We love Spring!

The park,

the Tulip Festival on Dutch Day,

and getting all dressed up for Easter.

Who could ask for more?

I love this girl...

But I'm getting really excited for this little boy:

And for those of you who I told that shopping for a boy wasn't going to be as fun as shopping for a girl? Turns out I may have lied. :)

Oh, how time flies.

I know everyone always says how fast they grow, and to savor every minute, but it still makes me sad when I realize just how right they are. What can you do, right?

Just a little trip to the cabin...

Last weekend we went to Grandpa Bob and Grandma Heidi's cabin. Hayley was just a little excited:

On the way there, we were worried that there wouldn't be enough snow to snowmobile in. Turned out we needn't have been worried. The snow where Hayley is sledding down the walkway was about as tall as her before it was shoveled.

And of course, always time for some snow angels:

And a snowmobile ride with Grandpa:

Now, if I was just a cutesy poster, the post would stop there, but I do like to keep things real. The trip was not all fun and games. On Sunday at about 12:30 my mom and stepdad took off on the snowmobiles to go for a ride. Here's how the rest of my day went:

2:30: Started to expect them back.

3:30: Started to worry.

4:30: Started to be a wreck.

5:30: Decided to actually do something.

Bundled up Hayley, and started to hike out through the three foot snow, down to the little convience store about two miles away, to see if they'd sent anyone to the hospital due to a snowmobiling accident. Of course, as soon as we left the cabin, they showed up about ten minutes later.

Turned out both of the snowmobiles broke down about an hour into their jaunt, and they had been walking for the last four. A nice man gave us a ride in his Rhino back to the cabin (Yes, we accepted a ride from a stranger. Don't tell your children.) where my mom and stepdad were safe and sound, although exhausted and sunburned. Being pretty late in the day, we decided to wait until the next morning to get a rental snowmobile (one that was not from the 1970's, like, ahem, the ones we have), snowmobile up the mountain, tow the two of our snowmobiles down, and ferry all of us and all of our stuff from the cabin to the car. Good times.

I missed work on Monday due to this emergency vacation. Thankfully I was able to track down someone who had cell phone service to get a message to my school that I wouldn't be there. Thanks to my team for covering my bum. Nothing like creating your own Spring Break, eh?

I told my mom we're not going to the cabin in the winter anymore ever again, or until they get some new snowmobiles, whichever comes first. She totally agreed.

Fine then, Smarty Pantses!

Alright, so your guys called it from the very first day I put up the poll. The BABY is as BOY as can be. I'd post the pictures to prove it, but honestly I feel a little weird about posting his "parts." You'll just have to trust me that you can totally tell.

Some of you know that a BOY wasn't necessarily what we were hoping for, but I'm getting used to the idea of having one of each. (We are done after this one.) Actually I'm really excited!

Now if we could just agree on a name...

Hayley has the same initials as me, so I kind of want to keep the tradition and have this little boy's initials be the same as Jeremy's, which are J.D. So far I've vetoed James Dean and Johnny Danger, and Jeremy has vetoed Jackson Daniel. (Which I really like. I may keep working on him.) Any other ideas?

Oh, I also vetoed Elliot Timothy, that my dad suggested. Think about those initials and you'll figure out why. At least you will if you remember the Drew Barrymore, child actress, era.

And the cutie pie girl name Ashley Hannah is up for grabs. Please someone use it on their upcoming little girl, or spread the word to your pregnant friends.

Customer service isn't dead after all!

Some of you know that I had a varied array of professions before settling into teaching. Waiting tables and working in retail are two of them. I enjoyed both of these jobs, and they taught me a lot about customer service.

For quite a while, it has seemed to me that customer service is a dying art. It was bound to happen in these days of takeout and internet shopping. I guess it's not entirely bad, but it makes me kind of sad. Mostly because I know that I really enjoyed helping people when the roles were reversed.

Lately I've been looking for some cute pregnancy jeans. Let me tell you that there are lots of pregnancy capris out on stores right now, but I'll also tell you that capris won't be working for my ankles (Okay, fine. What will then be "cankles.") in a few months, so no sense on buying those. Tonight I went to Motherhood Maternity in the Southtowne Mall, where I met Emily. She is the cutest, sweetest, most understanding sales associate that I've had the pleasure of purchasing anything from in quite a while. She listened to what I actually wanted, didn't try to sell me what I didn't want, actually had an opinion on what I tried on, and acted like she loved her job in a way that I don't think she was faking it.

Why is this such a big deal to me? Honestly, I don't know. But this post goes out to all the Emilys that can make someone's day just by doing their job and doing it well. Thanks for all you do. It really is appreciated.

The Bachman Song and Dance Routine

So, for the past two nights, I've mostly been an observer getting little to no sleep as the following goes on in and around me:

This baby decides it's time for nightly aerobics every time I lay down to go to sleep. Granted part of this may be my fault as I have a pretty hard habit to break of sleeping on my stomach. At least one of us is doing some exercise during pregnancy.

Adding to the fun and games, lately Hayley has been alternating between waking up having nightmares and waking up to sing songs and play in her bed. I lost count last night after two crying episodes, one rendition of Twinkle Twinkle, and another of Itsy Spider.

Oh, yeah. And Jeremy's been snoring. Which usually doesn't phase me, as I snore too. But add it to everything else, and our house had felt kind of like a circus for the past few nights. I think subconsciously he just doesn't want to be outdone by his kids.

Maybe it's because we've been watching Pinocchio (or Nocchio, as Hayley calls it) a lot lately, but I kind of felt like that scene where Jiminy is trying to sleep, and everything in the house is making noise.

Of course, Jeremy stopped snoring and Hayley was sound asleep at about 6:30 this morning. Right about the time I had to get up for school.

I'm seriously considering taking the day off tomorrow, and spending it at Barnes and Noble, alternately napping and finishing Fablehaven.