vacation

The first weekend in May, Curt had a computer geek conference to attend in St. Paul, MN. He was going to be gone for 4 days and the business was paying for a room and none of his partners were going with, so the girls and I decided to go along. I knew we were not going to be able to see Curt much or spend much time with him, but we would be able to do some fun stuff and it would be better than staying home by myself with the Hoodlums (as I like to call them). It worked out that My Mandy was able to come with also and spend part of the weekend with us and part of the weekend with her husband's brother and his family. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza (way out of our league) which is happily situated on the Mississippi River and very near many great sites. We were within walking distance of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the Minnesota Science Museum and only a short drive from Grand Avenue (shopping!) and Como Zoo. Our 4 days were quite full and fun. If you ask the girls, the best part was the hotel pool and watching Chronicles of Narnia in bed on hotel cable. If you ask Mandy and I, the worst part was no TLC, HGTV or Bravo on the hotel cable! When Mandy posts pictures, I will link to her Flickr, because she was the main photographer of the weekend, but here are a few of my shots.

Face painting the Children's Museum. Notice my really cool bag in the mirror reflection. I will post about that later today or tomorrow.
My little scientist. Her only hope for the Science Museum was that she would be able to wear a lab coat and goggles like a real scientist. Wish granted. We got to scrape cheek cells and look at them under a microscope.

Como Park Zoo/Amusement ParkOur Hotel from across the river (the dark grey building). We had an amazing view of St. Paul and the river from our 12th floor window.

Ahhh, Spring!

I thought I would appease Sarah and post some "Spring" Loveliness. Now, you all need to realize that Lovely is a very relative term and that in my world sarcasm IS lovely, so take it as you will. Maybe I should call this post "Shades of Loveliness."

We did our Easter celebration with my parents and sister and brother-in-law a week early as Mandy and Peter were suppossed to be gone on Easter. We were able to have the Egg Hunt outside even though snow pants and mittens and boots were required. It was a balmy almost 40 degrees.
I found a Star Wars Easter Egg kit. What better way to celebrate Jesus?
On Easter morning, as we were all scrambling to get ready (OK, I was scrambling to get ready), I asked Curt to take some pictures of the girls in their easter dresses. This is one of 5 pictures that all looked goofy. Ummm, thanks...
Mommy, then took over the camera.

I made my mommy, Curt's mommy and Mandy tote bags for Easter this year. This is Curt's mom's bag. The girls did drawings and chose fabric and I appliqued the pictures on the linen bag. This is a bird house and bird sitting on an egg on a nest.
A Spring Sunrise on my street. Taken this morning. With 3+ inches of fresh snow!
Happy Spring!
When I went grocery shopping on Monday night, there was a cart full of sad looking Easter Lilies marked down to $1.99 each. I HAD to rescue one. It is looking much better now and even gave me 3 blooms so far. It smells so good. My husband didn't even laugh at me for having to "rescue" a plant, but my mom did.

Lisa, could you please to send Spring here as you all seem to have moved on directly to Summer?

Good Bye February...

When the sprouts first came up they were kind of purple. I was a little concerned as I really wanted some green, but they are greening up nicely now.
This is today. The grass is getting quite tall and the girls were quite concerned as to how we would trim it without a lawn mower that small. I assured them that it would be ok for us to trim the grass with scissors.

I will not miss this month when it is gone. I will gladly welcome March tomorrow morning with a smile. There is even RAIN in the forecast for Sunday, and here I thought that precipitation only came in the form of snow or ice pellets. I know spring will come, the wait is just so hard sometimes. Our pretty green grass on the window ledges really does cheer things up. We are working on some spring crafts also. The absence this week was due to the preparations for the home visit with our Adoption Social Worker that took place on Wednesday. One more big hurdle conquered (and a very clean and organized house to boot). We should have our Home Study approved by the end of next week. Next step is sending paperwork to the USCIS for their approval, then another chunk of paperwork to gather and then it all goes to Ethiopia. We are making progress and that feels good.

Keeping me Sane

Lovely things keeping me sane in the process of moving...
1. PRAYER... Lots of it!
2. SPRING... 2 times we have moved in the winter, I much prefer this. I have windows open and sun and warm and things sprouting (although I am quite sad to leave my gardens... good thing the house we are buying is only 6 blocks from where we currently live and I will be able to come back and split some of my plants).
3. Supportive friends and family. Thank you all for your help and hugs and encouragement.
4. As usual, my funny children. I paused in packing to look out the window and see this...


I am not sure what the arm floaties are protecting them from, but at least they are safe and brought a smile to this mom's face. :)

Spring fever

My husband surprised me with these yesterday. They are from Daffodil Days. Pretty flowers and a good cause and a little breath of spring.