu Panda" & "Mickey Mouse" stickers on the eggs. It was very exciting!

The boys also caught their first fish on April, 7th! They are both very proud to be real "fishermans" like Daddy. The fish was almost bigger than they are.

Brody is signed up for his first year of soccer. He is very excited and we are practicing already!

Brady turns three!

Brady is three today!

We can't believe how quickly our little man is growing up. He is fully potty-trained, he knows all of his letters and their sounds, he loves being outside...and he loves his dinosaurs. He also loves to wrestle with his Dad and brother. They also love their rock and roll. I just hope I can keep them out of mosh pits until they hit their teens years...

The birthday boy had a hard time getting up today, but with a little encouragement in the form of a song, he finally got with the program.

Brady had a full day of school and then came home. He got to pick out dinner for the family (spaghetti & meatballs), and even open a few presents. His favorite toys so far is either his new baby T. Rex (Brady junior) or his new drum set...and his new tool set.

Superbowl with style

Not only did we get to celebrate the big win for the Steelers (Grandpa Tim's team) last Sunday, but we also got to meet Uncle Steve and Aunt Susan. Tim's Uncle and his beautiful spouse were just passing through while visiting Reno on a second honeymoon. Needless to say, we had a great visit!

We also used the afternoon to celebrate the completion of Tim's MS in Criminal Justice. It was a lot of fun.

The final thing to celebrate last weekend was the end of the tiling project in the hallway. We have all had a cold, so we didn't quite get the baseboard done, but we're getting ready. We're going to start the tile in our bathroom this week.

An Evening at the Theatre

Last night we went to see, "Thomas & Friends-The Circus Comes to town". It was great. We had a very busy day and so the end was a little rough. However, we went with our friends Kyle and Alex. It was so great to see them! The boys were so excited to see each other and they gave hugs all night. The show was great and required quite a bit of audience participation and that helped to burn up the energy of excitement that might have gotten us into trouble otherwise.

Our other big news of the week is that Brady is now potty-trained. We are officially a "no-diaper zone", at least for a little while.

We are also in the process of tiling the hallway and some additional rooms eventually. Tim worked all last weekend on tiling. He should be able to finish this Wednesday when the kids are school. Jen managed to finish a T-shirt quilt that was nothing but T-shirts from when she was a little girl. It includes the "Big sisiter" tee shirt that she received when her sister was brought home from the hospital (28 years ago...) and a shirt that Aunt Cindy gave Jen for her birthday not long after...needless to say it's full of classics!