Loving Spring

As with everyone else in Michigan, we sure have been enjoying Spring. Well, at least when the weather is spring-like. It has been an interesting mix of nice days with pretty frequent overcast, rainy, cool days. Oh and there were those couple of days straight out of August...hot, humid, and sticky. While it has required creative clothes organization (shorts or pants...that is the question) we have been getting outside as much as possible.

Marie and Joey helped to plant some seeds in the basement quite some time ago. We ended up with more dirt in the containers than on the floor, so that was positive! About half of their seedlings have since been transferred into the garden...during one of those hot spells. So far we've planted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, squash, peas, broccoli, cucumbers, lettuce, spinach, and basil. Even though it has been somewhat cool, it appears that everything is at least still living.


All of the attention being paid to the asparagus seems to be paying off. We have noticed most of the crowns sprouting. Yay!


Marie and Joey have enjoyed running around, up and down our hill, playing baseball, and using the Frisbees that were in their Easter baskets. Other than that, we still go on frequent bike rides and walks along the path near our house. One day, we even found two morel mushrooms! I was quite astonished to see them growing there just a couple of feet from the path. I nosed around just a little bit, but didn't see immediately see any. We'll have to keep an eye on that spot in future years. :)




On the Stevie front, things are going as well as can be expected with an 11 week old. He is much more interactive than Joey and Marie were at his age. He smiles, laughs, and talks with us on a regular basis. Saying that he is not a great sleeper would be an understatement. But, we are slowly learning his preferences (he is pretty quick to tell us when he doesn't like something). His two month check-up came and went...nothing unusual. He was almost exactly the same weight as Joey was at two months, 14 1/2 pounds. He was 24" long, 1 3/4" shorter than Joey. I told Jon that maybe he would be our running back.


As for Jon and I, there's not much new going on. Jon has been spending chunks of time trying to stay ahead of the lawn. Or more accurately, trying to stay ahead of the dandelions in our yard. I think he enjoys being outside, even if that isn't his most favorite task. I am gearing up to return to work at a slightly lower part-time level than before. I'm guessing I'll ramp up to my usual 20 hours per week sometime this summer. I've been into the office a couple of times to check in and I've already got a few items on my list, including helping with a pretty large report that is due the week after I officially return. I guess it's nice to be needed.

So, that's what's been going on with us. We have started to make some plans for long weekend summer trips to see family. We've got three (at least) scheduled for June and July. Hopefully the drives will go as smoothly with 3 kids as they have in the past. Stay tuned...

A Day Out with Thomas

A couple weeks ago, we took the kids to Greenfield Village because none other than Thomas the Tank Engine was going to be there! They had seen a flier at the library a few weeks earlier and were immediately excited about the prospect of getting to see Thomas. We decided to go for it...attempting to incorporate it into our plan of doing "special" things to celebrate the Easter season. As it turns out, Marie and Joey didn't really care why they were going to get to see Thomas as long as they were going to get to see him. I guess that's to be expected.

We set out from home around 10:00 in the morning, which meant that by the time we got to the Village, we had a little over an hour to check things out before getting lunch. First stop, finding Thomas. We watched as he pulled into the station, the passengers were loaded, and then he chuffed away. They were clearly impressed.


We then proceeded to one of the activity tents where Joey was right at home playing with trains. There is just something better about playing with someone else's trains and tracks. He would've stayed there all day had we let him. Marie played for a while, but then enjoyed doing some coloring and activity sheets.





We headed to find lunch. The food was good, but we admittedly spent way too much on the hot dog and macaroni and cheese. It must have been memorable though because that was toward the top of the list of the things Marie and Joey recalled.


After lunch, it was finally our turn to go for a ride on Thomas. We got our tickets ready, waited in line, and boarded the train! The kids were in heaven! Well, Stevie perhaps wasn't overly impressed, but I'm sure he was glad to be there.




After our train ride, Marie was pumped to ride the 1913 carousel. Unfortunately, we didn't time it very well and we had to wait in line for quite a while. They were both definitely tentative when they climbed on, but they relaxed soon enough. Eventually, they got a big kick out of finding Jon as we spun around and waving at him. The carousel was another of the high points of the day.



We spent a little more time in the activity tent...playing with trains and listening to stories. We were all getting tired, so we decided to wave farewell to Thomas before heading home. It was a tiring day for everyone, but given the opportunity I think we would do it again. If you were to ask Marie or Joey, they would be sure of it.

Easter 2011

Since I'm just now getting around to posting about Easter (almost a month later!), I guess we've been busy...though I'm not sure what we've been busy doing. Maybe I'll have it figured out by the time I'm caught up!

So we stayed in Michigan for Easter again this year. We were joined for the weekend by Grandma and Grandpa Meinhart and Uncle Matt. Between the Easter Triduum services and other necessary Easter traditions, we kept ourselves hopping.

Marie and Joey enjoyed painting Easter sugar cookies. (Thankfully, we didn't have to bake them...they had been in the freezer since St. Patrick's Day when we used the extra dough to make eggs, chicks, and bunnies.) Evidently, in addition to aprons, the necessary attire for decorating eggs includes sunglasses atop the head.



On Holy Saturday morning, we went to a nearby parish to participate in their annual Easter egg hunt. It was not like the Easter egg hunts I recall. There where WAY more eggs than kids. I remember being lucky to get 2 or 3 in the mad dash. Had they been so motivated, Marie and Joey probably could've gathered as many eggs as there bags could hold. Thankfully, they were not so motivated since we're still working on finishing Easter candy.

At one point, Joey must have looked lost or something. Another generous little girl "helped" him by putting an egg in his bag. Being the particular one, Joey promptly removed the egg and threw it, breaking it open. It was either this event or being scared of the clown that was his favorite thing to talk about when he asked about the hunt.





Another, perhaps non-traditional, Holy Saturday activity was the planting of asparagus crowns. Grandpa Meinhart had found a great deal and ordered some for us. I figured I should take advantage of Marie's very recent statement that she actually likes asparagus. Grandpa, Jon, Uncle Matt, and the kids set about digging holes, adding just the right amount of compost and water, and carefully positioning the crowns. Since then, Marie and Joey have taken it upon themselves to keep a close eye on the plants and water then whenever possible. If attention has anything to do with asparagus production, we should have bumper crop in a couple years!


This year, Marie again made Resurrection rolls for Easter lunch. It must have sunk in from last year because she put them together almost all by herself and did a great job of describing the symbolism of each ingredient. They must have tasted pretty well also...they didn't last too long!


It would hardly be Easter without dyeing eggs, would it? It was a somewhat messy endeavor with frequent close calls...cups of colored water teetering close to being overturned. But the eggs were successfully colored and Marie and Joey had fun so the goals were accomplished.

Joey getting an, "Are you sure about that?" look from his godfather.

The finale to the weekend was of course Easter Sunday. We donned our best and headed to Mass. We kept the kids all dressed up long enough to snap a couple of pictures. Perhaps brimming Easter baskets were used as a bribe...perhaps. After a yummy lunch, we had our own mini-Easter egg hunt in the yard, attempting to get the most mileage possible out of those dyed eggs. Thankfully, the weather cooperated and allowed us to do all of this fun stuff as a family. It was nice to see the kids enjoying themselves without losing sight of the reason for our celebration...He is Risen INDEED! (We are still in the Alleluia season after all!!)