This will be the one and only post for March. I loved having a more chill month after a busier-than-usual February. Besides catching up on regular life stuff I logged a ton of blogging hours. I got all of the February blog posts written (15!), including the Disneyland and Paris/Barcelona trip posts. I'm so happy there's only one March post to write!
monthly photo summary
 |
3/3: This is how Ruby cleans the bathroom: shorts & tank top, headphones on, a pair of my heels on the floor. Ruby has been a Saturday chores champ lately.
|
 |
Ellie has been asking to have sushi again. Jeff and I usually go for sushi dates when the girls are in school so she misses out. We ordered her "sushi" (crab, mango, cucumber) at Pei Wei and she was so happy.
|
 |
3/4: Ruby fell asleep on the couch Sunday afternoon. I thought, "She's finally getting the whole Sunday nap thing!" But no. She woke up and was sick. Of course. The poor girl threw up in the living room right around the time the rest of the family was sitting down to Sunday dinner at Grammie's house. This wasn't a one-and-done either. I kept her home from school the next day but she'd got it all out of her system during the night.
|
 |
Before our trip our neighbor Troy told Jeff he'd shovel our driveway while we were out of the country. While we were gone it snowed three times. As a thank you I baked up some pain au chocolat and took them over with a note. A couple days later I saw this on Instagram. He said, "After being nominated 19 times I finally beat out that meddling Steve Peterson!" 😂
|
 |
When I went in to peek on Ellie on my way to bed I found Queen Elizabeth sleeping like this.
|
 |
3/5: Ellie kept falling asleep in my bed when I was reading Anne of Green Gables to the girls at night. I think three or four nights in a row I carried her, asleep, to her own bed. I don't know why she was so tired, but she got back to a more reasonable bedtime just before daylight savings came along and ruined it.
|
 |
3/8: Second Grade Grandparents Program
Jeff and I went to the program dress rehearsal that parents are invited to attend. The second grade program is comprised of a dance program followed by a singing program; it's like two hours long. Ellie's dance partner was Donnovan and Ellie was less than enthusiastic about dancing with him, especially with an audience. We were cracking up watching her facial expressions as she half-heartedly danced. They performed the noble duke, the waltz, the twist, the macarena, the bunny hop, and the hokey pokey. So much dancing.
|
 |
Jeff and I each got the chance to dance "the twist" with Ellie. After the dancing came the singing portion. They sang eleven songs - including The Flintstones, Gilligan's Island, Yellow Submarine, and The Brady Bunch. Ellie was in the Happy Talk performance and got to wear a hula skirt. Her speaking part was, "My Grammie's favorite musical is The King and I." My favorite song they sang was What a Wonderful World. I totally got teary-eyed.
The next day Grammie went to the Grandparent's Day performance, which is even longer because they go to the classrooms for a show and tell segment. Ellie was one of five kids who didn't get checked out after the program and she thought it was awesome that most everyone was gone.
|
 |
3/12: It was 57° and I took the chance to get my first outdoor ride before the girls got out of school. It was gorgeous and it got me excited for more outdoor rides this coming season. I rode 17 miles and felt pretty good!
|
 |
3/13: Our 20-year-old water heater was showing signs of wearing out. We couldn't even take one shower without the water starting to go cold but it hadn't totally quit yet. We asked Jeremy Eliason to replace it for us and he came on the Tuesday afternoon to get the job done. He went above and beyond, replacing worn-out piping and hooking our humidifier up to the hot water. He said our old tank was not properly secured and was full of sediment. We are loving the spiffy new water heater!
|
 |
3/14: We have The Cutest Sunbeams class this year in Primary. Jack Doyle is this adorable little guy with the sweetest little face and a big personality. At first he had a hard time staying without his mom. Then all of the sudden one week he wouldn't stay in his seat, walking around to ask the adults for snacks and talking to anyone who would talk to him. This night Jack and his sweet parents showed up at my door with a plate of cookies and this adorable note. I just wish I could be his primary teacher!
|
 |
3/15: Ellie got her phase 1 braces on! Excitement turned to nervousness when it came time for this big change. She would not lie down on the chair and I felt like I was dealing with a toddler. The patient assistant was able to talk her into it but I could see that Ellie was still worried. Getting the braces put on didn't take long at all and we got all the info about her new dental hygiene routine and foods to avoid. Ellie did not want to keep her upper Schwarz appliance, even though she'd been amazingly dedicated to wearing it. It took a couple days for her to get used to not having to take her retainer out anymore, and she did have sore teeth but only for a few hours.
|
 |
3/17: FINALLY, after months of ignoring the disaster that was Ellie's room, we did a deep clean. I'd kept putting it off because I knew it would be a big project but now I wish I'd tackled it sooner.
|
 |
3/20: Fish Market Fishing for Funds Swim-a-Thon
This is the swim club's annual "mandatory" fundraiser swim. I told Ellie she could swim as much as she wanted and she told me on the way that she thought she'd swim five laps. When we got there we found out the swimmers could use fins and kickboards and Ellie was instantly happier. She hopped in a lane with a bunch of kids she doesn't know and took off.
|
 |
Ellie swam and swam and I counted each lap. At one point she told me she was going to swim 80 laps and she asked how many she had left. She had been swimming for almost an hour and was getting tired. I told her she didn't have to swim 80 laps so she decided to stop at 70. I was so proud of Ellie for swimming hard even though she didn't have to.
|
 |
Ruby had her piano recital the same night as the swim-a-thon. Jeff took Ruby to the recital and Grammie went to watch, too. Ruby played The Malagueña, a Spanish folk song. Jeff took a video for me and told me all about it. I'm proud of Ruby for sticking with piano even though she doesn't love doing her practice. I hope someday she'll appreciate this wonderful skill.
|
 |
3/22: First Spring Blooms!
It was a rainy day so the crocus didn't open up, but it was still lovely to see the first blooms in the garden!
|
 |
3/22: Ruby's aerial teacher sent me a picture of Ruby's splits and told me to compare it to the picture she sent me when Ruby first started. She said she's really happy with how much she has improved. I was surprised to look at the photos side-by-side and see her progress.
|
 |
3/24: We went to the Monte L. Bean Museum at BYU to see the Titanoboa replica that Ruby's science teacher told them about the week before. After searching the whole museum and not seeing it I asked at the front desk and they said it just left last week. Such a bummer!
|
 |
Ellie found this pinecone as big as her face!
|
 |
3/29: Jeff and I went to lunch at Copper Kitchen. We hadn't been there for probably a year and we'd never gone for lunch before. I had to order the Cuban because Cubans are my fav, and this one was good, but dang, those parmesan rosemary fries stole the show.
|
 |
3/29: We paid off Jeff's last remaining student loan! Ten years later he still had one small(ish) loan left and with interest rates going up he figured we should just be done with it. I'll be honest, it wasn't nearly as fun as paying for the kitchen remodel or buying a new car but it does feel good to be debt free.
|
 |
3/30: All the little crocus are finally blooming and bringing little specks of spring color to the garden.
|
 |
3/31: We had the church cleaning assignment and I volunteered us for trash duty since we haven't done that one yet. Ellie thought it was super gross. Ruby liked putting new trash bags in the bins. They also got to mop all of the bathrooms. Getting to go into the boys' bathroom is a special treat for some reason.
|
 |
That morning we got to participate in the Solemn Assembly, sustaining our new prophet. In roller skates no less. It was a special experience and a memorable start to what would become a historic conference.
|
 |
Right during Saturday morning session of General Conference, Dimitri, the Russian piano tuner showed up at our door. I'd tried to reschedule with him and hadn't heard back yet. And here he was.
And it was the funniest experience I have had in a long time. He played the piano and laughed, so I assumed it was very out of tune. He soon explained that the piano didn't need to be tuned at all and he was amazed that we'd gotten the piano for free. "Nothing in America is free!" He exclaimed, "Why you want to pay me $89? You want to give me $89 tip? I don't know why God loves you. Maybe you holy person?" He totally made my day and I look forward to having him come back sometime to actually tune it!
|
 |
The girls finished building their cardboard box houses in the backyard. They'd started with Alta & Ellie on Friday and had to finish and play in them before Monday's forecasted rain. I liked Ellie's hat hook and mail slot.
|
