Feels Like Summer!

Greetings from sunny (...finally), warm (...finally) Ohio! Today the temperatures are going to get into the 80's! There is a pretty good breeze blowing, so it doesn't feel that warm to me -- but it's a DEFINITE improvement from the 50's we were having a week ago. I'll take it!

Life in our neck of the woods continues to be very good. We celebrated my birthday last weekend. Saturday, we had the luxury of a day with absolutely no commitments -- and beautiful weather outside, so we took advantage of it and spent as much time outdoors as we possibly could. Sunday was rainy, but it was a perfect day to relax after working all day on Saturday. Overall, it was an excellent weekend. Kevin and the girls made me dinner and cake on Sunday. It was a fabulous birthday.

This week has been good. Tonight I'm going on an overnight trip with Erin and a group of kids from church. We should be home before dinner time on Saturday. I attended the same program with Erin last year, and we had a ball. I'm looking forward to it.

We have a weekend of beautiful weather ahead (sunny and 80's), so I'm looking forward to spending Sunday around the house working outside.

Jessica took her certification test last Friday. She was a nervous wreck going in to the test, but afterward she said she felt really good about it. It's crazy -- because all of her studies culminate with this one test! It doesn't matter if you're a straight-A student all through college - - if you can't pass this test, you're boat is sunk! Kids that are poor testers probably have a nervous break-down before taking the test. Anyway, Jess should get the results in a couple of weeks. She has about three more weeks of school left, but she said everything they have done to-date has been in preparation for this test, so now she is just coasting until graduation. We will be heading to Wilmington the weekend of May 9th for a reception with the college president on Saturday, and graduation on Sunday. That will be especially cool, since Erin was undergoing her bone marrow transplant 4 years ago when Jess graduated from High School. I stayed in Minneapolis with Erin, and Kevin and Katie flew home to attend graduation. I really hated missing that, so I am really looking forward to attending her college graduation (... and it goes without saying that Erin is excited to be going, too!).

Jessica also had an interview with Cincinnati Children's Hospital this past week. She interviewed with the HR department, and they took her immediately to meet with the team in Orthopedics while she was there. Typically, HR screens applicants and if you make the first cut, they schedule you to come back later for a second interview with the doctors/team members. Jessica's qualifications were great for the job she was interviewing for, and apparently they wanted to move her through the process faster. She said she thought it went very well. Now, we're all on pins and needles waiting for "the call." They offer tuition reimbursement for grad school, so not only would she be getting her foot in the door in a very desirable hospital -- but she'd also be free to pursue her PHd at the hospital's expense. Sounds like a win/win to me! She will be an asset wherever she ends up working. She's such a neat kid!

Katie has an overnight campout thing downtown tomorrow. The kids are "marching" through downtown and ultimately camping out in a park to draw attention to the plight of the "invisible children." (You can check out their website at www.invisiblechildren.com) It's a crisis of international proportion -- but nobody is doing anything to help. Our youth pastor recently asked the teens to commit to helping draw attention to this situation as a mission-type project, and Katie was happy to do it. The weather should be very nice for this event. (I'd be curious to see how strong her conviction was if the weather was going to be cold and rainy during the march and camp-out! He he he) Anyway, I'm pleased to see her getting involved. We fully support them. It's a reminder that this world is full of such horrors, and we are very blessed to live in the country we live in.

So that's the latest form our neck of the woods. Our neighbors new house is really coming along! They started putting the "log" portion of the home up yesterday. I'd love to be home to see that come together. It's really going to be a charming house when it's done, and it will be so nice having another neighbor back there with us.

Have a great weekend!

Here Comes Peter Cottontail...

Greetings! The weather is improving, and Easter is nearly here! Woo Hoo! We have decided to host the family at our house this year, and I've spent the last week working feverishly (... well, that may be a bit of an exaggeration...) getting ready. I've got Easter outfits bought (nearly), Easter baskets goodies purchased (we're making baskets for each family that is attending the celebration at our house), and we're heading out tonight to pick up the food we will need for dinner on Sunday. I bought Erin a cute Easter outfit earlier this week, and, to my great surprise -- she doesn't like it (sigh). Actually, that's not entirely true. She liked the capris, but didn't like the shirt. Sooo, in addition to dashing all over town tonight to get the groceries we need, I will also be taking Erin to the mall to exchange the shirt. My hope is that we can wrap everything up tonight and have the entire day tomorrow to simply get ready. I have never had much luck that way. We have stopped hosting these types of things because I end up so stressed out that it just isn't much fun for anyone in my family - - and honestly, what's the point of doing it if you make your entire family miserable in the process? I want everything to be nice -- and I want the house to be spotless, and the food to be perfect, and the dogs to be well-behaved. And the reality is -- that's just not very realistic. The house always looks fine, and the food is usually very good (thanks, in no small part, to Kevin's cooking skills!!) -- but I'm exhausted and totally stressed out by the time our guests arrive. But ... not this time!! Mark my words! I'm going to dedicate tomorrow to all things "cleaning" and I'm also going to try to do all the food prep that I can ahead of time. That way, when our guests arrive, I can relax and enjoy the visit! Wish me luck!

Our week has truthfully been pretty busy. We've had a whole slew of birthdays this week, and many more to come in the next couple of weeks. My mom's birthday was yesterday, but I couldn't even stop by and wish her a happy birthday because I had to pick the kids up from school on my lunch hour, and we had commitments yesterday evening! I was considering celebrating mom's birthday when the family gets together on Sunday ... until I realized that my mother-in-law will be there, and we didn't do anything to acknowledge her birthday. I feel pretty bad about that, but I wasn't in a very good place with her back in January, so it just slipped by without us commemorating the day. (I can type that here because nobody in the family even knows this blog exists! How cool is that?!) Anyway, it would be somewhat crass to do some big birthday "thing" for mom on Sunday. I'm sure it would feel like we were rubbing my mother-in-law's face in it, and that is not something I care to do. Sooo, in addition to grocery shopping, shirt exchanging, dinner, etc., I will need to find a few minutes to stop by mom and dad's between now and Sunday so I can give her a gift and card. Life is just soooo complicated anymore.

Our neighbor's building project is continuing. I keep awaiting a structure to emerge from the concrete hole in the ground over there, but so far ... nothing. Big trucks keep showing up, but from the view in our kitchen -- no progress is evident. Kevin said they poured the garage floor yesterday. Whoop-de-doo. I want to see some WALLS over there, baby! We have a wonderful vantage point to view the whole project from our breakfast area. It's actually quite exciting watching it all come together. The house should be really nice. So far, we've snooped around a little bit in the evenings (when the weather has been decent), and it looks like they are going to have TWO walk-outs from their basement! TWO! Yikes! I hope their house doesn't make us look like trailer-trash! (Ha!) Just kidding. That was a tasteless comment, I know. Sorry. Anyway, I'm surprised by how much I'm enjoying just being a spectator on this project. It has brought back a bunch of memories from when we built our house.

The weekend is shaping up to be a pretty nice one from a weather perspective, and I am thrilled about that! Sunday should be wonderful. We're going to put the cushions out on our porch furniture, set up the new umbrella, and enjoy it with our guests! Take care - - and Happy Easter!!

All Grown Up!

I may be a little bit partial -- but I think my daughters are absolutely beautiful girls! (Jess may take offense that I refer to her as a "girl" - - particularly since she's about to graduate from college and embark on grad school - - but alas, she will always be our "girl." The weekend is nearly here, and I'm more than ready for it. The weather is typical Ohio weather for this time of year. If it's warm, it's probably raining; if it's Opening Day for the Cincinnati Reds, it's probably snowing. We've had some nasty rain for the last couple of days -- but the weekend is shaping up to be pretty nice. Monday is Opening Day, and as I mentioned above, there is a chance for snow on Monday! I have to admit - - snow in the forecast in April just makes me cranky. We have daffodills everywhere. The idea of snow right now just seems very, very wrong!

Have a great weekend friends! Until next time...