We found a place to live!

After a very discouraging day (Denver is much more expensive than we were anticipating), we found a place to live. Here are the specs:

• 1300 sq. ft.


• 1 car garage


• full-size washer and dryer (YES!)


• 2 bedrooms


• 2 1/2 baths


• gas fireplace

The townhome is in the city of Brighton which is Northeast of the city center of Denver. It's pretty undeveloped with lots of open space (it's very flat) and housing developements in pockets. It's not as close to the mountains as we were hoping, but it's a nice, safe area and it's affordable so we are very happy.

Move in date: May 8th

Can't Wait!

Anna was beyond excited to stay at Amelia's house while Jeff and I went house-hunting in Denver. These were taken on the way there.

Actually these were taken while we were stopped for a few minutes. I promise we make Anna sit in her carseat while we drive.

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?