Congratulations, Jen and Mike!

On Wednesday of last week, we all got a great surprise-- Mike proposed to Jen and she accepted! We are SO excited to officially be welcoming Mike into our family, and we couldn't be happier for them. Best wishes to both of you for a fun and exciting engagement, a fabulous wedding day, and a long and happy life together!


Mike knew that Jen wanted something a little less traditional, so her ring is green amythest- it is really pretty and very special... just like Jen.

We have all been so lucky to find such great people with whom to share our lives. My dad says that he is "four for four" on his kids finding great partners. I would think that has to be a pretty amazing feeling for my parents.

I'll follow the happy news with some sad... both Blackie and Whitey met with untimely demise this week. We have no idea what happened! Whitey only lasted about two days and Blackie left us sometime last night. Mairead seems fine with it, saying, "I know. Let's go to the pet store and another fish." Fine by me- I am happy not to have to provide much explanation. I just told her that they had to go back to the ocean. Not sure how long I can get away with that, but we'll just leave it at that for now!

This week brought some amazing spring weather. Even though we all know it won't last, it has been great to get oustide! The boys tried their cars on some new terrain (the driveway) and made chalk drawings while Mairead was at school on Thursday.

Mairead was dressed for the occasion with her shamrock shirt and green hair bows. Her class had been talking about rainbows, shamrocks, and leprechauns so she had fun with that. At home, we colored pictures of those things and listened to Irish music. Mairead really liked it and even danced along. She seemed to like that so many songs have a lot of clapping in them. The luck of the Irish was with me since she even let me get some adorable pictures of her!

We hope that you all enjoyed the great weather this week. We are looking forward to the days when Spring is really here and we can go outside all the time!