The Ides of March

I'm not really sure what an "Ide" is but it sounded like a nifty title.  

March 2nd Titus and Amber had a FIAR field trip to Walnut Creek.  This is an inner city wetland sanctuary.  Thankfully they had loaner boots for everyone, as it was still wet from the recent rains.  The kids had fun exploring, looking for and learning about different animals in the creek and wetland area.

March 3rd Lance and Amber had a "date".  They went to the ballet performance of one of Lance's friend.

March 4th was the beginning of Titus' baseball season.  Chris was bamboozled into to managing both the Varsity and Junior Varsity team and coaching the Varsity team for Titus' middle school.  It was a lot of work leading up to this day and will be till mid-May.  Titus has been playing a lot of outfield so far this month and had some serious ESPN catches, again this year he is often one of the only guys to make it home.

Titus also spent a lot of time with Frank this month rebuilding their chicken coop/run, taking down and putting up sheds.

Amber in turn spent a lot of time on horses.  I'm continually amazed at how she keeps improving.

Titus, Amber and I also started going to the park on Thursdays with a group of old friends.  We all weren't sure how it would work out but its been awesome for everyone.  These kids are great, they just play and play hard just like my kids needed.  It's hard for us to leave each week in order to get Titus to his Writing Class.

March 11th Lance and Jared went to an English Country Dance.  I'm so thankful for these events, they are such a great outlet for young people to have safe fun.

March 16th we had a FIAR field trip to the Raleigh City Museum with some interesting city history and building activities  After we went to a new (to us) park with an incredibly large slide and other challenging equipment the kids had blast playing on, while we moms enjoyed the beautiful weather and talked.

We picked up 20 new chicks on March 22nd.  The chicks arrived four days earlier than we expected so we had to scramble to get a place set up for them.  We decided to go back to the Comets we first got when we began our chicken raising journey and so far we are very pleased with our choice.

Mid March Titus decided to master the art of making Schaum Tortes, they are one of Chris' favorite deserts.

March 25th was a busy day.  Titus had a TKD event and performance at Ting Stadium.  The crowd really went wild after their performance.  

 

Then I took him to the Mc-Family for an Air-soft party I had already dropped Jared off earlier in the morning (Notice the nice air job he did painting his gun).  

In the middle of all this Amber's friend came to the house for a playdate.  Chis and Lance went to USA baseball to watch Caden play with the Collins.  When I got home I was thankful the girls play so well, it allowed me to just enjoyed the quiet till it was time to start picking people up and getting others home.  It was hectic but so thankful everyone was able to do something this Saturday they enjoyed.

Jared finished out the month taking a CPR/First Aid Certification Class at the fire department for work.  He said the class was both entertaining and informative.  Those are skills good for everyone to have.

Officially a Man

The Bible states that manhood starts at age 20.  Therefore, today Lance is officially a man, though to me he will always be my little boy.

We celebrated with friends at the bowling alley over the weekend.  Then today at home for the traditional ball pelting and spice cake (Age doesn't protect you from a good ball pelting).

His work celebrated him with a really nice Hibachi lunch, with custom deserts.

It's so hard to believe it's been twenty years.  He's grown a lot in the last year, especially in his confidence.  The world is a crazy place, its important to be able to stand your ground, know who you are and know what you want to be.  The next year is full of possibilities, though which path he will end up taking is still unclear.  In the mean time, we'll adjust to our role as counselors and support him along what every journey he chooses.  He's ready for manhood.  We pray the journey ahead will be full of great dreams realized and adventures full of joy.

Rex Crosses the Rainbow Bridge

Our loyal family friend died rather suddenly today.  He hadn't been eating much for a week and so we had the vet come check him out on Monday.  She found some swollen lymphnodes near his throat.  Wednesday, we got the confirmation it was a very aggressive form of cancer and then he was gone.  Thankfully, we don't think he suffered, he went very peacefully.   Its been quite a shock to everyone, but especially to Amber as he was her constant companion and even slept with her at night.

Rex came to our family nearly eight years ago, he was a rescue and little frightened but Chris quickly got him over that and he adapted quickly to family life.   Even as a puppy he knew how to pace himself when on a leash with Amber on her tricycle.  He was tough dog when it came to play, Oliver would truck him and he'd always get up happy for more.  He liked exploring the woods with the kids and of course going on as many walks as people would give.  That all said, he was also a great cuddler and empathetic to the needs of the family; providing comfort and companionship as needed.  The house seems empty without him.  

We are greatly thankful for all the good years we had with him and we will all miss him terribly.