This was taken exactly 3 years ago. Benjamin was not yet 1. I found it interesting because Mike has been swimming lately for his triathlon training in the same pool. How life changes.

We spent the weekend dodging rain drops. I know that April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but we are about done with the rain! On Friday we were spoiled with over 80 degree temperatures and sun, so Benjamin and I spent a large part of the day cleaning up leaves in the backyard. There were SO many that we didn't even finish, but the job is a little more manageable for the next nice day that we are home. Benjamin has been attending a preschool class on Fridays called "Alphabet Express." It is through our Community Education program and he just LOVES it. The teachers are fabulous and the activities they do are just so awesome. One component of the class is cooking so every week they make a food that corresponds to the letter they are working on. This week's letter was T, so they made apple tarts, which thankfully had no eggs so Benjamin could enjoy them. I have to admit, they were really really good! He is always so proud of what he's made and cannot wait to eat the goods he brings home - sometimes we don't even make it out of the parking lot before he's begun to dig in.

Saturday morning Mike did his regular long run with the Rochester Track Club's training group and Benjamin and I got up early to volunteer to man 2 waterstops for the group. We keep discovering reasons to love our new Rondo, but Saturday morning took the cake. We were able to hide from the cold temps, wind and possible rain in the back of the car while watching movies thanks to the outlet in the trunk. SO awesome. Benjamin was all cozy under a blanket in the warm car watching Curious George while I filled up cups of Gatorade and water and got out our special treat for the runners: M&M's. The only downside was that pretty soon after we arrived and set everything up, Benjamin had to go to the bathroom. He's still not proficient at doing that kind of thing outside, so after a couple of tries we had to give up and wait until Mike could bring him to a bathroom after the run. Because we had all been up so early in the morning, we spent the afternoon napping, relaxing, wine tasting and dining out at Whistle Binkies, which was perfect!

Everyone was up early again on Sunday. Mike and Benjamin headed out to Oronoco to volunteer for the Winter Begone Duathlon and I went to church so I could lector for a morning mass. It was another cold, rainy day with scattered thunderstorms and the race actually was shortened for the safety of the runners. Benjamin and Mike braved the elements though and helped out at a transition area and the finish line. They had a great time and Mike was able to see first hand how those kinds of things work in preparation for his upcoming first triathlon in June. The rest of the day for us was pretty uneventful as we wanted to just hang out at home and stay warm and dry.

Today Benjamin and I are taking it easy at home. The weather is still pretty chilly and just generally yucky. It rained ALL night last night, but the good thing is that the grass is very green and the tree buds are opening up.

We played around in the kitchen for our lunch and ended up making a fabulous veggie sauce for our whole wheat spaghetti, which we both loved. I had the camera sitting near by so I snapped a couple of shots of the meal. Mine with my all-important Diet Coke and Benjamin's with a big glass of milk.He's totally a Schmitt; in every picture I took of him today his eyes were 1/2 open. We are all very excited for this weekend. Mike and I are escaping to a B&B for a night and Benjamin is going to spend the weekend with Grandpa Ed and Grandma Chris. He keeps asking if he's going there "tomorrow." He has absolutely no concept of time! Silly boy!!

We all spent a lovely weekend in Milwaukee for Erin and Dennis's wedding. I drove down Friday morning all alone in my sweet new ride, the Rondo. When I arrived to Erin's house, she immediately put me to work folding programs and when that was done we went to pick up her wedding dress and brought it over to the hotel. We were pampered Friday night by staying in the Penthouse Suite at the hotel, which was very very cool. The rehearsal was Friday evening followed by the rehearsal dinner, which was in the hotel next to ours at a Champp's. It was a really fun day and somehow we all kept Erin from getting too stressed out or nervous. All of us girls, plus our Aunt Debbie, spent some time hanging out in the suite before we all were too tired to stay up any longer. I got to share a room with Erin and was lucky enough to be the first person to see her on her wedding day!! We sang a rousing chorus of "I'm Getting Married in the Morning" and "Goin' to the Chapel" before crawling out of bed to breakfast. While Erin, her Mom, Stephanie and Sarah all went to get their hair done, Cicely and I spent some time decorating the suite.

Everyone came back in a couple of hours and we ate lunch, had our makeup done by a makeup artist, got dressed and headed over to the church. I think we all were starting to get nervous at this point because everyone was pretty quiet as we were hanging out in the Bride's room. After Aunt Mary and Kelsey arrived, Erin slipped on her beautiful dress and we all waited for our cue. I had a small scare as we lined up for the procession. The Priest asked me if I had put my reading up on the podium and since no one had told me to do that at the rehearsal, I had assumed that someone would be taking care of that the day of the wedding. Not the case. So luckily I had brought a copy with me and could run back to the Bride's room to get it. Phew! I was nervous before that, but after I was just a sweaty shaking mess, haha. The rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch and everything was so perfect and beautiful. Before we knew it, we were on the limo bus on our way to have photos taken at a park. It was a cloudy day and it looked like rain was on its way, but fortunately it mostly held off until photos were done. They took some photos at a really cool location that had a bunch of old buildings and farms, which will no doubt be amazing! Mike was able to ride along on the bus with all of the wedding party, so Benjamin spent the time meeting and charming family with Grandma and Grandpa. He was such a very good boy all day! The reception was back at the hotel where there was a cocktail hour in the atrium followed by the dinner and dance in the ballroom. I somehow made it through my matron of honor speech with only choking up once, but with no tears, thankfully. Benjamin danced the night away with relatives until he could no longer keep his eyes open, so Mike brought him up to the suite where Erin and Dennis had provided babysitters to watch Kelsey and the other children. It was great to have the chance to talk with family members who we don't get to see often enough and we had a fun time dancing, too. Eventually we were both too tired to keep going so we gathered up a sleeping Benjamin and headed to our room. In the morning we met up with all of our family members staying at the hotel for a breakfast and a small gift opening in the suite. We said our goodbyes and started for home around 11:30 or so.

The three of us made a couple of stops on the way home to make the ride a little more fun. One of our stops was at the Tyranena Brewery in Lake Mills, WI. Mike and I sampled their beers and we all had a relaxing time hanging out in the tasting room playing games and watching tv. It was a fun time and really made all of us wish we could take a roadtrip vacation sometime soon. Benjamin is a pro at traveling - seriously. He likes to listen to his music, read books and color in the car and generally is just really awesome at it. We haven't pulled out the dvd player in the car for a year at least, it is great!

This weekend we are staying close to home. Mike is doing a training run Saturday morning and Benjamin and I are manning a waterstop. Should be fun!!

In honor of it being the season opening week of baseball and because the three of us have been enjoying the evening Twins games on tv all week:

Would you believe that he is deathly afraid of this bear now?!?!

No, no, not THAT kind of new addition! :-) Got your attention though, didn't I?? We just wanted to officially announce that we have welcomed a new automobile to our familie!

Here she is resting with her brother:


We picked up the Kia Rondo yesterday and I am SO excited! As I mentioned a while ago, my Saturn was hit in a parking lot, so we took that as a push to buy something new. The Saturn, which was a hand-me-down from my Dad treated me well over the past 5 1/2 years, but it was time to move on and up. I salute you Goldie...

and I hope you enjoy your new home, wherever you end up!

Mike and I spent all day Saturday looking at cars and our last stop was in Burnsville where we found the Rondo that we ended up purchasing. It was a stressful process, we both lost a lot of sleep, but in the end everything worked out the way we hoped it would. I think my Grandpa Murphy would be proud of our car buying (he was a car salesman).

The rest of our weekend was spent hanging out with Grandma Chris and Grandpa Ed in Mound. They took Benjamin to Dave & Busters on Saturday while we were out looking at cars and he came home with a couple of cute prizes. On Sunday we sort-of celebrated Easter with them since we will be with Mike's family over Easter weekend. Benjamin searched for and found his Easter basket from Easter Bunny Grandma and Grandpa.

Our nephew, AJ, just celebrated his fourth birthday yesterday. His party is on Saturday and Benjamin is all a twitter with excitement over it. He is counting down the days! The boys have grown so much, it is amazing. Last night we called to sing AJ Happy Birthday and the two of them talked on the phone for a little while. They need just a little prodding on either end from a parent still, but they speak so well to each other, it is very cute.

Things are gearing up for Erin's wedding in TEN DAYS (yikes!). I think we are all outfitted, have our plans all set up for driving and arrivals and even have a sweet new ride for the drive to Milwaukee! I cannot wait!!