While much of Texas is still in drought conditions, our county (Travis) included, the winter and early spring rains have gone some ways toward lessening the severity. In February, I was worried that summer was going to be very early this year, and it may still be, but we’ve enjoyed some pleasantly mild weather in March.

We started our March outdoors! Maya and Ian have little food and herb crops they want to grow in the back yard. We don’t have a whole lot of sun in that area, so they’re relegated to some strategically placed pots and a couple sunny-ish spots in-ground. Maya has a pot full of radishes she started at the beginning of the month. I worried that it was a little early, but we also let her buy a cayenne chili pepper plant as well, and it is thriving. Ian’s preferences run to warm weather plants, so we’ll start his seeds soon.

All four of us also spent a weekend trying to clear out some of the overgrown back yard as well. Between a few injuries, my bad back, and the infernal heat last summer, I just kind of gave up on the yard. Volunteer trees have spread, beds have become overgrown with weeds, and our poor Monterey Oak is still bent over from the big freeze last year.

While we were back there, we noticed that our cherry laurel tree at the back of the yard was almost shimmering with the movement of insect life around it. The tree had flowered, and between the honey bees and the busy comings and goings of red admiral butterflies, things were in constant motion – a little treat for all our hard work.

We whoa-ed up on yard work so I could get Ian over to a Cub Scout den meeting. We all met up at a local fire department to learn about the service they provided to the community. The fire station and the fire engines were pretty neat. Ian and the other kids got to try on some of the oxygen tanks and the big jackets to see how heavy they were. They got to see where the fire fighters slept and ate and relaxed during their shifts. We talked through the plans we would make as families in case of a fire – get out of the house, leave everything behind, meet outside at a designated place, and if you can, close the door behind you to help deprive the fire of oxygen.

We had what I think was our first 90 degree day of the year in early March. Thankfully, the heat has simmered down since then and things have been pleasant.

Maya and Ian’s grade school has a MARE week every year. Each grade level has a different aquatic area to focus on, and this year, at long last, Maya finally has the ocean as her area. Against advice from her teacher (who warned Maya she may have trouble finding information on the topic), she chose to study and report on the Dumbo Octopus. She and the other fifth graders made displays and games that featured their chosen sea creature, and their parents all got to visit and learn and play their games.

And then, since it was spring break for us, we left on Friday the 8th for our spring break vacation to Greenville, SC and Asheville, NC!

Ian and I got some kind of snotty, coughing illness while we were on vacation, and at least for me, I was a little down and out when we got back. I even took a day off sick, which I rarely do. Finally, we all felt well enough and were unscheduled enough to go to our usual bluebonnet spot and grab some photos. This was on the 19th, and from the pictures I’ve seen, we were maybe a little early to see the full, brilliant flush of colorful flowers, but even at that, the display was lovely.

Still, it’s good we got our photos in when we did, because Sean was sick and then Maya became sharply ill yet on top of it. In fact, she stayed home a couple days from school to rest and eventually found out that she had strep!

We more or less did as little as possible for the next couple weeks. We resold tickets to a concert, bowed out of Ian’s spring cub scout camp out, and even got a refund on movie tickets we had bought. Whatever this illness was, it sapped me of my energy, and it was quite a while before I wasn’t sneaking in a nap after work and still going to bed on time AND sleeping all night (which is odd for me).

This kids have decided they’re done believing in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, but they still want holiday gifts, cash for teeth, and – I came to find out when foolishly suggesting we skip it – to hunt for easter eggs. Thankfully, since we have no illusions to keep alive, we (mostly Sean) decorated eggs with them on Saturday. They woke up to find they had fully loaded easter baskets to root through on Sunday morning. And then after puttering around for a while, we sent them to their rooms so we could take the eggs they had decorated the night before and hide them in the yard.

Sean did most of the hiding, while I kept him company, offering suggestions here and there. We were delighted to find that a beautifully colored green anole had found one of the eggs Sean had hidden. I had to give Sean my phone so he could reach up high enough to take a decent photo.

After the hunt, we decorated easter cupcakes – vanilla for Ian, carrot cake for Maya. I had bought a little kit that had candied ears, nose, eyes, and cheeks so that each cupcake could look like a bunny. Maya and Ian played by the rules for a couple cupcakes and then let their creativity take over. A few days later, the eyes had melted a little, and they freaked Maya out to such a degree that she wouldn’t even look at them. She had me remove the decorations before she was willing to eat them.

We ended the month more or less feeling normal and easing back into our normal schedules. Hopefully April will be a healthier month for us.