Quite a Busy Spring Break!

Yesterday, we came back to Ann Arbor after spending a week and a half back in Illinois. While we were home, we all kept quite busy!

Steve hasn't officially graduated yet, but he finished up all of his classes on February 22nd. He was able to finish up early so that we get a bulk of time off before he starts work on May 27th - almost three months! Besides graduation and moving, we are going on three trips to Texas, California & Arizona, and Orlando! We wanted to try to take advantage of the time as much as possible. We won't have such a huge amount of time off again until we retire! Anyway, official graduation is on April 25th.

A few days after graduation, we will be officially moving out of Ann Arbor. We just signed a contract on a house in Arlington Heights a week ago! Besides the excitement of moving to a new place, I personally am really excited to be moving somewhere where we are NOT going to move in 9-12 months. :) The house is a great split level with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, a living room, a family room, and a kitchen with a huge eating area. It even has a subbasement with a laundry area and a ton of room for storage. The back yard has a lot of room for Brandon and Evan to run around, which will be so great for us, and there is a park just three blocks away. Steve's drive to Kraft in Glenview will only be about 25 minutes, which isn't too bad. It will be weird to be so "adult," with a house, a yard to mow, and a driveway to plow. I mean, I know we have kids, but this is just crazy! :) If everything goes well with our negotiations over the inspection, we will be closing on April 8th. Here are a few pictures of the house...




This last picture is also exciting for me... we were able to get this great washer and dryer as part of the deal on the house! Woo hoo!

While we were home on our househunting trip, we had the chance to take the boys to the Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago, which was one of our favorite spots this summer. We all especially love the butterfly pavilion.



Brandon and Evan have been so much fun. As their language continues to explode, Steve and I are constantly laughing at the things they say and do. Yesterday, Steve was working in the house fixing some of our kitchen chairs, and the boys wanted so badly to help him. Brandon kept grabbing Steve's hammer and trying to "fix" other furniture. In order to save our furniture and sanity, we pulled out the boys' Bob the Builder tools and they got to work. Not only did they help fix our kitchen chairs with Dad, they also worked on the stairs, coffee table, desk, cabinets...

Evan working hard

Brandon modeling the latest construction fashion

My two fellas hard at work

Brandon and Evan are also catching on to some of the "good manners" lessons we are teaching them. It is so great to hear them say "please" and "thank you!" At bathtime last night, Steve was letting the water run so the boys could fill their watering cans and play with the running water. Evan asked his dad to make the water warmer by saying, "Water hotter please, Daddy!" Steve turned up the temperature on the water, and then Evan said, "Thank you, Daddy!" It was too cute!

Both of the boys are learning to express their own thoughts and opinions, too. It is so great to see when they have a whole stream of thoughts in their head and their mouth just can't keep up. Steve was telling me about a conversation he had with Evan and Brandon during snack time this morning. We had been planning to go to Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jerry's house today, but we had to cancel because of impending bad weather. Steve told the boys that we weren't going to go to their house because it was going to be too cold and snowy, but that they would get to go to the gym with Mommy in just a few minutes. Evan was really sad, and starting crying, "Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jerry..." to which Brandon replied, "No. No Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jerry. Too cold. Too snowy. Gym instead. No Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jerry." Steve said it went on for two minutes!

Over the next few weeks, we will keep you updated on the house and all of our traveling adventures. I hope you are all staying warm - it is about time for spring!