March Madness

Oh my...I am so far behind. This is what has kept me from starting a blog for awhile - the act of keeping up is not going to be easy.

And I wrote that sentence approximately one week ago. That's as far as I got. Now I have about three weeks' worth of our time to try and recollect - I need to shoot for shorter posts, more often.

All the way back to February 26-27: we had two snow days due to about 12-15" of snow. Apparently I thought we would all starve and I went on a huge baking spree. I made about 3 days' worth of food in one morning: biscuits and gravy, pancakes and bacon, BLTs, chocolate chip cookies, chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes, jello with cool whip, lettuce salad...I will say it was easier to just have everything out at once and then not have to cook for 2.5 days. Grandpa came by to check on us - the kids were playing outside which I think he liked to see. Sent some cookies with him before he went on his way. Jeremy hauled snow that first evening while the kids and I snuggled in and watched movies. The next day, Jared went sledding with Ian and the girls played and played - played dogs, played school, wrote a book. They were very busy. We capped our activities off with hot chocolate and more snuggling. Alas on the third day it was back to school and back to work.

Snowed in and we loved it! 

Jared and Jenna trying to shovel a path and clear off Farrah. 

Jersey thought he wanted to play in the snow...but only lasted about a minute. 

The girls' book :) 

Saturday (March 2) was spent mostly at TSU. Jared was involved with National History Day and presented the website he created with his friend, Robert, about Neil Armstrong (the theme was Turning Points in History: People, Ideas, Events and they chose to write about the first man on the moon, among his many other accomplishments). He has been asking for a guitar for a while so on his lunch break, he and I went to Circle M Music. I wasn't planning to buy a guitar that day, but buy a guitar I did. It's on layaway actually. He'll start lessons this summer (provided he gets his grades back up to par - Jared is smart as a whip but becomes bored quickly and he's letting his grades slip, I think mostly due to lack of interest and lack of applying himself. We're giving the xBox the boot and can play that on weekends only now, and I'm encouraging him to read instead every evening). It has occurred to me more than once that perhaps I should have waited to see how lessons go before actually buying a guitar. Here's hoping for the best. I should have taken a picture of him with the one he picked out, but of course I didn't think of that. We went back to Truman so he could finish up and then went to pick up Jenna. Jenna spent the afternoon at Truman for "Science on Saturday" (she chose Ag in the Classroom, Animal Doctors, Geology, and Oceanography - though I'm not sure if she got all her top picks). Julia went piddling (as my dad called it when he would take me out to basically just gom around) with Jeremy. Jared and I took that opportunity to run to Hy-Vee for groceries. Dad texted me on my way and said he'd catch us there. He had told me a week or two ago that Jason Aldean is going to be in Columbia at Mizzou Arena in April and he wanted to take Jared. I ordered the tickets for him and he wanted to come by and pay me (had a bit of a snag while ordering tickets but I finally got it done and hopefully they will have decent seats). Jared was on his kindle in the eating area at Hy-Vee while I shopped so after talking to me, Dad went to find him to tell him about their concert. Jared found me within about 4 minutes - he was very excited, to say that least, and pretty much had one awesome day.

Jared and Robert waiting for their presentation at National History Day. 

Sunday Jared and I went to church as Jeremy had joined the girls for Mass on Thursday. I made twice-baked potatoes that day and of course while no one was watching, Jersey helped himself to the bacon I had fried and crumbled that morning. He might look remorseful, but I don't think that was the case:

Tuesday (3/5) was Jenna's last basketball game. Due to all the winter weather we've had, one tournament and one game were cancelled, so the girls only got to play 3 games. It was still a great experience for Jenna. At the last game she got to start, and played point guard for a while. She definitely has the competitive edge within her and enjoys the games.

Before her last game of 4th grade. 

#11 - warming up. 

Rockin' the ball court. 

Point Guard: "Break!" 

Assessing the situation from the sidelines - they had an exciting and close game, but didn't win. 

The next day, at indoor recess, she was shooting hoops and a boy kept slamming the ball back down at her. She came home with her pinky and ring finger on her left hand swollen like fat sausages. I thought it was jammed so beyond ice and rest, didn't think there was much we could do. The next morning, she was a server at Mass for the first time so I joined the girls. I loved seeing her up there, and again, should have snapped a pic. Her white robe enveloped her, coming down to the tips of her fingers and the tops of her shoes. She was a little bit nervous, but she did a wonderful job. That night we noticed the bruising around her fingers had gone down into her hand on both sides. Jeremy ended up taking her to Urgent Care and an xRay revealed her pinky to be broken. I was not happy with that boy and to be quite honest wanted to throat-punch him. Grandpa said it was time to teach her "where to kick hard, and often." She was referred to Dr. Marberry who confirmed the break and told us to keep it taped for 4 weeks. She will have a follow up then and another xRay in 6 weeks to make sure it healed fully. Jenna got to see the break on the computer which was kind of interesting. It's broken at the base of her pinky and pushes her pinky outward - I'm assuming that's why it needs to be taped to her ring finger, to heal straight. We had been wrapping it in gauze and she was getting blisters between her fingers; now it is just taped at the base of her two fingers. She's been getting along fairly well. Just needed Motrin the first few days. Over Spring Break she was playing ball one-handed and riding her bike. Luckily, it was her left hand, so she can still do most things. 

Spring Break was last week. Since we are saving for our trips to Sedalia and Nashville, there really wasn't much fanfare over Spring Break. I took Monday and Tuesday off. Monday the kids, Gigi, and I went to Columbia. Jared and Jenna had orthodontist appointments. We had lunch at the mall and perused Target, then went to see Oz the Great and Powerful at the Stadium theater before heading home. It was probably the most fun we've had on an orthodontist day - usually I have a lot of errands to run or shopping to do, but that day was actually enjoyable, and their appointments were finished in record time. Jared learned he has to now wear bands on his braces though; he wasn't too jazzed about that.

Tuesday we didn't do much but hang out at home. Wednesday morning was Jenna's appointment with Dr. Marberry and then back to work for me. Grandma watched the kids the rest of the week, although Grandpa helped out Thursday morning so Grandma would have the morning off, then took them all to lunch at AJ's. Friday was a beautiful, 70-degree day, out of no where. The kids got to play outside quite a bit that day.

Saturday was also spent hanging out at home. The girls and I came across a 3-part miniseries of Little House on the Prairie, made in 2005. We got hooked and watched the whole thing while Jared escaped to Connor's. Sunday we all went to Mass. This was St. Patrick's Day and the girls were all decked out in their green. We sang a hymn I'd never heard before and loved: Lord of the Dance. It was upbeat and spoken from Jesus' point of view, my favorite line being, "I am the Dance and I still go on."

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.

Refrain

Dance, then, wherever you may be;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.
And I’ll lead you all wherever you may be,
And I’ll lead you all in the dance, said he.

I danced for the scribe and the Pharisee,
But they would not dance and they would not follow me;
I danced for the fishermen, for James and John;
They came to me and the dance went on.

Refrain

I danced on the Sabbath when I cured the lame,
The holy people said it was a shame;
They whipped and they stripped and they hung me high;
And they left me there on a cross to die.

Refrain

I danced on a Friday and the sky turned black;
It’s hard to dance with the devil on your back;
They buried my body and they thought I’d gone,
But I am the Dance and I still go on.

Refrain

They cut me down and I leapt up high,
I am the life that’ll never, never die;
I’ll live in you if you’ll live in me;
I am the Lord of the Dance, said he.

Refrain

After church we went out to lunch then went by to see Grandma Bea, DQ in tow. The kids stayed there and played while Jeremy and I got groceries.

The girls and some of their green on St. Patrick's Day. Jared wore red. I gave him 3 lashings! Just kidding. 

Julia's St. Patrick's shoes!  (Tink shoes from Aunt Tiffy for Christmas) Grandpa said, "Those can't be her feet; the socks match!" This is true, home girl has a penchant for mismatched socks and actually had two different Minnie socks on this day but I made her change because they were anklets and it was cold out! 

Moving on to Monday (3/18), it was back to school for Jared but the girls had one more day off. Grandma came over and although it was cold and windy, they got to play outside some. Grandma made puppy chow at Jared's request and got strawberries ready for him too; he was very happy when he got home from school. Grandma also made us dinner (BBQ pork steak and mashed potatoes), and we got a box in the mail from Aunt Tiffy. Julia got to open it actually by herself (she ran and got some random key she has to get the box open) and was thrilled to open a box full of Easter chocolates ("Kit Kat, here I come!" she said). She then ran off to find the other two and tell them of their good fortune. Jenna called Aunt Tiffy on everyone's behalf to thank her. She is an awesome aunt to them - Easter Bunny, Great Pumpkin, and Tanta Kringle all rolled into one! ;)

Easter surprises!!

We don't have much of a busy week this week. The girls missed dance last night simply because I'm not back into our routine and forgot. Thursday they have choir. Friday is Gigi's surgery and then Grandma Bea has surgery on Monday. I will be off Friday for Mom's surgery and then the Friday and morning surrounding Easter as the girls don't have school then either. Grandpa is heading south to Texas for a conference and each one of us wishes we could go along with him. He will have to deliver all our birthday love and wishes to Aunt Tiffy for us!