It's finally finished! Our new swingset is now in full use. We said goodbye to our old tippy swingset (it found a new home on flat ground at Grandma and Grandpa's house). The kids are LOVING the new swing set - they enjoy having lunch in the "fort" and creating all kinds of imaginative games on and around it. We are looking forward to lots of warm days like today.

As our trip gets ever closer we are trying to plan what to take, who gets to take care of the kids etc. Jake had a bit of a scare last week - his regular rejection tests for his heart came back elevated so he had to go into the hospital for some heavy doses of anti-rejection medication. After another biopsy things seem to have gone back to normal for him. Here's hoping that the tests continue looking good.

Lance and I got to go on a date on Friday! Wahoo! It was fun - we purchased a nice suitcase for the trip, ate dinner (being able to speak in complete sentences with out being interupted!) and saw the movie "Leatherheads" with George Clooney! It was a fun night. We both recommend the movie as a funny, well-written show. You don't have to love football to enjoy it.
Grandma Jeppson is getting pretty close to having her basement bathroom finished and its looking great. If she can just get the repair man to come back and put it all back together she will be set.

Question - is it normal for a 4 year old to know how to flirt? One of JJ's friends, who is 8, came over for a bit today. I was flabbergasted when Hannah put on her "damsel in distress" routine for him. Of course he is too nice to say no when Hannah asks him to do stuff for her that she is perfectly able to do herself! And so it begins . . .

Asher is "digging" playing outside!

Kids say the darndest things ...

After going to the grocery store, and then stopping for chinese take-out on Saturday, I was bringing in dinner and then a few groceries. Hannah, in here typical fashion, sees me with the white cartons, and asks, "Daddy .. is it Chinese Milk?"

1st Day of Spring Break and Field Trip

Friday was JJ's field trip to Farm Country. Hannah and I were able to go with him on the bus. Asher stayed home with Grandma and Grandpa. It was pretty cold and really windy but the kids still had a great time - I was in charge of six boys (including JJ) and Hannah. Hannah really wanted to be with the girls that she knew in JJ's class but I made her stay with me this time. I just about lost my voice trying to keep the boys in a group so I wouldn't loose one. They were a rowdy bunch but they are all such cute kids I just couldn't get mad at them! We all got done with the different activities pretty quickly because of the cold wind and then had to wait for the bus to come back and get us. It was fun to see the baby goats and ducks. JJ even found a peacock feather! (yet another thing to clutter up my house!)

Today was the first day of Spring Break. We spent part of the day with Grandma J. at the Gardens. We have never been there before so I am sure we didn't see much more than a quarter of what there is to see. It is the Tulip Festival right now but very few of the tulips are blooming. We will go back in a couple of week and hopefully there will be lots more to see. The kids really loved the Children's Garden and the waterfalls. Asher loved everything but especially the bear sculptures and the waterfalls. I am realizing that I really should teach Asher some sign language because that is primarily how he communicates right now. He created his own sign for the waterfall - he rolls his hands like he's doing the wheels on the bus song. Everytime we saw another waterfall he would roll his hands. We had to keep a sharp eye on him cause he would just take off running - luckily JJ is a pretty fast runner and very willing to help out with Asher. I can see that we are going to spend lots of time exploring the Gardens this summer! We were all tired and wind-blown but happy when we got home.

Passports!

Yay! Our passports came today - it was even a couple days earlier than we expected. We have heard of so many people having a hard time getting thier passports in time but our experiance was smooth as silk! Lance says that just like everything in our life together - if it worked out easily then it was supposed to happen. In other news Hannah and I got our hair cut yesterday. Hannah really loves going to the salon with me even though she has to wait quite a while when I get my hair highlighted. JJ took a picture of us today.

I've been staying busy with PTA meetings and all the boring little things that keep our family going. But I have done some digi scrapbooking lately -- still working on 2003 as well as the occasional recent photos as well. Check out my layout slide show! You may notice our new blog header - I created it using elements from Little Dreamer Designs - I love thier stuff check them out at: http://www.littledreamerdesigns.com/.

It is a conspiracy!

I can’t think of the last time the kids have let us sleep through the night. They take turns, making sure somebody is awake to disturb Mom and Dad. Hannah tends towards the late evening/very early morning hours (11:30 pm to 3 am), while Asher favors the early morning (1-4 am), but today decided to not sleep from 2:30 on (don’t know if the time stamp will reflect that is it now 5:20am, and he is back in bed for the moment). JJ, of course, is our early riser. And while he can take care of himself pretty much, he also thinks he can take care of the others. He has started getting Asher out of his crib in the morning, which would be okay except then he gets bored watching him and goes back to watching TV. Asher doesn’t watch TV, but finds something else to do. A couple of mornings ago that was smear Sara’s mascara all over the floor.

I thought the sleep deprivation was supposed to end when they slept through the night – at least until they became teenagers and other worries kept parents awake.