March 2021

March was a good month overall. It was less of a rollercoaster than February was…I think the girls actually went to school in person for the entire month. A major pandemic win! We also started soccer practices and games this month and went on a fun spring break trip. I will save the details of our trip for its own post, and this one will cover everything else we were up to during March. Here’s the recap:

The first week of March was “Read Across America” week, and Mrs. Curry decorated the kids’ desk shields with a Cat in the Hat theme.

Her creativity and dedication amaze me!

It was always a fun surprise for the kids to walk in and see their desks transformed to a new theme. Despite all the restrictions, Mrs. Curry found a way to make kindergarten fun and exciting, and we were so grateful.

There were also different dress up days for Read Across America week. On March 1st, the kids were supposed to wear their favorite sunglasses.

Some of the cool kids in Mrs. Borys’ classroom :)

Brooklyn decided to write out her own daily schedule, which contained lots of snacks and screen time…haha

Gabby has turned into a snuggle bug in her older years. She loves to jump up and sit in my lap when I’m on the couch.

On March 2nd, they were supposed to wear their favorite hat, and Brooklyn chose a warm toboggan that Sylvia made for her when she was younger :)

Savannah learned about dental hygiene this week at school and brought home this cute mouth she made. The teeth were mini marshmallows!

On March 3rd, the kids all wore their favorite sports team attire. Brooklyn is still holding on to being an Auburn fan! ;)

Abigail made a play area for herself in the corner of her room while her big sisters were at school.

On March 4th on our walk home from school, Savannah told me that she had a surprise for the whole family in her pocket. She got home and went straight to her room and came out with 4 ziploc bags. Each bag had a note and a small bite of cookie in it. Savannah said one of the kids in her class had brought Mexican cookies for the class that day at school. She had saved part of her cookie to share with all of us. Each note said “I love you” on it. I thought that was the sweetest thing ever that she saved most of her cookie to share with her family. She said she thought we would all be sad if she came home and told us about the Mexican cookie but we didn’t know what it tasted like. She melts my heart!!

On March 5th, the kids could wear their favorite pajamas to school. That’s always a favorite dress up day for sure!

Spaghetti is one of the few dinner foods that Abigail will actually eat (usually at least).

We have been so impressed with how well Savannah is reading already. She read Daddy a bedtime story on March 6th :)

She read to Abigail the next night before bed too!

Brooklyn likes to race ahead as we are walking home from school…

Savannah wrote a poem/rhyming story on March 8th after dinner completely on her own. I sent this picture to Mrs. Curry, and she asked if Savannah would want to share it with the class the next day. Savannah said yes!! And she did it…she got up in front of everyone and read the whole thing. (I think Mrs. Curry had read it a second time to the kids after she finished…probably because Savannah is still learning how to speak up + the masks don’t help). I was so proud to hear she actually did it though! What a brave girl.

Abigail was so excited to finally be tall enough to reach the trapeze bar handles all by herself!

Brooklyn had her first soccer practice of the spring season on March 9th. This was her first time playing in the 10U division, where things are a little more serious. The teams practice twice a week instead of just once, and they use goalkeepers in the games and play on much bigger fields. Brooklyn was excited that her friend Sydney from Mrs. Borys’ class ended up on the same team as her.

On March 10th, Emily and her girls came over after school, and the kids all played outside together. Brooklyn, Elaina, and Bristol all worked on making a newspaper together and decided to create their own newspaper club.

We are thankful to have such sweet friends right down the street from us!

Our swingset has already gotten hours and hours of use, so it was definitely a good investment. Brooklyn has decided she is a little monkey and likes to climb whatever she can :)

Addie and Abigail enjoy playing together and had a lot of fun on the tricycle on this particular afternoon.

I love seeing those big smiles!

All four of the big girls formed a train and started marching around the driveway…

We had a really fun afternoon! Time spent with friends is even more precious now that we’ve lived through so many isolating days during the pandemic.

We did carline in the morning pretty much all winter, but as the weather started to warm up in March, we got back to walking/scootering to school.

We usually caught up with the Dyess family on the way, and my girls enjoyed that.

Abigail had fun playing outside during the school day on March 12th…

With the soccer season getting started, Abigail wanted me to get out there and play with her. She is pretty good at dribbling and shooting for a 3 year old!

Savannah’s first soccer practice was on March 12th. Her team practiced every Friday at 5:30 pm. Savannah was really excited for her first practice and wasn’t quite as shy as I expected her to be. I think it helped that she already knew Felicity and Hannah out there. We learned pretty quickly how busy it is with two girls playing soccer. Between the two of them, we had practices 3 nights/week and then usually 2 games on Saturday at different parks. It was a lot, but they enjoyed it, and I was glad they could do a normal, social activity with other kids that didn’t involve masks and distancing.

Brooklyn’s first game of the season was supposed to be on March 13th, but we got a text the night before saying the other team couldn’t make the game. However, Coach Joe still wanted the girls to come out and scrimmage themselves this morning. Brooklyn was disappointed to not have a “real” game, but she ended up having lots of fun anyway. She scored her only team’s goal and actually scored a second goal that didn’t count because she was offside.

10U is definitely more serious and competitive than the last division Brooklyn played in. They actually work on spreading out and passing the ball instead of everyone just swarming to the ball. Brooklyn played great defense and was talking trash (in fun) to the other team…just like her ;) She is right in her element and isn’t a bit shy even though she doesn’t know any of the girls except Sydney.

Savannah’s team played at 11 AM and only had 4 girls out of 6 there today. So they all played the whole game. Savannah had fun! She ran hard and did a good job of knowing which goal she was trying to score in. Her team scored several goals, and I think they may have won the game! (I wasn’t keeping score very closely).

Brooklyn enjoyed hanging out with Jacob, who lives in our neighborhood and is a fellow walker. His little sister, Hannah, is on Savannah’s team this season.

Savannah had fun during the game and enjoyed the popsicles afterward, of course!

Savannah helped me make some cookies for our upcoming spring break trip that afternoon. She loves baking and helping out in the kitchen.

Abigail loves sitting in Cici’s lap on Sundays :)

Travis and Savannah went on a date to Freddy’s on March 14th, and Savannah was so cute getting ready for it. At first she wanted to wear her nice Sunday dress, but it was pretty hot outside, so she changed into play clothes but said she wanted to wear a hair bow. She also wanted to make sure her tennis shoes were lighting up (they have a button where you can turn the light-up feature on and off) so that she would look nice for the date. Travis said they had a great time (they sat outside to eat) and she talked the whole time. She has since declared that Freddy’s is her favorite restaurant even though that’s the only time she’s eaten there!

Gabby gets lots of hugs whether she wants them or not ;)

Brooklyn convinced Daddy to play the Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel Game with them on Sunday afternoon (March 21st).

I had a pigtailed helper with me at Publix on March 22nd :)

Brooklyn drew a picture of Mrs. Borys with chalk one day during recess. They had to get creative with ways to keep the kids entertained this year outside since they could only go to the playground once a week because of social distancing rules.

Playing “Rock Paper Scissors” in the classroom. I admired how Mrs. Borys was always coming up with different ways to make learning fun.

Abigail wishes she could go to school so badly!!

March 25th was the day of Payton’s stem cell transplant, and a lot of friends and family wore orange ribbons that day in his honor. Orange is the color for leukemia awareness.

Everything went well with the transplant, and we were so thankful!

We noticed a bird’s nest on top of the column on our back patio, and Travis lifted the girls up to see the baby birds. It was neat to see their heads popping up and the mama bird flying back and forth to the nest.

Brooklyn’s soccer game from the 20^th (the last Saturday of spring break) got rescheduled to March 25th at 5:30 pm. It was a Wednesday, but we tried to make it work by Travis taking her and then going straight to bible class while I stayed home with the other girls and drove separately to the church building. I was teaching the preschool class at the time and needed to be there early. This was their first game of the season since the first week was just a scrimmage against themselves, and apparently it went very badly. According to Travis, the other team looked like a team of pros out there, and I think the score ended up being at least 0-10 or worse. Travis said all the girls were so frustrated because the other team was just passing circles around them. Brooklyn’s team never even made it past midfield. We hoped for better results in the games to come :)

My big helper, Abigail!

Luke and Barrett came over on March 26th to hang out with us and play with Abigail for the morning.

We played a game together…

played on the swingset…

…and ate a picnic lunch on the back patio. Abigail enjoyed the time spent with her cousins!

We had 3 soccer games on March 27th. Whew! Savannah played at 8 AM, and Brooklyn played at 9 AM and 12 PM. Savannah’s game went well. She played hard and ran fast. The fields were wet because of all the rain we’d had this week. Her cleats were covered in grass at the end. She had fun and enjoyed the popsicle at the end ;)

Savannah had fun out there and enjoyed the popsicle at the end too ;)

Brooklyn got to play goalie for the first time in the game at 9 AM. She did a good job and grabbed the ball twice when it was kicked at her. The other team never scored while she was goalie…yay! She also played good defense and ended up playing the whole game without subbing out.

Goalie Brooklyn!

Abigail had to be very patient sitting through 3 soccer games today!

The 2^nd game was at 12 PM (we went home in between and ate a quick, early lunch), and you could tell the girls were tired. Brooklyn’s team actually scored their first goal of the season in that 2^nd game!

They still lost both games, but not as badly as the one on Wednesday. The girls seemed to be in better spirits today. Brooklyn loves to cut up and socialize on the soccer field…it’s funny to watch her because sometimes she’s just not paying attention at all out there…haha. She’s not afraid to get in there and kick it away from the other team though. Proud of both my little soccer players!

Brooklyn’s cheering squad :)

Abigail is getting brave enough to climb up the rope ladder all by herself now!

Paw and Rae Rae came for a quick visit on March 29th and brought some Easter gifts for the girls. They were excited!

As a fun spring break activity, Mrs. Borys told her class that they could design their own leprechaun trap and bring it to show the class after they got back to school This was Brooklyn’s! It had some pretend jewels and gold in the orange cup to lure the leprechaun in ;)

Mrs. Borys gave Brooklyn an opportunity to tell the class about her creation, which she was excited about.

The girls wanted to visit the “Castle” on the way home from school on March 30th. For a while, they were pretending to make soup for a leprechaun to eat…haha. I think they must have been talking about leprechauns a lot at school around St. Patrick’s Day ;)

Team huddle at Brooklyn’s soccer practice that evening…

It didn’t take Brooklyn long to really find her groove with this group of girls on the team. They all had so much fun out there together!

Gabby had the right idea here! By the end of the month, I felt like taking a long nap too ;)

Notes and Quotes from March 2021:

• 3/1/21 – We were eating BBQ tonight for dinner and the bottle of BBQ sauce had a pig on it. Savannah said, “Ew! We’re eating pig sauce!”
• 3/4/21 – Abigail has a really strong Southern accent on some of the words she says. Right now it’s “tha-yut” and “ca-yut” (that and cat..and anything that rhymes) that have turned into 2 syllable words…haha
• 3/6/21 – Abigail: “Cici’s cat named Molly died. She had to be careful. But Rosie the dog is still at Cici’s house. Dogs don’t die. Only cats.”
• 3/8/21 – Abigail: “I don’t want to walk. I want to be holded.” I don’t mind one bit that she still wants me to carry her from time to time! After all, she’s our last baby ;)
• 3/10/21 – Gabby has to have medicine every day now because the vet thinks she has IBD…she’s been throwing up a lot for months. Abigail likes to watch us give Gabby her pills, and today she asked “Is she better now? Does her face look happy?” Abigail thinks the pills are an instant cure! ;)
• 3/13/21 – Savannah: “I’m not going outside until all of those bugs go away.” Mommy: “What kind of bugs are they, Brooklyn?” Brooklyn: “I don’t know…they’re just bugs out there doing their business and flying around. They’re not scary.” ;)
• 3/23/21 – Abigail handed me a bottle of pretend fruit juice and asked me if I wanted some lemonade. I pretended to drink it and said, “Yum does this lemonade have strawberry in it?” She replied, “It shortly does!” :)
• 3/28/21 – Abigail: “I had apple pie with my dinner!” Me, thinking about how we don’t have any apple pie in the house: “Apple pie?” Abigail: “Yes, what’s that yellow, juicy stuff I was eating?” Me: “Oh you mean PINEAPPLE!” :)
• 3/30/21 – I had Dr. Dudley check Brooklyn for scoliosis with a scoliometer yesterday, and her back is perfectly straight! I took her to a chiropractor back in January when she was having some neck pain, and at that time, one of her shoulders looked higher than the other…but it must have just been the way she was holding herself because her neck was hurting. I want to keep a close eye on the girls’ backs due to my own history, so I was glad to get a good report yesterday.

Thanks for reading!!