Hoppy Easter

This year, again, I failed to provide Madeleine with an Easter basket or an Easter egg hunt, but I did manage to make a fancy dinner and take a few pictures of her in her Easter dress.  Sadly, I didn't manage to get a whole family picture :(

I got home from Chicago the day before and was completely exhausted.  So some Easter details were ignored.  I did make it a point to at least talk to Madeleine about the true significance of Easter and enjoyed a wonderful, spiritual day at church.  We cheated and let Madeleine stay in nursery by herself for the first time!  It was incredible for us and she didn't miss us a bit.  She has some incredible nursery leaders which I am grateful for!

After church we enjoyed the beautiful weather and friends over to share our Easter feast.  We love having such good friends here, especially since we are all without our families.  We will miss Angela and Parley!!

(once again, I lament that I don't take pictures when I am with friends!  I really need to work on this shortcoming)

We need to work on taking pictures without shadows

So focused...I couldn't get a smile out of her!

The Rest of Miserable March and Road Trips Galore

So March was pretty cold and un-springlike here.  I really can't remember what we did for most of the month, but I tried to stay busy and keep Madeleine entertained as much as possible.

Some notable things: 

-We attended one of Madeleine's baby friend's first birthday.  We were able to get a picture of her with her little friends.  

-She also learned quite a few new tricks. She can now fold her arms and pray, she can point out most of her body parts and can say more words.  Her favorite word by far is 'ball'.  

Then we started all of our road trips.  We made the 6 hour drive home to Johnstown.  I drove mostly by myself and surprisingly Madeleine did pretty well.  Thankfully we had Baby Einstein to watch.  She did end up throwing up (first time) due to car sickness, which made for some excitement for me.  During our trip, we played outside and in the park (because weather was actually warmer in PA than Michigan), visited a Children's Museum, attended an antique auction and just spent time together.  M loved being with her Uncles and Grandparents.

Then we made yet another trip to Chicago last weekend.  Pam was flying out from California to Chicago so she could visit U of Chicago and Northwestern.  She is waiting to hear if she is officially accepted to either of these schools.  The trip was pretty hard on poor M, so therefore it was rough on me.  Campus trips and long train and car rides are not a baby's idea of fun.  It was also pretty cold so that just added to it.  We did get downtown to see the Bean and Pam really enjoyed visiting the campuses and experiencing Chicago, even if we didn't get to do much. And somehow I never get pictures when I'm traveling with my best friends!!

I'm done with solo road trips for a long time now....  

In her new outfit...on the couch in our apt--tried AirBnB and had an awesome experience!