Dear March, Come In!

March has been epic. Like the pinnacle in a great novel, each event seems better than the last, and I am too busy and too full of the moments to even sit and write them down.

But now it’s time to review this month and all the adventures therein.

One goal I set a few weeks ago (although not at the very beginning of the month) was to take a picture of each child every day. March, historically, is the month of no pictures. I don’t know why this is – it’s the transition from winter to spring, and somehow it makes my shutter finger forgetful.

I have not been perfect at this attempt by any means, but at this moment, my month photo count is: 630 images.

And here are some.

We took our anual trip to Arizona  a little early this year. Wyatt decided to run for a delegate (among other things, more on that later) so we decided to go one weekend when the kids didn’t have school before all the political stuff started buzzing.

 

Stories of the trip:

Wynn had his beautiful lawn, green and soft, just waiting for my afternoon nap. I know it sounds luxurious and lazy, but it’s my favorite part of the trip – just laying in his grass, the warm sun on my back, the kids playing all around me, nothing to do, no where to go.

My other favorite part is the food – barbeques and pretending like it’s summer. Bacon wrapped, stuffed jalepenos & potato salad and burgers and chips and lemonade. Mmmm – the taste of summer before it is!

This time Heidi and I spent the morning at a flea market while Wyatt and Wynn took the kids to a skate park. It was fun to see the market set up under giant tents. I wish Utah had such a thing.

And the best thing about this years trip: the kids learned to climb trees. I will forever have a little happy gratitude for Alea and Weston who taught Olivia and Calvin how to climb. I imagine I could have taught them myself, but nothing is ever learned as enthusiastically as when taught by a friend. And so Olivia and Cal discovered they could use their arms and their legs, strong and growing, to climb the inviting limbs of the trees around.

I spent hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours in trees growing up, so I was thrilled to see my little babies engaged in a pass time I personally believe is so rewarding.

So thank you Wynn and Heidi & Alea and Weston for letting us come and lay in your grass and eat yummy food and shop and play and do all the things we love to do so much when we come to see you!

These are little pics of my babies at random. Olivia loves Daisy, and I often find her absent mindedly cuddling or petting Daisy to euphoria. As a result Daisy follows Olivia everywhere. The kids at the bus stop even sing a little tune: “Olivia had a little dog, little dog, little dog . . .” because Daisy insists on walking with us to the bus stop each morning, even when it’s freezing outside.

Calvin fell on his scooter one afternoon, and this time his wild shrieks actually represented the pain of drawn blood (as opposed to his typical shrieks of wild hysteria from an imagined wound). He had a “jelly face” for the rest of the week from his little wound. But it’s looking much better now.

 

A couple days after I set the goal to take a picture a day of each kid, I realized the lovelies had gone to bed without their picture! So I snuck down in the dark of night to steal these shots. Now, they were shot in total darkness, hand-held, so the focus is very soft (loooong exposure) but I love the concept of little sleepies.

 

The weather has been great this month, and we have welcomed the warm spring with as many days playing outside as we can!

One day Olivia made this puppet – a pig with chicken pox. (Notice the underwear!) I thought it was so funny!

We still had some storms though – a wet sloppy snow that demanded hot chocolate, and then receded away to the more generous warmth of spring

For St. Patricks day I made the kids green waffles and green eggs. They weren’t sure what to make of it! (Don’t worry, once they got past that first bite, they discovered they were delish, as usual!)

Let’s not forget Roo! Those big eyes have taken everything in this month. He has grown so much, learning to take a bottle, and roll around, and grab things and put it straight to his mouth (most of my pictures of him this month involve him eating my camera strap).

One afternoon we made “Dirt and Worms” – a fun afternoon treat. Yumm-O, but I think I prefer just the worms, no dirt please.

Of course, we had many friends come to visit over the month, including a special visit from cousins Jameson & Gregson!

Here’s one funny story of an afternoon with a friend over:

Olivia and her little friend DJ were helping me pull weeds on Friday. I made it into a little game to see who could pull the most, and they were both eagerly working on their respective piles. When DJ swooped in for the next weed, Olivia told him:

“DJ – you’re doing a really great job!”

And then she leaned in to me and whispered “You know what that’s being?”

“What” I asked.

“That’s being a good sport.”

It’s so true. And Olivia, you are a good sport. You are a great sport.

We spent many an afternoon working on getting our garden ready! One evening Calvin told me, with all sincerity and excitement: “Mom, I’m going to dig straight down. Straight down to China!”

About five minutes later I went out to take pictures, and I over heard Olivia comment to him as I approached: “Oh Calvin, I’m so proud of you! You’ve made such a big hole!”

Well, I was impressed. Aren’t you?

These pictures were taken by my little photographer, Miss Olivia!

Wyatt decided to run for the State House of Representatives for District 46 (most of Cottonwood Heights, part of Murray, Midvale, Brighton, Alta, Granite & Holladay. We have been working on his campaign for the past couple weeks. You can visit his website here: http://wyattchristensen.com

Perhaps the most monumental thing about March was that Calvin learned to ride his bike – all by himself! I was so proud of him! Our evenings have been spent riding up and down the street.

One night Olivia crashed on her scooter, and face-planted on the asphalt. I cleaned her up, but first I had to get a picture of that face! So cute, so sad!

On Sunday, March 25th, Wyatt was ordained a high priest and set apart as a counselor in the bishopric. He is excited for this chance to serve his brothers and sisters in the gospel (and I’m excited to have total control over the TV one night a week while Wyatt’s at Bishopric ;).

DEAR March, come in!
How glad I am! I looked for you before.
Put down your hat—
You must have walked—
How out of breath you are!
Dear March, how are you?
And the rest?
Did you leave Nature well?
Oh, March, come right upstairs with me

-Emily Dickinson