March In Pictures

End of February and most of March, in pictures (OK and a few comments)......

Adrienne is growing like a weed. She wore these pants to the library and I couldn't believe how short they suddenly were! They were full length pants in the fall!

Snow day meant play day. The girls modeled their Collins Orthodontics stocking caps before going outside. Also on this day: Facetime with cousin James, lots of face painting, canvas painting....basically mess (and memory) making.

Yet another dress up day at school. Vocabulary day. Meet Colorful and Dark. I will never tire of laughing at this photo!

Matt and I flew off to Scottsdale March 1-5. I tagged along on a conference trip, and Grammy and Grandad so kindly came to wrangle the girls.  We had a lovely trip. First, we started by enjoying a delicious dinner at Capital Grille with Uncle Kent and Aunt Diana.

On Thursday we spent the morning hiking Tom's Thumb. Gorgeous weather, beautiful scenery.

 My hiking guide

 The love cactus

 Matt going off-trail

 Lunch was outdoors and included margaritas and tableside-made guac. No complaints.

After shopping and a nap we headed out to Old Scottsdale for a really delicious meal at Citizen Public House. Matt had this crazy enormous ham shank. Photo-worthy.

The Creamistry is where all my dreams come true. Pick your cream base, flavor, and mix-ins, and they make your ice cream from scratch in a flash. Thanks to this dry ice nitrogen wizardry.

Premium cream plus chocolate plus Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I die.

Don't mind me, I'm just eating a homemade ice cream sandwich at the Baked Bear with 1 cookie and 1 brownie around the ice cream. (out of order pic from our first night)

More out of order pics--back at the Tom's Thumb hike.

Fashion Square

Dinner time craft cocktails are my jam

On Friday, Matt actually had to go to the conference, so I went to the spa. I stayed there the ENTIRE day. Started with a fun workout class (their version of Cross fit), snack, loooong massage, laying around on these fabulous chairs, sauna, reading/cocktails/lunch/napping in my robe at the rooftop pool. I did not want to leave. Ever.

 When Matt was done we met at another pool for more lounging. 

 While Matt was doing some work Saturday morning, Aunt Diana came to take me to breakfast and shopping. It was a lovely morning. Also, pancake flights are genius.

 Saturday afternoon we geared up for another hike (after a not-pictured lunch at In and Out Burger--our second of the trip!).  Matt said this would be maybe 6 miles, max (Tom's Thumb was 5). About 5 miles in, he discovers he miscalculated and we actually had to do 9.6 miles to get back. This was all fine and dandy except for the fact that we were not in hiking boots, just running shoes, and the trail was so rocky. My feet were killing me. Oh, and we ran out of water at mile 6. Don't try this at home!

My rewards for that hike: guacamole flight (bacon, pomegranate, and lobster--all wonderful) and two margaritas (one at a time, of course).  Oh and the not pictured warm, homemade churros. This was a wonderful food trip!

Back to reality. Came home from a dinner out with friends one night to this note from Jillian. Guess they didn't think the "babysitter" (Dad!) could handle it?

The girls play school all the time. Jillian is always the teacher, Adrienne the student. On this particular day, "Mia" took a test. She only got 3 right, and the teacher decided this was "fine".

Matt actually had to go back to Scottsdale for a super fast trip on the 12th. So, the girls and I practiced our philosophy that serves us well when he's gone--"What Would Dad Do?" This means we do things I'd normally not allow. Like ordering whipped cream AND powdered sugar AND syrup on pancakes. Oh and we shop...or in this case try on some online purchases that arrived in the mail. Athleta Girl might get me in trouble. 

Every now and then I decide the girls' rooms are just so disastrous that I need to intervene. Drastically. Which means that while they are at school I frantically whip through their rooms/bathrooms and sift trash from what is actually a usable toy. It leaves me shaking my head for days. These girls are MESSY!

Our new bedtime book--Bedtime Stories for Rebel Girls. Fun little blurbs about 100 women across history--some well known and some not. When Matt was gone we took this picture of the woman we read about who was an Italian cyclist who set crazy speed records riding a 40 lb bike. We knew our cycle loving guy would appreciate that!

Adrienne and I fieldtripping to the Planetarium.

Making Leprechaun traps in preparation for St Patty's day.

No leprechaun was captured, but he left a note and some Lucky Charms for breakfast.

Adrienne and I fieldtripped again this last week--this time to Quarry Hill. Things started out rosy in this pic below, but about an hour after this was taken I was in the bathroom barfing repeatedly and dealing with a horrid headache. Turns out I had my first migraine, and needed a shot for pain, some nausea meds, and finally 2 liters of fluids at the infusion center. What a day. 

Adrienne was so excited to write her first story. "Mom, it's the first time I ever wrote the whole story all by myself and I never gaved up!" I love that this 5 page story required about 75 staples to hold it together. 

Jillian is currently writing a paper for school about the person she admires most. She brought home the rough draft to proudly show me that her subject is me. Made me cry. 

This weekend, Matt is working. The girls and I hit the library yesterday morning, then tried out a delicious new pizza place downtown. We decided to surprise Matt with his very favorite dessert--frosted sugar cookies. Lots of sprinkles were sacrificed for this project!

Inside their pillow fort reading

My bookworm. Jillian plows through just as many books as I do.

A little encouragement for a weary Matt as a surprise when he got home last night. Girls' idea completely. Love their big hearts.

Lately

Time for a bit of catch up....

Jillian is playing Champion Basketball again this year, and we are just delighted at her improvement. Matt gave her a pep talk before the first game, telling her that when he played he would go after every rebound or loose ball with the mindset of "that's MY ball". She latched onto that, and has become an aggressive player--going for rebounds, diving for loose balls. It's been such a joy to watch her. She's made 2-3 baskets each game, often off of an offensive rebound, and she's not afraid to grab a defensive rebound, dribble the full length of the court, and take a shot. It's been extra fun for her to have two good friends, Kaia and Cora, on her team--both of them recently moved (or are moving) to our neighborhood.

Every Tuesday, I volunteer in Adrienne's class for math stations. I love the sweet kids in her class--they really are a fun group. I snapped a cute pic of her and her BFF Charlie when we were playing Top It at my math station. It was 'plaid day' (side note--Gibbs has SO many dress up days! Ack!), so they were extra precious side by side. 

We had a snow day that gave us lots of fun, fluffy snow. I went out with the girls and we made a snow-woman. Named her Pearl.

Also on this snow day, I introduced the girls to one of my favorite movies as a kid--the original Parent Trap. They were just delighted by the story, and Jillian now claims it as her favorite movie.

Adrienne was very proud (and focused) that she got to hold baby Leif during the whole second half of the basketball game. He was only 5 days old.

I sang at church Superbowl weekend, so we were behind on the food prep. The girls came shopping with me at 2 p.m. Superbowl Sunday (worse than day before Thanksgiving, I think) and we got the job done with the help of some Starbucks.

Last week I had the time of my life in the kitchen. Long story short, I was asked by my orthodontist to help him with a cooking project. They asked me to choose and prepare 10 braces-friendly recipes that they could film for "Tasty" style videos. They hired videographers and we did this in my kitchen on a Friday. I had so much fun prepping (in my typical type A fashion) and getting ready for the filming. I had a color coded system for the recipes and ingredients as I prepped.

Setting up cameras in my kitchen...

Climbing on counters for just the right shot

The aftermath. My kitchen looked like this at least 3 times that day. Ran the dishwasher 4 times! I was so tired, but so happy at the end of the day. Can't wait to see the finished products.

The girls ask to sleep together almost every night. Matt and I have decided we don't care, as long as they go to bed and don't fight (tall order these days). They actually go to bed  much easier these days because of this arrangement. I love that they find comfort and security in each other. 

Matt was sick last weekend, so the girls and I filled the time by shoe shopping (Adrienne declares shoe shopping as "WAY better than normal shopping") and filling out Valentines for school.

Monday was a big day at school. I got a call from the assistant principal and Adrienne telling me that she was the kindergarten fish of the week! This is a big deal to the kids. As the kids exhibit positive behaviors they are rewarded with 'fish tickets'. Each Monday morning they draw one name per grade out of the hat. The teacher writes a nice note about the kids, they call the parents, give them a prize, and put their picture up on the TV monitors in the hall for the week. Adrienne's teacher wrote: "Adrienne always works hard to do her best. She is a nice friend to everyone. She looks for ways to help others. Adrienne is respectful and responsible."

We also had parent teacher conferences on Monday. Both girls are doing great. Jillian's test scores are outstanding, and she is flying through second grade. She has complained of boredom lately, or that school is "too easy", so we talked about some enrichment things that can be done. She is also getting to spend some time with the GATE teacher and some other second graders, which provides her with some more challenging tasks. Mrs Erpenbach said that Jillian is always reading. As soon as she finishes her work, her nose is in a book. Love my little bookworm. 

As for Adrienne, Mrs Dyer said she is exploding academically. Math is an especially strong subject for her, and reading is improving by leaps and bounds. She is now in 2G reading level and knows 93 words (as a comparison, she knew 31 at her last conference 3 months ago). I love kindergarten and the progress that is so celebrated at this stage!

On Valentine's Day I surprised the girls with some treat bags I had made the previous night at a fun Bible study social. They were delighted by all the little trinkets and candy. The heart glasses were a favorite. 

I of course broke out my heart shaped cookie cutters for just about everything. Inside their lunches were heart shaped sandwiches and a little note on top.

I helped out in Adrienne's class and brought supplies for cookie decorating. I may have brought too much stuff because the kids just piled them on and devoured the cookies like crazy people.

Jillian had basketball practice after school, so we did our usual changing in the car and hanging out with Cora (not enough time to go home). She was so excited to show me this special gift her bestie Noah brought for her.

Dinner was easy, due to basketball practice. Thank you, Target, for paper goods. Always love to use my Grammy's red glassware whenever I can. Papa Murphy's heart shaped pizzas for the easy dinner win.

My three Valentines.

Matt gave me the best homemade valentine I've ever gotten from him in the 21 Valentine's Days we've been together. I do love my kettlebells.  Inside reads "Roses are red, violets are blue. You can lift heavy things, that's why I love you". 

The girls with their new Lego sets. It's all Legos all the time over here these days.

 My final heart-shaped surprise. I made a pan of homemade brownies and used a gigantic cookie cutter to cut out hearts and then decorated. 

 My valentine all tuckered out. He fell asleep reading on his kindle (valentine's gift from me). I'm gonna make him a reader yet.

The rest of the week involved shaking my head every time I walk into one of the girls' rooms....

 ...gawking at beautiful sunsets

...and trying to come up with ideas for more school dress-up days. Yesterday was 'Book Character' day. 20 min before we left for school we still had no plan. Luckily we made it out alive with Nancy Drew and Dorothy. 

50 plus degrees in February calls for a trip to Trader Joe's for fresh spring flowers. I can't help myself with the tulips and daffodils!