A March Madness Evening

Every year, Nate jokes that it is in our marriage contract for him to have sole rights to the tv when March Madness is on. He LOVES college basketball and follows it relentlessly each year--too bad his Indiana Hoosiers aren't doing so well:)

Nate now has a new recruit--Jenna. She loves it just as much as he does. She asks to watch the games, wants to know the scores, and gets excited when "their" team wins. Nate quizzes her on team names and scores (working on her math skills all at the same time), and they have a great time together. I'm just glad he has someone to watch the games with!

Abby . . . well, she's not too interested, but couldn't pass up an opportunity to snuggle with Daddy:)

A Very Happy 4th Birthday

This past weekend was Abby's fourth birthday and we celebrated in style at Chuck E Cheese. Actually, I'm not sure "style" is the right word for Chuck E Cheese, but the kids loved it! Since we are living in an apartment right now, we had small birthday parties at Chuck E Cheese, and even though the craziness of it all is enough to drive any adult insane, it was nice not to have all the craziness of a birthday party in my house. Here are a few pictures of Abby's birthday weekend, which we were able to celebrate with my parents! Living 3 1/2 hours away is so nice!

This is Abby at 4 months, and when I think back to that time, I remember how her little personality was developing. Four years later, I would have never guessed that she would be the adventure that she is! Busy, creative, loves to learn, polite, and a riot most days are words to describe Abby. She is now in preschool and loving it. She wants to go everyday, but she's stuck home with me most days:) Happy birthday Abby!

Celebrating at Chuck E Cheese!

Getting ready to blow out the candles!

I am not a master at cakes, but I made this for Abby. She saw it in a picture and wanted it for her birthday. So I did my best! After all the cake was served, Abby snuck over to the cake and started scraping the icing off, one finger lick at a time. Why am I not surprised? At least the cake had already been served!

Nate was very proud of Jenna. She played the little kids

version of basketball and did pretty well:)

Abby got to celebrate her birthday at preschool on Tuesday and came home with a sticker and a happy birthday hat. When I asked her to let me take her picture, this is what she did.

And then I finally got a smile, and a silly pose to go with it!

Happy 4th Birthday Abby!

A New York Winter

So today was almost 60 degrees here and so much of the snow that you see in the next few pictures is melted and we are left with a muddy mess. But . . . it has been so good to have the sun out all week and to see the snow going away. I actually really like the snow, especially the kind you see below, but even more, I love the first sightings of Spring. Spring is so much sweeter here because we haven't had warm temperatures in so long.

Today, my kids played in the mud, rode their bikes, and splashed in the big puddles around our apartment. But a few weeks ago, our surroundings looked like this . . . .

As much as I am loving the warm weather, I am not ready to declare Spring as being officially here yet. I know enough about this part of the country to know that we are probably in for at least one more snow in the next month. But if we're lucky, our front yard won't look like this for a long time!