Memorable Moments in March

March was a busy, cold month with teases of spring thrown in. 

We started the month out with snow and a date night out in spite of it.

Dinner was delicious!

We still had beyond freezing temperatures in March. The first full week of school in 2014 with no cancellations or delays due to the cold or the snow finally happened the week before Spring Break. What a crazy winter it was!

Check out those RealFeel temps!

iPads helped get us through the winter.

John finished up basketball at the beginning of the month. He had more fun with it this season than he's ever had, and he improved a lot. He was so happy that one of his best friends was on his team. It's funny because that friend is the tallest kid in 3rd grade at their school and John is the shortest! {See below}

At a game:

John's on the far right:

Sam made this cute picture at preschool when they celebrated Dr. Suess' birthday.

I love, love, love this picture of Sam that I took at John's birthday party. What a happy, sweet boy he is. 

We broke out the bounce house on a long (cold) Sunday.

Peter sent me a very sweet surprise.

Dark-chocolate covered strawberries from Edible Arrangements are THE BEST! 

They're fresh, juicy, and the chocolate tastes gourmet. So delicious.  

How I love this little boy and what a blessing he is in my life!

(Same with John, but 4-year-olds are much easier to get sweet pictures of than 9-year-olds, and Sam and I spend a lot more time together!)

The above picture, Instagrammed:

We finally had a mild day where it got into the mid-50s. It felt amazing! I took Sam outside to play for the first time since November or December. It was so nice to be back out in the fresh mild air again! 

 The melting snow created a literal river of flowing water in the backyard.

Spring and winter, side by side.  

Check out that huge puddle (and the mark it left on his bum!).

Shootin' some hoops after school.

Sam's big thing right now is playing school.
Here his planes and trucks and some other random things are lined up, waiting to learn.  

"Hello Mr. Sam. Teach me!" He loves it when I'm his cooperative student.

We had very strong wind one day and it blew the trampoline back right side up. It had been sitting upside down since January when the wind tipped it over. The trampoline is still ruined, but thanks for trying to make amends, wind.  

Bright pretty flowers.

I took the boys out to dinner at Dairy Queen one evening after gymnastics (just a note, don't go to Dairy Queen for anything but ice cream!). They kept fighting so they sat at separate tables for the whole meal. That solved that! 

 I enjoyed going to John's spring music program at school. One of the songs they sang was "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. I love that song! (John doesn't and wasn't thrilled about singing it. Ha ha.)

Can you find John? (Hint: where do the short kids usually stand?) 

I love this cute, fat cat.

Sam had fun wearing his pajamas to school for Pajama Day. He came home with painted nails, which was really funny to me. I have boys so I'm not used to having a child with painted nails! One of his favorite friends at school is a girl and she was getting her nails painted, so why not him too? 

I found Boo Boo and Brody resting together on the stairwell like this one day. Cute!

 One Friday evening when Peter was out of town and the kids were in bed, I made myself my favorite dessert: a banana split. Yum! On a side note, I love our banana split dishes. They were wedding gifts from our Crate & Barrel registry. 

St. Patrick's Day

I got more crafty and creative than I usually do.
I made these cute "rainbow in a jar" gift jars for the women I visit teach. It's Rolos on the bottom for the pot(s) of gold, then Skittles for the colors of the rainbow, and then mini marshmallows at the top for the clouds. So cute and easy! (Thanks Pinterest!) 

Breakfast for the kids was green milk with fun straws, muffins in green wrappers, and Lucky Charms, which I buy maybe twice a year. 

I tried a recipe that I found on Pinterest for Lucky Charms treats. They were really good for the first little while when they were soft and freshly made, but they hardened up pretty quickly and didn't taste as good after that. Rice Krispie Treats have much better endurance. 

I honored my Irish heritage by making Irish soda bread for the first time ever. The dough was easy to make and quite tasty. Unfortunately the bread didn't taste as good--it was too crusty and hard, and I ended up throwing most of it out for the birds. Happy St. Patrick's Day birds! 

Maybe next year I'll just make Irish soda bread dough. 

Here's John in a new room at The Children's Museum. He had a blast making obstacle courses and trying not to touch the carpet. (Remember playing the "hot lava" game? He loves that.)

Something was hilarious! 

 Sam decorated the tree in the living room.
Note the green beads elegantly draped on the branches.

                       The "Toddler Taxi" at Sam's feet is the very toy that I played with as a toddler. 

 John's car tied for first place at the Pinewood Derby! Now it's headed to the Regional Race in May (it's our second time making it there). I was surprised that it did so well because this was our first year designing it without the help of a talented friend who moved away last year. Good job Peter! And I'd like to add that my contributions mattered too: I continuously reminded them to get it done (otherwise it may not have happened!). And the Iron Man sticker was my idea. (These races are sometimes more about the parents aren't they?) John was thrilled with how well our his car did, especially since last year his car didn't do that well. 

(Where'd your lips go, John?! He does that when he's really excited.)

The dogs were napping one day with their bums touching. I thought it was funny. 

Sunday afternoon nap.

Other things that happened in March

-Peter and I both got nasty colds, but the kids miraculously avoided them. Our cat Bentwood also had a cold and had to be brought into the vet several times (and still isn't better yet!). I didn't even know that cats could get colds. (Technically, it's a "respiratory infection.")

-John turned 9! (more on that in another post)

-We took a fun spring break trip to Kalahari, an indoor water park and indoor theme park in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin. (more in another post)

-Best movies I watched: Austenland (it was funny, cute, and better than the book). Divergent (not as good as the book, but still good).

-Biggest accomplishment: I gave a talk in church and did quite well! Phew! 

And that, in a blog post, was March!