Life since spring break

What a crazy, incredibly quick month April has turned out to be.  A week of work (which happened to be Holy Week, which translates to LOTS of work!), Spring Break, and the two weeks since Spring Break, and the month is basically over!  Here's hoping the next six weeks or so go this quickly as well....

So what goes on in our corner of the world.  My parents and brother made the trek from Iowa to Virginia, as has become their custom for the past couple of spring breaks.  It's quite convenient that our Spring Break falls the week after Easter when my parents are able to travel.  We celebrated Jocelyn's third birthday a couple weeks early...

I think her favorite toy of the week was Uncle Jonathan.

We celebrated David's baptism....

The outfit was worn by both of John's uncles for their christenings.  My mom made new pants and so we had a multi-generational outfit :)  He was very curious by the baptismal fount and was a little ham during his trip up and down the aisle of the church.

I also FINALLY finished the stocking picture.  It's about bloody time....

The fabric is now with my mother, who has considerably better sewing skills than I do, who is putting together the actual stocking.  I'm happy with it.  I'm now working on a much smaller butterfly print, which should be finished quickly.  Pictures to follow!

Finally, I have the most beautiful irises coming up in my garden and I just wanted to share:

OH.  And last but not least, it's the end of the world as we know it.  I have.... JOINED A GYM!  AND I LIKE IT!!!  I'm not quite sure how this happened.  I let John talk me into it over last weekend.  Since then, I've been to the gym 4 out of the past 6 days.  And had one of the best workouts ever.  I will be at the gym tomorrow to start a new program.  I AM SO EXCITED!! 

Blessed Spring Break

I don't think students realize how much their teachers look forward to spring break.  I have just a bit of time before my parents arrive from Iowa.  We will have lots of shopping and sight-seeing and all kinds of activities for the week.  This weekend will be Jocelyn's early birthday celebration and Sunday is David's baptism.

After a short break from this blog, I realized I have read several books over the month of March, including the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan and the first book of the Kane Chronicles, also by Riordan.  I read a couple of books in the 39 Clues Series (several authors), along with the book Found by Haddix and the Death Cure by Dashner.  I've realized that almost every single book I read was part of a series.  I'm not sure if that's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing.  I'm currently working on a "stand-alone" and it seems to be going quickly.  I could do a review for them all, but that would be a very long post.  I'll probably post a quickie review next week.

I've nearly finished my stocking.  I just need to add the beads to the cross-stitched picture before it is ready to be turned into the actual stocking.  I've been waiting for my mother to come because she is much better at doing the sewing-type stuff of assembling the stocking.  The beads should only take an hour or so to complete.  Pictures will follow when the beading is finished and then hopefully when the whole thing is done.

Lots of cooking has been going on.  Almost all of the meals have been dishes I make on a fairly regular basis and so I don't think to post about them.  I have plans to try a couple new dishes this month.  And yes, I do have my meals for the month planned out.  John and I have discovered that we can spend the smallest amount of money on groceries if I plan for the month all at once.  We have one big shopping trip at the beginning of the month and then shop for milk, cereal, and other items that run out on an as-needed basis.  At some point I will explain how I am able to feed a family of 4 on $200 a month (and no, I'm not exaggerating!).

So not an overly exciting post, but catching up on the past couple of weeks.  I need to add some pictures from Easter as my children were absolutely adorable and it was gorgeous up here.  Happy Spring to everyone!