(February and) March Madness

The rest of February and ALL of March were a whirlwind of activity around our house! We celebrated Valentine’s Day with the girls. Lem brought each of them flowers and each of them got a little bag of treats and presents. We had a special fancy outing (that doubled as our Valentine’s date) to the Dare to Care Gala where we assisted with the auctions. Jesse and Rachel tried their hand at babysitting the girls, and even put them to bed in what was quite possibly the most successful babysitting experience ever!

We also celebrated Papa’s birthday with family dinner, cake and presents. To add to the flurry of activity, Fur Rondy took place in mid February so we took in some of the winter celebration’s activities, like the dog sled races.

Speaking of dog sled races, I got to be behind the ropes at the staging and starting area of this year’s Iditarod. It was a pretty awesome experience getting to be right in the throes of all the barking, excitement and hubbub. I got to meet lots of mushers including Rick Swenson, the “mushin’ mortician” and rookie, Scott Janssen, and Lance Mackey’s, 19 year old step-son, Cain Carter who was also running his first race. I got to spend quite a bit of time with Cain and his team and he quickly became one of my favorite musher’s to follow in this year’s race. I was able to be with mushers as they unloaded and hitched up their teams, got into line and headed down the shoot to the starting line. It was one of the most memorable events I did as Mrs. Alaska and something I’d love to continue to be a part of, behind the lines, in the future. For more details about this and other Mrs. AK events, check out my blog at: www.mrsak2010.blogspot.com.

February brought the state Model UN conference for Lem and his students. This year he was honored with the Advisory of the Year award and was celebrated for his hard work and commitment to the Model UN program. February and March brought not only a slew of Mrs. Alaska events and appearances, but also Special Olympics Local and State Games. Another successful season in the bag for these inspiring athletes. Spring Break was an event in itself that included tidying up, organizing and getting ready for company around the house. Next came the arrival of my mom and Eris, Grandma and Paul, Kathryn’s family and friends of Ian and Kathryn, all here for the wedding. Though it wasn’t quite the exotic vacation you’d dream of, it certainly was full of fun and visiting with family and friends. We did have one downer in the midst of all the happiness; we lost our beloved Mabel (our pet turtle.) She passed away a few days before the wedding, and as low maintenance of a pet as she was, her not being here took some getting used to. St. Patty’s Day, as usual, brought about a flourish of green. The girls had green, shamrock pancakes, green eggs and green milk for breakfast. Sycely and Ella both enjoyed their respective green lunches. The girls had green jello for snack. Dinner included green pasta, broccoli with green cheese sauce and green shrimp, and was followed up with bright rainbow cupcakes for dessert. Of course, they both dressed in their finest green outfits for the day’s festivities.

Lem and I finally got to take in some Aces hockey, enjoying one game with his parents, Uncle Gary and Aunt Lynda and Jesse and Rachel. It was fun to extend the wedding celebrating with dinner and the game with family the next night, and my mom being here allowed us to enjoy a kid-free date with all our usual babysitters!

The girls, are of course, continue to grow and develop quicker than you could imagine. Sycely is thriving in school and is reading and writing with gusto. She’s gained so much confidence in her spelling skills. This Sunday she wrote and illustrated (even numbered the pages!) of a book of Five Little Speckled Frogs during church. She got into the Open Optional Program at her school, so she will move into that pod in the fall and will be in a 1st/2nd grade class next year, and will have the same teacher for the next two year. We’re super excited for her to get to reap the benefits of this teaching method for the next 6 years and look forward to Ella being able to join her someday not too far off. Ella’s quite the character in her own rite. She’s really developing her imagination and dramatic play skills. She loves playing with babies and will doctor just about anything. She tells some pretty elaborate and detailed stories (the most recent about her friend in Hawaii and all her siblings and pets-which all had names and physical descriptions.) Watching our girls’ relationship blossom is such a blessing. Sycely is so eager to teach Ella things and Ella looks up to Sycely so much. Their sisterhood is such a tender thing to see growing. We’re so blessed for every moment and memory we share with them.