Best of March (so far!)

March is flying by with busy days of work, school, baseball and basketball.  We had our only snowy morning of the year at the beginning of the month...we still had school, and it didn't stick to the roads, but the view out our window was gorgeous!

Believe it or not, the very next afternoon it was almost 70 degrees and sunny!  The snow was completely gone, and I don't think we'll see any more.  We've had many days this month of brilliant spring weather, which means we've been able to head outside for things like lunch on the patio.  Lawrence and I enjoyed a nice lunch at Hurstbourne this week, and it felt wonderful to be out in the sun.

Sarah finished up her quarter of art class last week.  She brought home a great canvas painting, and now I know why her uniform skirt has been splattered with yellow paint over the last month!  I love her picture - it looks great in her room.

Last week was the end of the third grading period, and when I checked her grades online on Monday she had three Bs. This isn't terrible, but it's unusual for her...she spent the rest of the week cramming and doing any possible extra credit she could find.  She felt sure she could bring her Algebra grade and her Bible class grade up to an A, but she thought the B+ in Chemistry was pretty much a done deal.  She was so excited this week when she got her report card and found that she'd pulled out an A in that class too!  All As!  I couldn't resist and had to dig out the "Good Days" plate she had made in the first grade for her to eat her dinner on!

The Milliners lost Tony's mom this last week...Tony is one of 12 children, and his mother has 45 grandchildren and 48 great grandchildren!  What a legacy!  I told him I hope my kids love me as much one day as he and his siblings adored their mom.  I know he will miss her a lot.

Sunday night we celebrated the Hamilton March birthdays over at Shannon and Joe's.  This was AFTER Kentucky lost the SEC tournament to Vanderbilt and UofL had won the Big East Tournament...the Hamilton house is RED and BLACK, so it was a very happy birthday celebration for them!  Claire was all smiles!

We had a yummy lasagna dinner, opened gifts and had some fabulously rich chocolate cake.  A perfect way to end the weekend.

Mom helps with dinner

Yeah, this was as good as it looks 

Mark, Shannon and Joe Jr. blow out their candles

Shannon gets some new pool accessories 

Reese kicks back in the baby doll bed that Claire
passed down to her.  So cute!  

Papa beats his grandboys in pool

Last night Lawrence, Sarah and I went up to Country Lake to help out in the kitchen.  Country Lake is  housing hundreds of volunteers right now who are in Henryville providing disaster recovery relief from the tornados that ripped through the area a few weeks ago, and they are dependent on volunteers from Southeast to help support them.  We spent the evening getting dinner prepared for the volunteers staying there and had a great night hearing about where they are from (all over the country!) and the many ways they are helping those in need.  During the week they have about 80 volunteers staying there, but this weekend they will have over 200.  The retreat center is such a blessing!  All the disaster relief workers were saying they are used to sleeping on gym floors when they are at a disaster site, and to get to come back each night to the retreat center is so wonderful.  We definitely want to go up again to help when we can.

Sarah helps serve dinner to some of
the workers

March Madness officially started Tuesday night with the "First Four" games...my Hilltoppers beat Mississippi Valley to advance to the next round...against KENTUCKY.  Lawrence is at the game with Mike Yates (thanks to Mike's job with Stock Yards - nice to have access to a suite!).  The Cats just won 81-66...sorry Big Red, you know I still love you!  

John had practice at FOCUS tonight, where they prepared for their trip to the AAU state tournament this weekend in Lexington. I have a feeling the next few weeks are going to be all about basketball!  Hoping for some wins!

One last pep talk