March Random Wrap-up

One thing that I love about my iPhone is always having a camera handy. The pictures stored on there are more likely to tell a story about what we do from day to day than the ones on my real camera, which is usually taken along to parties or other special events. So, having uploaded my recent pictures from my phone, here are some things we've been up to in March.
Nathanael had his first experience having someone spend the night. Cousins Ben and Jillian stayed with us one Friday night, and the kids could not have enjoyed themselves more. Sam and Ben played basketball all night, only breaking to look at each other's sports cards. We even had to force them to stop playing to eat. Nathanael and Jillian played as well together as any two 3-year-olds could manage. I'm pretty sure Jillian mostly dictated what they played because I heard an awful lot about princesses and getting married. Although, if I'm being honest, Nathanael certainly doesn't mind that variety of pretend play. I love that Nathanael and Sam have cousins so close and that they love to spend time with them.
Being that it is March, and I do live in a household where I am outnumbered by males 3 to 1, I've been seeing an awful lot of March Madness. To be honest, I kinda like it too. Sam's first love is sports. I think I might even rank second to them. This year he filled out a bracket for the basketball championship. He did it on his own, his own, well thought out picks. Paul even used Sam's bracket in the competition at his office. And Sam was coming in first....for a little while. Unfortunately things started to fall apart not long into it, but at the moment, Sam's chosen champion will atleast be in the final game.

Nathanael is my little shadow. Every day after we drop Sam off at school, or sometimes before we even leave the house, he wants to know what we are going to be doing that day. Usually we shop. One of our favorite little field trips most weeks is to Trader Joe's. We don't buy a ton there, but we have our favorites. I buy nuts and seeds for Sam, the boys love plantain chips, and I like their hummus and Naan bread. But one of their favorite things about Trader Joe's is looking for the little hidden stuffed frog in the store. He has a new location every day, and if you find him, you get to choose a prize out of the treasure chest.

A couple weeks ago, we had a huge pile of mulch delivered to finally spruce up our yard. We ordered 10 cu. yds., not really picturing beforehand exactly how much that was going to be. Well, now we know. It's enough to fill a dump truck. It's enough to cover nearly the length of our driveway. It's enough to fill every flowerbed we have, plus the entire playground area in our backyard. Nathanael was a great little helper. He got a little wheelbarrow for Christmas, so using it and his giant shovel that he got at the beach, he would shovel his own little loads and dump them where ever we were working at the time.
My busy boy expends so much energy during the day that he still is going strong with his naps. Well, I guess the fact that he wakes up generally between 5 and 6 every morning makes him pretty exhausted by midday as well. I know it certainly makes me pretty exhausted by midday. Unfortunately, I don't get the benefit of a daily nap. One afternoon, after Nathanael had been locked away in his room for his nap, we heard him whining for a while after, but I was determined not to go in. So, after quite a while, I decided to go check on him, or maybe I was going in to put away his laundry, and I found him sound asleep in his glider. It was one of the cutest things I've seen this month.