Here are the latest pictures of the kids. I found one we took three years ago and posted it as well - fun to see how they've changed.

We did make it to Hatcher Pass and skiing at Hilltop over spring break. We head to Alyeska for a day of skiing Thursday with the kids' school. We had a few days of 40 degree weather so I wondered if they'd cancel it but it's snowing right now so no worries.

We're between sports seasons - Luke's team did not make the finals at state. They placed 5th or 6th, right in the middle. They had some exciting games last weekend...Luke ended up the overall penalty king despite having been out for six weeks at the beginning of the season due to a broken ankle. (He also had the most assists so maybe he'll avoid being voted Least Valuable Player.) Grace's girl scout troop sold 1500 boxes of cookies and I just deposited the last of our money. Whew! Except for track, April is always a nice, slow month in our family and I want to keep it that way.

At school, I'm finishing student teaching and this week we begin the final prep for SBAs - the big standardized test all American students take for NCLB - no child left behind. After 3 months, I finally know my students and the more I know them, the more I like them...although getting them to write essays was like asking them to grow another head. I'm done in the classroom week after next and then must finish a pile of work samples, papers and a portfolio before end of April.

One exciting possible development...Roger's company is opening bases in Malaysia and Sidney, Australia. He is going to ask if he'll be considered for the manager position for both bases for a year until they're up and running. It would be SOOO exciting to spend a year in Australia. It's WAY too early to hope anything but it's on our radar nonetheless. Roger was supposed to be home all April for jury duty but he's asking to postpone it for December so he can be home for the holidays. If the judge releases him, he'll head to Malaysia and Sidney right away. If not, we'll enjoy having him home a little longer.

The first day of spring has come and gone - we're looking fwd to break up whenever it shows its muddy head.

Nate's birthday was Wednesday. He adored all his presents, including his new room courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa Gilbert. His favorite new train is the Thomas that came with the cake - he LOVED that cake. I can't believe he's 4 already! We took a funny movie of him blowing out the candles. I'll try to figure out how to download it here.

It is spring break - hooray!!! Roger heads to CT to train staff there - :-( . While he's gone I'll be planning lessons for my last three weeks of student teaching, organizing my professional portfolio and trying to keep the kids occupied. Luke has the state tournament in a couple of weeks so it'll be nonstop hockey; we've got three cookie booth sales for Girl Scouts. It's snowing right now and I'm hoping for enough to make a skiing trip possible one day during break.