Is it March already?

As always, I am amazed at how quickly time passes between blog posts. I cannot believe that it is March!

We have a busy schedule this Spring with some extra activities and big Daddy will be traveling quite a bit. We have birthdays, field trips and Easter celebrations to attend.  We now have two "free" days each week!  Maggie's Tumbling class has been moved to Thursday, so our Monday schedule is completely clear.  I may actually have time to homeschool and go to the grocery store on Monday.  I have been trying to do my shopping on Saturdays so that I can go alone.  It makes it easier to go to multiple stores, get everything on my meal planning list and spend an hour or so alone-all in one shot!

Maggie will be turning seven in April and Ellie will be four in June.  Both girls are happy and content to have small parties at home with just family attending, but I think next year may be the year for Maggie to have a friend party.  To make things a little easier on me, I asked the girls if they could have a party to celebrate both of their birthdays in mid-May.  After assuring Maggie that they could each pick their own theme and decorations, she agreed.  We have a BIG surprise that we will be sharing with them soon and that will be a part of their birthday celebrations.  Of course, on their actual birthday there will be some kind of celebration, just the four of us.  I want to start the tradition of letting them pick a favorite meal or restaurant as a way for us to have a celebration on their actual birthday and with just our little family.

In spite of being under the weather, Maggie started her new school year this past Monday.  She had a fever, sore throat and cough starting on the Thursday. Even though she wasn't back to normal, she was eager to see what my plans were for the new season. So far, she loves it, but we have only had two days if work!  She was a little stressed out over a writing assignment yesterday because she was worried that she would "get it wrong".  She loves to be right and to please, so having a real assignment that asks her to narrate a story, inspired by a classic painting stressed her out a bit.  She is very creative and sites and tells imaginative stories all the time, but the thought of doing this as a part of her school work upset her. She likes for things to be black or white, right or wrong.  We are doing several things this year to help her to tap into her creativity and be able to put some of it down on paper.  We will be doing journal entries, book reports and reading high quality books to assist her with her writing skills.

As always, I continue to struggle with "doing it all" and wonder how in the world some women are able to do so much.  I like to think I do a little less that those women, but I do it all better!!