Quick Update

We very much enjoyed another college girl coming into town last weekend. Indie joined us for Easter Weekend. We got to have another egg hunt and everything! Pics and video are on facebook. I don't have time to put them on the blog just now. Anyways, it was so nice to see Indie again, and Aussie too. He got to go outside this time! We herded up Pixie and Diego and put them wherever he wasn't everytime Aussie came downstairs. Chino has established that he has more fluff and a bigger hiss and he doesn't go insane the way the other cats do. Grammy's cat Ellie just hides from Aussie. Resistance is futile but she does her best.

Taryn joined us the previous week during her Spring Break. We had a nice visit. Mariah and I took her back, spent the night and had a much better drive coming home than we did going there. An extra 2 hrs was put on the road trip to cover 12 miles, and then when we reached St. Louis, barriers across the freeway with a faulty detour sent us into a bad part of town, looking for a way out. It was a little tense for awhile there. Taryn's excellent navigation skills and our sense of direction got us out before we ran out of gas. We had just enough gas to reach Kirkwood where Tim's family lives and refueled and rewarded ourselves with Sonic drinks to get us the rest of the way to Rolla. Mariah and I planned to go up the Gateway Arch on our way home, but she decided just looking at it from the park was good enough. That reminds me, I have pics to put up of that too.

Taryn will be home in May for her eye surgery and then return to MS&T for summer classes. We hope she can get an RA job during the summer which will pay for her room & board. Amazingly enough, it looks like Indie and Taryn will be home during the same week in May! That will be awesome!

Indie is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and is still debating whether or not it's an oncoming train or the finish line of a tough year. She is putting in 80 hr weeks between classes, internship, honor council, and service scholars. Her advisor said to get used to it because grad school won't be any different. She'll be home for a week or so in May and then off to Kenya again. She is really looking forward to it, especially because they will be returning to the same village.

Gib has all the ducks in a row now to begin work days on his Eagle project. He will begin on 4/21 with the first day of weed wacking and bush clearing of the site. This upcoming weekend he goes to Nashville for Youth Government. He did well on the ACT tests he took in February/March. If he holds his grades together he will have over a 3.5 gpa, which helps place him in the top quarter of applying college freshmen.

Mariah is in dress rehearsals for Music Man. Opening night is tomorrow. She has been at school about 10-14 hrs a day for the past couple of weeks. That, plus volleyball on Tuesdays/Saturday's, and church youth group on Wednesday nights keeps her on the go. She was excited when a new spanish teacher took over at her middle school. She just may save the year as far as the kids are concerned.

Yesterday was my first day back at preschool as a Teacher Assistant and it was so nice to spend time in all three PreK classes. The looks of excitement when I went in to their rooms and joined them in play from the kids reminded me of when my kids saw grandparents arrive for a visit. I got tons of spontaneous hugs and lots of playtime in at work - puzzles, blocks, silly putty, jail, slides, and where's the egg (aka the shell game), and still managed to do a little work as well.

Gardening has been a big chore for me this year. Mom is walking with a cane right now and can't do the manual labor. I spent most of spring break out in the yard. We had gorgeous weather so it was nice to be outdoors. The backyard is now weeded, fertilized, and manured. This weekend is the garden show at the expo, so after we buy a carload of new plants, find places for them in the yard, then I will finish with a new layer of pine straw all over. Mom did get round up on the driveway garden area so hopefully I won't have to weed it and can just pine straw the area. It's got a million tree weeds sprouting there. Ugh.

We were close to sending in a host application for a spanish speaking foreign exchange student live with us for a month this summer, but after thinking it over, I decided we needed a break from the fast lane, and to wait for a better time. Gib will be gone for half of it, and it looks like the only kid who might be here during some of that time is Indie. I thought maybe Mike and I should have a practice run on being empty nesters. And now that it's April, we only have a couple weeks until our 25th anniversary cruise! I'm looking forward to a vacation, and I know Mike needs a break too! School will be out before we know it and the lazy days of summer are calling our name!