march.

March is one of my very favorite months, because it’s the month of Daylight Savings time, and typically the month when I can start wearing flip flops again. We had a great New Members’ class and the trampoline miraculously held up yet again with a dozen or so kids jumping (this is always a fear of mine when we have guests). Here’s what else we were up to:

 

Celebrating Kelly’s birthday with charcuterie, wine, and gluten free cupcakes.

 

Noah has been asking me to teach him to iron. I have a great ironing hack. Actually it’s a great make-your-husband-wear-all-his-work-shirts hack. I only iron once a month or so, which means he’s forced to wear everything in the closet! I let Noah practice on a table runner. He was a champ.

 

The kids and I took an early spring break this year. We have a co-op break mid-March and another one the week of Easter. Since we have standardized testing scheduled for April, we went ahead and took our March break entirely off school. Typically I like my spring break to be closer to Easter so that the weather’s nice, but now that we’ve tried an earlier break, I’ll never go back. It was so restful and cozy — and way nicer to have it smack in the middle of the semester when we’ve hit our slump.

 

Amie pulled back out her roller blades recently after several months and has been practicing. Now Gabe and Noah want to save up for their own pairs. Poor Gabe: a nameless sibling left his hoverboard outside in the fall and it got drenched in rain. It sort-of still works. Every month or two he’ll pull it out and give it another attempt. Get that boy some rollerblades!

 

We’ve gotten back in the swing of soccer, and it’s going so well this year. The boys have improved a lot, especially Gabe. I think it’s being a year older and also being on a team that’s a much better fit this spring. They love Coach Wayne and Coach Beth!

 

Amie is enjoying her soccer season too, and has been busy working at her art as usual. I love this verse she recently hand-lettered.

 

And this scene from Farm Anatomy.

 

We’re on the home stretch with our Classical Village co-op for the year — just four weeks left. The kids all definitely have spring fever (actually the teachers do too), but they’re doing a great job hanging in there and working hard. Last week my third-graders outlined and wrote a paper together, following the plot line of the tall tale, “Pecos Bill.” The boys’ spin on a tall tale included soccer, Ninjago, and a monster attack on the Olympic games. It’s very entertaining!

 

This winter, Judah found a record player for $10 at the thrift store around the corner, and it actually works. He’s looking forward to growing his record collection, and bought the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack this month. Noah was overheard asking him yesterday, “Judah, can we go in your room and listen to records?”

 

David and Judah are training for a half-marathon in May, which will be in Hendersonville, NC. A half-marathon in the mountains does not sound fun to me, but David says it’s downhill. They add a whole mile each Friday, and ran 8 this Friday. David and I are still using gift cards from both our 40th birthdays, and have had a couple of fun dates this past month: one to Tazza Kitchen and one to Bourbon. Two of our favorite Columbia places!

 

We said absolutely, positively no more pets in 2022, and then somehow this week I found myself driving Amie out to Tractor Supply for baby chicks. Well, as David clarified, chicks are not pets — they’re livestock.

 

 

Amie and David have had fun introducing Kira to her new sisters. Supposedly if we raise her around all these small pets she’ll never want to eat them. There’s a lot of cuteness in this picture:

 

 

Very early in our homeschooling journey I followed a couple women who would post the cutest pictures of their kids curled up doing school work with an assortment of family pets. I always wanted to be one of those people but didn’t think I could bear to add another living thing to our household. Well, fast forward a few years, and we became those people after all.

 

Miss Kira is doing fabulous, as you saw from Amie’s post. David told me that every morning at 5:30 (which is when she starts whining to get out of her crate), he wants to give her away. But after we make it through that first hour, he’s glad we kept her. Ha! Our sleep has definitely suffered with a puppy. But she’s sleeping through the night now, which is a milestone. I think she was just testing the boundaries there for a few weeks. She makes us all happier. Even Judah, although don’t tell him I told you that.

 

Thursday was March 31st, which was our night to go see The Lion King! Can you believe how quickly those weeks flew by? It feels like it was just my birthday. It was truly a perfect night, everything I hoped it would be. Experiencing the show through the eyes of the kids was magical. We’ll always remember it!

 

Last but not least, I read three fantastic books in March.

I found the Lisa See book in Steve and Linda’s lending library; it’s one I’d been wanting to read, and it didn’t disappoint. It was incredibly sad but so good. I’d never read about Korea during and after World War 2. I also loved learning about the women divers on the island of Jeju. The Cartographers was my second Book of the Month Club pick and this book was SO fun! A mystery/thriller that was almost impossible to put down. This would be a great vacation read. Third, I read The Child from the Sea, which my parents got me for my birthday. I love Elizabeth Goudge as much as ever, she is such a thoughtful, deep writer.

 

Now that I write all this out, I see why March felt like a busy month. No wonder I take a nap every day.

Happy April!