Acck – I never know what to write on Mondays – nor what to title my posts! I feel like I want to get you all caught up on my life and explain why I was too busy to blog over the weekend, but then I wonder, do you really want to know all that anyway?

I looked over my last week of posts, however, and realized it’s been a lot of pictures and very little text lately, so I suppose I owe you an update. I’ll try really hard to sort through the info and not bore you with the mundane or obvious!

I had a lot going this past week – I had my first home party (a lia sophia jewelry show). It being my first I was a bit nervous, of course, and almost canceled the whole thing a number of times, but Jeremy kept encouraging me – said he thought it would be good for me. Well, when he said that, I totally balked! I mean, growing experiences are good, but how often to we embrace the idea beforehand? It is not usually till you’ve got through a challenge (big or small) that you can look back and truly be grateful you did it. I know it sounds like I’m making a mountain out of a molehill, but this really was a big deal for me! I’m so grateful for the guiding wisdom of my husband, ’cause I did go through with it, and it was a good experience on so many fronts! It was so great to have a bunch of friends crowd into my trailer for a girl’s night out, and a few friends that drove longer distances came early or stayed late so I had some real sweet fellowship over the weekend. Total count was 22 people and it was literally standing room only! 🙂 So much fun – thanks to all of you who came – it was such a treat.

Claire is growing (of course) and getting cuter by the day (of course) and actually spitting less! But she still spits up a lot, so another large aspect of my week is laundry. Oops – I promised I wouldn’t bore you with the mundane – but that is still a big part of my life! 🙂 I had some fun last week adding some little touches to the decor in her room. As soon as I get it just the way we like it, I’ll post photos.

I’m really proud of Jesse – he’s 2 1/2 this month and is just showing such maturity on so many levels! He now knows his colors and points them out everywhere. He is especially fond of telling us what color our eyes are – all the eyes in this household are blue, but he has some variety at Grandma’s – if fact, he totally associates the color brown with Aunt Elise. Anytime you mention the color brown in any other context, he is sure to remind you with signs and words that “Aunt Elise has brown eyes!”

We have been walking to the park every warm day so far this spring, and he has more fun than ever now that he is such a big boy. I am learning how my mother felt when my brothers were growing up and trying to prove their manhood by climbing tall things and jumping from great hieghts…Jesse’s favorite activity at the park is not the swings, or the slide, or the tunnel, but rather the 3 ft. tree stump which he climbs and then jumps off of to tumble onto the ground. Oh, my. Be still my beating mommy’s heart! 🙂

At the business Jeremy is working on putting an old bed on a new (to us) truck for deliveries. I really can’t give you more details ’cause it’s all a bit over my head. But I do know the work is going faster and easier than the last time they overhauled one of the delivery trucks. Things get a little quieter at the coal business once the temps start rising, so that allows time for maintenance and – for the first time in 3 1/2 years, a scheduled day off for each of the men. Jeremy got Wednesday off last week and it was nice. We didn’t do anything special, really – just a run to Ithaca and lunch at a park, but it was nice to spend the day together as a family.

And me, well, I am delighted to have carved out a little scrapbooking time in the last month. I am working on finishing Jesse’s first year album so I can start Claire’s. I got 2 pages done last week in a few free moments I found during nap times, so that was fun. Although I try not to make an idol out of it, time spent in my studio creating pretty or useful things is always a treat.

So, spring has brought new and fun experiences to our home, and though the weather is chilly again this week, we know we are on the verge of a new season and we’re enjoying every little sparkle of sunlight and smiles that come our way.