I already covered Brooklyn’s field trip to Camp McDowell in my previous post, so this one will include everything else we were up to this month…including spring break, Easter festivities, and the start of spring soccer. Here’s the recap:
On March 1st, Travis and I went to our nephew Carter’s ACE presentation on comets at his school. He did a great job explaining what comets are and answering questions. It was like a walk down memory lane for Travis because he went to the same elementary school as a kid and hadn’t been back in a long time!
Mrs. Borys shared these pictures of some of the dress up days for Read Across America week.
It took several weeks, but I finally sprayed Gabby’s memory stones with Polycrylic so we could put them out in the front flower bed. It’s nice to have a reminder of our favorite kitty!
The girls are getting older and better able to help around the house. Abigail actually enjoys cleaning toilets, so that’s a win!
Brooklyn lost another tooth on March 3rd (just one of many she lost in a short amount of time!).
The spring book fair started on February 29th and went through March 6th. It was bittersweet because it was Brooklyn’s last book fair at Mill Creek. Book fair is always so exciting for the kids, and Brooklyn was sad that it was her last one.
Savannah’s class enjoyed a picnic lunch outside on March 4th.
That night, we had a mishap where Brooklyn hit her head pretty hard on the corner of our coffee table and ended up with a big knot on her forehead. Thankfully she was okay other than a headache at first, and the swelling went down a lot by the next day.
Savannah and Abigail really missed Brooklyn while we were at Camp McDowell. When we got home on March 8th, Brooklyn found this sweet “welcome home” sign on her bedroom door :)
On March 9th, we had our annual Baking Day at Cici’s house. The kids enjoy helping make Magic Cookie Bars and Rice Krispy treats for several families at church.
Brooklyn got a board game called Century for her birthday, and the girls enjoyed playing it that afternoon.
Spring break was March 11th-15th. Travis took the week off, but we stayed in town to get stuff done and found ways to make memories instead of going on a trip this time. Ex. the girls enjoyed making towers out of Buildzi blocks.
Abigail wanted me to play bakery with her one morning :)
Picnic lunch and hula hooping on March 12th!
On March 13th, we took the girls to multiple furniture stores around town to hunt for bedroom furniture for their rooms. They’ve always had a hodgepog of random furniture pieces, and we were ready to invest in some new furniture that would hopefully give them more storage for their clothes and other items. It was an all-day affair. We learned that most of the twin bedroom suites you can find in person are not very good quality, but we did get a lead on some good brands to research online at least.
Cici had a spring fling at her house for the kids on March 14th, and it’s something they look forward to every year. They divide up in teams and do several different relays and games. Of course, they love the snacks and prizes at the end too!
The girls spent the night with Cici that night, and Travis and I used the opportunity to get a few things done around the house. We hung these Smallwoods canvases in our breakfast area, and I love how they turned out!
Savannah had been asking for a while if we could make something out of her cookbook, so I let the girls pick out two recipes (chocolate crinkle cookies and min tea cakes with citrus glaze), and we made both on March 16th. They turned out really good!
We got some difficult news near the end of spring break that Brooklyn’s science teacher, Mrs. Smith, had passed away. She had let us know that she had cancer in late February, but we were all shocked to hear that she had passed away just a few weeks later. Mrs. Smith was the sponsor of many of the science clubs at school, and she was loved by many students. One of the school counselors helped the students make these memory flowers that were displayed at her visitation the next weekend. It was a difficult time for the school as a whole, especially the teachers who were close to her and the current class of 5th graders.
These two don’t do projects together by themselves by often, but I loved seeing Brooklyn teach Abigail how to make cupcake artwork out of bead necklaces. They cut the necklaces into smaller pieces and glued them to the paper. So creative!
I obviously tend to take more pictures of the happy moments at our house, but real life includes the tears and challenges too. Such as when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and the lights are too bright while you are eating your cereal ;)
Thankfully, she rebounded and enjoyed having me come eat lunch with her at school that day :)
I subbed in the K-1 class at church on March 20th, and we were learning about the Queen of Sheba visiting King Solomon. The kids that age love acting out the story, and this was the perfect one for that because one of the girls could dress up as the queen. I didn’t choose Abigail in class, so the next day we recreated the story at home so she could have a chance to be the queen. Savannah pretended to be King Solomon, and Brooklyn was a camel….haha. Afterward, Abigail performed a twirly dance for us ;)
I am thankful that Savannah has a sweet friend like Chloe in our neighborhood!
On March 22nd, we went to the Milsteads’ annual scavenger hunt at their house. We always enjoy the thrill of the hunt! This year, Brooklyn went off with Natalie and some of the other kids who were searching for a different treasure box, and we teamed up with the other families with younger kids to find our own box. It started to rain on us during the hunt, but we didn’t let that stop us. We finally found the treasure (a bunch of dollar coins and candy), and the kids were very excited! It was a fun evening!
Abigail made this helicopter out of bristle blocks for her daddy who works on helicopters for a living ;) I thought she did a great job!
Our nephew Barrett decided to play baseball this spring for the first time, and we were able to go to his first game of the season on March 23rd. It was a COLD and windy night, but we enjoyed cheering him on!
Brooklyn’s math teacher, Mrs. Hess, continued to do a great job of sending weekly photos of what they were learning. I loved that!
Brooklyn is a natural entrepreneur and is always looking for a new way to make some money. Her business-minded ways have also rubbed off on her sisters, so now we sometimes have competing businesses or drama because somebody copied someone else’s idea ;) This time, Savannah came up with an “exercising business” and posted this flyer in the house. I’m not sure if it ever got off the ground, but I’m thinking I should have joined so I could get in shape ;)
Walking home from school on March 26th
The girls started spring soccer practice during the last week of March. Thursdays were especially hectic because all three girls had practice staggered 30 minutes apart on different fields (two at Dublin and one at Palmer).
Mrs. Borys brought a basketball hoop to school and had the kids play “March Madness” as part of a math lesson. So fun!
On March 29th, we checked the girls out of school early to go to Ian and Kaylee’s wedding in Fayetteville. We’d never been to this venue before, but it was beautiful, and the weather couldn’t have been better. The girls LOVED the dessert reception, and all of the parents thought the bouncy house was a genius idea to the keep the kids entertained. The kids also loved running and exploring in the big open field. It was a great afternoon celebrating a wonderful couple!
March 30th was the first day of spring soccer games, and it was a day of overlap! Abigail played at 8 AM on Palmer 4. We decided to move her up to 8U this season, thinking it might be easier logistically. She did well in 7U last season, so we figured she could hold her own with older kids even though she would be on the small side. We requested for her to be on the same team as Liv Doran, and it worked out, which is great. At their first practice Thursday night, Abigail seemed a little tentative, so I was having second thoughts about whether it was a good idea for her to play up. Neither Travis or I were able to see her 8 AM game on Saturday, but she apparently scored the first goal of the game. Her team ended up winning 5-3! Cici stayed with her and said she did great and looked like she fit right in. We had a big fan section today…with Mike and Angie as well as Phil and Gigi popping in for all 3 morning games 😊
I took Savannah to her game at 8:30 AM at Palmer 1. She is on Coach Bob’s team again with Gabriella and several of the same girls from last season. They had to combine the 9U and 10U division this season to have enough teams, so Savannah was nervous about being with some of the older girls. But her team did fantastic! She scored 2 goals and played great defense. Her team ended up winning 7-1. Sadly, Alexa didn’t end up on Coach Bob’s team, so Savannah was sad to have to play against her. But it was great to see her at least.
Travis took Brooklyn to her 8:30 AM game at Palmer 7. She played mostly center back (defense) the entire game. Her game ended in a 0-0 tie. Travis said her team was still trying to find its groove on offense, which was understandable since they’d only had one practice together. Brooklyn has Coach Theresa as her head coach and her old coach (Coach Joe) as her assistant, which is pretty cool. She is still adamant about going by Auburn on the soccer field, so the nickname isn’t dead yet…haha.
We went home briefly to make lunches and rest for a few minutes before returning to Palmer 4 at 11 AM to watch Luke’s game. He and Carter are playing soccer in Madison this season, which we are all excited about! He did a good job on defense and stopped the other team from getting too close to the goal several times.
Abigail played again at 12 pm on Palmer 4 right after Luke’s game ended. This time her team lost 4-1, but Abigail scored their only goal. The other team cleared the ball away from the goal, and Abigail came running up and gave it a big booming left footed kick right into the back of the net. It was awesome! Her teammates cheered and she looked surprised that she kicked it so hard. It was good to see her play in person and see how she held her own 😊
The next day, March 31st, was Easter, and the girls were excited to check their baskets first thing when they got up that morning. They each got a book, a small craft kit, and some candy. I was amused that Brooklyn and Savannah were just as interested in Abigail’s Bluey book as she was ;)
We had to get our annual cousin picture on Cici’s couch before lunch that day :)
My girls are growing up fast!
After lunch, the kids hunted eggs in the backyard. This year, Cici decided to let all the kids hunt together instead of separating them into “big” and “little” kids. She assigned each of them a color, and they each hunted for only those eggs. It seemed to work pretty well!
They love to go through their candy afterward and trade with each other for their favorites ;)
They didn’t waste any time that afternoon getting out their suncatcher kits to paint them. We enjoyed the day!
March 2024 Notes and Quotes
- 3/5/24 – Abigail led the prayer tonight at dinner, and she said, “Thank you for Christian. Please help him to grow up big and strong. And help him to be a good kid.” :)
- 3/9/24 – After Camp McDowell, I was trying to get caught up on laundry. The girls and I went to Cici’s this morning for the annual baking day, and when we came home, Travis was folding some towels I’d washed already. I asked what he was doing, and he said he was being “Mr. Mom.” A little while later, I looked for the basket of dirty clothes I’d put in the laundry room that morning and noticed it was empty. I asked Travis if he’d put the clothes in the wash, and he said no. I thought that was weird, but I thought maybe I didn’t remember putting them in myself. The washer and dryer were both empty, so I checked the dirty clothes hamper. Maybe I didn’t actually put them in the basket yet? I couldn’t find the dirty clothes anywhere, so I asked Travis again. All of a sudden, at the same time we both realized what had happened. Travis had folded the DIRTY clothes from the basket and put them all away…haha! We had to go through the closet and drawers and pull out all of the dirty clothes he’d just folded, including dirty underwear and socks!! It’s the thought that counts, I guess! 😊
- 3/12/24 – Savannah recently told Mrs. Borys she couldn’t see the board at school. She did a vision screening with Mrs. Barnette, and didn’t pass it, so I took her today to the eye doctor for a real vision screening. We were prepared that she might need glasses, but thankfully her vision isn’t bad enough *yet* to need them for sure, but it might be soon. One of her eyes is 20/40 and the other eye is 20/50. We are going to see if she can tough it out for the rest of this school year and sit toward the front of the room and then see how she does starting in 4th grade. She will probably need glasses sooner rather than later (right now her prescription would be -0.75), but she’s right on the borderline now. She isn’t especially excited about glasses, so she is okay with not getting them yet. Maybe she will warm up to the idea before she actually needs them 😉
- 3/22/24 – Savannah was telling me something that happened at school today: She said Mrs. Borys announced that everyone who was being quiet/following directions could get a prize from the prize box. There were only a few kids who were being quiet, and she included Savannah in that group. Savannah told me though that she actually wasn’t being quiet…Mrs. Borys just couldn’t see her talking from where she was. So Savannah went up to Mrs. Borys and told her that she shouldn’t draw from the prize box because she was talking. Mrs. Borys told her that great leaders are honest, and I agree. So proud of her for not just accepting the prize when she knew she didn’t rightfully earn it this time. I was impressed by her courage and integrity in that moment!
- 3/27/24 – Brooklyn has been losing teeth like crazy lately. She pulled another one last night (tooth #18, I believe) and still has one that is pretty loose.
- 3/31/24 – I broke the news to the girls this morning that Alabama was going to the Final Four (first time in school history!). Savannah and Abigail both cheered, and Brooklyn gave no response except maybe a sigh ;) Abigail started talking about Alabama and Auburn and how her allegiance changes: “I mostly cheer for Alabama. But if it’s a bad team and Auburn is gooder, then I’ll cheer for Auburn.” :)
Thanks for reading!!
