I never thought I would ever see the day when... Mark would leave SunTrust. Monday, I was proven wrong. Of course I knew it was coming, as did our dear friends and prayer warriors. We thank you for your prayers and asking how Mark is doing with his job search. So, it is finally done. Mark severed the cord after 20 years of attachment and the mindset that he would retire with the same company and he told them to take this job and ------. No, he politely said, "I'm resigning." Wow!

Thank you for praying for us. We are so humbled and feel so loved. God answered our prayers, for which we are thankful, and provided Mark with a new job. He starts the 23rd of April. Mark is so excited and so am I! Mark will now be working for a bank in Springfield.

He has almost 2 weeks OFF! Yeah! I made him a long list of tasks to be done around the house. I'm happy to report he has already almost accomplished one- our taxes! Plus, we can't have all work and no play, so we will have to be creative to come up with fun things to do in this cool weather. We started with going to the Hidden Oaks Nature Center in Annandale today. It is a small facility but packed full of neat things for preschoolers (and the parents) to find interesting: costumes to try on- check out our little scientist, frogs, turtles, snakes, fish, birds, books, puzzles, things to play on, in and with! Loads of fun!

Happy Belated Easter- He is Risen!

(Not the best picture of us- Mark looks like he has a grill and my hair is *&^%!)

For a fourth year, we spent Easter with friends at the Fannings home in Fairfax. So, after church, we head over for some yummy food, fellowship and hunting! It was wonderful, as usual even though the weather was much to be desired. Winter coats in April? You must be kidding!

None the less, we couldn't help but have fun while hanging out with dear friends. It's especially nice to see all the husbands and kids together romping around and all acting like children! Let me explain. We all partake in a fabulous meal- the Fannings provide a delicious spiral ham, sit around and catch up, making sure our children eat something besides jelly beans. After lunch, the Great Hunt begins! This hunt actually started before any children were made. The husbands hide eggs and the women go on a hunt, then the women get their turn. This year was the first time we started with hiding for the children. It was so sweet! Hunter and a couple other little ones missed out because of naptime. I have no idea who won but I'm sure we added a couple of years to our lives, though, from all the fun we had! Even a camera was broken in the big hunt!

The amazing part of our group who gathered is that there was only 1 child 4 years ago. Now look! (Plus, 2 baby girls and a 1.5 year old boy were sleeping.) Fruitful; aren't we?! I can't wait to find out how our families look next year! Plus, if the Fannings move, we will just have to make a trip to Alabama for Easter! :)

I just have one question: Why do we hunt for eggs on Easter and what does it have to do with Jesus? Just curious!

This week, I took a meal to a friend, Lora Lynn, for her and her family. We thought it would be fun to let Hunter and her three boys play together. Indeed, it was with two three-year olds, a 22-month old and a 20-month old. They didn't really play together, of course, but parallel play is still fun to watch. Lunch was the best part! They sat around the big dining table, mimicking each other and giggling. I wish I could have captured that on camera. Lora Lynn and I were too busy eating home-made cornbread- yum! Oh, and I did put sunscreen on Hunter but his cheeks are still red from the hot weather we had earlier this week.

Mark and I discussed the idea of him traveling two weekends in a row to his parents house in Bedford, VA to go to a NASCAR race with his brother and then participate in the opening day of trout season the following weekend, again with his brother. He didn't think I would go for it, but I was willing to compromise. He had to leave as late as possible and return as early as possible. Our family time is just too precious. Mark was thrilled to be able to participate in two fun guy activities.

He left Saturday late afternoon and returned Monday before 1:00 to meet me and Hunter at the lovely park in McLean, Clemyjontri. It was a wonderful, hot day, where mostly moms and their toddlers ran around the playground. I was able to snap a few pics of my guys while I sat and read the paper for a few minutes. (This is a picture of Hunter walking on a balance beam.)

We compromised again to allow him the pleasure of trout fishing "on opening day" (Ladies, this is apparently equivalent to attending the first day of a consignment sale) on Easter weekend. He will leave town Friday to get up super early to catch some good fish, then return home late Saturday night and spend Easter with his family. What a good man! Oh yeah, and I get points for being willing to go along. :)

My friend, Lora Lynn, announced a contest on her blog to win a new Slim Dyson vac (www.dyson.com)- Wow! You just have to visit "5 Minutes for Moms" at (http://www.5minutesformom.com/1343/dyson/), read the directions, scroll to the bottom and enter your info. (LL, if this is incorrect, will you let me know?)

Our 11-year old vacuum leaves a yucky odor when you use it. It smells like smelly feet! I would love a new vac. :)

Sorry for the blogging delay. Between wiping Hunter's "boogies" every 5 minutes and now wiping my own, I have been a little too pooped to blog. Hunter was ill last night and my cold fully bloomed today, so we did a lot of snuggling today. He is quite a happy-sick child, so I consider myself very blessed.

In the meantime, Mark is wearing a gas mask, gloves and using tongs to prevent contracting, what he thinks is, a deadly cold. :) I have to admire him for always being so cautious. I still give Hunter kisses even when he has a snotty nose and cough. I just forget. You understand, right?

Back to the storytelling! Saturday, we planned a co-family outing with our dear friends, the Sturgills. Because of yucky weather, we decided to go to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum near Dulles Airport. While I was not enamored with looking at the different nuances of airplanes, I did see some very interesting airplane specimens. The "Enola Gay" was a big attraction- dropped a bomb on Japan, I think. The other large attraction was the "Blackbird, the world's fastest jet- pretty cool. I liked getting out, seeing something new and, my favorite, socializing! Plus, I got to snuggle with the Sturgill's new baby, Lydia.

Mark really liked it; something about history being interesting. It just doesn't register with me. Hunter loved seeing the "air-payne," "coppur" and "spaise-sip." He has a little toy space ship at home, so I decided to call the space shuttle a space ship. I don't know but I would bet the "space ship" was his favorite part.

Wesley (the Sturgill's son) and Hunter both did great in their strollers. We had originally planned to not bring the strollers and let them walk/run but they both had colds, so they rode until the very end, where we let them out. Then, it was off to lunch.

Like most parents of children, especially young children?, time away from our precious offspring is rare and precious. We have been so blessed in the past by our friends, Renee & Chris, who have graciously watched Hunter for us to go away for a night. They had even volunteered to keep him overnight in February prior to the birth of their second child but both our boys became quite sick, so it got cancelled.

I decided to ask another dear friend, Kamber, to watch Hunter, then we could keep Sara Grace for them to go away. She loved the idea and the swap planning began. We have been (especially me!) itching to go skiing this winter, so a-skiing we went!

I brought Hunter over on Friday night, Kamber made the kids dinner and I gave Kamber all of his "supplies" and a few instructions (paci's and blanket at bedtime, etc.). Before heading out the door, I asked her to take pictures of the kiddos and reminded her: "Don't forget to charge your camera battery." Out the door I went in the new-fallen snow, toddler-free! Ah, freedom!

Saturday, we went to Massanutten near Harrisonburg. The weather was AMAZING! We couldn't have had much better conditions than we had this weekend, which was great, especially because Sunday was the last day of their ski season. Phew! We made it just in time.

I was going to take snowboarding lessons but wimped out after Mark kept telling me how concerned he was that I would get hurt (plus, I had to see the orthopedic about my knee earlier this month). So, it was skiing for me; snowboarding for Mark. He does look super cool snowboarding and I really want to try it someday.

We skied all afternoon, took showers, went to a relaxing dinner and a movie (Premonition- good thriller but it had a terrible ending). It was wonderful connecting and having fun together!

Sunday on the slopes, I asked someone to take our picture, who happily obliged, but when he turned on the camera, guess what: batteries were dead! Do I need to say it? I needed to heed my own advice. So, you will not be viewing any pictures of us in ski gear or of Mark cutting snow down the mountain on his board. However, I can guarantee you we went. You should see the bruise on Mark's.... Well, anyway, we had a great time.

Sunday afternoon, we headed back to pick up our little angel, who seemed to wish we hadn't come back. Thank goodness children are so versatile.

Guess what... still haven't charged my battery. :)