March was a whirlwind month, full of visits from friends and family. Darren’s good friend, Alex, from Italy, arrived at the end of February and stayed for two weeks. He and Darren took a little trip to see a concert, and then showed Alex around our area. The kids really enjoyed having a visitor. We got to take day trips to Baltimore and DC, and Alex tagged along to several of our regular homeschool activities.
Early in the month, while Darren and Alex were in New Jersey for the concert, I took the kids to the community college for a free presentation by a gymnastics troupe called “Gymkana.” Flo really enjoyed it, and Joe was a bit of a challenge, as usual. Afterwards, Flo was jumping around doing “gymnastics” for the next two days. I think she was inspired!
We continued with regular activities, too, such as ice skating, piano and guitar lessons, and our homeschooling co-op. Darren brought Alex along to take Flo and Joe to Lowe’s for a kid’s building workshop. Lowe’s runs those twice a month, and it’s starting to be a little bit of a tradition for Darren to take the kids.
Mid-month, actually, right over my birthday, Darren’s brother and his family showed up to visit for a couple nights. We showed them around town and went out to Chinese food. It was a nice visit, and Flo and Joe enjoyed seeing their cousins.
I spent my birthday taking Flo to an event at the public library. The author of some of the American Girl books was there doing a presentation. Seventy tickets had been available, and Flo got one. She was excited to go and had a great time.
Flo finished up her track class at the community college this month. It was just a six week course, but I think she enjoyed doing something a little different.
On the 25th, we had our monthly geography club luncheon. This month we studied Sweden. Flo and I had done minimal research, but she did read a little about the country and the rice pudding dish we made to bring along. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the weather was so nice that day, that the kids mostly ended up eating and playing outside, pretty much forgetting all about Sweden. But, it was a nice day.
On the 29th, Flo went to her friend, Becky’s, birthday party. She had fun making a homemade gift for Becky, of a little cloth back and cookies. I tried to encourage resourcefulness in her when she said she needed to “buy” Becky a gift. She got excited thinking about all the things she could make, instead.
On the last day of the month, our homeschooling buddy, Conner, arrived from New Jersey. He and his mom, Jen, moved away last year, and come back periodically to visit. Life is considerably more chaotic in our house now, with three kids, but thankfully, our guest room is in the basement, and the impact of that chaos is generally minimal on the guest…. I hope.
We had a busy month, and are looking forward to Spring and Summer, and hopefully a little more relaxed schedule.