Easter

We were fortunate to have Frank's folks visit for Easter. They came in by train and stayed for about 4 days. We did all the traditional fanfare including an Easter egg hunt and Easter morning baskets. The dogs even got to 'enjoy' the holidays when they were decorated by the girls in complete Easter bunny gear. Nonna made a wonderful Easter bunny cake, but unfortunately we learned after the cake was made that neither of the girls like coconut yet (which topped most the cake!) But the rest of us happily ate it up! We also celebrated Nonna's birthday (tho a bit late). It was a great Easter and wonderful to spend time with family.

Nonna and grandpa arriving in Albuquerque


Dogs dressed up for Easter * Nonna's Easter cake

Jenna and Zoe showing off their baskets full of Easter eggs

Nonna's birthday celebration

Jenna's Recital

Jenna's school had a little singing recital just before Easter. It was so cute! It is adorable to see most of them just standing there, I am sure in practice they were all singing very loudly! Jenna has been singing these songs around the house for months! We had a little snack afterwords and let Jenna pick where we went for dinner (McDs). It was quite a darling first recital for Jenna!

Jenna is the one in the light yellow dress on the far left. She is in a 2-year old preschool class.

Chicago and Kansas Trips

The girls and I got away for over a week to visit friends and family in Chicago and KC. Frank joined me for the Chicago portion, and we spent about 3 days with his folks. We spent some of our time at a fun little indoor amusement park, eating at Franksville and Gino's Pizza, and scaring the cats into hiding. It was great to be together in Chicago! The girls and I also visited KC. My sister and her family were also in town, so we enjoyed lots of cousin playing time. We spent one day at KU and another day at the T-Rex cafe and playing at Zonkers. Unfortunately one full day was spent with almost all of us falling victim to a nasty 24-hour flu bug. After the Macks went home, the girls and I spent some time visiting with old friends. It is always a joy to spend time at grammy and pop pop's! We hope to do another trip soon!

Jenna happy to see grandpa * A rare moment with girls and cats together

At Go Bananas in Chicago * FJ and his dad


The cousins at my alma mater KU

FJ, my brother and Zoe * My mom and Zoe

Pop pop and Nate * Admiring the NCAA tournament champ trophies at KU

Congrats Major Klimas!

Frank promoted to Major this week! He had a promotion ceremony at work followed by a luncheon with his friends, family, and co-workers. The girls and I helped pin on his new rank. We are very proud of him!


FJ swearing in * Us pinning on his new rank


After the pinning * FJ and Ryan pinned on Major together

Grand Canyon and Phoenix

We took a long weekend and went to visit the Grand Canyon and our friends the Creegers in Phoenix. The Grand Canyon was amazing! It's absolutely beautiful. The girls had fun playing in the snow and making snowballs. It was in the upper 40s, but didn't feel cold in the intense sun. It was such a dream to be so warm and to play in the snow at the same time! Zoe especially loved the Grand Canyon model in the museum and both girls had a lot of fun in the watch tower. We stayed a couple nights at the Grand Hotel and then headed to Phoenix midday on Saturday. It was great to see the Creegers! The kids all started playing like they were the best of friends. They started off in the kids Jeep, jumped on the trampoline, and had fun at the park by Jacob's baseball scrimmage. April, Scott, Frank and I stayed up ultra late, eating dinner at like 10:30, and we finished the night relaxing in the hot tub out back listening to music. Need I say we miss Phoenix already! On Sunday we went for a hike and enjoyed some beautiful scenery complete with hundreds of amazingly large cactus. It was classic Arizona. The Creegers were amazing hosts and treated us like royalty. We had a great time, and can't wait to visit again soon!

The Grand Canyon:

Phoenix:

All the kids - McKenna, Jacob, Zoe, Landon, and Jenna

The view at the top of our hike

April and Frank * Jenna and McKenna

West Point, NY

We had a fabulous time in New York visiting my sister and meeting our new niece Rachael. She was adorable and so teeny tiny, it is amazing how soon you forget how small they start! Zoe came with me and was super thrilled to see the cousins again. They played non-stop and were so happy to be together. Frank stayed home with Jenna and got some quality daddy/daughter time with her while we were away. It was a nice long weekend for everyone.

Me, Laura, and baby Rachael * Zoe, Alex, and Nathan leaving a West Point basketball game


All the cousins at dinnertime * Zoe and Brittany Jo

Tent Rocks

We drove to Tent Rocks NP here in NM over MLK Day weekend. It's only about an hour away, and very worth the trip! The girls and us hiked for about 1-1/2 hours. Their favorite part was all the patches of snow they found and got to jump in. We don't see snow too aften around here! We all liked the cave a lot too, tho it's much harder to get into (and out of) than I thought it would be! We will definately try and get here again before we move.

The girls luved the snow! * View from inside the cave

Me and girls inside cave * Jenna found her very own teeny weeny cave

Happy 4th Birthday Zoe!

Zoe had a great 4th birthday. She had a party at McDonalds on Saturday. Her and her friends ran around the play area for almost two hours straight, with only a few stops to munch on a Happy Meal or eat cake. She was all smiles the whole time! Her official birthday was Sunday, so we had a little more cake and opened presents from the family. It was a nice birthday weekend.

Zoe's McD's Party:

Her birthday at home: