March madness

Brian had to go to Arkansas for the first 3 weeks of March for training. He officially promoted to Colonel on March 1 (even though his ceremony was 2/1) and while I was sad not to be together to celebrate him on 3/1, I am glad he got some special recognition- 

March was a wild month with Brian being in Little Rock, as he stayed in our vacant house there and renovated it for 3 weeks at night and on the weekends so we could eventually put it on the market to sell...

ANYONE?!?!

Macy returned to playing ice hockey in March, and is in a learn-to-skate/hockey program that is sponsored by the Washington Capitols, so all of her gear has there logo on it and is donated, brand spanking new, by the team! 

Her bag is giant-

And she insists on carrying it herself-

However, she still needs help sometimes!

Tate is the best big brother.

And in March he ended up in urgent care for I dont even remember what... strep? ear infection? no idea. It's a blur.

But Macy had fun passing the time with by blowing up the doctors gloves!

I am not a playful mom. I'm just not. I will create experiences for you, love having your friends over for sleepovers and such, but I don't play. And neither did my mom. That hit me after she passed and I realized I wanted to change that about myself. But what could I plug into that was engaging and playful along side my kids? Got it! Board games. I love to play board games. And we needed some new ones, so I went out in search of some, and here are a few winners-

 This one is just enough logic for me, and a geography lesson too! Apparently the regular version comes in US or Europe- which might be fun to get for our family...

Don't you remember loving the ancient computer game, The Oregon Trail in middle school? Well, now you can play it at home! Tons of fun.

Monopoly is fine, but I try to avoid it because it takes sooooooo dang long to finish it. Not this new Monopoly Empire! It's fast paced and the modern brands make it way more fun than owning an eltric company and Baltic Avenue

:59 Seconds is a fast paced 2 person card game that lasts about 1 minute. Holds my attention perfectly!

Not Parent Approved is like Apples To Apples, but with "inappropriate" answers for kids. I had to take out maybe 6 cards that I thought we a bit too inappropriate for my kids ages, but other than that, it is a great one to play with a crowd of adults and kids

And an old favorite- Blokus-

Brian always handles the St. Patrick's Day tricks that the leprechauns play in our house... He was away this year (and will be next year too...) so I gave it a go. I was pretty sure the kids would bust me when I looked at my fingertips the next morning-

 The kids had some sleepovers with friends, and I even said yes to using the easy bake oven!

Lately, Macy & Hannah-

Macy was thrilled to take them along with us to church too

I practically didn't even know that Tate had a friend here, as he and Jamison could have survived 48 hours without food or water, as long as they had a screen

Check this out-

Those are my sweatshirts! I have a bunch, and its a really deep drawer. I've always hated stacking them on top of each other, digging to the bottom of the drawer to find one. Then I discovered the book The Joy of Tidying Up. While I didn't get through the entire book, this new way of folding and placing was a big huge take-away for me!

Another win was when I bought a vegetable spiralizer. It makes vegetables into noodle like strands, and it's so simple to use that it quickly became the kids job to use it-

 Just one more way to get more vegetables, and less carbs, into us. Win win.

Brian and I got hooked on the show Shameless this spring. And just like the title implies, it is shameless and horrible. But fantastic and wonderful! It's a guilty pleasure, and we have to make sure the kids are fast sleep before we turn it on...

Also in March Macy went to the annual Girl Scout Daddy-daughter dance with Brian-

And Brian said she spent more time with her friends than she did with him...