Excuses, excuses...

First, I want to apologize to those who used to receive my email updates. Life has been very busy and I realize it has been about a year since my last email. Luckily, this can be short and sweet. Nothing has changed in our lives. Just kidding! I’ll try to quickly give you an update now, but I plan to share new and old stories in future postings.

Happy Easter - "We love each other most of the time."

Evie Rose "The Booger Nose"

Evie is still and will always be a princess. She is, however, slowly turning into a diva-princess as she grows older. Luckily she still has that little girl innocence and sweetness we love so much. Evie finished her second year in dance class last month and continues to love it. We hope to move her into the next age group of classes which are slightly more structured than what she has been doing. She still goes to gymnastics one night a week and does seem to enjoy that too, although I get the feeling dance is her favorite. We have added Hannah Montana to the list of favorites around here. We spend the majority of every car ride listening to Hannah Montana songs and singing along (even Max sings them now). Daddy finds this very annoying; however, it is a welcome change from the Little People cds that used to be played over and over. One more big change for Evie is that she is finally wearing jeans. Usually only two days a week or so, but that’s an improvement from our dresses and skirts only lifestyle. Her little bottom looks adorable in them too!

Daddy & Evie after their big dance recital.

Can you tell he's doing something he's not supposed to do?

Max is, well, how do I best describe this child? He’s ornery, loud, energetic, ornery, sweet, loveable, ornery, chatty, rotten, and well….he’s Max; oh did I say he’s ornery. This child knows just how cute he is and uses it to his advantage often. He loves to play ball with daddy, drive one of his many cars, and do pretty much anything that sissy is doing (including dress-up with jewelry and all). Bed time is a fight with this boy. He’ll go to bed, but many nights he will not stay. I often hear him sneaking down the stairs. As soon as I look over he plasters a goofy grin across his face and proceeds to blow me kisses. He’s also independent – we hear “I do it” quite often. This has been helpful since he can put his own shoes on and can wash his hands on his own. He even gets himself breakfast when daddy’s not looking. Little Debbie Zebra Cakes are a great start to the day right? Never mind that they were in an upper cabinet, well out of easy reach for little hands. That won’t stop an innovative child like my son. Behind the rotten monkey boy behavior is a sweet and loveable child that freely gives kisses to his family and his little girlfriend down the street.

"I see you"

Craig is definitely working hard these days. He took a new job at Purdue last summer that has kept him busy. He’s been so busy that he had to put his MBA on hold indefinitely. We don’t mind though since he gets to spend more time at home. He’s been a great handyman this spring and has completed several projects around the house. His favorite down-time activity these days (when he manages to have any) is playing Nintendo Wii with Max. Max LOVES Mario and tells everyone that “Daddy beat Bowser”. The game of choice lately has been Mario Kart and Max loves that one too. He is definitely a “little” Craig.

Now, what about me? Work is going pretty good for me although it has been very busy lately. I leave next Sunday for a week long conference in Ohio. This is the longest I have ever been away from the kids, but the conference promises to keep me distracted. I recently took a little break from going to the gym regularly, but am finally back to it and boy does it feel good to be exercising again. Nothing much else is new except that I am 20 weeks pregnant with mystery baby number 3 now. Many of you probably know this already, but it may be a surprise to a few. I was pretty sick and tired the first trimester (resulting in the break from exercise). However, I am feeling good now. We had our ultrasound yesterday and everything looks great with the baby. We have opted to be surprised on the gender this time. It will be hard to wait, but worth it in the end (sometime around Sept. 26th).

Anyway, that’s all for now. I’ll try to tell a few fun kid stories next time I post!

Max loves sissy's lipgloss.