More of March

I thought I would post a few of our other happenings in March, although Match Day and our cruise felt like it took the whole month!

St. Patrick's Day

For St. Patrick's Day, the boys were ready for any mischevious leprechauns that might happen through our house. To any outsider, the below picture may appear to be a pile of boxes, but to those of us in the know, it looks like the intricate network of tunnels and tripwires that it is. They worked hard and steady on their leprechaun traps and even set up Tureko to keep an eye on them so that the leprechauns couldn't disappear. They didn't catch one, but the leprechaun left them a candy and some money, but when they insisted on setting the trap again, he decided to reek a little havoc. We came home to find the house turned upside down. Cushions, chairs, and shoes were everywhere! The boys thought that the roll of toilet paper left on the couch was the funniest. We didn't tell them that Dad had left it there because he had a cold and we were out of Kleenex.

We had a nice green dinner, plus hot dogs, to finish off the day.


Mother Neff State Park

I've been wanting to take the boys to Mother Neff State Park for a good year now. It's the first state park in Texas and a friend told me how much fun they had fishing there, with almost a fish a cast. True to Chapman form, fishing wasn't very productive, but the boys had fun. They both learned how to cast themselves, which makes everything better, even if it is a bit more dangerous! We found out later that we were at the wrong fishing spot. Oh well.

Isaac is never too busy to smile for the camera.

Carter, on the other hand, has to be persuaded.

Just a minute....

Almost there....

Are you happy now, Mom?

We also had fun hiking around and playing in the creek and a really cool natural pool that we found. It was still a little to chilly for me, but the kids didn't seem to care.

Ashlyn was entertaining herself in the van while the guys were fishing. She's a monkey!

Soccer

We've had a great time with soccer this season. We finally got a picture of Isaac, but this is all you'll see because we miss too much of the game trying to take pictures! Isaac is doing better and better, but his team gets creamed every time. They seem to be more in competition with each other than in competition with the other team. At practice, their coach was tired of their arguing (I'm faster, better, etc.) and came over to where they were waiting in line and yelled "Do you all just want to run the rest of practice?" Isaac, of course, got all excited and yelled "Yes!" Not exactly the desired reaction, but the coach assured them all that if they ran, they wouldn't like it. If we get the house that we put our offer in on, Isaac's elementary school has a cross country team starting in the second grade that he will love.

Carter is still hanging in their as well. He prefers to follow the pack around instead of getting in on the action, but at least he's enjoying himself. Besides, Isaac already effectively taught him that it's all about the trophy.

Girlie Girl

Ashlyn is turning more and more into a little Diva. Her life consists of bows, bracelets, babies, and PINK, PINK, PINK! She found all of her baby headbands the other day and this is how beautiful she looked when I found her. Eric let her pick out her own clothes yesterday and she wore a pink shirt with pink pants, pink bows, and pink shoes. Girls are great!

St. Patrick's Day Fun Run

I got to run another 5K this month. I trained for it pretty consistently since the last one and had a goal of taking two minutes off of my time. The morning was freezing and windy, but that seems to be the luck. The weekend before was beautiful and mid-70s. My family hadn't been able to make it to any of my other races, so I was excited that they got to come and support me. When the race started, Eric and the kids hadn't made it yet. I was a little disappointed, but I understood. About three fourths of the race through, there they were on the side of the road waving and cheering me on. It was hard to smile, because I was feeling so choked up. Isn't it funny what little things can mean to us? After I passed, they jumped in the van and drove up to another corner and got out to cheer again. Then they jumped back in and made it to the finish line. The other runners enjoyed them as much as I did. I had a good race and reached my goal. Hooray! I had to laugh when I watched this video. Something about a turtle goes through my mind. But boy, we were all giving it everything we had!