life in march

As part of the Read Across America campaign, the kids (and Mrs. Edwards, the music teacher) rocked Tacky Tourist Day...

Hard at work in the classroom...

We've been trying to get better at having the kids say personal prayers at the end of the night, so it made my mama heart happy when I walked into Colby's room and found him doing just that.  (I made sure he didn't catch me taking a picture.)

We went for a Friday night campout, and although it was a little creepy to set-up camp in the dark, we worked quickly so we could move on to s'mores. 

I slept horribly because my sleeping bag wasn't cut out for 45 degree weather, but my little ones slept like champs. 

I climbed out of the tent first to go to the restroom, but Colby was awake by the time I returned...

Brooke majorly slept in while Colby busied himself with his pocket knife.  He also helped me with the fire so we could enjoy some campfire snuggles and cocoa.  (Kevin had to get on a conference call for our real estate investment deal.)

Brooke eventually graced us with her presence, but I got a chuckle out of her in that onesie, haha.  She is getting so tall and looked like a giant toddler. 

They both love to play with the fire, so I always have to keep my eyes on them.

Brooke then spent the afternoon at Paisley's skating party.  She loved the time with her softball friends, and I enjoyed chatting with their parents.

While we were away, the boys started our garage clean-out project and Colby was excited to show me that he's now big enough to ride Daddy's chopper.

Colby continues to love Activity Days and asked his leaders to send me this picture of his creation :)

This is the only picture I took of our annual boat waxing/detailing session, but we worked hard and the boat is looking nice and shiny.

A little street hockey with friends...

Brooke refused to be the solo girl in the pic, but she did run around and play with the kids when they weren't playing hockey. 

After years of paying for a weed/lawn service with subpar results, we decided to take a whack at it and dubbed our attempt, "Operation: Fix Our Grass."  Brooke was pretty disgusted with the stinky manure mixture we added into the soil, so naturally, I made her pause for a picture. 

Colby helped aerate sections of the lawn that are really thin.  I'm really crossing my fingers that it will make a difference.

We took a Sunday afternoon drive over to Cedar Hill to scope out campsites for an upcoming youth trip, and this is what Brooke chose to wear.  It all started with her pink tights from church, but I referred to her as "Pinkalicious" because it just fit her outfit to a T. 

I enjoyed an awesome brunch with these beauties in Downtown Fort Worth.  I always love my time spent with Andreia and Danielle, but it always makes me miss Tracy as well.  Her absence is most definitely felt, especially when the three of us are together without her.

Brooke set a goal to read the scriptures every night, so I tried to give her time to do so...

Our tree drops these little green clusters each Spring and it's a total nightmare to clean up...

But my new flowers were looking good...

I finally completed my 2022 Blog Book and the relief I felt was remarkable.  I vowed to never get that far behind again, but I was even worse in 2023.  How am I going to keep myself on track?

Sunday Selfies with my kiddos...

They wouldn't be nice to each other for a trio pic, so we had to take separate pictures. The good news is that their attitudes drastically improved once we had some lunch!

We went to visit Papa in the hospital that afternoon and I think he was grateful for the visit.  He has been in the hospital multiple times so far this year and I think it's been very lonely and discouraging for him. 

Brooke lost another tooth...

I chaperoned the First Grade Field Trip to the Oliver Nature Park in Mansfield.  Thankfully, the rain stayed away and the whole day was a success.  According to Colby, the only thing that would've made the day better is if they could have held the turtles, snakes, and toads.

They had awesome stations set up around the park where the kids received a tiny lesson and then had hands-on activities to practice what they learned.

Mrs. Byrd's class...

I loved my time with my little buddy!

He convinced me to check him out of school after the field trip, even though I told him we would just be running errands.  As we drove to Costco, he said, "This is the best day, way better than being at school." Just goes to show that our kids simply want time with us.  Or maybe time away from school, haha.

It was another busy month, and with sports starting up this month (another post), it was about to get busier!!