Other random happenings from the month of March, in no particular order....
Here is a very proud Emma. She is very proud because there she is, holding her violin, which she just finished practicing for the 50th day in a row. Way back at the end of January, she decided to surprise her violin teacher with a weekly practice chart filled up perfectly on all seven days. She got such a kick out of it that she decided to do it for a second week in a row, and then a third. Pretty soon she had set a goal of practicing for 100 days in a row. Here she is, half way, and still going strong. It's actually been totally amazing. This kid does not complain about practicing. It's so incredible. And her violin playing has really improved as she has worked on this. I'm super proud of her and am thinking up what to do to celebrate when she hits day 100. (And then figure out how to motivate her to keep up the 7-day-a-week practices.)
I'm not sure when this happened - probably the first day or two of spring break. I told the kids I'd take them to Twin Suns, the Star Wars-themed cafe owned by a friend, the step-dad of a gal Romney went through all of elementary school with. I went there last year for my birthday. What a great place. The kids loved their food and were thoroughly entertained by the decor. Go check it out, it's awesome. By the way, we totally shocked the waitress with how much food we are capable of consuming.
On a very sad note, we lost a beloved pet, Aragog the spider. We are not sure what happened. I think we had him for 2 1/2 years! I can't believe that. It was hard to know if he was eating or not, healthy or not, since he hunted for his prey at night and he didn't eat (or move) very often. We think he lost a leg during his last molt, and perhaps that was what made him sick. Poor Chase. He's had his share of pet burials in the past year. And the animals he adores tend to be slightly more delicate and hard to care for than the pets most people choose. We will consider another spider, but will aim for a desert dweller and not a tropical variety. I'm actually quite sad. Even though I could never bring myself to touch it, I sure got a kick out of telling people that we had a pet spider, and Aragog was super fascinating to watch.
One afternoon, the first Friday of spring break I think, I took Emma and a friend to the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers museum up on capitol hill. I had never been to this museum and really really wanted to go. I have many ancestors who were Mormon Pioneers, and I felt sure I'd feel a great connection to my heritage there, and see displays bearing the names of my ancestors. Well, it was a pretty dang amazing place, but it was also just kind of weird. Man is there a LOT OF STUFF in there. Though I did not see many names that I'm connected to, I did see a lot of strange things like art made out of hair and weird dolls and all sorts of stuff. It's actually quite an impressive place, but not what I thought it would be like at all. Still, I'm glad I went. Well, I was glad, that is, until I came across the creepiest mannequin ever!
Also of note is the fact that my sister has finally pulled up the last of her SLC roots. She sold her home this month and it was a lot of work for her, her daughters and some for me as well. It sold immediately which was awesome for her. Helping her go through it and get it ready was really hard and I know it especially was on her daughters. I think MG especially had a very long hard cry over the separation from that house. It was time, it was a good thing, but some times good things can sting quite a bit.
Also, in our on-going quest to see musical theater, the girls and I made a trek to Bountiful to once again see the majestic Paige sing the role of Fiona in her school's production of Shrek. It was really fun! I know jr. highs are not exactly Broadway, but really, this group did a great job and we so enjoyed seeing the show. Paige has a magnificent voice and I look forward to seeing her in many future productions.
Also, Romney survived her 8th grade spirit week. We had a lot of fun putting together costumes to go along with the daily themes such as Hawaiian day and Classy Day. Troy very generously drove her around for about 2 hours trying to find John Lennon style sunglasses for Retro Day and it turns out they were impossible to find, but we already had these aviators. Sorry about those two hours, but I know Romney had a great time with her dad and has proof of how much he loves her, because he drove her to every sunglasses-selling establishment in a ten mile radius.
In another theater adventure, the girls and I went to see The Fantasticks. It was put on in a very small black box theater way out in South Jordan, right by my sister-in-law Kathleen. She and her daughter Lucy joined us. Lucy loves being in plays and I know they enjoy the theater. They had not heard of The Fantasticks. Emma hadn't seen it either, though Romney and I had, about 2 years ago I think. This was a wonderful production. It's such a small show, only 8 characters or so, and just a lady and a piano playing all the music. I have said before that I think this is my mom's official favorite musical. I love it so much too, and these young actors were just wonderful. We sad on the front row and the cast interacted with us a bit. It was absolutely delightful.
There you go! There's a whole bunch of fun great stuff that got us through March.
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