i've been so lax about updating!
but really and truly have been busy with visitors as well as working long hours...

so here will be a (hopefully) nice long blog to keep you all from getting irate at my first sentence, since mom edwards' birthday has long since passed (by the way, we'll celebrate in santa cruz!)

let's recap, shall we?
we had such a fun visit with michelle and sweet baby hannah, who was so much fun. just chattering away, thinking and responding, and being so silly and giggly and good! it was especially fun to hear her saying our names (ceecee and uncle matt) all the time for different things that she wanted us to be a part of (for example, her bath, putting on shoes, eating, etc., etc., etc.!). so now i can be a bragging aunt, right? hannah's language is amazing! SPEECH THERAPIST NERD ALERT!!!! at 18 months, she should be saying about 15-30 one-word utterances, but this little peanut was saying mostly 2-word utterances and sometimes even 3 words!!! she was counting to four, and knew some colors and all her body parts. i know i'm the only one getting excited about this, but i gave her a standardized language assessment and she is in the 88th percentile for her age group (way above normal limits) and has a language age-equivalent of a child aged 2 years, 3 months. can you blame me for being excited? NERD ALERT PASSING....

mary came down a couple of days into their visit and we did the 21 mile alpine challenge bike ride. yikes! all i will say is the last 11 miles were uphill and exhausting. but we made it and it was a really satisfying feeling!!! and the best part was the free (well, minimal donation to charity) sports massage afterwards--ahhhhhhh...... and we weren't even sore the next day!!!! i really believe it was because of that massage. and michelle and hannah were waiting for us at mile 16--we were the only riders who had a cheering section!!!!

then uncle matt babysat that night so the girls could have a night out. so we all got pedicures (mine still looks perfect, girls?) first and then went out to eat at casa de bandini in old town, a really cute mexican restaurant. we sat on the veranda/balcony and ordered drinks and an appetizer while we waited (hour and 15 minute wait, we were told). well, after an hour of eating appetizers and chips/salsa, we weren't hungry anymore! so we left the restaurant to walk the streets of old town. we bought tortillas and stood on the street corner, having such a great chat.

michelle and hannah took off on weds, april 19th in the morning. so sad--we missed having them around every morning when we woke up and every day when we came home from work.

but then our good friends kelly and spivey came into town thursday! i picked them up at the airport at 1:00 and took them to lunch at rancho's, a great mexican joint with a beautiful outdoor arbor, covered in bouganvilla (sp?) to eat under. it was a great long weekend of chatting and talking and eating. we went to fillipi's for pizza, to ocean beach for coffee and a walk on the beach, the boys played hours of basketball, kel and i found a new coffeeshop with an ocean view, and we laughed and talked and solved the world's problems! ha! we went into the weekend with no real plans other than to talk and matt's plan of playing basketball with spive. and this is because they are the kind of friends that it is fun to just go to the store with, or stand in line with. we get into such great conversations with them that we often lose track of time and place and forget where we are, or we become late to wherever we were going, just because we stopped to chat! we're so glad they moved out to san jose. and part of their trip was a researching trip because they may be considering a move to san diego (depending on where kelly gets accepted for a PhD program).

they took off on sunday, which was probably good because i had sort of a rough week at work--just super busy with LONG IEP meetings. Usually meetings will be anywhere from 45 min-2 hours. and the 2 hour-long ones are exhausting, but sometimes necessary for everyone to say what they need to say. well, we had a meeting on friday that lasted 3 and a half hours AND WE STILL WEREN'T DONE! so we met again this thursday for FOUR MORE HOURS! and we STILL need to meet again. it's because the parents are really well-informed and well-educated and have strong opinions about their child's needs. and they also have an advocate (this is a person who is rude and demanding and acts like an expert, but is not one). we have a positive relationship with the parents, but EVERY LITTLE THING is a huge discussion. so exhausting! i don't get paid enough to do this. and it cuts into time that i am able to spend doing what i love, which is seeing kids.

i don't intend to complain, just explain, really. this year has been difficult. between a new computer system and network that is faulty and consistently sucks away my time, and an increasing number of "high-profile" or potentially high-profile cases (meaning parents have sued the school district and won, or may sue them, depending on how my meetings go), it has changed and my stress level has increased significantly. so while i really enjoyed my job the first two years i was here, this year has proven to be the most challenging, on many levels.

welp, enough about work!
our friend des is in town from new york and we've been having so much fun with her! we had lobster tacos on weds night and had a bonfire in our friends backyard last night. everyone started conking out around 11:30, so it wasn't a very late night, thankfully! des has a cute little mutt doggie named "farley", who i love. he sat on my lap like old times last night.... we'll all go to dog beach today at some point and have a picnic and let the dogs run wild!

matt and i also need to work in a long bike ride sometime today and tomorrow--yikes! our 65 mile ride is coming up in 2 weeks!!!!! we both got road tires installed on our bikes to make for a smoother (and faster!) ride, so that part is ready. our last ride, you know the 21 miler, had a change of elevation of 2500 feet. this one has a change of over 4000 feet. i don't know why i thought this one would be easier (terrain/elevation-wise), but i think we're all in for a rude awakening! ha! we'll be camping in santa cruz with mary and casey and mom and dad edwards, so that will be so fun!

welp, i must get the day started!

remember the things you have seen
the sun that shines down on the world so still
think of the places you'll go
somewhere the language sounds like music to your ears
-denison witmer