April 01, 2006
April Showers
Birthday - Happy Birthday to Michelle's sister Maria! Despite being perhaps teased in her younger years, she's not an "April Fool"!
Saturday - I know that we've had a few nice weather days this past week, but I've been stuck inside at the office during most of them. Today was the first time I got to spend a couple of hours outside with just jeans and a short sleeve shirt as the temperature skirted around 74°F. It never ceases to amaze me how you start killing bugs just as soon as it warms up. Today I killed a wasp that landed near me outside and later a large spider crawling in the house. They waste no time in coming out of hibernation.
I started the day with a workout on our elliptical trainer. I later played with the kids outside, including taking a few pictures of the girls on the trampoline doing their best to imitate Sporticus's signature mid-air splits. I caught a quick nap while Timothy rested, the twins watched a Little Einsteins movie, and Michelle went to pick up the girls from gymnastics.
When I got up, it was time to hunker down and do the federal taxes. I always seem to procrastinate them until the last three weeks. We did get a fast moving storm while I clicked away at TurboTax. It made for a dark foreshadowing while I entered the numbers in anxious anticipation. With software like TurboTax, it's always a bit unnerving because it shows your payment/refund status every step along the way. When I started out it said we owed about two thousand dollars but by the time I finished, we were relieved to find that we'll get a small refund. Phew! I estimated well enough. I was concerned because our 401(k) was pre-empted last year due to the company merger.
As soon as that was finished, we took the entire family to Milano's for dinner. I knew that they had some wide tables and that it was a pretty laid back greasy spoon, so they wouldn't mind if there was the occasional loud noise or fidgeting from the younger ones. We order some fried chicken, chicken strips, gyros, french fries and cole slaw — basically a bit of something for everyone. Michelle and I were happy that they are getting better about eating out. We ate out as a family much more often before the boys were born… and we often miss it.
Claire and I wrapped up the evening watching a bit of a movie about Abraham. It's a made-for-TV movie from 1994 but it's over 3 hours long! So far, though, it's pretty decent at dramatizing Abram's struggles. We had to finish early for the evening since tonight is the night we move the clocks ahead an hour. We'll probably do split shifts regarding Mass tomorrow because of the time shift.
Tomorrow we plan on doing some springtime yard work and cleanup. I'm supposed to run the dethatcher and lawn sweeper over the lawn to help clean up debris and remove the dead grass. If I get some time, I'd like to do some multi-media tinkering. I have a few photos I'd like to album-ize and some of Claire's recent songs I'd like to MP3-ify.