March 2019

March saw all kinds of weather, and at one point the kids were floating toy sail boats in a tiny river between snow banks in our driveway.  

Spring is slowly making it's way here, and we saw the first signs of it when we found frogs in the drainage hole in our yard.

Another sure sign of spring, despite the still frigid temperatures, was the overwintered butterfly cocoon in a cage in our basement finally hatched.  We released it with many prayers that it would find enough food this early in the season.

We locked Charlie in the garage before we released the butterfly - we didn't want a cat adding to the butterfly's already long list of challenges ahead of it.  We were also so excited to see the crocus sprout in our yard, and even more excited when we saw our honey bees on them!  If I had any doubt before that planting crocus helps bees, I had no doubt now.  These little flowers were my bees first food for the season.

This is the first year that my bees have lived through the winter since I started bee keeping.  What a feeling of relief and happiness, to know that they were able to stay alive despite the extra deep freeze we had in January and February.

We had the pleasure of hiking the same trail several times this past month, all in the hopes of being at the right place at the right time when the spring peepers started up their chorus in the pond on this trail.  Several years ago we happened accidentally upon this amazing event, and have been trying to catch it again ever since.  While we did find frogs and hear some spring peeping, nothing has yet to match the sheer volume and mass of frogs we experienced the very first time we witnessed this.

But, an unexpected bonus to our spring peeper quest was to watch spring unfold a little more each time we hiked this trail.  Someday I may make it a goal to try and hike the same trail once a week for an entire year, just to see the subtle changes in nature that each week brings.

We still had a lot of indoor play this past month as spring came slowly to our part of the world.  In the pictures below in clockwise order from top left: the girls playing together with their newest toy obsession, Violet showing me how she and the baby toy next to her are both spinning on their bottoms (Violet in a spinning, rounded seat called a bilibo and a toy Big Bird that weebles and wobbles but won't fall down), the girls playing baby dolls together, inspired by Opal's new baby doll that she got for her birthday, and finally, all three girls making friendship bracelets with the embroidery floss from my childhood days of making friendship bracelets.  If younger Liz had only known, I would have hardly believed it!

It seems like our laundry has more than doubled with the addition of a fourth daughter, and it's almost at the point where we need to do laundry every day to stay on top of things.  Lately, in an attempt to get the clean baskets of clothes in the hallway from piling up too deep, I've started holding Laundry Parties with the kids.  One kid watches Opal nearby, while the rest of us fold laundry as we all sing loudly to songs playing on my old clock radio.  In clockwise order from top left below: Lucy and Violet at a Laundry Party, a stuffed animal Peep from my cousin that Will made a name tag for which says, "Hi, My Name is Tom".  It took me a while to get this, but once I did, I made him take the name tag off! Violet building a pattern with math manipulatives which is one of her favorite things to do with me when her and I have time together uninterrupted by sisters, Will snuggling Violet and Opal, a fun splurge the girls and I did one night when Will was working late, and finally, playing a vintage game from my youth with Emma.

We took the girls to see a children's play about Jane Goodall this past month, and also noticed that the long awaited bookstore set to open near our house was now just days out from opening.

You better believe we were there to check it out on opening day!  I treated the girls to a new book each, and for a mom that is always telling them no, and if they want something to spend their own money, it was like they hit the jackpot.  In retrospect, I should have bought something for myself too!

We participated in our church's volunteer day this past month, and the girls spent most of their time making bracelets for care packages put together for kids living in poverty.

My sister Cate is one of my kids favorite people, and they love it when she comes over and braids their hair (as their own mom is not skilled in this area) and plays soccer with them (again, not my skill set).  Here they are below with Auntie Cate.  

We also spent time with my cousin and her family this past month and loved seeing our girls all play together like we used to play when we were kids.  So amazing that there are six girls between us now!

I am gearing up for the busy season of my honey business, and besides classes and maintaining the hives that have made it through the winter, I am working towards a new business name and phasing myself out of honey, now that I am allergic to honey bees.  My love for bees is still strong though, and I'm excited that my new business will continue this passion.  The photos below show the girls helping me package up some new items that I will be selling soon.  They were so excited when I offered them the job and told them that I would pay them.  They collated 500 sets of 5 postcards a set and even packaged them into bags for me.  I was impressed that they saw the project from start to finish and kept their excited mood the entire time.

We are at the point in the year where we are counting down the weeks of school.  As I type this we have seven left.  While it is true that we are very established in our routines for the year which adds a level of ease, it is also true that we are getting tired of it and we long for something new and exciting.  Seven more weeks, seven more weeks, seven more weeks.  Here the girls are below in clockwise order from top left: Violet's dance class, Lucy and Violet organizing their schoolwork and art projects for me, art and school projects the kids took pictures of for me, and finally, Lucy and Emma's dance class.

Here are my four girls below.  Opal may not know it yet, but matching your sisters is a very fun thing to do.

Lately, life has been very overwhelming for me.  It is hard to be the leader of this crew, and I feel inadequate when they each need me at the same time and I am barely getting by.  Even just two different girls talking to me at the same time can raise my blood pressure as I try to be fair and ensure they both feel heard while teaching them to take turns and not interrupt.  If I give one girl snuggles, it can be exhausting when someone else gets jealous and feels left out from the snuggles.  And don't even get me started on the short order cook that I am at each meal to ensure all dietary and taste preferences are met and each child has had enough protein, fruit and veggies to calm my worries about low-blood sugar meltdowns or vitamin deficiencies.  But, to see them play together, to share inside jokes with them, to all sing along to our favorite songs - well, this makes it all doable.  I love my pack of girls and I really wouldn't want it any other way.