TCM 2009

It's official! Registered for the Twin Cities Marathon. October 4, 2009. 20 planned for tomorrow (Whitney is running the Team Ortho Minneapolis Marathon on May 31). Looking forward to another summer of traning!

http://www.mtcmarathon.org/index.cfm

Tax Man

The tax return is in (as of April 15, or course), thanks to Brad. Depressing, but a relief to have it behind us for another year.
Emma Claire filed her first tax return (welcome to the "real world", Emma Claire...wish we could have delayed it for you). On the "occupation" line..."milk tester" (no joke - that is the way it was turned it). Wonder what occupation she will choose by next year?

Happy Good Friday

What a georgous day it was. The sky was blue and the temps warmer. Looks like it will be a beautiful Easter weekend. I am working the weekend, so we will have to miss the Easter church service. This was always a special holiday in my family. We hope to make it the same for Emma Claire in years to come.

So, we had our "Easter" tonight. We attended a 4:30 pm Good Friday family service, which was fun. Perfect for taking Emma Claire. She put on a little show for our pew neighbors. She clapped and danced to the songs. She lasted about 30 of the 45 minutes. Not bad for her.

Before the service, Emma Claire and I stopped by the mall to visit with the Easter Bunny. I couldn't let Easter come and go without that photo. She was 4 weeks old in last year's picture. This year was quite a bit more eventful (see photo...).

Words

Emma Claire is adding more words to the vocabulary. Banana "nana", she said this morning at breakfast and then said ow-ie after she fell today. She points to the dogs and says "woof". She sometimes tries to say "doggie". Fun to hear that sweet little voice put sounds together to make sense!

Finally, The End

Looks like our remodeling project is coming to an end...praise the Lord! The deck is complete (less a couple of finishing touches). Everything turned out great. It will be strange not to have workers in and out all of the time. I think Emma Claire and the dogs will miss all of the activity. I sure won't!

Emma Claire has been getting bigger by the day. Got some new walking shoes this weekend. Not a big fan of shopping these days, Emma Claire. Only wants to be down on the move. Screamed while I tried to check out. Got the shoes, anyway (I would, personally, be thrilled if someone was buying shoes for me...). You can now hear her coming from a mile away in those rubber soled shoes. She clomps all over the house. Loves to look at them.

New in the Emma Claire repertoire is making a kiss with her mouth when asking her to say "I love you".
She had a ball feeding Sophie spaghetti noodles last night. Good for 15 minutes of hysterical laughing (both from Emma Claire and myself).

The belly button is a new discovery. I picked her up from school yesterday and apparently she had been lifting up her shirt all day, pointing to her belly button, aka, "bee-bo" (if you haven't read "The Belly Button Book" lately...pick it up. Cutest book ever.)

So happy to see the sun today. 50s and sunny in the 10 day forecast. We are in desperate need of some sun and warmth. Can't wait to get in the yard! This is my year (think I said that last year too...I mean it this time!).

The Wave

Emma Claire loves to wave at everyone and everything. She waves to people walking by in the neighborhood, cars, dogs, cats...you name it. She waves hello and goodbye, good morning and good night.
She enjoyed standing at the window much of day yesterday and waving at the workers putting in our deck. They waved back from time to time. Hours of entertainment for Emma Claire and the dogs, alike (although the dogs response to these intruders was not quite as sweet).

Rubbin' Elbows

Brad had the opportunity to meet Governor Pawlenty at a SD 44 Republican fundraising event in Hopkins last week. I think Brad looks pretty "politician-like"...in a good way!