Book success and spring in the desert

I attended Spencer's final Battle of the Books at school on Tuesday the 9th. I will never, ever forget when he asked me if he could participate at the beginning of the school year, but just in case I do, let me explain it here. 

Spencer came home from school with a permission slip.  When I got home from work that day he told me he had something for me to sign but he wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it.  OK.  I was intrigued.  I asked him to explain.  He said it was something called Battle of the Books.  Everyone that participates divides into teams of three and then everyone on the team reads the same four books. Then they get together with the other teams and answer trivia questions about the books they just read. Then they read another four books, more trivia, another four books, more trivia.  The winning team from their school goes to the district level competition. 

Ok, Spencer...what did you think I wasn't going to like about you reading 12 books in a school year? He had no good answer.

Then I told him that he would just need to remind me when the "battles" were happening so I could drive him there.  He told me they take place during school hours. 

Then I told him to tell me when he needed the books so we could get them from the library or Amazon.  He told me he gets all of the books from the school library. 

OOOOOOOOOOOOHKAAAAAAAAAY.  So, you have to read 12 books this year and I don't have to drive you anywhere or buy anything.  YES.  DO IT.  Hand over that permission form. 

Anyway, I attended the first and third battles.  My mom went to the second battle in January. 

Spencer's team came in third place out of all of the teams.  Go boys!

I hope he wants to do it for 6th grade too.  Maybe work his way up to 1st place!

My manicure on the 10th.  Right before I took it off again. 

This cactus is in our neighbor's front yard.  But, you see that little wall?  That's the divider between our properties, so I get to see this whenever I leave my house.   

It was finally blooming on the 11th when I got home from work.  It has been covered in buds for weeks. 

So lovely. 

This ocotillo is across the street.  I can see it out our front windows whenever I walk by the dining room or living room. It is also lovely.  I think it's the biggest ocotillo I've ever seen. 

As I was taking these pictures a wee tiny hummingbird started buzzing around.  See him on the left? 

And finally, my aunt took the kids to the zoo on Saturday morning, leaving Michael free to do yard work and me free to read and approve quarterly progress reports. 

She sent me these pictures. 

Hello April

It feels so good to not be over a month behind on this ol' blog!  As much as is possible I'm going to use Monday mornings as my regular blogging time so I don't get so terribly overwhelmed again. 

On Monday, April 1st I did a lot of organizing and tidying around the house.  I found this tag that Spencer made me for mother's day last year.  If we're being totally honest, I don't ever remember seeing it.  I love it.  I think I look very sleek as a dolphin.  I'll have to check the mother's day post for last year to see if I blogged about this already.

This was just the beginning of what I cleaned out of my closet. The pile actually grew after this. 

Michael moving it to the guest room. 

I bought new sunglasses on the 2nd. 

I definitely needed them.  I definitely do not have enough sunglasses. 

I had taken a continuing education class the previous Saturday and I had done all of this math to figure out where I am in the cycle of my license and two certifications.  My Department of Education certificate is due this year, but I am pleased to announce I only need 1.5 more hours of continuing ed to submit it.  I'm going to get 2 hours next week!

Yoga toes while we watched This is Us on Wednesday the 3rd.  I've been trying to do my yoga toes as much as possible.  They really do help with alignment and in preventing toe/foot cramps. 

Spring/Easter cookie baking on Thursday the 4th.  I sent an arrangement with Michael to work. 

And finally, Spencer's 11 year 7 month photo shoot on the 6th.  I'm not sure why the first one came out so blurry.  Michael took them, so we'll just blame him. 

Official

Finishing out March

Laura spent the night with us on Friday the 22nd because she was going to the Garth Brooks concert in Phoenix on the 23rd.

We had been talking about the strength of her glasses prescription vs Michael's prescription and they swapped glasses to compare.  It turns out they have similar prescriptions because they barely noticed a  difference.  I made them take a picture in swapped glasses. 

And back to their own. 

My manicure on March 23rd.  Once again I took the picture the day I was taking it off, so it's all chipped. 

March 25th.  Finally the last day of spring break. 

Elliott had a nice shiner for his return to school. He lost a battle with his headboard. 

Some online shopping purchases were delivered on the 25th too. 

New jammies I bought for Elliott on the 26th.  Sloths are my new favorite. 

Buy one get one half off sandals on the 26th.

I was at Sprouts that day and bought these sunflowers.  They looked so cheerful with the yellow lemons on the tablecloth. 

I was so pleased and happy with the sunflowers, and then look what was delivered during dinner.  This gorgeous bouquet from my friend Sarah in Las Vegas.  Isn't she just the sweetest?

I took pictures from multiple angles. 

March 28th was my last day at work for the month so I took a picture of the calendar for March because I promised I would show you every month. 

New dress from Amazon that day. 

Both kids were supposed to get palate expanders on March 27th, but Elliott's didn't fit, so I had to take him back on the 29th. 

He handled the whole thing remarkably well. 

And that's it for March.  I feel like I did well with this little catch up! We're into April and it's still April.