march.

March highlights:

-Koston was particularly pleased with this dinner. When I set it on the table, he said, "Wow Mommy, this looks amazing!" One of my life's greatest pleasures is seeing satisfied faces around the dinner table. I love that they like what I cook. 

-Brayden had his pack meeting where you bake your own cake. I can't remember what its called and I don't even have the final picture of it since I was working at a wedding that day. He was supposed to make it on his own, so I really tried not to help him. Kosty and I watched as he added the oil, water, and eggs and mixed them all up. Then we couldn't stop laughing when he was ready to pour them in the pans and bake them WITHOUT EVER ADDING THE CAKE MIX. I was so tempted to let it happen. SO SO tempted. But with Kosty giggling hysterically, Brayden spent the next 30 minutes trying to figure out what he did wrong. We wanted him to figure it out on his own. FINALLY we pretty much spelled it out for him, and he added the cake mix. When he took it out and let it cool, we told him to wait to release it from the pan and he didn't. One whole layer crumbled. So he was left with a one layer cake. Chocolate frosting. And M&M's on top. The other kids in his pack had cakes that looked straight out of Cake Boss. His stood out at least ;)

-Kosty finally agreed to sign up for a sport. Well, he said no until he met his coach at the first practice, but once he did, it was magic. He LOVED soccer. We always knew he would be great at a sport but he is so timid he refused to give any a try. Finally we just signed him up and forced him. We spent many  chilly Friday nights and Saturdays at soccer games. And the boys each had two practices a week. We pretty much lived at the soccer fields 6x a week. (again a blessing of just 2 kids...how in the world do big families do that?) Tuesdays were ridiculous. Brayden had scouts at 4:30. Kosty had soccer at 5. Brayden had piano at 5:30, and then he had soccer at 7. And dinner in between.

-Jer helping the boys with their minecraft crafts

-a quote I really really like

-right before I yelled at brayden for not taking his bowl to the sink I looked down and saw a cocoa puff happy face.

-Kosty started reading chapter books by himself at night, always a big milestone that I treasure.

-Brayden told me the night before at 8pm that he needed to dress as a pioneer for school the next day for pioneer day. We borrowed a hat from our neighbor, and he wore his church shirt with suspenders I made out of black grosgrain ribbon. And he wore my black boots, good thing his feet are as big as mine. The finishing touch (and his very favorite detail) was the matte brown eyeshadow I applied all over his cheeks and nose to look like he'd been covered in dirt along the trail. 

-I was so lucky this year that I got to go on so many field trips. I was a chaperone for Kosty's blonde brigade at the zoo. I love watching him with his classmates. It was a perfect zoo day. 

-Another favorite thing I love at the boys school is Read Across America Day. I literally get giddy as we drive up and all the staff are lined up along the street wearing cat in the hat costumes and waving. They have guest readers throughout the day and I've always been able to go read in both their classes. This year was the first year I didn't get to read to Brayden's. 4th grade and up don't do guest readers, sadly. But I was happy to read two books in Kosty's class.

-A cute brunch place opened up across the street, and we were excited to ride bikes down on Saturday morning. It happened to be a freezing morning, so we drove. And waited for over an hour and a half to get our food. But it was a good breakfast. Then we stopped at Lowes and the boys did their build n grow project and then we decided we should plant a garden. We spent a long time at Lowes but we got our stuff and came home and planted our first ever spring garden. Kosty insisted on daises for the backyard planters. I thought it was cute that he liked them so much, and thought that those daisies should feel pretty darn special to be loved by him.

-My sister helped Brayden hold one of her chickens. And then she offered us to dog sit for the next two days. She said it in front of the boys so there was no way I could say no. Although her kids were in tears, she insisted it would be good for all of us, and soon we were driving off with Tux. The boys were in doggie heaven and spoiled him with walks and attention. I wanted to touch him as little as possible out of everyone, but I'm learning that somehow dogs know that....he wouldn't leave my side. The boys didn't think that was fair but it was funny. I think a grown and trained dog could be right up our alley. I loved watching Kosty skipping through the park with his blonde hair bouncing up and down, right alongside that little black dog. Sweetness.