Two Weeks in a Nutshell

Whew!  I hope Ted's deployment goes as quickly as this year has so far!  Here are some highlights from the last couple of weeks:

• Visitors!  Our Colorado family--Ted's mom Rhonda, his brother Joel and wife Sarah, and their two boys Anders and Cade--came to visit March 26 - 30.  It was a fun-filled whirlwind as we maneuvered everyone to and from church, Young's Dairy, and the Air Force Museum (two separate trips), trying to squeeze in naps and game time along the way.  It was great fun getting to know our nephews and watching our kids interact with them.  Lucan is now very proficient at saying "baby," a very important skill. :-)
• Appointments!  Dentist appointments, orthodontist appointments, well-baby appointments, OB appointments...this will probably just never end, will it?!
• Date night!  A couple from church kindly offered to come watch our kids so Ted and I could escape get some time together.  We were so tired that we ended up home by 9:30!  But we did enjoy dinner at an Indian restaurant (although we were disappointed--it was under new management, so not quite as good as we had experienced before) and browsed a closing Borders store, found some fun deals, and then spent some time in Starbucks reading our new Cul-de-Sac comic book.
• Kids' Street Live!  Now that we're doing this monthly at church, time REALLY seems to fly.  We love our time rehearsing with the team as well as putting things together for "show time."  It's a great way for us to keep up with what our kids are learning in church each month, plus minister as a family.  It was bittersweet, though, as it was Ted's last KSL.
• Tim Hawkins!  We enjoyed his comedic performance with Charis, Tobin, and Arden along with a couple of families from the neighborhood.  Laughed so hard our sides hurt!
• Field Trip!  The kids and I "enjoyed" a trip to KY to visit the aquarium.  We took our friends the C family along for the ride, and it was nice to have Stefanie's company and navigational skills on the drive plus her and her daughter Jessica's watchful eyes on all our kiddos--particularly since it was a gray rainy day and the first day of the area spring break!  CROWDED!  Our homeschool group's class was a lot of fun, but touring the aquarium itself was rather stressful for us adults.  Nevertheless, the kids had a blast and learned a lot.  Meanwhile, Ted was on base passing his physical fitness test--woohoo!
• Lunch date!  I met with a friend and downline member for lunch on April 5, then went shopping for Tobin's upcoming pirate birthday party.  It snowed while I was out, and it just seemed so wrong...I bought flip-flops for the kids from Old Navy!
• Play!  Charis's opening night for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was last night.  She has had a blast this go-around, and we can hardly wait to see her.  Her schedule has been very crazy, but she has been loving every minute of it.  I'm thankful this time around we were able to get into a good carpool situation with two other girls in our neighborhood (both teens), who are very sweet.
• More visitors!  My parents came into town yesterday for the weekend.  This is quite handy, since they'll get to see Charis's play tomorrow afternoon, as well as...
• Piano recital!  Today was the first piano recital we got to attend as proud parents!  Both Charis AND Tobin performed, along with about 15 other kids.  It was quite short, which was good, since it was smack in the middle of Lucan's nap.
• Pre-deployment fair!  OK, maybe that shouldn't have an exclamation point, but really, it was quite fun!  The base did a tremendous job with this.  Apparently they do it a couple of times a year.  The Build-A-Bear Workshop folks came out with product to donate, so each child got to create his/her very own bear that includes a voice recorder with a special message from Daddy.  What a GREAT idea!  The kids love their new bears, and Lucan probably played his Daddy message about 983 times today.  I'm hoping it lasts until Daddy actually leaves!!  In addition to the bears, there were lots of other freebies and information about resources.  I signed up for a free night at the Dayton Dragons (local baseball) and plan to take the older 3 kiddos and get a sitter for the younger two.  Also got a cute board book to read to the youngers that talks about Daddy being gone but doing the same types of things the kids are doing here (eating lunch, brushing teeth, reading books, etc.).

So...I guess that helps catch me up on here a bit!