Technical (and other) Difficulties

It has been way too long since I posted!  March was a CRAZY month.  I had a lot going on, the kids were busy, Dave worked a lot of extra hours... it was all a blur.  I organized two events for my MoM's group, Dave and Mairead took a trip to NY, everyone started soccer, and we tried to take advantage of all the nice days.  Recently, my laptop stopped working.  This is a major inconvenience since I use it for everything- work, email, pictures, recipes, everything.  A friend is trying to save it, but he is not optimistic, so we need to figure out a plan to replace it.  It has been almost two weeks without it, and it can't believe how often I wish I had it.  I am using my dad's computer right now, but it's just not the same.  Fingers crossed that mine can be brought back to life!

The weather was the best March weather I can remember, so we did get to spend a lot of time outdoors, which was great.  The kids love being in the yard and are always eager to 'help' Nana with the gardening. 

The swingset has turned out to be a great investment.  We use it every time we are outside.  Mairead is working on learning to pump, which is great, since she would spend all day on the swings if she could.

She loves to use her watering can and help with all the plants.  She has her own gardening gloves, too!

The kids often visit my Nana while we are out.  One day, Mairead decided that she needed to borrow my Nana's wig.  She wore it for quite a while and thought she looked pretty great.

 We did have a few early spring visits to the playground- the weather was just unreal!  It was nice to get back to Penguin Park; the kids were really excited to be there.  They were even more excited when we found some friends, there!  My friends, Chip and Jen, live close to the playground and their kids were there with their nanny.  My kids sat right down with them to play.  Mairead was especially excited to play with Nora, and talked about her for several days after.

 Jack and Ben love any kind of tool.  Shovel, rake, whatever, they want to use it.

 It's nice to see them get involved with the planting, and to see how excited they are to watch the flowers grow and bloom.  I hope their interest in yardwork lasts a very long time!

All of them are doing really well.  Jack and Ben have settled into preschool and really enjoy their time with Miss Joanne.  Mairead is doing well at school and is incredibly excited that she has been invited to a classmate's birthday party.  I'm excited, too, actually.  Last year at this time, she was really struggling at school and with other kids.  She still has a hard time talking to other kids, but it seems like most of the kids in her class like her and try to include her in things.  In fact, we ran into one of her classmates at soccer last week and I heard the little girl yelling, "Mom?  Is that Mairead?  I want to see her!"  They ran to each other and the other girl initiated a hug, which Mairead happily returned.  I was overjoyed to see this.  Mairead was able to say, "Hi, Gracelyn," which is a big step for her.  I hope that she continues to find it easier to talk to the other kids.

Jack and Ben keep coming up with funny observations or sayings.  For example, last week, I put Jack's shin-guards on and asked if they felt ok.  He replied, 'Yes.  That is very sensible."  Sensible?  Sometimes, he seems like a little old man trapped in a little boy's body!  The same day, Ben told me that Molly (the cat) was coming towards him.  It just struck me as funny to hear him use 'towards.'  I love seeing their vocabulary grow, especially since we can see more of their perspectives on the world.

I have so many more pictures to post-- hopefully, I can get more posts done today!