March-ing to our own Drum

We have had a lot of rain this winter and spring and the girls have had ample opportunities to use their umbrellas.  They pull them out even when it's not raining, and hurt my superstitious eyes by bringing them inside completely opened.  On this particular day in March it was sunny and warm enough for swim suits, so the umbrellas were purely for shade while relaxing on the driveway.

My niece Nona had her first birthday in March and we got to celebrate with her here.  She wasn't quite sure what all the singing was about but didn't say no to her birthday donut when she got it.  Then she took off with her parents for a getaway to Vegas while her brothers Austin and Gabe stayed here with us for a couple days.  The girls were in heaven having their cousins here all day and night (can you say slumber party in sleeping bags crammed together on the floor two nights in a row!) and we had a lot of fun with them.

Sophie and Joseph got to be in our ward's portion of our stake road show.  They were all Smurfs, though Sophie had no idea what a Smurf was.  Sophie was one of three little girls in the show in addition to all the youth ages 12-18 whose show it really was, and they each had a line in addition to all the acting, singing, and dancing that they all did.  It was a skit about 8 minutes long basically about accepting and loving everyone.  Sophie did awesome and had so much fun with it.  I think she may have been bitten by the acting bug in the process.

 Probably her favorite part was, however, getting to go on a Daddy Daughter date (or so she thought) every Tuesday night for rehearsal.  She loved that time alone with Joseph and was really sad when the show was over.

Avery wished she could've gone with them each week but we had some good mommy daughter bonding time while they were gone, so hopefully that made up for it a little.

Our St. Patty's Day was marked by lots of green and my first time making corned beef and cabbage for dinner.  I liked it just okay and don't know if I just need to try a different recipe next year or if we're just not a corned beef and cabbage kind of family.

Sophie and Avery were both invited to a Princess birthday party for their friend Mia.  It was very creative and the girls had a blast and each came home with their own princess Barbie.

The mom of the birthday girl dressed up like Snow White and treated the girls like true princesses, much to their delight.  She even sounded like Snow White.  I told her she could make a living doing those kind of parties.

I don't know if the girls will ever be satisfied by another birthday party I throw them...oh well!

Will loves going on walks and pointing out everything he sees from trees to dogs to flowers to planes.  These beauties are growing in our front yard and Will has a hard time not touching them to death.

He loves to smell them, though!  I love that when he does, instead of sniffing he blows out of his nose.  Maybe from now on when I want him to blow into a kleenex I'll tell him to sniff!