By Bye Maxima

In 2002 I bought my dream car- really! A four door gold Maxima FAMILY CAR!!! It's what I wanted and I knew when I bought it that I would have my babies carseats in this car and it would last me forever!

Well...the 2001 Nissan Maxima really has been a dream car for me and has been SUCH A GREAT CAR with hardly any problems other than regular maintainance. But- Brian's parents bought a new car and offered to sell us their 2003 Toyota Camery for the value they would have gotten at trade-in and the deal was too good to pass up.

We put our car in the newspaper classified a few weeks ago and thought we'd get a taker right away ( as our last car sold in just days) but no takers. Until Tuesday night when an interested couple came out at 8PM to see the car.

After a very eventful Wednesday that involved two trips to Car X and paying for new roters, the car is gone and in the hands now of a college senior at SIUE. We are driving to Bloomington on Saturday night to meet Brian's parents, pay for the car and transfer the title and take our new car home! Pics to follow soon!

Trip to Galesburg

Our Dear Friend, Heidi Eckhardt's mom died Thursday morning. She is from Galesburg so Sunday morning we headed to Galesburg for the Sunday night visitation and the Monday morning Funeral. It was very nice to be there for them. It was also nice to have Brian's parents watch the kids so we could support the Eckhardts child free.

We also got some extra time with the extended family.

Mara looking out Nana and Grandpa's window.

Grandpa and Mara playing on the floor.

After some batting practice, a few balls ended up in the gutters- after some creative ideas, Tyler got the ball down.

Alaric and Aunt Tammie watch Katie and Tyler hit balls from the outfield.

Nana, Great Gram, and Alaric make a fort out of blankets and chairs and read endless books.

Kairo's Preschool Auction

Alaric's preschool's annual fundraiser, an auction was this past Saturday. Brian and I were Chairs of the luncheon and I served on numerous other committees to get everything done. It was a HUGE HIT- We raised almost $12,000!!!!!!

Here are some of the hundreds of baskets that were available for live and silent auction.

Brian cooking up Ray's Chili!

Kitchen crew!

The live auction

Mara getting one of her baskets after the auction- both Grammy and Nana came and BOUGHT!

Sweet Mara!

Spring is here

Alaric is in heaven now that he can play in his sandbox. he's been playing for HOURS each day!

Mara is loving her swing too!

I cleaned out the shed and had to put all of the lawn furniture and rider toys in the yard so I could power wash them. Alaric ( and now Amara) have plenty to play with!

Alaric loves helping me make Amara's bottles. He likes to be the scooper. Sometimes we make a pretty big mess. Here he is, proud of the work he's done.

Another amazing toy you probably have around your home....a hamper. Alaric loves filling it and dumping it and climbing in. The two together can't wait to get in and be carried around or here, put in front of the mirror so they can see themselves through the slits in the hamper.

ZTA Reunion

The weekend of April 18th, I went to Chicago for a ZTA Eta Phi Reunion. It was great!

Here are me and two of my best friends, Rachel and Jen.
Pledge Class of 1996

Catching up with friends

A bit later in the night!

Easter 2009

We left Friday morning and headed to Galesburg first to have lunch with Brian's parents and to also have an impromtu playdate with one of Alaric's friends who now lives in Galesburg. We were to Iowa City by 3PM and had SO MUCH FUN doing nothing. It's so great to play with your kids and talk to your family at the same time without feeling like you have to do a hundred other things at the same time.

Friday night we just stayed up late with my cousins and their kids and my Auntie Doris.

Here is Amara in her new feeding position.

Alaric's favorite thing....a dump truck with his baby! This seems so cute but it was just seconds before he DUMPED his sister into the wall!

Friday night was a NIGHTMARE!!! Amara had her first case of insomnia and she didn't fall asleet until 2:45AM!!! I spent that whole time doing all I could to keep her quiet since the house will full of guests and to get her to sleep. We made it through and I pretended to be well rested all Saturday.

I love this family picture out on Auntie Doris' porch!

My wonderful, sweet cousins-Alinia and Madison took Amara for me. She has to be out of my sight or else she cries when someone else has her. Bless them, they made their own space outside so I could have some time with the rest of the family.

The boys pretty much just hung out, watched TV and played video games.

After naps, we headed to the hotel where my parents and brother and sister were staying for some pool time. Before we got in the pool, we got our Easter baskets from my parents. Amara likes her new Elmo socks!

Papa's job was to blow up the new floaties before the pool!

The pool was SO COLD. Colder than any pool I had ever been in. Mara liked the jacuzzi though.

After we all jumped in and got used to the cold water, Mara liked the big pool too.

Brian and the cousins!

We ordered pizza poolside.

Mara preferred to dig in the cooler.

We left before church on Easter Sunday to head to Galesburg for the day. Here is a picture of the girl cousins and Alaric ( the boys weren't there yet).

We had brunch at Brian's parents' country club with his grandma, two aunts and uncles, and 3 other cousins. We then headed back to their house. Alaric loved his new knight costume in his Easter basket.

Then outside for the annual Easter Egg Hunt. Amara ran around some with Daddy but ultimately, she just stayed put in her pretty dress on her blanket.

Such sweeties!

Aunt Tam and Aunt Marce help some of the kids open their eggs.

Then some impromptu relays. Look at Alaric's face. He's so determined. Guess who won....
...Alaric of course....with some help from Uncle Jeff! the other cousins were really trying to beat him!

Daddy's Girls!

Another great family photo.

We got home at 8PM and are recovering today and trying to get our kids back on schedule. What a wonderful weekend. We are so blessed to have such wonderful families!

Alaric's first trip to the dentist

When you turn three, the dentist allows the little ones to come in, watch you get your teeth cleaned and if you are ready for it, kids can get their own teeth counted or even cleaned.

We had to cancel the first appointment because of Brian's grandpa being sick so this was definately an event we had been looking forward to today.

He watched me very carefully and was so eager to climb in the chair when Kristen said it was his turn.

She counted each of his teeth.

Then she asked if he wanted his teeth cleaned and "tickled" and he said YES....so, he got bubble gum flavored toothpaste and got each of his teeth tickled and sparkled. He did great. I thought he might freak out when she squirted the water and used the suction but he LOVED IT! He loved it all. He was perfect, absolutely perfect.

Kristen got a mouth full from him including a full conversation about being named after his great Gramps who just died and was in heaven with Jesus, about his doctor, Dr. Tripathy who once had to look at his penis, and about only brushing his teeth once a day, not two and that mommy doesn't floss-only daddy! We laughed about it but seriously, we are going to have to have a talk about what we should and shouldn't tell everyone we know.

HEre is is picking out a new CARS toothbrush. He also got some kid floss and got to pick a prize. What a day!

Making brownies

Just a typical day! We were making brownies for a couple at church who just adopted a baby ( PS- brownies with applesauce instead of oil just don't taste the same). Mara wanted some batter which she's not supposed to have because it's full of sugar, has raw eggs, AND had gluten (she's on a gluten free diet until she's one) but after the crawling, the groping, the begging, and the crying as she watched her brother lick the bowl, I gave in. Not worth the fuss, really.

Nothing was more cute than her face covered in brownie batter. With the second kid, you just don't care as much!

This was such a priceless moment. The pic doesn't capture is as great as it was but both of my kids were in their own world. Alaric was on the counter licking the rest of the bowl and Amara had found herself in a special adventureland UNDER the stepstool. They were both playing and talking to themselves for minutes until i asked them both to look at me.

Monticello Easter Egg Hunt

Last year we had the MOST AMAZING TIME at this incredible INDOOR easter egg hunt at the Junior high. This year's hunt was put on by a different group and was outside but I thought it would be just as awesome.

Well, it wasn't. There were so many less eggs and items, the eggs were stuffed with very little if anything at all ( tatoos, erasers, etc), and it was not as well organized. But, it was the most beautiful day, both kids had fun, and Alaric shared his eggs with those around him.

Might not have been as impressive, but my three year old didn't notice.

Here Amara is before the event.
Look at my angels with their pink noses.

People were lined up everywhere.

On the hunt

Having fun on the playground afterwards.