Yes, it's been a while. As you expect, a lot has happened.

The Saunders household has suffered a few major breakdowns. Not mentally, but in the way of machinery. Luckily Jeff is very handy and able to diagnose and fix most of our household items, but we did have to replace our lawnmower and trimmer. After days of a scientific process of elimination through vacuuming the coils, defrosting the freezer with a hair dryer Jeff was able to determine that our refrigerator needed a new thermostat so that's taken care of. And there will be no pictures to accompany my blog today as my computer is at the Apple store for repair. It seems my computer fit the profile (manufacture date and memory) for a tiny mishap where it shuts down unexpectedly (really fun!). So while the repair for a new power supply is free, I feel very handicapped without my computer.

Bryn has begun a new babysitting job for the summer for our hairdresser's 2 boys. Bryn will be their first non-relative babysitter. She'll be there 1 morning/week. And Bryn intends to go out for the high school Cross-Country team again in fall, so she's been following the coaches' recommended run schedule religiously.

Paige has been put in to pitch for her team thanks to a little mention by one of her previous coaches. I guess this year's coaches were unaware that Paige could pitch so she wasn't being utilized. Anyways, she's typically in for at least 1 inning every game now and is doing good. Just last week, Paige was chosen to play on the All Star team for her division. Pretty cool seeing as she's only a 7th grader in the 7th thru 12th grade division.

And of course, it's graduation party season. Every weekend I never have to cook, as there's always a grad party to go to. I finally got it together and chose grad party gifts. I just didn't want to go the gift card route. We took many great ideas from other parties and used them at Abby's party on the 22nd. We labeled the coolers with label cutouts from the packages, and we ran a movie of pictures from Abby's senior year on the TV. Abby had a great time being showered with attention and gifts. She was especially happy that my sister Meg made the drive from Indy - even exchanging kids one day due to tournament schedules! My other sister Kristin came even though she was feeling very under the weather. Abby has many thank yous to write for the very generous gifts. I was especially happy with the sub sandwich idea and our cake was so yummy! When my computer's back, I'll have to post a picture. The weather that day couldn't decide whether to cooperate or not. I think we had 3 quick storms pass through that alternated with sunshine. One idea we won't repeat is the "11:00am til whenever" schedule. Abby actually became tired of hostessing around 10:30pm.

We went as a family out to La Crosse this past Friday (27th) to accompany Abby to registration. We spent the night at the cool motel Jeff had discovered with Abby, Ali and Kendal last fall when they toured UWL. The trip is long - a little over 3 hours one way - but it's a beautiful ride. I got to sit in a School of Education session with Abby and could see why she got so excited over the Academic Advisor for her major. We signed Abby up for a checking account with a bank that's located in La Crosse as well as in Menomonee Falls. We took a tour of the campus, shopped in the bookstore, and drove to the riverfront. Abby registered for classes, but won't get her finalized schedule until mid-July. And that's when she'll receive her room assignment and roommate.