March 2013–Part 1

Well, you could say the cat’s still working out wonderfully. Our only problem with her is that she’s overcomed her fear of the outdoors and realized how intoxicatingly INTERESTING it is. And of course, being a cat, she doesn’t respect the fence around the backyard, so every time we turn around she’s up on the roof, in the neighbor’s yard, or hiding up a tree. She’s also really good at finding napping places inside the house where the kids will have to hunt to find her. (And hunt they will! She never disappears for more than 5 minutes without someone saying, “Where’s Luna?” It helps that she’s such a deep black – she looks like a shadow when all curled up.) I found her one day on the bookcase (yes, I know how disgustingly messy it is), just checking things out. ------> She has truly checked out EVERY corner of our house – from the tip-top of my closet shelves to the back of the washing machine.

“Spring” soccer has still been cancelled as often as it’s been played due to the weather. On one “exciting” Saturday (the 2nd), Caroline even got to play a game while it snowed! (No accumulation though) When I had to sit through Katherine’s game later in the day, I brought a super-warm “mummy” style sleeping bag to zip myself into, and was actually warmer than I’ve been during some games played in warmer weather!

After the game, Elizabeth really wanted to walk around the neighborhood selling Girl Scout cookies for her troop, so I sat in the car (with the heat up!) and drove the van around for her while she went door-to-door. Elizabeth had plenty of help too – her sisters all wanted to go with her, as well as our friends Kate and Greta! They made a pretty cute bunch knocking on doors. They even developed some simple choreography to ask people if they wanted to buy some cookies. They had a blast, if you can’t tell from the pictures! Every 15 minutes or so, they’d come sit in the hot car and warm up, then go back out, dragging the bag of cookie boxes. They did pretty well too – sold almost 4 cases (12 each) of cookies and could’ve sold a lot more Thin Mints! This was the only day she could do it since we’d be busy every afternoon the next week and had plans for the weekend. She did get to sell cookies again at another booth sale in front of Kroger – wouldn’t you want to buy something from these cuties?

That Saturday, the 9th, the kids and I drove to Ferriday for a visit and a family reunion Dolly was hosting. We had a great time, got to see a lot of family (some of which I hadn’t seen in a very long time), and got lots of tree-time. Yes, that’s the kids’ main occupation when we go to Ferriday these days. They practically live up in the oak trees between my parents’ and Dolly’s houses. They even “carpeted” their favorite one with clover and assigned all sorts of “rooms” (aka limbs) to each other. Best of all, my niece Grace was also there to play with! And on Sunday, their second cousin Tucker also showed up to play. When Scott and Allison showed up with their other “cousins” Gus and Wilkes, they really had a blast! Daniel let the girls bury him in clover and then got annoyed when the girls told him Wilkes peed on him while he was buried (Wilkes didn’t, but it was funny for about a minute).

 

 

 

And here’s the video of him rising from the clover, apparently as a mummy/zombie:

This family reunion was the first time my whole family has gotten together for a long time, so of course we had the obligatory photo session!

The girls found Lori’s and my old Maypole dresses (yes, I realize that sentence requires an explanation and no, I’m not giving it now!) and enjoyed dressing up. Elizabeth is exactly the age I was when I wore the green dress, although I was probably closer to Rachel’s height. If we lived in Natchez, Elizabeth would be dancing it this year. Sigh.

And here’s a teaser for my next post… There’s something new and cool in our driveway!