April update

Well, another week and month is about over. We started the month preparing for Kenny's move to South Korea and wondering if he was moving and working without the federal government paying him. Well, that was taken care of just before his departure, but not without a TON of heartburn.

Kenny made it safely to Korea and we learned how to use Skype. Sydney thinks that it's really cool to see her daddy on the computer, but she still walks around to the back of the laptop to see if he's sitting there. :-) She'll "talk" to him, waive and blow kisses when he's on Skype. When he's on the phone, she just giggles and waives to the phone not quite sure what to do.

Orrin has been playing baseball and we don't see him much. He's also still involved with the HS band and is currently in D.C. on a trip with the band. They were privileged enough to play in front of the Jefferson Memorial...just wish that I could have been there. But, I'm sure that he wouldn't have had quite as much fun if mom and the younger siblings were tagging along.

Mack isn't playing sports right now, well, if you don't count video games. He still watches any sport in earnest and can tell you almost anything you want to know about any of them. Could I possibly have a future sportscaster in the family?

Overall, the boys are growing up way too quickly and I still have a hard time when I think about the fact that Orrin will be a Senior in HS in the fall. It's hard enough when he goes away for a short period of time on a school trip...what will I do when he goes to college?

Sydney, well, she's still our little princes. She'll be 16 months old on Saturday...so hard to believe that time has passed us by so quickly. We still enjoy every minute with her. Well, I can't say that we totally enjoyed the weeks when she was trying to cut 5 teeth at one time, but we still loved snuggling with and comforting her. She's such a blessing to have in our lives. We are biding our time until the day when we can officially file for adoption of her and finalize it by changing her name to Sydney DeLayne Rice (the middle and last will be new).

The kids and I had a wonderful Easter, although a little lonely without dad. We had an indoor Easter egg hunt for Sydney (plastic eggs of course) and spent the day together. The boys wanted to go to MiYabi for dinner instead of having the traditional ham and fixings. That didn't really bother me because I didn't have to spend all day cooking...just got to enjoy quality time with my kids.

I hope that you and yours had a Happy Easter and you're doing well this spring. We were spared by the tornadoes that came through North Carolina, although they wreaked havoc in all directions around where we live. We continue to keep those who were affected in our prayers, along with all of those who have been affected in the South in the past 24-hours.

Wishing you all a wonderful Spring and reminding you to enjoy every minute that you have with family and friends as life IS TOO SHORT.