Easter Sunday

Ben and Sarah invited us up for Easter dinner and we were grateful to be able to go. We love spending time with the Black's. Ben and Sarah's good friends, Phil and Micaela and their two girls also came, as well as another couple they are friends with. We've met Phil and Micaela a few times, and Anna loves to play their daughter, Emma. It was great company and Sarah completely outdid herself on the meal. Check out the Norman Rockwell steam coming of the ham.

The girls spent a lot of time playing outside. Ben and Sarah have a nice sized backyard with some really fun toys. Anna chose to play on the side of the house in the rocks for most of the time.

The backyard and Anna's choice of play area.

Before dinner, the dads, as tradition dictates, hid some eggs for the girls. I have been hiding Anna's basket for about a week. She kept finding it and I kept taking it awayso by the time I actually gave it to her she was SO excited. She was nearly frantic trying to find eggs. I swear I could hear her thinking, "There's an egg, hurry get it in the basket, where's another one? Quick run, before mom takes my basket away again."




Emma, Amelia, and Anna seaching and posing.



Anna, Emma, and Miriam at the girls table.

Dinner was seriously amazing. Ham, potatoes, asparagus, homemade rolls, salad, pinapple, and chocolate bunny cake for dessert. So good! The girls sat at their own table and sort of ate inbetween running around and squealing. After dinner we let the girls pretty much destroy Ben and Sarah's house (sorry about that!) while we sat around and talked.




Thanks Ben and Sarah for hosting such a wonderful day.

Amber's Visit

My dear friend, Amber, came for a weeked visit. It was so great

to see her. She flew into Reagan Airport Friday morning, so I woke up at 5:30 in order to miss the traffic, and headed up to DC. I crashed on Ben's couch until her plane arrived about 9:30. We spent the day in the city together seeing some of the sites. It was Amber's first time to DC so we mostly saw the major landmarks and monuments. Some of the highlights of the day included:

• Buying $7 hotdogs on the mall and sitting on the Federal Reserve steps to eat them.


• Watching Amber take a picture of some Chinese guy and then have to pose for several pictures with him at the Lincoln Memorial. (Who can blame him, if I were a random Chinese tourist I'd want to pose with a beautiful, blonde, American too.)


• Navigating the Metro through the city. Amber was so impressed with my subway skills. Funny because I'm sure I stick out to all the locals as about as unsavy as you can get.


• Eating at Le Madeline in Georgetown. One of my favorites. I always love going to this fun, little French cafeteria style restaurant while I'm in the city.

Jeff was gracious enough to take Anna for the whole day, ignoring tons of school work, so I could spend the day with Amber without carting around a toddler. It was much appreciated! Thanks Jeff.

Saturday we pretty much layed around. Amber tried her hardest to gain favor with Anna. Anna threw her lots of mean looks for a couple hours before warming up. Then, miracle of miracles, Anna fell asleep with Amber on the couch. What! I don't think this has EVER happened to me.

Sunday it was back up to DC to drop Amber off at the airport. What a fun, relaxing weekend with a great friend.

Easter Eggs

Anna's first experience dying Easter eggs was short, sweet, and lots of fun to watch. Anna is still learning colors, so it was fun to listen to her identify each colored egg, mostly incorrectly. I love these pictures. She looks so sweet and content. Simple joys.

A New Love

Anna loves coloring. After nursery each week she is so excited to show us (especially daddy) her

pictures. They go straight to the fridge after church where Anna can admire them.

I never thought I'd be one of THOSE moms...

So, I realize I'm way out of the blogging habit and I'm way behind. I promise I'll post Easter, Denver, Birthday pictures soon...

ANYWAY, I never thought I'd be the type of mom to be sad to see her kid get older, like cry when they start going to nursery or something, which I didn't, for the record. But, in the last few days I've realized that my baby isn't so much a baby anymore and I'm feeling a little sad about it. It was brought to a head today when a took Anna to get her first haircut. It was much needed, and I have been putting it off forever (subconsious stalling, maybe?) I took her to my friend Megan and she got a cute little grown-up girl cut. (Pictures to come, I promise.) All of sudden Anna morphed from a piggy-tailed baby into a little girl.

Then to top it off, our crib full on broke apart last night, with Anna in it. The full story will have to wait for another post (it's a good one), but it forced us to rush Anna into a "big girl bed" aka her crib mattress on the floor. She is over the moon about her new bed and spent a good portion of the day setting up stuffed animals, reading, and jumping on her new bed. To me it's another sign that Anna is growing up into a little girl and the days of crib confinement are drawing to a close.

I know I should be embracing this new time. No more night feedings, she can feed herself, communication is much easier, she's so fun to play with, seperation anxiety is finally ending, but I can't help but miss the cooing, cuddling, and carting around of only a few pounds of pudgy, patchy-haired Anna.

Anyone else out there had any never-thought-it'd-be-me mom moments?

Chicago

Last week I was able to go to the annual ACHE (American College of Healthcare Executives) Congress in Chicago for a few days. My friends and I decided to go a day early so we could see some of the the city, get settled into our hotel, and hunt down some good, Chicago food. Anyone who knows me can tell you how excited I get over eating really good, authentic, ethnic cuisine. Greek, Indian, German, Italian - it doesn't matter; if it's authentic...I'm happy. Regardless of what some might say, I am not a food snob, nor am I an elitist, I just appreciate good food. Let's leave it at that.

Fortunately, Omar, my good friend and fellow ethnic food aficionado, was accompanying me on this trip. Fortunate because Omar knows, as he always does, just where to take us to find the best Pakistani food. This guy knows every Kabob house and Pakistani restaurant from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. So, after a 30-minute subway ride and a short bus trip, we arrived at "Little Pakistan" in north Chicago. What followed was one of the best meals I have ever had the pleasure of eating! I know when I return to Chicago next year I'll be making another trip to north Chicago to one of my new favorite restaurants - "Sabri Nehari".

Anyway, the rest of the trip was a lot of fun and very productive. I was able to meet A LOT of HCA (the company I'll start with in June) people and have lunch with my future boss. It's always exciting and fun to be around other healthcare nerds and talk about the "business".

Chicago is a cool city and has a lot to offer. I hope that next year Rachel can join me for a couple of days.

Freezing at the Navy Pier

(From left to right) A.J., Jason, and Omar at Sabri Nehari

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day

Oh, my mother isn't Irish

And my father isn't too,

But today I feel as Irish

As the really Irish do.

For today I wear a shamrock

That is green in every way

And though I am American,

I am Irish -- for today!

In case you wanted to know about St. Patrick:

St Patrick - the storySt Patrick was born a Briton under Roman rule - the exact location of his birthplace isn't known but it was either the north of England or southern Scotland.In his teens he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave by Niall of the Nine Hostages, a famous king of

Ireland whose son Laoghaire was later to play a large part in Patrick's mission to convert Ireland to Christianity.Patrick was taken to Antrim where he was sold to a local landowner, Meliuc, who put him to work as a shepherd.For six long years Patrick lived upon the Slemish mountain with only his sheep for company. The land was bleak and the conditions harsh but Patrick found solace in the faith that his people had abandoned under Roman rule.

He prayed day and night to the Christian God who brought him comfort during this time.One night he heard a voice calling to him, telling him that the time had come to escape. It told him, "See, your ship is ready." Patrick knew that he had to travel south to seek the ship God had told him of. He travelled for 200 miles until he came to Wexford where, sure enough, a boat heading for Britain was waiting.Patrick approached the captain, who at first denied him passage. He turned away, praying for God's guidance. Before he finished the prayer he heard a member of the crew calling

to him to come with them - they had changed their mind and could provide him with safe passage home.Patrick did not seem destined to have an easy life - when travelling

home through Britain he was captured by a band of brigands, who returned him to slavery. Desperate, Patrick heard God's voice reassuring him that, "Two months will you be with

them."Sure enough, after sixty days in their company, God delivered him from their hands. Patrick then spent seven years travelling throughout Europe

trying to determine what his purpose on earth was. Eventually he came to the conclusion that he should study to become a true servant of God, taking his message

throughout the world.He first

studied at the Lerin Monastery, situated on an island off the Cote d' Azur. On completing his studies he returned to Britain as a priest. He remained in Britain until a voice came to him in a dream. He recognised it as the voice of the Irish, which begged him, "We beseech thee, holy youth, to come and walk once more amongst us." At this point, Patrick's purpose in life was revealed to him -

he would convert the Irish to Christianity.

(The cute door hanging is actually Rebecca's, it was the only step that Anna would sit on for me and it happened to be the most festive!)