March Little Things

Here are a few snapshots of our life in the month of March. 

We had a pet guinea pig for the weekend (Lily's former class pet named S'mores that we got to petsit). 

AB See is Adam's favorite book. We read it everyday, multiple times.

Lily earned her second paw, which means she has run 200 miles at morning mile this year!

I presented a booth about Canada for the elementary international fair.

 My friend Leanne helped me make some delicious Nanaimo bars for visitors to sample.

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day, with our traditional Lucky Charms cereal and a rainbow fruit tray. Lily made a fun hat at school.

Brothers having fun.

Zach finished reading the A to Z Mysteries book series (26 books).

We reminded our ward members of the importance of watching General Conference with a little Easter egg hunt reminder. "Watching General Conference is an EGG-xcellent idea!"

 190 eggs filled with chocolate and reminders.

Spring break in March 2017

Our Spring Break was spent here. We didn't do anything majorly exciting, but it was nice to have extra family time doing our traditional spring things and playing with friends.

Saturday was strawberry day! We picked a lot of berries and prepped a lot of berries for jam.

 After the farm we made a quick stop at the Largest Live Oak tree (since Jared has never seen it).

Monday the older children had dentist appointments. Hurray for no cavities! The appointments were finished quickly, so we ran some errands. We went to the sporting goods store to try on soccer cleats for Zach (he starts soccer next week). Then we stopped at Sam's Club. We came home for lunch, naptime for Adam and screen time for kids. In the afternoon we went to the library, then dinner and FHE.

Tuesday we met our friends the Rotchfords to play at Westside Park. In the afternoon Jared took the girls to see the live action Beauty and the Beast movie at the theater. Hurray for scoring $2 movie tickets! When Adam finished his nap, I took the boys out for date for hot fudge sundaes at McDonalds.

Wednesday morning was home time/errands. After naps/quiet time we went to play with our friends the Forbes.

Thursday morning we picked up the Olsens and went to play at San Felasco Park. Anwyn and Kylee rode their bikes there. After playing for an hour we came back home to play a little longer. In the afternoon we worked on deep cleaning the girls bedroom, with a focus on the art supplies. That evening we watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them for a family movie night.

Friday morning the big kids went to play with the Olsens, while I went to the store with Adam. We worked some more on organizing the girls room, and sorted out some outgrown clothes to pass along.

That evening the kids went to the Beck's house while Jared and I got to have a date. We went to Las Margaritas for dinner and watched Doctor Strange.

Saturday morning Jared and I and the boys drove across town to run errands. Zach and I exchanged his soccer cleats, while Jared shopped at Sam's Club with Adam. We were home by 10:45 to send Jared with the kids to the retirement home for horses. The last time we went to the horse farm was 2.5 years ago for Lily's seventh birthday party. The kids had a nice time feeding carrots to the horses and walking around.

In the meanwhile I went to baby shower for a sweet young sister in our ward (from Brazil) who is expecting twins!

 In the evening we watched a bit of Star Wars V (we are working through the series again for the umpteenth time). The girls and I got comfortable in our pajamas to watch the General Women's Session of General Conference. It starts at 8 pm for us, so we just watch it at home--everyone stayed awake this time. The talks were all excellent. I thought the analogy of centering ourselves on the Lord and "lean not unto unto thine own understanding" was really good, and I especially liked Sister Burton's focus on "certain women". We are looking forward to General Conference next week!

 Zach said his favorite part of the week was screen time. The kids enjoyed extra screen time. The favorite activity of choice was Lego Dimensions on the Xbox. My project time this week was working on some extra organizing and deeper cleaning. I also finished our 2010 Family Album-compiling the emails we send, printing them off and putting together in a binder any memory things from that year (Mother's Day and Father's day, annual family photos, etc). I am only six years behind!

A Visit with Grandpa and Grandma

At the very end of February we were thrilled to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Tanner. They  were invited to present at a Family History conference in Jacksonville, so lucky us got to spend some time with them in the week before the conference. They arrived late on Monday evening and the kids still had school and Jared had work and church responsibilities, so we mostly just included them in our daily routine.

They were good troopers and got up early to do the morning mile with us at school everyday. Adam bonded quickly with Grandma and Grandpa, especially when he figured out if he held their hands he could get a swing ride.


Tuesday Ann and I picked up strawberries for $1/lb at Publix, and were able to get a few batches of jam in the freezer. We had an early dinner, then we all went to Lake Alice on campus. No alligators or turtles were in sight, but we got to see the many many bats fly out of the three houses. We didn't so much enjoy the smell or the "bat drip" we experienced.

Now there are three bat houses!

Adam on a leash so he doesn't run into the lake!

Lots and lots of bats flying out of their houses!

Pretty reflection that Jared caught.

Beautiful sunset.

Panorama of Lake Alice.

Wednesday morning And and James and Adam and I walked down to the bottom of the Devil's Millhopper. It is a lot of steps! We saw a snake.

That afternoon was early out for the elementary school, so we went for a little outing in the afternoon to the largest live oak tree in Florida.

Thursday Jared worked at home so he could get the front windshield on his car replaced (it had been hit by a rock a long time ago, causing a long crack, and he finally got around to doing something about it). In the afternoon we checked Anwyn out of school at 2:30 (she just missed band) so we could all go to Manatee Springs State Park. It is an hour drive to the park, and we enjoyed seeing deer, birds, fish, etc. Lily adopted a dying dragonfly for the duration of our stay in the park. Unfortunately it was the wrong temperature for manatees, but we did enjoy a nice view of the Suwanee River. After much deliberation, we stopped off for hamburgers and milkshakes at Burger King on the way home (it was the convenient restaurant).

View of Manatee Springs

Four cute kids on a manatee

We saw a mama and baby deer.

There were lots of vultures hanging out in the trees and on the dock by the Suwanee River.

Lily's pet dragonfly.

Friday morning we took a walk around the neighborhood (since Adam loves to see the diggers/construction equipment).  James and Ann left to go to Jacksonville for the family history conference on Friday, then came back to stay with us Saturday night after they finished the conference. We had a quiet Sunday morning at home, then went to 1 pm church. It was nice to have James and Ann with us. I taught Relief Society, and James got to teach the High Priests. They left right after church to drive to Georgia to stay with Ryan and Marcelaine. It was wonderful to spend some time with them!