Life is Good

A couple of momentous events have taken place in our lives, well at least momentous for us, so I wanted to make sure they made it into the family record. The first is that Katie finally ran in her second 5K race (Shamrock Shuffle) and despite the more hilly than expected nature of the route finished with a satisfactory time of 35:06. She's now looking forward to participating in annual Madison Crazylegs Classic, an 8K race that ends at the 50 yard line of Camp Randall, the UW football stadium.
Also for the first time ever, Robert and Katie completed without error or cheating the Sunday (3/16/08) New York Times crossword puzzle. A last minute memory from Robert that the French word for water is eau saved the day! There was much rejoicing.
We also just had a couple of great visits from Liesel and Dominic (despite the fact that illness took over our house for a few days and their return to Ohio was challenged by a blizzard) and Stacy, Amanda, Ashley, and Meghan who made the trip up from Salina. We had a great time with all of you! While they were here we went to the KidsExpo where Mary Ann got to ride a miniature circus train and a pony and Rose became infatuated with the Oscar Meyer WienerMobile and we all got Wiener Whistles! Hurray!
Also, while I'm on a roll blogging here, I'll let you know that we also just got our carpet installed today in the new room, so now we (i.e. Robert) just need to put in the baseboards and it will be all ready for Mitzi!!
We wish you all a Blessed Holy Week!

Basement

Well, the basement is changing. My dad and uncle came up from KC and Salina to help work on our basement renovation. I had the studs and wiring done (and almost all the insulation) by the time they got up here last Sunday. The 3 of us were able to hang the drywall, mud and get primer and paint on. Today I (with Mary Ann's help) was able to get a coat of our "accent" paint on 1 wall. We have light blue/off white on the ceiling and 3 walls and a darker blue on one wall. It's finally looking like a room. But, it sure is long and thin. We still have to put up some caulk around the window, get carpet, put up baseboard and crown molding (or maybe just quarter round...). And get doors for the closets. It's a pretty nice room.

Vacation is over for Robert. 2 weeks off from work now gone. Who knows when the next vacation will be--the next school year's schedule isn't out yet. Any requests anyone?