It's almost 'that' time

Yes, time for us to think about leaving A-Squared. I get sad just even thinking about thinking about it so I'm going to stop.

And, yes, the blog is still active (thanks for the concerned emails). Last week was just a bit "off" due to Zack being on spring break, both of us trying to live back in this timezone and the kids being the kids. Much more normal week this week.

I hate to think about leaving (here I go again) but I did start thinking the other day about all the amazing stuff we've crammed in to this short time. I think the best lesson of all is to live more and live better...it's OK to tell myself that the laundry can wait another few hours and to head to the park. Or that the kids won't hate me someday for feeding them reheated leftovers for the third time so that we can go on a long hike as a family. Of course, I wish that I could do everything and still come home to a pristine house, made beds everyday and a playroom that looked like something out of Pottery Barn Kids but oh well.

So in case you think that this year has been nothing but trips to Trader Joe's and the Y, think again...

We've been to Michigan hockey and football games. We've hiked through The Arb. We've seen snow in October and now into March but we also saw 50+ degree days in January. We've picked apples at least twice and pumpkins once. We've frequented the Farmers Market and eaten quarts of freshly picked raspberries. We've picked pears off of our neighbors' tree and eaten them, raw and cooked.

We saw Jeremy and Amy and little Z on the way up to A2. We've visited Lake Champlain, Walloon Lake, Torch Lake and Lake Michigan. We've been to Petoskey, Boyne Valley, Torch Lake, Traverse City. We've driven to Toronto and ridden the subways and gone up the CN Tower. I went to Chicago with my girlfriends from high school. Breen and Jeanie came up to see us, as did Mimi and Pop. We went to Birmingham and Memphis over Christmas break.

Zack and I have been to Buenos Aires and its environs. We've been to Amsterdam, Istanbul and Ankara. We've eaten more beef than I care to mention and also more celery root (a favorite side dish in Turkey).

We've seen The Royal Shakespeare Company (twice for me), heard the entire score of Handel's "Messiah," seen John Prine live (as well as several other awesome acts at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival), sat front row for the Joshua Bell concert. And how could we forget the Michigan Men's Glee Club.

We've been to more parks in Ann Arbor, including our beloved Maryfield Wildwood Park just at the end of our block. We've been sledding in Vets Park, in the woods by our park and in our backyard. The kids went to their first official Halloween party and IEM was completely into trick-or-treating. We camped out with Jason and Jenny and kids when the power went out. We've watched a hawk in our backyard and smelled skunk outside. IEM found a mouse (deceased) in the basement and brought it upstairs for Mimi. Sawyer has window fights with the cat next door.

EPM learned to walk up here and to jabber and to talk. IEM graduated from his first two-wheeler to his second, turned four, started Montessori and walked across the street to the neighbor's house, only allowing me to watch from the curb. They've made their first border-crossing. They've both made friends here...EPM in her Childwatch program at the Y, IEM at school, in the neighborhood and through Wallace House. Both kids love to swim...IEM swims underwater now with his goggles and the little one is almost fearless.

We've worked out more, eaten better food and failed at eliminating dessert. We've had more great meals at Wallace House than I can count: Italian, Turkish, English, Caribbean, Cuban, Korean, Japanese.

We've met Mike Wallace. And lots of other people. I hear that we're going to meet Alec Baldwin in a few weeks. (Have you watched "30 Rock?" I'm telling you, I was almost crying at last evening's episode. We don't watch it regularly but when we catch it, it is almost always funny.)

I have laughed harder than I have in years...so hard that you hurt and you want to cry. There are some truly hysterical people in Zack's program. We've gone bowling, gone drinking, gone eating. I hope we've both made some lifelong friends in the program and in our neighborhood.

And Zack, I'm sure, could write an entire blog on what he's learned this year.

And lastly one thing that I've known for the past four something years but I've reinforced: When the kids are napping, get some rest. EPM's snoozing and IEM is a playdate so I'm outta here.

Thanks for stopping by.