From here, to there, and back.

Oh where, oh where have our last three weeks gone...?

This would sum up my life throughout March pretty well. We're halfway (or more) through the muddy season which makes the primary laundry person in the house thankful! Before we know it 60 degree days will be a regular occurance rather than the occasional treat.

Since my last post we've been surrounded by a bunch of family and it has been really nice. It's so out of the ordinary for us to have family in our daily lives at all that being in the presence of at least one of them for all of the past two weeks was definitely a treat, but it's nice to be back to just the four of us too.

James' brother Justin and his wife Laura were able to join us for an extended weekend and we enjoyed their visit a lot. I don't know that we've ever jam-packed a weekend so full since having kids, but the weather cooperated and the kiddos had so much they wanted to show Uncle Justin and Aunt Laura that we managed to watch a parade, visit the park (multiple times), go to the library, the firestation, out for ice cream and fit in our first visit to the zoo for the year all in just over 48 hours!

They headed home Tuesday morning and later that same afternoon my brother Matt arrived to spend the remainder of the week. We repeated park visits and exploring Madison, although the weather turned colder and didn't allow for the same outdoorsy types of activities the previous weekend had. We had a fun time and Matt should receive many extra uncle points for spending his spring break in a house with two toddlers and no guest bedroom. I'm sure the mornings were early for his liking, but he didn't complain and the kids absolutely loved having him here! :-)

The next week brought Matt's return to campus to finish his semester and James had a business trip to Chicago, so the kids and I headed to my parents house to enjoy some quality time with Marmee, Gramps, and Uncle Stephen. Again, we really enjoyed the time, and the kids kept the family members on their toes, especially given Lydia's love affair with all things related to Flit, my parents "tiitee!" They also found some rollers and were instantly transformed into stylists--in addition to their insisting rollers be put in their own hair they convinced my brother Stephen to model for them--what a good sport! We also celebrated an early "Easter" so the kids got their baskets and subsequently ate almost everthing edible while they were there, so at least we're spreading the treats out this year...:-D

Anyway, it's back to life as usual (mostly) here over the next few weeks. Now we await the permanent arrival of spring, and Easter of course. Joshua's already counting down the days and reminding me every time we see a display in the store or elsewhere--"Look, eggs, Mommy. Easter is coming soon!" Now I just have to figure out how to appropriately share with a three year old that Easter is about much, much more than eggs and the Easter bunny...I see several viewings of an Easter Carol in our near future.