Marching Forth

I’m writing this from Dornbirn, Austria. I wanted to get it done before we left on our spring break trip, but we were just too busy. We’re having a lazy evening in our hotel, so it’s a perfect time to write. I’m sitting here in my room with Noah and Meredith (Ethan is in the other room). The rooms aren’t very big, but one whole wall is windows and the view is beautiful. Tree covered hills, green grass, and lots of white houses with red roofs. It’s lovely.

March started out wonderfully with a trip to Utah to visit Beebs. This was one of the few trips I’ve taken all by myself. It felt weird to just pack one tiny little suitcase. I missed Scott and the kids, but it was sure nice to fly solo! I had to check in 2 big bags (Mom and Dad’s old red luggage) filled with hand-me-downs from Meredith to Elise and a bunch of cute stuff I got on a huge sale at Children’s Place for Beebs and Heidi. Also a lot of the boys’ old clothes which fit Weston and Aidan.

I don’t know how Beebs juggles 4 kids, but she does it well! It was so much fun to see her! We went shopping and I bought Meredith an Easter dress. Beebs made about a thousand pancake balls for me - - she is such a great cook (also yummy Café Rio salad!) And we had fun just talking and watching “The Office.” Heidi came down on Friday night and the two of us and Milena went to the OneHeart concert in Provo. I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much, music-wise, but it was fantastic! And thanks to Heidi’s celeb-status we had great seats. I had a blast and was also very touched by the pictures of orphanages. I feel honored to be peripherally involved in such a worthwhile organization! I’m in awe of all that Dushku does, and all that she and Heidi did to start OneHeart up. Great job guys!

Saturday was shopping day for Heidi, Milena, Rowan, Beebs, Elise and I. Boy are those babies sweet! Elise is such a little dolly, and Rowan is so good-tempered. Elise looked so tiny compared to Rowan and I missed how tiny Meredith once was. It was fun to watch Rowan’s progress because he’s so close in age to Meredith.

We had a fun lunch at Chik-fil-A, one of my all time favorites. Great food and wonderful service, and I love that they’re closed on Sundays! We don’t have them in Chicago, so it’s a tradition to go there when I’m in Utah. Then we shopped at several different places, including Target, where we wore bunny ears all around the store. Very mature. And our trip wouldn’t be complete without a trek to Costco. By the way, they now carry a type of almond snack called Mrs. May’s and they are so delicious!

Mom and Dad and Hilary and Uncle Adam came over for a while to Beebs’ house and it was enjoyable to talk to them. And Heidi and Beebs and I had so much fun playing cards and eating snacks and laughing (mostly at each other).

I was bummed that I had to leave Sunday morning before church, because I wanted to see Elise get blessed and visit more with family, but it was a good thing I did, because I had to fly through San Francisco and it took me all day to finally get home. I was so happy to see my boys and my baby! And I think Scott had a renewed appreciation for all the housework I do (I won’t mention the state of the house when I got there . . .)

The next week was my turn to play single parent, Scott had meetings in Arizona and St. Louis and then went to Paris (for fun) with our friend John. I would have been fine, except I caught a terrible cold (I think I got it from Dad!) After about 10 days of suffering I finally went to the doctor. He said my ears, throat, sinuses and 1 eye were all infected. If I’d waited to go in any longer they would have had to amputate my head! Ha ha. Poor Meredith and Ethan also were sick during the month. I’m so glad spring is finally here and we’ll hopefully all stay healthy for a while!

Scott’s parents recently were called to be leadership missionaries for 18 months in New Zealand! They are really excited to go, and we’re excited to visit them at some point. They came for a quick weekend visit in March and it was so nice to see them! We had an early Easter while they were there, just little fun baskets of goodies for the kids. It was especially nice to have Meredith’s first Easter - - we bought her some really cute little bunny ears! It was also the Pinewood Derby that weekend, so we got Noah’s car ready and went. As is traditional (for the past 5 years, anyway) I made the certificates, and also frosted cookies for the boys. Noah came in 2nd place (actually he tied) and we all had a great time.

Noah is doing well. He took a month of swimming lessons through NISRA and recently started Special Olympics track. In school they’ve been studying animals and where they live, which is right up his alley, since he loves animals so much. A recent favorite phrase is, “no way!” He says it when he thinks something is really cool. We all think Noah is really cool himself. Scott took him to Beauty and the Beast downtown and he said Noah couldn’t have been better-behaved. He was just perfect, and enjoyed every minute of it.

Ethan recently read a book about World War II and became very interested in that era. He also read a book that highlighted both world wars, and is now reading “The Pianist,” which is about a Jewish man who lived in German-occupied Poland. Ethan is a very thoughtful young man. He’s been really trying to show his maturity lately (because he wants a new video game) - - but it has been so nice! He is so willing to help out around the house and with Meredith.

Last Sunday Meredith fell halfway down the stairs before Scott caught her. So scary! It was especially traumatic for Ethan, and now he has appointed himself Meredith’s bodyguard. He sure loves his little sister!

And who wouldn’t love her. She is seriously the best-natured baby in the world. She is so cute, quite tall for her age and with less of a baby face now. She started creeping for about a week and then graduated to crawling. She loves to be active and aware of what is going on around her. Scott thinks she should be in the book of world records for best baby traveler. On our 8 hour flight to Munich she didn’t even fuss once. Somehow the diapers got packed in the checked bags and she had to use Noah’s pull-ups, but it didn’t faze her. She smiles continuously! We are so crazy about our little sweetheart!