Happy St. Patrick's Day & Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

Green has been the theme these last couple of days. Marie has actually been talking about St. Patrick's Day and wearing green for two weeks. Who knew St. Patrick would be so popular with her?

Of course, we got to "paint" shamrock cookies. Marie did very well and stuck with it. I only had to finish a few cookies at the end. And, there were only a couple of times that she got caught dipping her fingers in the icing and having to lick them clean. I'm sure it was inadvertent!




We celebrated Jon's birthday as usual, with his favorite type of food, Mexican. It is really pretty convenient since Mexican places aren't usually too busy on St. Patrick's Day.




All the celebrating along with the weather being so nice (close to 70 deg!) made for a pretty good day!

Weekend Fun

What beautiful weather we had this weekend!! We also enjoyed a couple of visitors. Coryn, another former Newton Eagle, traveled from Los Angeles for the opening of a new exhibit at the Detroit Science Center. It features engineers from various disciplines and displays in the 4D Toyota Engineering Theater how fun their jobs can be. Really...I'm not kidding! Coryn was the prosthetist that worked with an athlete that ran in the 2007 Pan Am Games. Coryn came for the opening of the exhibit, even though she won't be featured until late this year at the earliest. We hope she'll come back for another visit then. Since she was in town, Uncle Matt, also flew over from Peoria.


So, on Saturday we headed down to Detroit to check out the exhibit and the rest of the Science Center. There was a lot of cool stuff there. Marie was excited to crawl through a giant replica of a colon and got a sticker to prove it! They also had a special section for kids under five. Marie enjoyed that...almost as much as riding on the escalator. We could've spent a lot more time there I'm sure.



Since the weather was so nice, we went to the park today. We could've spent a lot more time there as well. Marie got to slide, swing, climb, and run around on all the empty soccer fields. It was good for all of us to get some fresh air. We did run into a rather talkative guy that didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the Illini...but we didn't let that ruin our outing.

I LOVE....blogging.

Marie is into a phase where she "loves" everything. Sure, this is extremely cute when she inserts a family member's name, but we sometimes doubt that she really grasps the concept. Here are a few things she loves....

I love mud puddles.
I love flowers.
I love cheeseburgers. (Okay...not too bad.)
I love Daddy's friends.
I love Matt's friends. (Hmm...)
I love asparagus. (Really??)

We went outside to enjoy the spring-like weather on Monday, all three of us. Marie was busting at the seams, running around everywhere. I think that Joey also enjoyed the fresh air. (Warning...corny joke ahead.) It sure made him bear-y tired.



Last night we were reading books to Marie before bedtime. After her standard two books, she asked if we could read another one. We responded by saying that, no, it was time for bed. She sighed and said, "It's always time for bed."

Counting blessings

As you can see, our camera is feeling much better! We caught a few shots today and wanted to share....

Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes today. I truly appreciate it. It didn't take much reflection to realize just how blessed I am. I have two wonderful kids and an amazing husband. I'm surrounded by incredibly supportive and loving family and friends...some live close geographically and some live close to my heart. We never want for food, clothing, shelter, or any other provision, which is a lot more than many in this world can say. We live in a place where we can openly practice our faith and proclaim the TRUTH. I could go on and on.... So, it is my birthday wish that you find the joy I did by stopping for a moment and counting your blessings, not your years.

And now, a Marie anecdote...

The whole family went out for supper tonight. We just went to a little Chinese place nearby. While we were there, Marie was looking at one of those stand-up advertisements that you sometimes find on tables. There were a couple of beer bottles and a "Budweiser" insignia on it. She thoughtfully told us, "It says....drinkability." Jon and I almost lost it...

Joey's 1st Tournament

Well, Joey got his first volleyball tournament under his belt this weekend. I played in an annual tournament on Saturday that always attracts a large following. There were 21 women's teams, mostly from Michigan, but some from Ohio, Indiana, and Canada. I have to say, I was a bit rusty, but it felt good to get out there again.

Joey, on the other hand, seemed like an old pro. We brought along Mary, a 13-year-old that we know from church. They had a grand time watching everything that was going on, fielding comments about how cute they were, and of course taking naps here and there.

Jon and Marie went to her buddy Max's birthday party, but stopped by the gym for a little while in the afternoon. Marie got a big kick out of running around on the empty courts. Jon was even helping her to work on her hand/arm position while blocking. He would lift her up so that she could reach above the net. You can never start them too early, right?

On a totally unrelated subject, Marie is usually really good about going to bed for us at night. She sometimes makes comments about not wanting to go to sleep, but her arguments are generally short-lived and never intense. For instance, here was a recent exchange.

Dad: Alright Marie, time for bed.
Marie curls up on the couch with her cup of milk and puts her head down.
Marie: I'll sleep on the couch.
Dad: No. You'll sleep in your bed.
Marie: I'll sleep on the couch with my cup and rosary.
Mom and Dad both hesitate...how can you argue with a kid who wants to sleep her rosary??
Ultimately, she still went to sleep without any resistance...in her bed.

In other news, we got a note saying that our camera was ready to be picked up. Hopefully, the quick recall fix did the trick and you'll see some more pictures soon.