Graduation Week

Mark graduated from U of M at the end of April! Hooray! I am behind on posting because we have been really busy since, but thought I would update everyone quick on where we are headed. Mark received an offer to work for a development group in Cleveland, so we will be moving there (with two other graduating MBA's from our ward - kind of funny) at the end of this month. We are very grateful to have a job, and Mark is really excited because it is exactly the kind of job he was hoping to get after coming back to school. And I'm excited because since Cleveland is so cheap, we are actually going to be able to rent a cute little house with a great backyard and everything! So we are hoping for the best in Cleveland.

During the week of graduation, there was a special MBA Kids celebration for all the wives and kids of the MBA students. It was a great event - yummy food, a short speech from the Dean, and just a fun time to spend with friends. Mark's graduation was a few days later, and it was fun to see him walk. We are done with school!

Kaylie's diploma

The graduate!

The house we will be renting in Cleveland - cute, huh?

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Donald and Daisy - Kaylie's favorite Easter gift

Becca and I hid some Easter eggs for an Easter egg hunt, and about 10 minutes later, Mark's dad saw this squirrel taking off with one of our eggs!

About 10 minutes after that, I looked outside again and saw that a few of our eggs had been broken into.

The squirrels were eating right through the plastic eggs to get the candy! Who would have thought?

Our friends, the Hansen's, came over for Easter dinner at Mark's family's house.

Hooray!

Mark finished his last class/last final on Wednesday, and is now officially done with school! Hooray! He graduates next Friday, April 29th...same day as the Royal Wedding. Which should I watch...decisions decisions... JK. It is so nice to be done. Mark got to go out and play in some MBA games today (football, ultimate frisbee, basketball, etc) to celebrate the end of the year, and it was fun to go watch. Normal life, here we come!

Dreams Come True!

Before Kaylie came along, I dreamt that motherhood was all about staying home and making cookies with your kids. I don't know why, but that's the picture I always envisioned when I thought about my future family. When I call and talk to my sister, Diana, she often asks me if I am "living the dream" (usually in jest after I am done whining about how hard it can be to be a mom sometimes). I have decided that Kaylie is old enough now, though, to help me start living my dream, so here we go. Kaylie is now my assistant in the kitchen (assistant = taste tester and buddy to talk to), and she is a super cute one.

Reading break...when will the cookies be done??

St. Patty's Day

I am a little late posting about St. Patty's Day, but better late than never. It has been a pretty gray, cold, long winter this year, but I kept holding out hope that it would be sunny and warm enough to go to the park like we did last year on St. Patrick's Day. And it actually happened! It has since been cold and cloudy again, but on St. Patty's (and the day before and after), it was sunny and warm. I was so grateful! I really needed some sun! I think I had more energy and excitement in those few days than I have had all winter.

Anyway, we decided to celebrate by having a few kiddo's over for some green fun. We made green necklaces, decorated shamrocks with Lucky Charms and M&M's, and colored some St. Patty's pictures. We also went to the park - which was great! Then, we had a super yummy lunch - green pasta alfredo, green grapes, and peanut butter celery sticks. And of course, a green dessert: cupcakes! It was a great day!

Total girl!

Winter Update

It seems like I don't post much during the winter, probably cause there's not much going on. We had a few days of warmer weather last week (40's), which was awesome! All the snow had melted, and I was hoping that the worst was over. But, I should have known better...we had another storm today and now everything is covered in snow...AGAIN! Oh well.

Here are a few cute pics of Kaylie over the last month. She has been doing a little bit better the last two weeks being around other people, and actually went to nursery for the whole time today. First time ever! I have been bribing her all week that if she could be a happy girl (no crying) in nursery, she would get a sucker. Maybe that was the trick! :)

Just a quick update (more for me so I can remember what she's doing nowadays): Kaylie is learning to draw pictures and write a few things. She can draw a sun the best, and can also write a lower case "i", and the numbers 1 and 10. She also tries to draw a flower, a stick figure person, and circles. Kaylie is pretty good at recognizing words now too. She can tell me what the following words are when I write them: Kaylie, Mom, Dad, hi, bye, no, yes, up, down, cow, cat, and pig. And she can sometimes count to 40, but not always. :)

A few things she has started saying recently:

-When it is time to go anywhere, I ask Kaylie if she is ready to go, and she says, "Not yet, I'm too little."

-When she doesn't want to do something, she says "Kaylie's sad", and starts pouting on the floor.

-To Mark: "It's nice to see you" haha

Kaylie: "I LOVE this stuff!" (the guacamole)