I even looked at my calendar and can't say for sure when or why we were at the farm in March, and I think maybe these are two different trips, but here are a few pictures. The kids helped Grandpa put the floor in the treehouse.
Look, more of what happens when Agnes gets my phone...
I don't know why Agnes is wearing this hat crooked, but it made reading books that much more fun.
One of our 12 Days of Christmas activities was to go to the theater to see a movie, and the only movie that I thought the teenagers wouldn't completely hate and the toddler wouldn't be terrified of was Encanto. Agnes actually was a little scared of some of the parts but she couldn't snuggle into my shoulder and made it through, and afterwards when Edie looked up the soundtrack to listen to on repeat, Agnes decided it's actually her favorite movie she's ever seen. She might have watched it a couple more times during long volleyball tournaments. And she definitely memorized all the songs. Here is her rendition of Surface Pressure on the piano. (If you can't understand her at all, turn on the subtitles!)
Travelling with all the kids can be a lot, so Grandma has been taking a couple kids at a time on occasional weekends and they love it. These are a few pictures from their trip to Branson with Grandma, Grandpa, and Mamo.
Hotel swimming is always a big hit.
The one thing that I never loved about living on the Cape was the very late arrival of Spring. Winters in St. Louis can be cold, but we almost always get a nice day sprinkled in here and there in December and January, and by March, you can be confident Spring is going to win out. We would often get to Easter on the Cape with absolutely no sign of any early flowers or warm sun. Winter when it is supposed to be winter is fine, but winter when you are expecting it to be spring is terrible. In St. Louis, it's almost the opposite: early flowers and warm days pop up right in the middle of what you thought was still winter, an I love it.
Anyway, in St. Louis, you're very likely to get a lovely day in March and spend it at the zoo in t-shirts with Grandma and cousin Olivia. Agnes had a lot of fun watching all the animals, but I think a lot of the big kids have decided the zoo isn't as entertaining as it was when they were little. I kind of agree with them - I go more to watch the little kids reactions to the animals than to watch the animals themselves.
I took the kids to a homeschool hour at a ninja gym which Michael Jr, Gussie, and Edie really loved. Unfortunately it's 40 minutes away and not even the homeschool classes are cheap, so it's not something we'll do a lot. I wish there was a closer one though!
They liked attempting the warped walls. It took a bit to convince Michael to try the 14' wall but when he did he was pretty close to the top on his first try. After a few tries and some tips from a coach he managed to get his fingers right at the top, but was just short of being able to grab on so he could haul himself over. Next time!
Here are a few videos from the ninja gym.
One of Michael's attempts at the warped wall:
Most of the pictures in my March folder are pretty random daily life pictures, so that's what these blogs are going to look like. Here's most of the first week or two.
The kids like to snuggle in the big box that holds the cushions for all the outdoor furniture. It's apparently a lot more comfy than putting the cushions on the couch and using the actual furniture.
