March Madness

I just realized this is my 100th post, so I should probably write something super profound. Since nothing's coming to me, I'll just leave the number and you can profoundly think on it. 100 posts. What does that say about me? I've had this blog for a couple of years now, and it either says that I'm really on the ball and have written enough to keep tabs on what is going on in my life, or it says that I'm pathetic and can't keep up enough to write more often. Either way, 100 is a big number, and I'm celebrating it. I read an article a little while ago that said blogs are a thing of the past, since now everyone is into social networking, and you can find up to the minute updates of all of your friends' lives just by checking their facebook page or their twitter or whatever else is out there that I don't know about. I thought about that and wondered if I, too, should sign off the blogging world. I'm still thinking about it. What am I gaining from this blog, other than the occasional record of what's going on in my life? And the other question is, do we write blogs for ourselves or do we write them for the people who read them? In my case, having family far away, I feel like it is a way to update them on what's happening with my kids and with me. So in that way, it's good. If there is anyone still reading this (other than my mom, because let's face it, she's a mom and will always tell me that everything I have to say is important - love you, mom), I'd appreciate some weighing in. Is it worth still blogging? Is anyone reading blogs anymore? I am rambling - I should never write things so late at night. Anyway...

March was literally a month of madness, and I'm not referring to basketball, although we did have our fair share of "Jimmer" love at our house. March in our house is festival month, which means extra practices, extra trips to various cities, costumes, make-up, organizing sheet music, and a much higher stress level for me. Throw in a couple of trips home for swim meets and road races (including very stressful drives home in blizzard conditions), a little daylight savings in the mix just to make sure everyone feels sufficiently exhausted, 15 preschool music classes (if I ever have to sing "Robin in the Rain" again, it will be too soon), consistently gray and freezing weather, and that's March. I could probably just refer you to last year's post about festival, because it's almost all the same stuff, but for my mom, and anyone else who is reading this, I'll post some of this year's pictures. There is also a link to and article about the choir, and there will be another article next week that I will be sure to post as well. In about 24 hours, when my computer ever finishes uploading one single video (insert frustrated yell here), I will also post a link to the video of one of the girls' festival songs. The sound is not fantastic, but at least it gives all of you captivated readers a chance to see what they do during festival time. So...what was I saying again? Oh yes - pictures. And here's a link to an article about how our choir did at the festival. It's page 11, if you're actually going to go there.

*I also need to say that playing the piano has its' drawbacks and the biggest one is that there is only one parent watching the show, and that parent was wrestling a very active 4-year-old into sitting in a chair during the performances, and was not quite so interested in making sure everything was recorded, or even photographed. So some of the events from the previous month have not made it to camera. Most of them, actually.

Ray's first swim meet in a 50m pool - doing the 50 fly. She held her own. Not bad for a 9-year-old.

After their festival performance. They were pretty excited and got great positive feedback, so it was a good day.

Picking up trophies for themselves, another one of my students, and the choir. They don't actually get to keep any of the trophies, they just bring home medals that say what the trophies were. But they still got to hold them for a minute, so that was pretty cool. They also performed at the showcase where they received their awards. It was a good night for them.

The newest honorary member of Po, the Kung-fu master's crew. Just in case for one second you thought he had faded into the background this month with all the stuff going on with the girls. Not a chance. This kid makes sure he's seen and heard plenty. And if no one is listening, he will loudly say, "Hey guys, be quiet. I'm tryin' to tell ya something."

A new haircut for Missy Mae. A "date" with dad turned into a surprise haircut for me. I think it's adorable, and am glad that she finally decided to do it all on her own. Now if we could just convince Ray to do the same, we'd be laughing.

Ok, so not the best picture installment of all time, but I promise to do better next time, or at least ask someone else to hold my camera for me!