March 2013

March blessed us with several very pleasant weather days. I usually dread the spring because of all the rain, wind, lightning, and occasional tornado watches (my absolute most hated kind of weather), but it ended up being a pretty mild one. It didn't warm up nearly as fast as it did last year though, even with the warm weather days sprinkled in here and there.

March was much like February, except I was really starting to get serious about the hiring process for summer barn staff. I was a little panicky at first because Abby, my riding program director for the previous six summers, was unable to return, as were the other two barn staffers. It was the first time we would have all new start-from-scratch riding program staff. It's a big job with a lot of responsibility, so having the right people in place is key. If I had less on my plate each day and actual office hours I probably wouldn't have been as worried. I spent a lot of time praying about it, and as usual, God came through in a big way. More on that later, when I finally get caught up to the summer with this thing!

This is a sweet picture I took on the first day of March. I went out with a few friends for a much-needed dinner out that night and came home to this.

The next weekend the kids invited some friends to stay after a Friday night dinner. We had Kory S. and Maggie D. over.

This Saturday was one of those wonderful weather ones. Spaghetti on the driveway for lunch was a good plan.

Then Captain Underpants made an appearance. Avery is the perpetual entertainer and seems to have no regard for what might or might not be considered appropriate for mixed company. However, he was already attired in an underwear mask, so I decided to let his natural style run its course and just snap pictures. You start to get the idea of what we're dealing with here when you see enough Avery photo montages.

Yes, he put them on over his clothes. Their friends may or may not ever come back.

The weekend of March 16 our good friend Matt McCord got married to his bride Alley. He is a year older than us and we all feared he would never find the right girl. He finally did, and she was definitely worth the wait!

The wedding was in Highlands, NC, and was SO much fun! Dad came up to entertain the kids all by himself for the weekend. I have to admit I had my reservations about that one at first, but I can't imagine anyone who could have done a better job of keeping them entertained! After hearing about everything they did that weekend I'm ready to have a weekend with Grandad myself.

We arrived at the church for the rehearsal on Friday afternoon. 

Matt has an amazing voice, and sang a solo at his own wedding.

The lovely bride-to-be and her dad.

After the rehearsal there was the rehearsal dinner, then the after rehearsal dinner party for guests who were in town for the wedding. 

Matt's mother worked at my junior high school. She remains friends with a lot of folks she worked with back then, and much to my delight I ran into a couple of teachers from back in the day! They were actually in the bluegrass band that played at the party. My days at Adamson Junior High were my very favorite school years, mostly due to my terrific teachers there.

The one on the left is Mr. Davis, my brother's band director, and the one on the far right is my all-time favorite teacher, Mr. Putnam, my art teacher for three years. The one in the middle was a computer teacher at Adamson, though I didn't have him for a class. They call their band "Faculty Grass" and have been playing together for years.

Matt enjoyed singing with them. So did James.

One of my favorite things about Mr. Putnam, besides the fact that he really cared about his students, was that he played his guitar and sang for us in class almost every day. One of his favorites was "Cats in the Cradle," which he serenaded me personally with when I told him I remembered it. The fact that he remembered me after all those years (23!) is amazing!

Matt and his mom.

I went to school and church with Matt growing up, then he and James became close friends while working together at Camp WinShape in college. Rick Johnson was the camp director then, and we had fun catching up with him and his wife Lucia at the reception. (He had some skin cancer removed from his nose, hence the band aids...though Lucia swears she actually punched him.)

Alley and her dad.

                             

Thanks, Matt and Alley, for letting us be a part of your special day and for a super fun weekend. (And if you ever get married to each other again, we'd love to come. Y'all throw a good party!)

The next weekend we went to Sara S.'s 9th birthday party at the YMCA. 

Strangling your friends is so rude.

I thought this was a really cute cake. Sara wanted it to look like Teddy, her favorite horse for riding lessons.

Prayers for the pizza and cake. I kept thinking the entire time how Todd should have been there for his daughter's party. It's still a gut wrenching loss.

There's always at least one smarty pants in every bunch.

I like birthday parties where the kids' parents stay, especially when they're all good friends!

Easter fell during March this year. The kids always make sure we dye eggs, though all we do is eat them afterward.  Usually with several colors in the whites, where color has leaked through the teeny cracks in the shells.

Sometimes I take random pictures of the family when James gets out and plays with the kids. This is Saturday of Easter weekend.

Yes, everyone believes we let you sit there while one of your brothers shot you in the head.

Here documents one of the many times we've worked on getting Avery to ride a bicycle. We're teaching him to balance the bike without pedaling first, then pick up pedaling and go. He's still on the finding his balance stage. My intention was to work with him on it over the summer. Now that summer has come and gone I can report that we did work on it, and he's still at the stage you see below. He's about to be seven and just isn't getting the whole balance thing. One day, one day.

Easter Sunday we had special music at church, so James and I sang, I taught my Sunday School class, we sang again in the third service, then left for McDonough for the annual dinner and egg hunt and Uncle Danny and Aunt Lynn's house. Easter barely made it into March. It was on the 31st.

Caroline

Camilla

Colton

Reagan

Brynn

McKinley

Anna

The big people like to hold the chairs and swings on the front porch down.

Gotta count up the loot. McKinley enjoyed eating hers as she went.

Colton reminds me of Shannon at this age. Anything with wheels or a key in it is like a magnet to him.

The famous banana seat bike that lives at Uncle Danny's house.

Mom and Aunt Lynn

Everybody worked on birdhouses for little while. Aunt Lynn is good about having fun stuff to do around.

Cody and Jesse and a random hand.

Jesse is very humble. He said, "See, all the chicks dig me." Har har.

 

 

Bailey and Deannea

Sarah

Uncle Doug and Avery

Brooke and Colton

Typical Shannon

We  headed back to Cleveland once the fun was over, having enjoyed yet another Easter Sunday afternoon with family. Clearly I have no real compulsion to dress the family up special for Easter, or take pictures of the morning. This is about Easter #5 with no family pictures. I can't even remember what we all wore.

That finishes up what was going on in the riveting life of the Himstedt family in March. Stay tuned, hopefully for more, as I have one more day of vacation time left and have hopes of getting at least one more post done!!