We're Still Here!!

This is a rare occurrence these days. Andreé and I are both home. We've eaten dinner. And now we have nothing to do... glorious! As I hope you assumed from the lack of blog posting it has been a busy (!!) few weeks in the Kless home. It's been fun but whew am I grateful for a quiet night at home.

- We celebrated our five-year anniversary on February 9th. (Five years since "Super Monday" when this whole thing started!) I surprised Andree with a weekend in DC to celebrate. We spent the entire day Saturday at the recently reopened National Museum of History. I think they did a great job with the changes, though I did miss the giant pendulum in the entrance to the museum. That always made me think of Mrs. Griney field trips. The "new museum" is much more interactive and after spending literally hours in the transportation exhibit following Dre around I was pretty excited about some day bringing our little boy to see it all. (If he's anything like his daddy he will love trains, cars, airplanes, and anything that moves!) Seriously, we spent like 2 hours in that one exhibit. After the museum we checked into our hotel and then ventured to Morton's Steakhouse to enjoy a delicious meal made possible by generous friends. (Thank you!! :-P) The next morning we went to Trader Joe's and did some grocery shopping for the week ahead while still downtown, sat on a bench and read together in the sunshine, and went exploring at Eastern Market. It was a sweet, sweet time of being together in the midst of such a busy season and I'm grateful for Janners for helping me scoop the super hotel deal that made it all possible! (TravelZoo makes all your dreams come true even in a recession... or at least some of them... with wisdom...)

(cheesin' it up for the iPhone in Georgetown after dinner)

- We The Posterity is a blog that one of our close friends Seth Remsnyder began several months ago. Andree went to the March for Life with some of the KG and live-blogged about it for the blog. We definitely have a heart for the goals Seth and the team are seeking to begin to stir up and accomplish through the blog and are praying about how God will use these efforts. All that being said... check out the blog! Seth is working hard to keep it updated regularly with information you may not come across yourself about abortion and the anti-abortion movement.

- Andree is participating in a study at NIH testing fat cells to bring in a few extra dollars this year. The study takes place over twelve months and provides him with nutrition classes and weight loss help. It's not all fun and games though. Andree has to go in to do over-nights at the Bethesda campus of NIH every six weeks where they stick all kinds of scary tubes and things in him. I didn't like the coincidental timing of his first overnight being almost exactly five years after he was in the hospital for pneumothorax. Thankfully Andree tolerates doctors much better than I do and even enjoys the poking and prodding--or at least finds the "why's" behind the poking and prodding interesting enough to be worth the discomfort. Next time you see him you should ask him about "the bod pod."

Those are the "big" happenings in our little world during the months this blog has been silent. We also had a really fun day-trip to the Baltimore Aquarium with the Klesses and enjoyed the opportunity to make memories with them. I don't think I'd been to the Aquarium since I was in Middle School or so. We've had a blast hanging out with "new" friends like the Simpsons and the Grudens as well as old ones like the Remys who recently introduced us to Settlers of Cataan. We've had some fun snow days with our favorite Squama who thankfully shares most of our favorite food choices which makes hanging out even easier.
And of course spending time with the rockin' KG! We can't believe the original KG has almost doubled! from the initial 10 to now 18 amazing singles that we get to spend every Tuesday with and when we're lucky a Friday or Saturday as well and the occasional late night chattin' it up wherever we find ourselves. Oh and the best part of our increase in size has been going from 3 wonderful godly guys to 8! While I think it's a little sad that Dre doesn't get to have spontaneous guy-time anymore when only one guy would be able to make it to men's meeting it is awfully fun to count off on men's/ladies' nights in a rush to figure out who gets the living room: I never imagined it would be possible for the girls to be out-numbered! [Oh goodness and I forgot to even mention the incredible 24-hour (literally from door step to door step for Dre and I) that we took to NYC with the KG crew. We had a blast!!]

(pc credit Lydia-Face)

I promise the blog won't be at least this silent in the days and weeks to come. We've got plenty actual happenings to keep it entertaining: Andreé's 27th birthday!, NCAA with the Mays & Ricucci's-to-be, another triathlon for my husband ("tune up tri" to get him ready for the upcoming season of hopefully doing a few more). And that's just through the end of the month!