Spring...

It is three weeks past Easter Sunday, but as Marie noted this morning, the priests are still wearing white. So, I don't feel as bad about just now getting around to posting some pictures of our Easter fun. Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart and Uncle Matt all came to Michigan for the long weekend. The kids, especially Marie, had a blast with the usual Easter activities, coloring eggs, hunting for eggs, and making other fun Easter items (resurrection rolls). Joey even got in on the fun this year. He was especially tickled when he discovered that some of the plastic eggs had M&M's in them!






Uncle Mark and Aunt Sarah were also in Michigan, so we had most of the Meinhart family together. The guys were able to make some progress on the installation of a new basketball hoop. The previous pole broke at the base this past winter during some heavy winds. The decision was to relocate and start from scratch, which meant digging, mixing cement, and placing the new pole base. Other than getting rained on, it was a success.


A little over a week ago, Jon made an exciting purchase. His Blazer has been close to being on its last leg for quite some time and so Jon has occasionally been looking around at what type of car he might get to replace it. He ran across a VERY well kept car with relatively low mileage, given that it is a 2000 model year. It is red, which wasn't his first choice, but he just couldn't pass up the chance to be the proud owner of a Camaro.

Speaking of things that are red, now that it is April, baseball season is in full swing. We've actually been able to catch the Cardinals on ESPN a couple of times. Quite frankly, this makes us all happy. "Baseball" is one of Joey's favorite words and he can almost say "Albert." (We are still working on words such as "Daddy" and "Please.") Marie is starting to catch on to the whole concept of outs and scoring runs. It definitely gives us a reason to break out the Cardinal shirts that were in our Easter baskets. Thanks, Easter Bunny!



This past week, we had a nice visit from Aunt Jess. It was a fairly busy week, but she was such a good sport. It was great having her here for a few days, especially since we don't get to see her all that often. Marie absolutely loved it and is wanting to know when Aunt Jess can come back again. I don't blame her. Jess probably read at least 10 books a day and also took Marie to the library for story time and to Dairy Queen for lunch and ice cream. Talk about an awesome Godmother!

Marie and Aunt Jess came home from story time with a little tree, so we were able to plant that on Friday. We also got around to planting some seeds for early garden starts. The kids try to convince us to go outside pretty much anytime it's not raining, and sometimes when it is. We've learned not to go close to the outside door or mention "shoes" or Joey will want to go out. It is often a struggle to get them to come back in, especially for nap time. Marie asked today if she could go swimming. We are definitely looking forward to summer!




In other news, Jon has finished his course for this semester and is very relieved. No more studying and doing homework into the wee hours of the morning. However, I have been really busy at work lately and have had to put in some extra time. The director of my group resigned to start her own company and there is another engineer in the group that is set to go on maternity leave in a couple of weeks. My workload immediately went up, but I'm planning to do whatever is in my power to make that temporary.