March . . . In like a lamb and out like a lion

Oh man, where do I start. March for us came in more like a lamb and went out like a lion and I'm not talking about the weather either.

Alex's naps are getting fewer and farther between. Most days I lie down with him only to discover that I'm the one that needed the nap and he's off exploring the world.

I thought I was in need of a new mixer, but I think that's a post for another day.

We celebrated a couple of birthdays, one with a visit to The Leonardo to see the Dead Sea Scroll exhibit and the other with bowling.

I found The Dead Sea Scrolls quite fascinating. I'm sure my children were plenty excited to stop looking at vases and move on to something else. They wouldn't let us take photos of the actual scrolls, but this vase, similar to what the scrolls were found in, was something we could. It was very dark so the picture is quite grainy.

We did move on and found that The Leonardo had a fun area for the kids. They loved playing with the green screen at the weather forecasting station and seeing parts of themselves disappear. Has anyone seen Nate? He's been swallowed up by Monday.

There was stop motion animation with 2D and 3D objects.

There was a cool concave mirror.

There was digital coloring. Thankfully no one else was really there since we occupied the entire area for quite awhile.

And many other things we didn't get around to experimenting with.

Let's see. There was spring break to beautiful San Francisco. That warrants a blog post all by itself. Kiersten claims its the best vacation yet and is determined to move there one day.

I received an additional calling to be Assistant Young Women Camp Director. To steal a line from the musical "Into the Woods" I'm excited . . . and scared. We had our big kick off for camp this week. Our theme is B.R.A.V.E. (Being Righteous, Adventurous, Virtuous Examples) and has to do with superheroes, so I donned a purple wig, wore our red camp flag which is in the shape of a cape, put a crest on my red shirt, and pranced into the room singing the theme to The Greatest American Hero, a favorite superhero show I grew up with. Well, the older ladies knew what I was singing and the girls all got a a chuckle at my expense. But hey, I had their attention.

Erik surprised Kiersten and came to dance class, a ballroom-type class that is held on Saturday mornings. It's kind of a free-for-all and the instructors are just local college-age kids. Frankly, I'm surprised it keeps going. Erik thinks he doesn't want to go back, but we'll see. I think he's finally starting to take notice of the girls. He's begun to actually comb and style his hair with gel in the morning, and here they are on the deck checking out all the cute girls in the yearbook.

The weeding parties have begun. Weeds, like children, grow when you're sleeping. And I hate that both do it.

March Madness brackets are always a favorite in our house, especially when there are Oreo's riding on the line. I think Nate's favored to win this season.

We almost decided to recreate Ash's birthday from 7 years ago. That year we left on her birthday to travel with Tyler on a business trip to Reno. We stopped in Elko at the Arby's and had "birthday cake."

This year her birthday was the start of spring break and we were so tempted to leave for San Francisco, stopping in Elko for a repeat birthday cake. The decision was made instead to spend the weekend at home before heading out.

The movie Frozen was a big hit this past winter and we were the mean parents who didn't take our children to see it opening night. Or even the second night. Heck, we didn't even take them when it was at the dollar theater. But it did hit the mass market on DVD a few days before Ashlyn's birthday.

Do you think she liked her present?

When we watched it that night after bowling (and Did I mention that she was the last bowler in our group, we were on the last frame, and she had a split. This girl nailed it and knocked them down. Happy Birthday to her.) she quoted every line, sang every song. She pretty much memorized the entire movie watching short clips from YouTube. The girl liked her movie . . . and her DI roller blades. She is the roller queen around here. Sure makes her dad proud.

One day Alex overheard me and Tyler talking about going shopping and wanted to come with. I told him we were going on a date to which he replied, "I want to go on a date . . . but I am not 16." WHAT!?? I'm not sure where he's learning this stuff, because it doesn't get talked about at our house. He also told me one day after noticing some green apples in the produce section, "I want green apples and ham!" Guess he's been reading some Dr. Suess.