March goes in like a lion and out like a lamb, isn’t that what they say?
Some years in Colorado, the temperature is in the mid-70s in March. Other times, it can be the coldest month of the whole winter. This was one of the cold years, I’m afraid. I’ll elaborate more on the “Bomb Cyclone” portion of the weather report in a minute, but first I want to show you how much I love my dog. My very fat dog.
Sweet Walter had a vet appointment on this day in early March. The temperature was 9 degrees this particular morning, and Walter forgot his coat at home, so after I gave him the standard Mom lecture, I turned on the seat warmer for him.
What’s important to note though is that big boy’s sheer girth has caused the passenger airbag to activate. Bless his heart. I tried to help him when we arrived at the vet by downplaying the number on the scale so he wouldn’t get a complex and ruin his dinner.
Back to the subject of nasty weather. We had a couple of back to back snowstorms that our news media termed the Bomb Cyclone 1 & 2, which sent EVERYONE in the state of Colorado into a panic. Honestly, it was a snowstorm bigger and badder than we’d had in many years, but no need to invoke the level of pandemonium that it did. School was cancelled, businesses shut down, the Internet went out…which means no TV. What are we supposed to do with the 10 boxes of wine I bought in preparation if we can’t binge watch Netflix?
A couple of days later, when the sun was back out and our Internet was again working, I saw this unfortunate scene while driving to the bus stop. Now, you know it’s a bad day when the shitter tips over, especially for the poor soul who has to right that situation.
Once the weather started to behave more lamb-like, we ventured out to the zoo with Grandpa and Sue. Malory declared herself the official photographer of the day, and the following are a few of her best shots. I’m not sure there is a single animal in any of these pictures. Clearly, she is the next Ansel Adams or Annie Leibowitz.
Next up for the month…Spring Break. Otherwise known as “WTF am I going to do with my kids for 5 days when the weather sucks and we aren’t flying anywhere tropical?” To add insult to injury, my girls’ elementary school has TWO WEEKS for Spring Break. What kind of parenting punishment is that? Especially when your older kid only has one week. We also have the same situation for fall break and truth be told I loved it when we traveled for vacation, because it allowed a couple of days on each end to get ready and then recover. But, I feel really sorry for the working parents who cannot take time off of work and have to figure out what to do with their kids for 10 days. Wow, that was a ramble wasn’t it?
We decided to pass the time by having our long-time bestie Natalie come to stay for a couple of days. We spent most of that time just like this…..
(Never mind my suberb photography skills)
Hanging on the couch and binge watching Disney movies really works up an appetite. So, when the kids asked if they could do a Chopped-Kids Edition I was all over it. We had three very excellent dishes, and it was even better because all items were breakfast themed, which is my favorite meal of the day. One item of note….see that vacuum in the background? These were NOT clean cooks. Good Lord the mess.
I think it’s pretty well known and documented on this blog that my young man is a great artist. He has a creative mind like his mother, but outshines me by far in the execution. Several of his pieces were chosen to be in the Liberty Middle School Art Show. Look at that treehouse!! I said a couple of years ago in the Christmas letter that Pete from Treehouse Masters was inspirational, and I think this proves it.
Speaking of my young man, he’s had quite a bit of orthodontic work done in his short life. He had FOUR gigantic teeth pulled because there weren’t permanent ones behind them as replacements (genetic…thanks Harris genes). Seems counterintuitive, I know. Why would you pull a tooth if there isn’t a replacement? Apparently the “baby teeth” will eventually fail in adulthood and require painful and costly implants when they do. So, we decided to pull them instead and move all of the rest of the teeth into place. But, LOOK at these HUGE gaps the man has in his mouth. Wouldn’t you think it would make it so hard to eat?
Maybe I should incorporate this into my dieting strategy? Fewer teeth = Less Food?
And, because I couldn’t not include this picture in our recap of the month…Malory and John have been watching entirely too much Dr. Pimple Popper.
Lastly for the month, Charles Brown has taken it upon himself to get his own snacks. He’s especially fond of the BBQ Lays Potato chips and I don’t blame him. He tried to eat just one, but finished the entire bag instead.
