Nick is in the shower and the kids are digging through the spoils of last nights party, so I might be allowed a few minutes peace to write this post (edited to add: nope, my eldest came in a minute later with “alien ears” he made for me out of a ruined slinky). Here’s what’s happened since the last update:
April 12th I went to the doctor & got unwelcome news (posted about here). After the appointment, my friend Tanya brought me a couple loaves of bread as part of her “5 Little Loaves” project (she brought bread to 5 people a week for about a month – 1 loaf to eat & 1 loaf to share; this was serendipitously my day). God knew that I needed a friend to talk to that day. She brought the bread in, chatted with me a bit, gave me a hug, and then we had to speed out of there to piano lessons. But it was so good to have an actual person there in the room with me to talk to.
Thus sustained, I was able to make it to the big kids piano lessons.
Wednesday the 13th my friend SJ and her little ones came over for coffee. They brought me a lovely coffee/saucer/spoon chime set as a thank you for all our lovely coffee mornings. 
Such sweet friends. All the little ones played together nicely, regardless of the smallest one’s having just learned the word “no.” 🙂 That afternoon another family came by and carried David off on bikes for a playdate. He loved that! 🙂
Thursday the 14th we had my friend HM & her son over for coffee (finally! a much rescheduled gathering due to illness and other things). T & Greg rode scooters, jumped on the trampoline, and built miles of train tracks while us moms got caught up (we had both been being hermit-like during the winter).
I gifted her a water bottle with a globe on it in celebration of her new business (I’m posting that so later when I can’t remember who I gave it to I’ll know)! 🙂 I was glad to hear that she and her family are doing so well in their new endeavors. Greg went to MDO after they left and I spent the day tidying up in preparation for deleavening for the Days of Unleavened Bread.
Friday afternoon we went over to Nana & Pa’s house for dinner and haircuts.
Nick’s mom and I worked on our duet, too, and tried out a few other pieces to see what we might like to do later on. The kids all got mini-pizzas in several different flavors to try out (some of those little 89c ones are so yummy!). Nick stayed home and worked on deleavening the rest of the living room and dining room.
On the Sabbath my parents were in town, so we visited with them before going to church. After church (& piano practicing & media copying & snacks, etc) we headed out to another little town for Nick’s co-worker/friend’s retirement party. 
There was bbq and cookies and fishing for the kids. 🙂 
Sunday morning we visited with my parents again before they left town. D had a friend come over unexpectedly (apparently D had invited him over for Friday and then we weren’t home, which was …well, rude on D’s part), so they had an impromptu playdate. 
B and I ran off to get D’s birthday party invites and to have a Mama/Boy Date at Andy’s Frozen Custard. Mmmm. 
We got home just in time for Nick to get ready to go to the Passover service at church (only baptized members of their church may attend and while I’m doubly baptized -both sprinkled as an infant and immersed by choice later on, it wasn’t at their particular church so it doesn’t count to them. Which makes me wonder what God thinks about all this, but He isn’t saying a thing on the subject.)
Monday the 18th was a weird day all around. Nick had arranged to be home for the day because we were originally going to have people over for Night To Be Much Observed, but instead we were going elsewhere, but the day off was already arranged, so he took it. So we headed off to Fresh, which was fairly empty, but still stressful to me, as Nick let Greg have charge of a mini-cart. We stopped and chatted with friends in the cheese section and thereby were introduced as friends to the Cheese & Olive lady for the store. Score! We spent the rest of the day getting stuff ready to take to dinner, which we were having at my in-laws in-laws house. (Stop there and think that out: Nick’s sister’s husband’s parent’s house. There.) Once we picked up the kids and got them all tricked out in nicer clothes, we headed on over. 
The evening was hosted by Nick’s sister’s husband’s sister and her husband, whom we love (we spent time with them at the Feast last year) and they made delicious filet mignon and lamb and twice baked potatoes. Others brought green beans almondine, various unleavened breads, cheeses, olives, wines, etc. 
It was a very filling and fulfilling night, we got to see lots of people we hadn’t seen in ages (KATE is practically a grown-up now!), and all the kids got along marvelously, even if they weren’t interested in the videos we brought for them. 
We left from there veryvery late and spent the night at Nick’s parents house down the road.
Tuesday morning was my littlest niece M’s 4th birthday. 
We got together for our traditional First Day of Unleavened Bread brunch. M started out the morning yelling “I am grown bigger now!” It was excellent! Lots of good food, fancy-schmancy cards for the birthday girl (her family doesn’t do presents so we find fabulous cards with games or stories inside), and lots of kids running round and round (they’d brought T over for D to play with, too).
D and I got our birthday cards, too. That afternoon we had church and I got to play with The Ensemble for the first time. It was a very small ensemble, but I think we played pretty well, especially since we hadn’t practiced together at all. 🙂
This is getting very long, so I’m splitting it into two parts. 🙂
Lisa Holcomb 