March traditions and plans

February flew by quickly, and I really loved our focus on LOVE for the whole month. Now we are into March and ready for spring. In Florida we are having lovely 80 degree weather this week. Time to take stock of our summer wardrobe and pack up the long-sleeved shirts and jackets (we will likely only need long pants occasionally from here on out).

Here is what we have on our agenda this month:

Celebrate Dr. Seuss Week March 2-7: we will re-read some of our favorite Dr. Seuss books

St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th (see below)

Elementary School International Fair on March 19th: I grew up in Canada, so I volunteered to prepare a booth about this cool country to the north.

Spring Break March 23-27 (see below)

St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day is one of those fun little holidays that I like to recognize in a small way. At our house, we always wear green of course, and the children wake up to Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast. This year I think we will dye the milk green. I like to attach this cute printable from Blue Skies Ahead.lucky

A few more ideas I like:

Lunch treat printable (attach a gold candy coin)

Decorate the door with this quote from Spencer W. Kimball (image available from LDS printables)LUCK

New rainbow colored markers with gold candy coin attached “You’re my pot of gold at the end of the rainbow” (we need new markers anyway, so this is a useful gift for our house)

I also like this “Getting Lucky” idea for my husband (wink, wink).

Spring Break

With the imminent birth of our fourth child, we have no big plans for travel during Spring Break. We will likely arrange some low-key playdates with friends and work on house projects. We will definitely be visiting a nearby farm for strawberry picking and then make freezer jam!

I am still trying to work through my Project List, but the third trimester of pregnancy (and my swollen feet!) are slowing me down. As a friend on Facebook (who is due the same week I am) said:

2nd trimester=”I can do anything.”

3rd trimester= “No, no you can’t.”

So I will do what I can this month, and focus on growing a baby and maintaining life for the other 4 members of my family.

Looking ahead to April

April has a number of significant events, and preparations will need to be made in March.

April 1st: Birthday for Zach

April 4-5th: General Conference

April 5th: Easter

April 15th: Baby #4 is due

It is a little tricky when General Conference and Easter fall on same weekend, with a birthday very close by. We have special traditions for recognizing all three events, but we don’t have time for everything. So I need to do some planning and figure out what our most important focus will be.

What are your March/April traditions?

Books for Spring and Easter

I know that this post is really overdue. I meant to post it back in March, but sometimes this is just how things roll. In any case, maybe it will help some of you for next year.

By now you have probably figured out that I like to read books to my children that tie in with a theme. Whenever we go to the library we always find some of the greats (Mo Willems, Amy Krause Rosenthal, Jan Thomas, Lauren Thompson, etc), and sometimes a few odd picks that my kids grab off the shelves. But if there is a holiday or special event on the calendar, you can bet that I am putting those books on hold to reserve for us.

Here are some of the books we enjoyed during the Easter and spring season. For me, spring is also a time for bunnies and ducklings, so a few of those titles are included.

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 Fancy Nancy’s Elegant Easter

Ollie’s Easter Eggs

Pooh’s Easter Egg Hunt

Duck & Goose: Here Comes the Easter Bunny

Bunny’s Easter Egg

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My Garden

Chicken’s Aren’t the Only Ones: This is a really fun book about all of the different kinds of animals that come from eggs (dinosaurs  and butterflies and spiders included). We had a really fun preschool day with this book, inspired by Preschool Alphabet.

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Have You Seen My Duckling?

Peep and Ducky

Make Way for Ducklings: a favorite in our permanent collection!

Lucky Ducklings: a true story about baby ducklings who fall in a drain and their heroic rescue

Duck & Goose

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Mouse’s First Spring: I love this Mouse’s First…series of books by Lauren Thompson

A Book of Seasons

Spring is Here

And then it’s Spring

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Runaway Bunny

Rabbityness

Home for a Bunny

My Friend Rabbit

Bunny’s Noisy Book by Margaret Wise Brown

The ABC Bunny by Wanda Gag

It’s Spring by Samantha Berger

Frog and Toad all Year by Arnold Lobel: Frog and Toad stories are sweet tales of friendship and everyday adventure that we read often at our house!