March

Jackson enjoying his sword we bought him in Mexico.

These girls love doing spas.

Mckinley working her way through braces. I love them and we have absolutely loved Thompson Orthodontics.

We had our first magical day where it was warm enough to go play on the neighbor's playgrounds. With coats still, but it always feels so good that first time you can play outside after a long winter. This happened on March 16th.

We took Ross and Karen to dinner at Chili's for Karen's birthday and of course Jackson fell asleep on the way. I had the hardest time waking him up! I was kissing his cheeks and we took a fun video of it. He's the cutest!

Mckinley had her National History Day (NHD) competition. We made an experience out of it and she and I slept over at my parents' house the night before. I took her up to this junior high school in Alpine or something and she was interviewed for her project and got to see all her friends projects and hang out for the whole day. They went to Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch. I went back in the evening for the awards ceremony.

Mckinley didn't move on to state but she got an honorable mention for her paper on the invention of the television. I had been so worried about this project ever since our first meeting about it in the summer but it turned out totally fine. Mckinley did all the work, we didn't hardly help her at all. And we decided we definitely want to stay in this program for next year! She is the best student ever and has learned and grown so much during 7th grade. She has absolutely loved it!

We got to the end of the alphabet with joy school. I had so much fun making these creative letters for the boys. Joy school is so stinking fun. I just love these cute boys so much! It has been so good for Jackson and he has learned so much. He can write his own name and spell it for you. It's so cute!

So before our cruise our neighbors gave us their beta fish. It wouldn't eat and looked like it was going to die. Apparently they are supposed to live in warm water but our house temperature is pretty cold. Anyway, we gave it back to the Eddy's to keep for us while we were on our cruise and after we got back, I accidentally killed it by putting it in warm water that was apparently too big of a shock. I felt so bad about it!

We told the kids we would get another fish. Well then on facebook someone was giving away these two GIANT goldfish and all the equipment for them. So we got these fish, but they were clearly too big for the tank. The lady bought them when they were like an inch big and they just grew and grew for almost 2 years with her. Anyway, we had them for about a week and then found a pet store that said they would take them. So for now we are back to no fish which has been nice because there were more trips coming up in our future.

So, March 16th had us playing outside on the playground and then we got another big snowstorm on the 24th. This has been a record year for snowfall in Utah. The winter just keeps on going! Ava is obsessed with shoveling snow though and I have been fully enjoying the beautiful snow. It didn't bother me at all to have a couple of late snowstorms.

I took the boys to play at the church and have an indoor picnic for joy school one day which was such a great idea. We had a blast!

Mckinley has read so many books this school year! A lot for English and a lot just for fun. She is such an amazing child. And of course, Jackson sleeping.

I know this will eventually end, but I just love it for now. I always have to take a picture of him when he crashes! We love Jackson so much!