The Nye Family

For only the second or third time since we've lived here, we went to the library a few nights ago. And really, we only went because it was the activity that night for Scouts. We own a TON of books, and I usually either borrow books on my Kindle or buy them for really cheap on Amazon. For some reason the library just felt out of the way and inconvenient. I've changed my mind! They had all the books we were looking for, and it was all so easy. This is what the drive home looked like:

American University made it into the NCAA tournament, and Nate got to go with them to Wisconsin for their first game. They were the lower seed, and hung on in the first half, but lost by a lot in the end. Nate is at the end of the bench in this picture. I cannot even say how much I love March Madness!!! I could watch the men's and women's tournament all day every day if that was a responsible thing to do. :)

 My birthday was last Friday. Natalie is obsessed with party planning. Sadly, we never really make the parties happen in the way she plans and envisions them. She was so excited for my birthday, and wrote up this list of things to do.

Nate had gotten home from Wisconsin at 4 am that morning, so he didn't need to go into work right away. We went and had lunch with Jansen and Natalie at their school. 

I have to laugh at how different our kids are. Natalie was just beaming and beyond excited to see us, especially Nate. Jansen was obviously happy we were there, but just kind of took it all in stride and his reaction was nothing compared to Natalie's.

We went to Cafe Rio and Coldstone as a family that night. I didn't take any pictures. The kids were being pretty awful...sometimes they have a way of sucking all the fun out of eating at a restaurant. Jansen was extremely disappointed that were going to Cafe Rio and had a bazillion reasons why it was a bad choice. While we were eating he even said, "Mom, why did you have to choose a place with red straws?!" 

That night I went to the first meeting of a book club I am in. We read "The Happiness Project," which I really enjoyed. Sweet Wendy, who hosted that night, had cupcakes and everyone sang to me and Anna. Anna had celebrated her birthday earlier that week.

Saturday was a nice family day after having Nate gone most of the week. We spent part of the morning at a park.

Our big outing was to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. We have been wanting to go, but weren't willing to pay the $$$. Our friends were so kind and had some passes they let us use, so we didn't have to pay a thing for admission! 

Jansen was a little concerned once we were out of the aquarium, and you can see it on his face in this picture. The stupid wind (which was actually pretty non-existent) was stressing him out.

I will miss looking out at all these trees when we move to Vegas. I took this picture on a foggy morning.

My grandpa suffered a stroke last week that left him unable to walk, talk, or swallow. He is currently at home with hospice care. It has been hard to not be there and to give my grandma a hug. My cousin Angie sent me this sweet picture and told me she was giving Grandpa a squeeze for me. He has very distinct hands, particularly a finger that is severely bent in one direction. It meant a lot to me to see his hands and to have memories of him wash over me. 

We hoping Tuesday was the last snow we see in Maryland!!!