March was in like a Lion and out like a sneaky lamb who got away when I wasn't watching!

Well I'm going to post words this time but only bullet points, because bullet points pretty much sum up my disconnected, startaprojectandgetinterruptedabilliontimes kind of life right now. All I have the capacity for is dashing off little dots of memories so that I don't have to try to hold them all in this sieve of a brain of mine. 

• AWANA car races were more fun than I expected.  I'm so relieved we actually got our cars there after forgetting about them until the night before the dead lines, both times (there were two dead lines, one for getting the car made, and another for getting them decorated).  Dade won 2nd place for the best curves, and Matia won 2nd place for flower power in the design category.  Matia's car won 2nd place in Cubbies for speed and she actually had the fasted run of the day out of all the cars raced that day!  Dade thought he won 1st place in Sparks for speed, but it was actually an error.  The judges picked up the wrong sheet from the printer and had the results of only one race.  The places are the average of all 4 races that each car ran, so 1st place actually went to someone else.  Dade was a great sport about that sad fact, and even took his trophy to AWANA the next week to give to the true winner.  The AWANA leader thanked him for his sportsmanship and let him keep the trophy since she had ordered a new one for the kids who should have gotten them.  Dade calls it his sportsmanship trophy now, and it stands as a reminder that it is a privilege to be involved in the fun and we can be winners even if we don't finish first or get a prize.  It was a fun event and we are already looking forward to next year.
• We have been blessed with a new niece born on February 8th.  Her name is Mary and we have plans to visit her at Easter.  ( I know this is not a March event, but it still needs to be documented and I better do it now or who knows when I'll post again!)
• Kayla is officially eating baby food. I've been pureeing to beat the band.  She loves sweet potatoes and carrots and even cauliflower, but not broccoli.  I am able to mix her veggies with rice, but she doesn't really like rice alone.  I have tried cooking brown rice and pureeing it instead of using the baby cereals available.  It seems to be fine with her, which is nice because it is way less expensive and hopefully the whole grains will be better for her.  She still nurses 4 or 5 times a day and unfortunately gets up at night too, mostly for company I think.  I have not been as good at training her as I was with the other two.  I think it has something to do with our paper thin walls and the fact that she is sharing a room with the other kids.  I just find it faster to get up with her and settle her than to wait it out.  I get more sleep, or so I tell myself, but if I actually bite the bullet and train her to settle herself ASAP then I'll get to actually sleep with out interruptions, which would mean more sleep truly.  In the day time I resolve to train her to settle herself, but at 1am I just want her to be quiet so I do what makes that happen the fastest.  Not a good habit... I need to stop this train before it picks up more speed and becomes much harder to stop.
• Dade and Matia have completed  2 levels of swimming lessons.  I am very pleased with their progress and I'm very pleased that I'm done driving 11/2 hours every other day for 30 minutes of swimming lessons.  We'll start back at it in the fall, but I needed a break from driving hither and yon before we go on the road with ice cream. In the fall Dade will be in level 1 because he will be 6, and Matia will go into  Sun Fish or Crocodiles. In need to check with the pool.  The swimming instructor told me that Matia was swimming a tad bit better than Dade, but then she recommended that Matia go into the next swimming level (there are 3 more preschool levels), but because Dade will no longer be preschool age in the fall she said he should just skip over the 3 preschool levels left and do the Level 1 lessons. That doesn't make sense to me.  If Matia is swimming slightly better than Dade, shouldn't she be recommended to the same level as Dade, or at least be told to skip a preschool level?  Does it matter what level I put her in if they are all a review of the skills she is proficient in?  Am I wasting money going level by level?  I don't quite get the swimming system.  All I really care about is that their lessons be on the same day and at the same time... good luck to me!
• Homeschool is quite relaxed right now.  We read a few books each night, do a few work book pages each day and play, play, play.  I am looking forward to forming my plans for next year, but I'm a bit nervous about carrying them out and actually doing what I plan to do.  Still, I'm happy with the progress they have made this year.  They both know  all their letters and numbers up to 20 and a few beyond.  They are familiar with sounding out 3 to 5 letter words and they like to sound out 3 letter words to spell.  They are quite computer proficient and I think they could actually spend a bit less time playing on the computer.  I'm trying to balance the fun and games with some responsibilities and we have instituted a chore chart with reward incentives and it has been a good thing for the last 2 weeks, we'll see how it evolves.  Now that spring has sprung we'll try to do a bit more outside nature observations (when we are finally able to traverse our yard without getting covered in mud).  I think we'll continue with reading practice throughout the summer, so that we don't have to review much in the fall, just carry on.
• I'm tuckered.  I am tired all the time, I feel like I'll never not feel tired again.  I hope that is not true, but if it is, I've decided that giving up coffee (as per my new year's resolution) is not worth it!  Too many people pay the price when I don't get my yummy, nutty, creamy, sugary, hot and delicious caffeine fix each day, so for their sake I'm self medicating with a cup of joe or five every day. As for getting to bed on time, well, I'm getting better and actually average around 11:30ish... speaking of which, this post must now come to an end, even if I do think of one more bullet point in the next couple minutes.

Happy Spring to anyone who happens to read this still.