Marched

 March has marched away already. Here are a few excerpts from my journal at the end of March:

Monday, March 27th: Today was a good day. I felt way more at ease all day before track practice than I did last week. I didn't feel like I was overly preoccupied with the upcoming track practice, and I was able to have a much more normal day at home. It felt good to have some room to breathe. Tomorrow I may even try making bread for the first time in a few weeks! 

The running game I invented for track practice today WORKED! It was fun, the kids were engaged, and they ran more than if I had just told them to jog for 15 minutes. I put them in their 3 training groups and gave each group a baton. The groups had to run in a line, with the last person running up to the front of the line and the front runner passing the baton to the person coming up from the back. They could only walk on curves of the track, and the challenge was to see how many baton passes each group could get. I joined in with the girls group and ran with them. Everyone was happy, and the running time passed quickly for them. Success! I feel so happy and satisfied that my idea worked. 

After track practice, we got home at 4:55 and immediately heated up leftovers for dinner. Then I took a 2 minute shower and drove the girls to piano lessons at 5:30. While Rose had her lesson, I took Amber a few blocks over to the library for a fresh stack of books. While Amber was in her piano lesson, I went a few blocks over to Safeway to do the weekly grocery shopping. I did not have a meal plan or a list, and I only had 25 minutes. Somehow I managed to create a meal plan on the fly and stay under $100 for the week's food, all in 25 minutes. It was a feat of focus and prowess that I don't want to make into a habit because the likelihood of success is so slim. But it worked today when I didn't have time to do it better. Whew! 

Tuesday, March 28th: I had a physical therapy appointment today and felt like a bowl of overcooked spaghetti noodles afterwards. Whew, it's hard! 

Wednesday, March 29th: Nobody broke any bones or got injured beyond a scrape during our game day (zombie tag) at track practice today. Whew! After school, Amber was sad and jealous of Jay and Rose because they got to play fun games at track practice, so I gave her a Hershey's kiss. It cheered her up more than I expected. 

Thursday, March 30th:  Thursday and Friday are no school days this week, for elementary school parent teacher conferences, which basically meant spring break started two days early. On days without school, Jeff and I decided to combine our high school and middle school track teams and practice together. Jay went to track practice and then went home with his friend afterwards. Rose and Amber played nicely at home together all day long: Legos, outside, art, etc. They are such sweet sister friends. 

Friday, March 31st: Jay had two friends over after track practice this morning. They set up a folding table in the basement and played Dungeons and Dragons for an hour and a half. I realized that we had 3 teenage boys in our house and I hadn't been to the grocery store in four days...so I got out the last package of taquitos and cooked them up. I felt like such a domestic diva as I arranged the taquitos on a cookie sheet with a bowl of salsa and two plates of veggies. I even carried the tray down to the basement for the teenagers to eat while playing their game, not because I was trying to overly pamper them, but because we didn't really have space for them to join us in the kitchen. Hopefully they don't expect that treatment every time friends come over in the future! Haha.

PICTURES:

When we came out of the library, Amber said "Wait! Picture!" I told her I'd get in the next picture with her, and took one of just her, lugging our 50 pound bag of books.

I got in a run on the track before practice on two days this week. It was invigorating. I finished up as the team started arriving, and they were very curious how far I ran.

Jeff and I were both able to attend Amber's parent teacher conference this week, and her teacher gave us this adorable writing project that Amber did, stating an opinion and supporting her opinion.

It's all about the CHEESE.

On Thursday after track practice, Jeff had to get something in his classroom, so I went with him. For some reason it feels fun, special, and slightly sneaky to kiss in a high school hallway.

Rose and Amber dressed in matching clothes, down to their pink socks, on Thursday while they played together all day.

Rose's shiny headphones are not the focus of this picture: check out the intricate Lego ship that she made.

Jeff has taken it upon himself to teach our kids how to throw properly and to strengthen their shoulders in the process. So he got a squishy Nerf football and at least once a day they have been playing catch together.

Friday easy jog with a mixture of high school and middle school track runners. This is my happy place. I love running with kids and teaching them how to sustain an easy pace over a distance. It's crazy how many kids, especially beginner runners, assume that running has to be FAST, so they run fast for a minute or so and then walk. I got my little group at the back of the pack to do a lot more running than walking, and it was time well spent as they started to feel that gentle easy-pace jog. 

Lunch tray for the boys.

Sneaky mom photography of the boys in our weird concrete and fake wood paneled basement laundry area.

Amber eating her beloved "peanutella" sandwich, with an extra spoonful of peanut butter on the side. This girl.

Rose can play a few songs on the clarinet now, after only a few short weeks of practice! She says she doesn't think she'll continue with band next year; she prefers playing the cello in orchestra.

Sisters, snuggled up to watch a cartoon before bedtime.

It's spring break time!