Happy St. Patrick's Day!

 My red hair not withstanding, I don't think I'm actually Irish--more of an English, German, Scandanavian mongrel. But we like St. Patrick's day all the same. We had Stake conference this morning, but we all wore something green (note, only the picture of Andrew was actually taken today). And in about an hour we'll be celebrating dinner with Bubby and Poppy with meat, potatoes, and cabbage. Doesn't get too much more Irish than that. (However, we abandoned the idea of a real Irish dessert, since many of them seemed to involve copious amounts of alcohol).

This week was a departure from our normal routine: the university had Spring break, which meant that Dan didn't have to teach and Evelyn wasn't in preschool (since she attends the university preschool). However, since Andrew was still in school, we didn't actually go anywhere.

Dan and I worked on the yard, trimming trees (Dan) and bushes (me). To be honest, Dan did the  lion's share of the work, since it turns out Oliver doesn't like being strapped to my back while I prune roses.

On Wednesday, Dan generously ran interference with the kids so that I could revise an article that was due back to the editors on Friday (and, like most such things, it took a *lot* longer to revise than I'd expected. Funny how hard it can be to really think sometimes). Needless to say, I enjoyed my week a lot more once that was finished.

Yesterday we spent a fair amount of time sprucing up the inside of our house: we finally got rid of our old TV and entertainment center; we also traded up our couch! My friend Elaine was getting rid of this lovely couch below (she was getting new ones), and we were happy to take them off her hands. That meant we had to do something with ours (like the one Evelyn is reclining on above). I posted a message on facebook--and we got a quick response from one of my sister-in-law Laurie's aunts. Saturday morning, while Dan and Poppy were retrieving our couch, two of Laurie's cousins (Bryce and Jeff, for those of you who know them) came by to remove our old couches. Apparently Laurie's cousin Bryce is moving into our ward, which means that the Williams' family is officially taking over. (Also, Laurie--since I know you actually read this!--they're planning on moving on the 30th, so you guys might want to be busy that day . . . )

This last bit is for the grandparents. Oliver still isn't very good at eating, but like both his siblings, he *does* like food.