The Winter That Wouldn't Die

For the love of all things good in this world! I like winter. I like when winter first comes and there's that nip in the air and the first snow fall and all that jazz. I love winter for Christmas and I even love it in January when it's freezing cold. I tolerate it in February with hopes of looking towards March. March is still winter in Wisconsin but it's generally considered the end of winter. By the end of March beginning of April you can see Spring coming. Even though there's usually snow in April a couple of times and the temps still get cold enough for a coat, by that time, I've retired my winter coat and am getting by in a fleece or a sweatshirt.
But today.....April Freaking 28th!!! You've got to be kidding me! I know that this time of year it's possible to get snow but when I think of snow at the end of April/beginning of May I think a snow/rain mix that will melt the second it touches the ground. Not this. Not the forecast of 1 inch of accumulation and so far at least 4 inches on the ground with more coming! I am not amused. Esme and her friend Rowen want to go 'play' in the snow. PLAY IN THE SNOW??? I told them that they must be kidding me. This isn't happy snow, this is glare out the window while cursing the Goddess of Earth Snow!

Dance, Dance.....

Esme had her last dance class yesterday at the YMCA. She was in a class called 'Tippy Tots' and did everything from ballet to tap to jazz. She LOVED the class so much and had so much fun. She had one little dance routine half way through the class where they did ballet. Yesterday's dance routine was a tap to 'Happy Tappin' With Elmo.' All the kids were super cute with their little feet tapping and trying to snap. I tried to upload the little video I took but it was too big so I'm going to try and figure out how to compress it so I can get it up here. A couple of photos will have to do for now.

It's still a girl

This is the Mr. in the Welch's blog. Now I know that as a man I'm supposed to want a son, and part of me did. However, I really wanted another daughter. I know it seems weird not to totally want a male heir, but I have such a great relationship with Esme' that I really wanted to continue the "daddy's little girl" thing. Now we really like Esme's name suggestions, Darby from MY FRIENDS TIGGER AND POOH, Violet from THE INCREDIBLES, and Junior from Carrie's parents new puppy. Great names all around but I think we have some nicer names not from cartoon or other peoples pets. No we aren't going to put them on the blog for now, but when you see us in person you can ask us and we may tell you. TTFN

It's a Girl!

Well I had an ultrasound yesterday and we found out that we are having a little girl! Esme is super thrilled, it's exactly what she wanted. When I was pregnant with Esme we decided to let the gender of the baby be a surprise. But this time around Esme was pretty adamant about not wanting a baby brother. We thought it would be best if we found out so that in case it were a boy we could prepare her for that. We didn't want some horrible reaction at the hospital when a little boy popped out! So now we know that we are going to be raising two little girls. I am so happy for Esme to have a little sister. Siblings are built in friends and I can't wait to see what kind of relationship my daughters will have. "Daughters"- Weird. It may take some time getting used to saying that. Esme's choice for baby names right now are: Darby, Violet, and Junior.

Rock and Roll Family

Rory and I bought Rock Band this year for the PS3. It is so much fun! I had no idea how much I would love playing guitar. We've had several parties where all we've done is play Rock Band. There's room for one person to play the drums (uber-hard!), one can play the guitar and one can sing on the microphone. If you buy another guitar then someone can also play the bass. It's so much fun and I must say, I've become one of the better guitar players in the house. It's great to actually be better at a video game than all the guys who've been playing for years. The cutest rocker in the house has got to be Esme. She loves doing her guitar poses and she loves to "play" the drums while either Mom or Father (her preferred choice of name to call Rory-'fadder') is playing guitar. Fun Fun Family activity!

Vacation for Esme and Carrie

Esme and I were able to visit my parents in Tulsa, Oklahoma for two weeks this March. The weather was great to us, even though on certain days ( the ones in the 50s and 60s) locals were saying how much like winter it was. Give me a break! It ranged from beautiful spring in the 50s to glorious summer in the upper 70s and low 80s. I enjoyed every minute of it and Esme fully enjoyed not having to wear a coat anywhere.

We were able to celebrate my Mom's birthday while we were there and the Easter Bunny visited us as well. We (along with the rest of spring-breaking Tulsans) spent the first day of Spring at the super busy Tulsa Zoo.

Rory spent a mostly miserable two weeks at home missing his girls. I kept telling him that he needed to enjoy the quiet and be happy he could live in a messy house with no one telling him what to do, but for some reason he missed the noise of a three year old and the loving directions from his wife ;-)

That's all for now! Hope everyone enjoys the little updates about our life in Stevens Point.