In present time, real world news, I'm hoping I'm finally at the end of a month and half long sickness streak -- both for myself and for the household! Isaac kicked us off at the beginning February with strep throat and the flu (type A), which he then graciously passed on to Alex and then to me. While those two eventually got over everything, I was not quite as lucky and developed an obnoxious, incessant cough that gradually morphed into bronchitis. And THEN, just when I thought it was close to clearing up, it got worse again when Isaac caught the flu once more (this time type B) and passed it on to me. And most likely to Scott and Sophie who are currently at the Urgent Care getting tested. Womp womp. All this to say, now that I'm starting to feel a bit better (even if I still have this darn cough) I'm ready to crank out another backdated post! {Edited to note that Sophie and Scott do NOT have the flu, but they DO both have strep throat. 😫}
March of last year was a bit more jam-packed than February and we kicked it off with a bang as the girls and I headed to New Orleans for a weekend trip. The occasion? An Olivia Rodrigo concert. Call me a teeny bopper, but I love her music. Like, I could listen to both of her albums on repeat with no problem whatsoever. And I have. LOL. Choosing New Orleans as the venue also gave us the opportunity to spend time with my family, and how could we pass up a little lagniappe like that?? Hahaha. It was such a fun trip, and I'm so glad we were able to go.
Sophie, Jane, and I flew from home and Grace flew from Utah to meet up with us in New Orleans, where my mom was waiting to pick us up and take us to Thibodaux.
We stayed at my mom's house on a Thursday and Friday night, and then made our way down to New Orleans on Saturday to stay at a hotel near the arena. I have to say, though, that the first night of sleep at my mom's was magical. It's hard to explain why exactly, but I think it had something to do with the location -- this is the house where my mom had grown up and where her dad had as well. While my 3 girls were tucked away in the "Girls Room" upstairs -- the same room where me and my sisters slept as kids when we would visit, and where my mom and HER sisters slept while growing up, and the same exact room where my Paw Paw's sisters slept while THEY were growing up -- I was across the hall by myself in the "Boys Room." It was stormy that night, and laying there falling asleep to the sounds of pouring rain and lightning and thunder while out in the country sang to my soul in a way I can't truly put into words. Magical is what I'll go with, and it was truly a delight.
There's nothing funner than sitting around a table with family, laughing and playing games.
My sister Sarah and her family live about an hour from my mom's house, so on Friday we headed over to hang out at their place for the afternoon and evening. I love being with family and it was especially fitting to hang out with Sarah and her girlie bugs for our Girls Trip weekend. 😊
Sarah has 5 kids -- all girls. 😊
The Crumbl store in town had special Olivia Rodrigo themed cookies to commemorate the concert that weekend. I actually thought they were really good despite the fact that the shade of purple they were trying to achieve wasn't the most appetizing thing I've ever seen. Hahaha.
On Saturday, we drove down to New Orleans, where we met up with Sarah's crew at City Park and enjoyed some beignets and some more hang out time before we said our good-byes and separated from the group to make our way to the hotel we'd be staying in that night. Once there, we had time to rest up a bit before getting ready to walk to the arena and experience Livi Ro in concert. And yes -- I am trying to make fetch happen with that nickname. Olivia Rodrigo is such a mouthful, but Livi Ro just rolls right off the tongue. Hahahaha.
Cute little girlie bug cousins. 😍
(You know how much I love taking pictures of people taking pictures. Hahahaha.)
The lines outside for the concert merch were LOOOOOONG.
Luckily, they weren't quite as long inside the arena and the girls managed to snag their souvenirs before the concert started. (Aren't they so cute? 😍😍😍)
Jane found a purple feather boa on our way out and wouldn't let it it go. Lol.
LOL
The breakfast spread at the hotel the next morning was hands down the best I've ever seen. And everything was delicious. It almost made up for how crazy hard it was when we got back from the concert late the night before and tried to track down room service for food as we were starving and exhausted. I'm pretty sure it was 2 in the morning by the time we were able to eat. I guess there were a lot of other concert goers staying at the hotel as well. Hahaha.
Alright, buckle up -- it's time for this month's installment of the Garden Tour! There's not a whole lot of commentary needed here, so I hope you'll just sit back and enjoy the ride. Hahaha.
(Forsythia)
(Daffodil and Hyacinth)
(Narcissi and Creeping Phlox)
(Tulip)
(Narcissi)
(Tulip)
(more Tulips and Creeping Phlox in the background)
(more Tulips and Creeping Phlox)
(Tulip)
(and more Tulips)
It's hard to believe that the above pictures were taken in the same week as the ones below! The day of Isaac's field trip to the Botanical Garden was FREEZING. And since he really wanted me to be a chaperone on the trip, I got to freeze right along with him. Hahaha. The field trip venue was chosen to align with the bird unit that his class had been doing, and while we were there, the kids got to use some binoculars to do a little bird watching outside along with some other activities and instruction. To be honest, I'm not sure that the freezing cold weather made it possible to enjoy the outing a whole lot, but I didn't hear Isaac complaining too much, so that's a win! Hahahaha. (It also didn't hurt that I was able to check him out and take him home with me when the field trip was over. Lol.)
It was kind of hilarious and adorable to see a bunch of 2nd graders walking around with binoculars pointing at the trees.
Thankfully, some of the activities took place inside.
Observing feathers under a magnifying glass.
The last activity was to draw one of the birds they had seen.
This will be another bullet point that consists almost entirely of pictures. I honestly don't remember any specifics of Easter last year, only the general memory that it was a lovely enough day -- although, I will say it was very weird not having Ethan OR Grace there with us. Haha. The Easter baskets were a hit, though, so I guess the pictures of those will have to do for commemorating the season.
Isaac
Alex
Jane
Sophie
Over the course of my before-and-after-projects last year, I experienced a number of injuries -- some relatively minor (like getting a splinter stuck under my nail) and some a little more major (like ripping my knuckle open while trying to get our gate unstuck). Thankfully, I've lived to tell the tale and even have the pictures to prove it. Haha.
While waxing the drawer slides on the sideboard, I got myself a gnarly splinter that I ended up having to go to the urgent care to extract. It was way too deep, and painful enough that eventually my whole finger and then hand was throbbing. Honestly, the lidocaine shot the doctor gave me before pulling it out hurt almost as much as the splinter itself, but I was happy enough once it was finally gone and I was no longer in pain. (Ignore the grubbiness of my fingers -- wood stain does exactly what it says. It stains. Lol.)
This was the gate situation. On a super windy day while I was out working in the garden, a blast of said wind slammed the gate shut so viciously that it bypassed the latch and got stuck halfway on the other side of the frame. Silly me was quite literally not thinking and figured I could just pull hard enough and get it back in the right position. I was kind of right. It would appear, however, that my spatial awareness was the real problem here and as I yanked on the latch to pull it forward, my knuckle encountered a large screw and came out the loser in the fight. And that's an understatement. So, yes -- I was able to "fix" the gate and get it unstuck, but the trade-off was a ripped open knuckle.
The human body is kind of amazingly miraculous, though, and even though it took a while for the skin to knit back together and for the finger to be able to resume its full bending function at that knuckle, I'm looking at that same knuckle right now and I don't even see a scar. (This picture was taken 2 days after the incident.)
To finish off our March 2024 recap, I'll close with a few more pictures and a little bit of commentary...
Jane experienced the joy of motherhood towards the beginning of the month when the long-awaited day finally came and she was assigned a baby in her child development class. She had seen what it was like when Grace took the class a few years ago and was excited to "take care" of her baby for the day or two of the assignment. These baby dolls are equipped with technology that really makes the experience as realistic as possible -- the baby cries at random intervals, you have to "feed" the baby with a special bottle, "change its diaper" regularly, and get up with it in the night. In addition, the sensors on it can detect any rough handling and make a record of it which would then negatively impact the grade. Honestly, I'm a little torn about this assignment. On the one hand, I do think it's good for teens to get a realistic idea of what it's like to have of a baby. And on the other hand, it's a little TOO realistic for a high schooler to deal with when they need to function all day at school after being woken up all night long by a crying baby. It absolutely tore at my heart to see Jane so frazzled by her "fussing" baby at a youth activity the first night that she had to leave the room and take him out into the hall while trying to get him to quiet down. And then it broke a little more to find out the next morning that Jane had been up with the baby throughout the night and had finally given up on sleep for the night at 5 AM and had broken down in exhaustion and tears. Jane survived, though, so I guess all's well that ends well?
I picked her up from school so she wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of hauling the carseat around on the school bus.
Cute little mama.
Isaac being a monkey
Ethan enjoying a frozen treat with his companion
I am not a bully because...
I am really kind to people. I am super helpful to other people. I have 45 different friends.
That's all, folks! See you next time. 😆
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