Easter

eaw's easter eggs were full of dinosaurs and animals from the African plains - he is very proud of his growing collection, and asked often about whether his uncle ghd and aunt khd had seen some of the animals during their recent trip to Africa that are now in his possession.

There are four boys between the ages of 1-4 on our block. The combined family easter egg hunt was a blast (and was brief:) - it's amazing how quickly four boys can find 50 eggs.

The egg hunt was a success, although eaw was still a little unsure about the bunny - worried that he/she might jump out of the bushes at any given moment. He was hunting for the bunny as much as he was hunting for the eggs. Gotta love that honest skepticism.

Visitors!

eaw and cousin c!

We had an eventful weekend visit from New Jersey aunts, uncle, and cousin! By the end of the weekend, our car was totaled (not our fault), eaw had choked at a restaurant (mom administered the heimlich), and mdw decided the PhD program was not a good choice. Disorienting to say the least, but that's what family is for, right - to get you through the hard stuff. We'd love more visits from family, and we promise to tone down the drama (or as our old roommate jmpII used to say, the conflama - confusion and drama).


Here's some pics of the brighter moments from the visit:

S.A.D.

...as in, Seasonal Affective Disorder. I tell you what, there is nothing like a gray cold Ohio winter to take the spring out of your step. Sorry (to our one reader:) for the long absence from the blog - we were hibernating, at least emotionally/spiritually. Winter was long! A friend of mine who is originally from Paraguay, tracked the days that the sun came out from January 2 to March 1 - seven days total - and that's not the sun out all day, but out at all. Whoa - we're glad we made it through another winter. Here's one outdoor, and one indoor shot of my sunshine - who, thankfully, makes an appearance everyday with a smile that melts my heart:

Christmas in Utah - a pictorial

Thanks ama and apa for your generosity and hospitality over the holidays. Many fond memories. Enjoy some visual highlights:

Happy Birthday EAW

We are so happy to celebrate your beautiful life. We are excited for the adventures this year will bring and, like your train, you are going places in colorful style. We love you little man. Thanks to family and friends who helped us celebrate eaw's third birthday. Not sure how to outdo that cake, but I've got a year to think about it.

Pre-Christmas in Columbus

Not too sure about Santa's lap, but enjoyed a great holiday party at our friend Carter's house. Santa showed up with gifts, calling up each child by name. Pretty cool stuff, that...

We enjoyed a overnight adventure with our friend Hathaway at Coco Keys indoor water resort. The kids had more fun in the hotel room bathtub than the actual water park, but give them a few years, I'm sure we'll be making a return visit.

Much holiday decorating and merriment this month - see the fruits of our labor below:

27 days until Christmas

So we’ve started some holiday adventures. We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving Day weekend – very quiet and simple – a much needed theme for our family right now. We missed our New Jersey, Utah, and Washington peeps very much, but enjoyed spending time with new friends and neighbors.

We shared our meal with a new faculty member in the dance department and her husband (who is from Burkina Faso in West Africa) and their adorable 15 month old daughter. eaw didn’t eat much, but he discovered fudge (he’s gonna love Aunt Carolyn this year). The following morning brought the first (very light) snowfall of the year so eaw and I set up a few holiday villages, decorations and stockings to get the holiday season started. On Saturday evening, we took Hathaway and eaw to the zoo to see the lights and even take a gander at Santa Claus himself. There were real live reindeer – and eaw got to touch an antler. Later Hathaway’s mom joined us at home and we were greatly entertained by the antics of two adorable friends.

A side note – eaw is wearing big boy pants and has stayed dry/clean for three days in a row! Granted he chose to celebrate by wearing his big boy pants on his head, but still – we are very proud of him.

Oh, and besides the quiet weekend, we painted our bedroom – “Lunar Eclipse” and mtw updated the electrical in the basement, filled in a cement floor, and made short work of cleaning the house. It’s coming along, for any potential visitors!