On the way back from their month in Florida, my parents spent another weekend with us. The real draw was the St. Anthony's Fish Fry. Coincidence? I think not. Kristin, Carlo and the girls were able to come with this time, but Carlo had to report back to work afterward. The next day, Mom and I convinced Carlo to drop the girls at my house so we could take them to Hallmark for Kids Day. Kristin was going to IKEA with the neighborhood moms. Only Kristin was too sick to go! Bella and Lucy loved seeing Paige at work, getting their faces painted, making the Easter basket craft, seeing Paige, picking out stickers, seeing Paige, eating Jelly Belly treats, seeing Paige, and getting their picture with the Easter Bunny. We called Kristin afterward and she was up for coming dress shopping (for Abby's graduation and Paige's confirmation) at the mall with me and Mom for a few hours. Dad and Jeff worked to restore the birdhouse. Their reward was Final Four basketball games that night.

Relief is on its way: my last week at Readers Digest. Though I enjoy the work and walks to be had in Greendale, my freelance work is too consuming right now for me to be working another gig for 25 hours/week. I'm glad I had Readers Digest when I did because I'm still waiting for freelance payments to come in from work I've done sinze January 31st! So it all works out.

Outdoor track season began the end of March with Carroll hosting its first meet at home on March 31st. Bryn didn't compete due to a pulled large muscle in her thigh. Luckily the team had a weekend off from competition because of the Easter holiday so Bryn's looking to see where she'll be placed for this weekend vs. Wisconsin Lutheran.

Paige was more than willing to pick up Bryn from Carroll last Thursday evening as the Saunders girls came home for the Easter weekend. Abby left La Crosse after classes on Friday. Abby was able to get in some hours at Hallmark, working with Paige Friday night and Saturday afternoon. Just before Abby left for work on Saturday, the Easter Bunny (AJ) left a basket for Paige on our garage door stoop!

Abby called last week looking for help with transcribing interviews for her senior communications project. Her teachers are warning her that she's behind in this process. Abby thought maybe we (me, Jeff, Bryn, Paige) could take turns listening to the interviews and typing them in as Abby had been doing. Knowing this process wasn't working, I had to Google what's out there. I found transcription software and forwarded links to Abby to confirm that it would do what she need it to do. Ordered it in time to arrive with Abby at our home on Friday. So Friday Abby loads the disc to install, and her computer isn't running the required operating system. Poop! On top of that, there's no way to download it or run to a store and purchase it. Online we go again, but she'd have to wait til Monday to get it. We ordered it and to get something done over the weekend, we installed her dictation software on my new computer so she could try it out. She got it working, so hopefully the transition goes smoothly for her Monday back at La Crosse!

Saturday night when we were all finally together we watched Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Pretty good. And we finally got to meet Bryn's boyfriend, Tony. He came over for dinner and the movie. He's a Chemistry major, like Bryn, at Carroll.

Easter Sunday we trekked up to Appleton to Maggie's for dinner. Always too much good food! Always great to see everybody. Abby coordinated a couple of riders from the Valley to accompany her back to La Crosse. And Paige, finally on her spring break, is taking Bryn back to Carroll today.