March 19, 2018

The end of the crazy month of February led right into the beginning of an even crazier month of March.  Following the old wise tales you could definitely say March came in like a LION!

While we were finishing up or visit with Traveling Tracy, enjoying the unseasonable warm temps and even daffodils poking out of the ground March quickly put an end to all that.  Week one started off with what would be the first of three Nor-Eaters (big snow storms) in just three weeks to hit our area leaving us buried in snow.  Really was not finding it any fun after we were bare in February and our hearts we all set on warm weather and the possibility of any early spring.

Traveling Tracy from Texas experiences a New York style Nor'easter 

The big snow not only meant shoveling but it also threw in a snow day for the kids that changed the plans for lots of things like the school's drama club production of Aladdin Jr.  It was tense wondering if the show would go on for both of the girls as they both had parts in the play, one preformed and one backstage.  Thankfully the show was only on hold for a day and they were able to get both performances in.  It was a great little musical and all the performers in front of and behind the scenes did an excellent job.  Of course I'm partial to the 2 beauties in the second picture and also very proud of them as well.

Also rescheduled or I guess it was just a time change as the day was the same was our 4-H meeting for the month.  Of course its march so we had to do something St. Patrick's Day themed that still kept with this years theme, Bugs.  Now, I'm patting myself on the back for this brilliance and I'm sure Pintrest deserves a little credit too but we ended up making Bug Houses and then used them to make Leprechaun Traps too.  And if all that wasn't fun we added leprechaun gardens which is like a fairy garden but we used gold and green stuff to help entice the mischievous little things into entering our traps.  It thought for sure we would catch one this year but guess our locks were not so great, maybe next year.

Week 2, with the musical and 4-H meeting over we went right into concert mode thanks to the school's Pop's Concert.  Both girls are in the 5th and 6th Grad Band (drums and flute) and one in 5th and 6th grade Chorus so we were running again and shoveling, don't forget about the 2nd snow storm.  Thankfully other then making trips for dresses and shoes we were able to be home more that week shoveling snow.
Want to talk about a shocker, the night of the concert at the dinner table the Youngest daughter says "I get to do a solo duet tonight."  I tell you it about blew me out of the water, she is a bit more out going then the Oldest daughter but still very shy.  Boy, I wish I had know earlier as I would have been bragging her up like crazy to everyone.  Congratulations to her and the other 3 who were chosen to do the same.   And while I'm bragging her up I should also mention that she was one of only a few 5th graders moved up to perform with the band in the concert that night which meant she is way ahead of many members in the 5th grade band.
And if that don't make a parent proud enough the Oldest Daughter who also happens to be 1st chair flute also performed on her own in band as well.  While it was not a "solo" in the sense of performing on her own with out anything else playing it was a part in the song that she was the only flute playing as the others had not learned enough yet to play that part.
Yes, that't right I'm bragging about my kids.  And they deserve the acknowledgement too as they do wonderful and try very hard in everything they do.  That is something lacking a lot in today's "oh well" youth.  So congrats to both the girls and thank you for being such inspirations.  We love you very much!!!

5th and 6th grade band.

Youngest Daughter's Solo Duet, Awe she just looked so tiny next to that much older boy,  Great job sweetie!

Oldest Daughter 1st Chair Flute, Very proud of your amazing job!   And front row makes it so much easier to get photos, 

And before the week ended we somehow managed to spare some energy for our 4-H Club's annual Basket Party and the Legions Corned Beef Dinner.  For the last 3 years we have combined our effort with the Local Legion, they allow us to sell tickets at their dinner and in return we help them set up, server and clean up at their dinner.  Its a win, win for both of our groups as we need a place to sell tickets and host our party and they need help with the dinner.  Plus the kids get to squeeze in some community service that they don't even realize they are doing.  This year as a special treat as a few of them learned place setting too as they were there to do the table setting as well.  I love it how life lessons are learned every day in 4-H and most of the time they are unaware they are learning them.

Week 3, Daylight Savings Time - which basically means it is going to take us all week to recover from the missed sleep after a busy dinner that night at the legion and a really busy last 2 weeks.  Week 3 also gave us a snow storm but this one was nice enough to string out over 3 days, that's right 3 day of shoveling lol, really its not funny now Mother Nature.  We had 2 hour delays from school which probably helped the kids as they were cranky from the time change too and unfortunately we used a snow day that we didn't have in the school calendar to spare (we will loose a spring vacation day to make it up) but the break from all the chaos outweighed the need for a vacation day so we were grateful to have the day off. 
The only real happenings other then snow for this week was that by the end of the week the sun finally started shining after what seemed like forever and it was St. Patrick's Day.  We usually don't go overboard here on this day as we put so much into it already with 4-H and the Legion but we still wanted to do something with "Green" to it so the girls and I grabby my sister and we were off to Simply Succulents, a work shop on growing and using succulent plants.  It was some much needed girl time and a great break from all the "winter" we have had lately to be playing with plants.

This is also the week we got this years new addition to the list of critters we have.  Babies, that always means we are that much closer to spring here, or at least that is what I tell myself.  We did not add a ton of new chickens this year as we really don't need them but we couldn't let chick days come and go with out getting any so we settled on Bantams as we only have a few and meat birds for the obvious reason.  I'm sure these wont be the last critters added this year but its a nice start with out my typical going overboard on chicks.

And with St. Patrick's Day over it was a quick take down of the decoration to get up Easter Decorations as fast as possible with it falling so early this year.  I even waded though the snow to get the driveway display done too.

So you see its been a crazy month and with a big family dinner here Easter Sunday (only2weeks away) it will probably not get any slower for us before it ends but the good news is the sun has been shining for almost 4 days now and the snow storm they were predicting for this week is not going to be the big snow they thought and in 2 days spring starts (according to the calendar).  We will just have to take the rest as it comes at us and do the best we can till the flowers do come up.