March came in like a lion

We were still having some snowy weather at the beginning of March.  Anni played with and ate some snow long enough for me to get the kitchen clean:

Isabelle continued to bake and stage beautiful cakes in her free time from her homeschooling, which she is really enjoying! (the homeschool AND the cakes:)

Anni surprised us by beginning to potty train herself.  Unfortunately I have to keep the bathroom doors closed because she gets into everything in there. Case in point, was just yesterday morning when I heard Pace say, upon finding Anni in the bathroom "ANNI!!  You can't eat the toothpaste!!" I think as soon as she has easy access to the toilet, she will be trained.

It was picture day at the elementary school, so I got Anni all gussied up for a picture because we don't have a professional one of her yet, and there isn't anywhere close by to get one:

Pace doesn't go to the gradeschool yet, but these two are SO CUTE!!:

For mutual one one evening in March, we combined with the Young Men and they chose to play volleyball.  We had a volleyball that felt like concrete but I was really getting into the game.  The last ten minutes I had to stop because I was hurting!  I went home with a swollen and painful hand and wrist.  When the swelling went down, I got pretty colorful:

I love how Abram reads to the little kids:

Dad sent this picture to illustrate how deep their snow is, and I saved it because I liked the picture of him:)  Ours was almost completely gone by this point in the winter.

We had a talent show/dinner with Pendleton 1st and 2nd wards.  Shawn and I sang "All God's Creatures have a Place in the Choir" with a small group.  Nolan was getting into one of the numbers:

On March 10, while we were down at the family history center, I happened to check my email and saw one from my dad.  He invited everyone that was interested to come to a meeting at his stake, followed by something in the stake president's room. After reading the email more closely, I realized that dad was getting a calling!  We made quick arrangements for Lisa Foust and her girls to come over and sit with the little kids while Shawn, me, Isabelle and Nolan headed over to LaGrande.

Our suspicions were confirmed when we arrived.  Dad was ordained to be the stake patriarch! It was neat to be there and to have all but the oldest and youngest of my siblings join us (they were too far away to come on the short notice).

My amazing parents:

We have all seen this coming for years - dad will be great in this calling.

Anni sees the kids doing homework every night and has started asking for her "homework".  Then when I give her a paper she scribbles for 15-30 minutes.  She has developed an attention span, hooray!! I thought she looked pretty comfortable here doing her "homework":

Earlier that morning Isabelle and I were grocery shopping with Anni and Isabelle took this picture because she thought it was funny how tight her seat belt looked.  This is an incredibly ACTIVE little girl and she can wiggle and get out of anything, so this was the calmest shopping trip we have experienced with her.