Marching into Spring

I know technically February is the shortest month, but this year March was a strong contender.  It seemed I blinked my eyes and it was over.

We started off with the Father Daughter Dance for AHG.  The theme was The Renaissance, but we didn't take that too seriously.  The girls donned some floral wreaths and called it a night.  They did enjoy dressing up though.




The rest of March was largely uneventful.  Just the usual family dinners and games,


Ahg meetings,




and crafts.


The one thing I will remember about this winter (aside from the absence of snow) was the persistent illnesses that haunted my children.  They took turns being sick, and I had someone home from school at least one day every week for 8 weeks!


Poor Charlie had it the worst when he had strep throat.




I learned my lesson in the past when I didn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day with the kids.  So this year I decorated the kitchen and fed them green food in celebration.


I also gave them each a small gift of candy and a book.


Morgan's dance class celebrated by dancing an Irish Jig.


{{Sister break}}


We also participated in the Pinewood Derby this month.


They each earned a certificate.  Charlie was very amused by his acknowledgment of "Best Use of Color".  He felt they were reaching for something good to say, and it cracked him up.




Grandma turned 64 years old this month.


Missing from the photo is cousin Addison who decided it was her turn to be sick.




I decided to learn the Beatles Song "When I'm Sixty-Four" for my mama and played it for her after dinner.  Morgan also wrote Grandma a song, but opted not to perform it for a crowd.  Luckily, we did have dinner with Grandma prior to this celebration, and Morgan gave her a private performance of "Life is a Roller Coaster".


It was a fun night of entertaining.


Charlie started playing Volleyball this year.  I was really impressed by the skills the boys brought to the table having never played before.


Charlie is a joy to watch.  He celebrates every point with enthusiasm.




Now that that pesky faux winter is officially over, bring on the warm weather and outdoor activities!!

Fun and Games

February was a fun month.  As I was reviewing the photos for this month, I realized that most of the images feature some sort of game or other fun event.

For the third year in a row we attended Scout night at the Cyclones game.  And for the second year in a row, we earned 5 free pizzas since the Cyclones won and scored 5 goals.  Charlie also got this plush mascot from his nice pack leader.




We had great seats this year!


I took the girls to Mother Daughter Night at the school.  First, we cashed in our Cyclones tickets for our free pizzas at Donatos.


It was a fun evening.  We did many activities including Minute to Win It games,


Pictionary,


and Charades.


This has been a fun tradition made even more fun now that Morgan can join us.


The children dressed in their uniforms for Scout Sunday.


After a family vote, it was decided that we would hold a Super Bowl party this year.  It turned into a rather large gathering which filled our house with family, friends, food, and laughter.














We decided to have a raffle to make the game more interesting with winners determined by the score after each quarter. Charlie was the first lucky winner.




The game fell on cousin Alison's birthday this year so we surprised her with a cake.








Aunt Julie was the next lucky winner.


It was a great party, and we were so happy that we decided to throw it.


The next morning, I was treated to this sight in my back yard.


Morgan celebrated her 100th day of school.  She made a t-shirt with 100 flowers on it.


Her teacher freaked me out by sending me this photo.


I realized that it was also Charlie's 100th day of 3rd grade and Taylor's 100th day of 5th grade so I had them pose for this photo when they returned home.


Morgan lost her first tooth so we had her pose with her cousin, Addison, who was also missing her first tooth.


For Christmas, Grandmama had bought us tickets to see Little Shop of Horrors.




The show was very well done and quite entertaining.


After the show we ate dinner at Buco De Beppo's followed by this enormous dessert!


We celebrated our first Valentine's Day in the new house.


You might notice that Taylor is missing from this Valentine breakfast photo.  That is because she began the day by throwing up and ended up staying in bed all day.


Morgan made personalized Valentine cards for each member of her class with messages such as "Happy Valentine Day. I love doing my math with you.  You are loved."  She worked so hard on these and did them completely on her own.  I was so proud of her.


Here she is organizing her valentines in the morning.


Charlie decided that crazy hair was very appropriate for Valentine's Day.  Who was I to argue?


When the kids came home, they couldn't wait to go through their Valentines and open the gifts I had gotten them.




Morgan helped me make a birthday cake for her grandpa.  I love this photo of her licking the batter because you can see that little hole in her teeth.


Everyone made birthday cards for Grandpa and helped me decorate his present.








We enjoyed some very warm temperatures this month.  I always made sure we took advantage by spending some time outdoors.  Morgan and I even brought some art supplies on our screened-in porch on afternoon.


She created this piece with absolutely no suggestions from me.  I realize that my opinion is biased, but I believe her to be a natural artist.  Anyone agree?


I just had to snap this photo with my phone of all of us piled on the couch to watch Amazing Race.


I had a busy two weeks when soccer photos rolled around again, but it's always fun having my big sister there assisting me.  It almost doesn't feel like work.


Charlie's class earned an ice cream party for learning all of their multiplication facts.


We made our pinewood derby cars early this year with the help of Charlie's cub scout leader and his tools.






Dr. Suess's birthday was Read Across America Day.  Morgan's teacher celebrated with a camping theme.


Morgan loved bringing a blanket to school for this occasion.


The month culminated with a wonderful treat.  I joined my Uncle Rex for some music making.  He has been a lifelong musician and lover of music, and I loved hearing his stories and even listening to early recordings of him playing original songs.  We plan to make this a weekly occurrence and I can't wait to see what comes out of it.  Who knows, you may even see us performing together at an open mic one day...