March

We had all kinds of crazy fun things happen in March.  Connor turned eight, and our homeschooling group went to a physics class at the California Science Center on the morning of his birthday.  They learned about air, it was pretty cool.
  

Connor continues to claim he doesn't like cake, so he had a brownie with ice cream for his birthday celebration.  He also got to officially join Cub Scouts with Ryan as his wolf den leader.  He was super excited, even though he had already been a few times illegally.
  

 
One thing happened around this time that was not fun.  Our friends from church suffered the death of their baby girl, Chloe, from unknown causes while she was in a carrier at Disneyland.  Chloe had Down Syndrome, along with several other medical problems, and was only a month older than Corinne.  It affected me a lot, and I went through a sort of depression for many weeks afterward. (It didn't help that I was extremely sleep deprived and feeling overwhelmed in other areas.)  The older kids and I attended Chloe's funeral, which was amazingly uplifting and tender.  It concluded with a balloon release and a party to celebrate her life.  Interacting with Chloe and her family has had a profound influence on how I feel about those with disabilities.  I feel like I'm a better person for having known her.  http://celebratechloe.blogspot.com/
 

Chloe

  

  
Uncle Kevin came to visit!  He had a training seminar all week for work, but he snuck out one evening to play with us down by the beach.  We ate fish tacos and watched the planes come in at LAX, it was awesome.
   

  
For Saint Patrick's Day, we did our "secret leprechaun" thing with families from church.  I keep promising myself I won't do it again, though.  I feel like our secret gifts are always so lame compared to the ones we get, and it stresses me out.  But, the kids love to doorbell ditch, and get so excited when they find surprises at our doorstep.  One of the baskets we got this year included this puppet/washcloth.  It was obviously meant for Corinne, but when we showed it to her, she stared at it for a moment, then did a huge startle, throwing her arms out and everything, and started to cry and turn away.  We tried it again a day or two later, just to see if it was a coincidence, and she did the exact same thing.  Long stare - jump of surprise - terrified crying.
  

Pop Rocks

  
One of the girls in Elise's kindergarten class held a 100th Day of School party at her house.  They made crafts that involved the number 100, and did a "100 Snack", where they took ten each of ten different treats and combined them in a bag.  My kids decided not to stop at one hundred, of course, and ended up with something more like a "500 Snack".
  

  
Most of those same girls are in a girl scout troop that meets during the homeschool park day.  I thought it might be nice for Elise to get to know them better, so we went one day to check it out.  Elise was so impressed with these girls, she couldn't stop talking about how nice they were.  "As nice as a kitty!" she told me.  So, we signed her up.  This is her right before her first Daisy meeting.
  

  
We finally (almost) finished our little yard landscaping project and set up our swing set.  It still needs to be anchored, and we need to buy wood chips, but the kids are already having fun with it.  Corinne was especially impressed with the baby swing.