So, I have been lax at posting. No longer! There are things that need to be said and pictures that need to be seen! I’ll let you choose the reason for my unreliability:
a) I went to the post office instead
b) I’m depressed
c) I’ve been spending every waking second on a huge project

Alright yes, whichever one you picked, you are correct. They are all true! Let me share four unconnected stories that I have been meaning to post about. Then I think we are going to watch a movie. I told Matt I would watch Blues Brothers or Serenity. They don’t seem very connected until you consider that they are both about people running around like crazy with too many things to do and yet, they are light-hearted and comedic. I need to watch a movie about someone else’s stress and see it turn out well for them in the end. Unless that someone is my favorite Serenity character, Wash, and then it’s not so good. Maybe I should rethink the choices I gave Matt to choose from… Anyway, on to the stories!

Easter with Uncle Tim
For reasons I won’t share in such a public forum, Easter has always had a big event associated with it in my family even outside of its already glorious meaning and excitement that Jesus is risen. I took a note from our Christmas 2007 and realized that we should pare down our expectations of Easter… no plastic egg hunt (yes, among my siblings and our spouses, ages 33, 29, 26, 22, 22, we still do a hunt every year except this year. It is our thing and our mom thinks we are ridiculous and too old, but we love it). Let’s just have a nice meal with Uncle Tim and some games during baby naps. And thusly, our day was beautiful. And Mom sent us money for candy so we could still eat it without the hunt.  So I bought the good stuff 🙂  We had a great time with Uncle Tim… meaningful conversation (which I crave every moment of the day), yummy chicken primavera with delicious homemade alfredo sauce (made by Matt and Tim), and plenty of games and smiles. I had trouble smiling during the games but that is because I question why I ever play Alhambra 🙂 I can beat Matt if it is just us, but add a third or fourth person, and he wins. I suppose my thinking and methods work best 2 player and his work best in larger settings. Most of the smiles came from the babies who absolutely love Uncle Tim. He can make them smile when they would rather be screaming… it’s a gift. Here are some photos:

Fun with Laura!
Yesterday, Matt picked up our latest round of pictures from Olan Mills. They are adorable! I was reminiscing about my day with Laura, a dear friend from college who, as you may recall, we last saw at Harvest of Talents, the babies’ first out-of-town outing back in October. She came to visit on Friday, March 28 during her spring break. She offered me an option of several days that week, and I weaseled her… “well, we have the babies’ 7 month portraits on Friday and I could SURE use an extra set of hands so do whatever works for you but…” And she got the message loud and clear… please, please come help me! So she did 🙂 It was a beautiful day. She brought me lunch and we talked forever and we went to the picture shoot and it went great. The grandparents thank you, Laura, for making their grandchildren so happy and adorable in the pictures they will be receiving.

I have to say, the Lord has given me very special friendships from both my college days and my grad school days. Laura is one of the people from college who I can pick up with as if we never left one another or moved away. Becky, Lynn, Laura… my college friends who I will always know. And those of you from my grad school days who are reading this blog… I’m realizing more and more that our dear friendships are rare… you don’t find kindred friends every day. I’m very grateful for you!

The Post Office
One and a half hours. That’s how long it took me to get to do the post office today. It’s a 10 minute drive. It was a 15 minute line that the babies and I waited in while they sat patiently in their stroller and scored fan after fan as people came up to announce how adorable they are. What did I do with the other hour? I don’t know! I rushed around, I hurried… how could such a tiny errand take so long? Oh yes… I diapered them and put on their jackets, I popped them in their carseats, they both pooped through their outfits so I started a load of laundry so the stains wouldn’t set, I packed up the box and manila envelope I was mailing, Hooch went in his kennel, I hauled the box, the envelope, the stroller, both babies, and my purse out the door to the minivan, we drove, I got the stroller out of the trunk, I got the babies out of the van and into the stroller, we barely fit through the post office door, we waited in line, I paid, I loaded the babies back in their carseats, I folded up the stroller, I drove home, I hauled the babies in. That’s it. That was an hour and a half. This is EXACTLY why I don’t go anywhere with them that isn’t within walking distance. Thankfully, our farmer’s market, grocery store, and library are all within walking distance, so those are the places we go. There is a post office that is within walking distance too, but their handicap accessible ramp is ridiculously hard to work with and I’d rather go through the fiasco of driving and doing the carseat –> stroller –> carseat thing than attempting to get up that ramp. I think you can see why I decided it wasn’t worth stopping across the street to get a beverage even though I was parched… it is just too much work to run more than one errand! Anyway, parents-in-love and Aunt Sandy, when you get your stuff in the mail, know how much I must love you in order to endure that 1.5 hours of insanity.

Rolling Fiends
These babies and their rolling… they roll ALL the time! I put one in bed and before I can go get the other one to pop them in too, the first one rolled over. They literally can’t get back over yet (although Zach did for the first time today), so I roll them back because they mostly do it during playtime or right when I put them down. Otherwise, they sleep fine and I don’t feel at all manipulated. I admit, that may be the evidence of how manipulated I am, but I don’t think so 🙂 But when they woke up from their nap, this is what I found. Two happy babies peeking through the slats and I realized that these patient sweeties who endured the post office fiasco without complaint even though they were hungry are the best part of my 8-5 day!