Out of Hibernation - Welcome, Spring!

My pretty girls at the big party!

I see looking back at my January posts that I have been failing my 2015 New Year's Resolutions...  Diet was going GREAT for a month, as was the writing on my blog!  Then things kind of fell by the wayside...  We are all thawed out here from a particularly long, cold, hard winter -- one TINY little pile of snow left (about 1 foot by 1 foot) and LOTS of yard clean-up to do!  Winter was chugging along just fine and then my husband had an accident which was very traumatic for our little family, BUT, thank God he made it out virtually unscathed!  We were so blessed and are so thankful, but it took us a while to shake that off and get back to normal.  We are happy to say adios to the snow for this year, that is for sure!!

In spite of all of that, we have been busy with work and school and this and that!  Valentine's weekend we had all of my in-law's up to visit for the weekend -- 18 of us in all!  16 people stayed at our house, including 8 children between the ages of 1 - 14, and 4 dogs!  The weather was terrible -- snow storm, cold -- my husband had to work the day everyone arrived.  I found myself saying things like, "WHY is there a toy bird in the glass chandelier?" and arrived home from church to find the POLICE in my driveway (my sister- and brother-in-law called Animal Control because a dog had been wandering around out in the bitter cold for over an hour!).  The house was a wreck and I did take a sip or two of wine (medicinal), but we always have lots of laughs when the whole family is together and it was wonderful that they made that trip in spite of the weather!  It also was a week before my husband's accident, and so I think we were all so thankful that we had that time together, because you just never know what life will throw you -- great example of jumping at every opportunity, making the most of every moment! 

In March, we traveled to Long Island for a whirlwind weekend to attend a magnificent surprise party for my brother-in-law.  It was a wonderful party and it came about 3 weeks after my husband's accident, so it was therapeutic for everyone in his family to see him and for him to see his family.  And my sister-in-law threw an amazing party -- it was like a wedding!  Beautiful venue, dj playing great music all night, dancing, wonderful food.  So good to see everyone and my girls, as always had a fabulous time with their cousins -- dancing and chatting the night away!

My girls had a fun weekend in CT with their cousins, and then the CT cousins and one of my aunt's from NH joined us for a lovely Easter!  

Our 14-year-old went to Washington DC for her school's 8th grade trip -- she was very nervous leading up to it -- would NOT let her mother pack her any pictures of her family or any notes to read on her trip, for fear that she might cry if she saw them!  The kids were not allowed to bring any electronics, so no phones, no iPods, etc. (My cousin teased that since my girl has an old-fashioned "flip phone" surely that did not count as an "electronic" - ha, ha, ha!)  She and the other kids survived without all of that, and I as a mom survived because her school put up a website and her band director (and one of the chaperones) posted pictures of the trip every day, so I got to go on the website and catch glimpses of my girl!  I also reminded myself that back in the Dark Ages (before cell phones...)  when I was in school, I went on two band trips one to VA and one to Canada and I also went to Girl Scout camp for a week or two every summer -- all without a cell phone or any other electronic device.  And lived to tell the tale!  She was gone for a week and had a fabulous time, saw a lot of wonderful things, learned a lot, had fun with friends, took wonderful pictures and came home with lots of stories to tell us!  She's been home since Friday and has already created a DVD of pictures of her trip set to music.

We are winding down with Girl Scouts for my little one this year, and this past Sunday my girls and I had the last Sunday School class for this year (YAY!  I survived teaching the 3rd grade class!!!)  My 14-year-old is practicing for her All-State Band Concert -- we're so proud that she was picked! -- and my 8-year-old signed up to be in the elementary school talent show with a group of 20 girls performing "It's the Hard-Knock Life" from Annie, so she is attending rehearsals for that.  We have a trip to NY for my dad's birthday coming up, a Girl Scout day trip, my mom is coming up for the All-State concert and Mother's Day, and then my mother-in-law and her sister are coming out for Memorial Day (my girl is in the marching band!).  And that's just in the next 5 - 6 weeks!  Summer is starting to book up too!

In the meantime, we are looking forward to cleaning up the patio, cleaning up the gardens, and opening up the windows for some fresh air!  (We've done that off and on this week, but the past two days have felt more like fall than spring!)

How are you and your family celebrating Spring?