What March Taught Me

I’m keeping up with this year’s goal to document a few of the things each month has taught me. You can read about what I learned in January here and February here.

Now for March.

March has not traditionally been my favorite month because it usually just rains every day. But this year was a little different – the sun came out more than not and gave us all a very spring-y happiness that is typically missing in the Seattle area this time of year. So now I’m all for March!

 

My high school cheer skirt was really short (and tight)

My brother-in-law turned 40 and threw himself a #glorydays birthday party. We were encouraged to wear something that represented what our glory days were – or maybe something still to come. I thought about a couple of ideas, but then my little sister found all of our high school cheerleading uniforms and that sealed the deal. High school cheerleading days would be the Jones Girls’ representation of #glorydays.

My sisters and I squeezed ourselves into those tiny skirts and shells and wore them proudly for about half the night (when we could no longer handle the tightness – or the shortness – and changed into real clothes).

I wouldn’t necessarily call my high school days my glory days (see #2), but it was so much fun to dress up and laugh and do a stunt (photo evidence here) and celebrate Eric.

 

THEY GROW UP REALLY FAST

If I really had to choose when my glory days were, I think I say about 8 years ago when my babies were all babies. Ethan was 6, Brady 4, Mason 2, Audrey newborn. Goodness, I miss those days. I mean, don’t get me wrong: I was tired. That is a lot of kids to care for. But now that I’m 8 years removed, I can look back with such fondness for those sweet faces. Just look at them:

Easter 2010

Those same four babies are getting all big on me. Now look at them:

Easter 2018

My daughter comes up to my shoulder, Mason has the same size shoe as me and I took Ethan to HIGH SCHOOL ORIENTATION last week. I don’t know about this.

As much as I adored having toddlers, these kids are at a really fun age. I like being their mom now, just as much as back then.

So mama of little ones who can’t get a second to yourself … it gets easier. And the fruits of all your early efforts will pay off. Just keep loving them, ask for help and find a group of girlfriends who you can talk honestly with :)

OUR EASTER OUTFIT SOURCES:

on Brady: Suit Jacket | Suit Pants | Dress Shirt | Shoes

on Me: Dress (boo, no longer available. Here’s the shorter version) | Jacket (similar)

on Audrey: Dress | Socks | Shoes

on Ethan: Shirt | Pants | Shoes

on Mason: Suit Coat | Shirt (similar) | Suit Pants | Shoes

on Ryan: Blazer (similar) | Shirt | Pants (similar)

 

Putting on a new roof is the most annoying way to spend lots of money

It had to be done, but UGH! replacing a roof is an expensive thing.

When we bought the house, the inspector told us the roof maybe had five more years in it. I wasn’t bummed about that because I figured we would just replace the composition roofing material with my favorite – a metal roof (just like this).

Then this winter we had someone come look at the roof and realized that it was in worse shape than we thought. A little afraid that it would start leaking and cause all kinds of damage, we opted to just replace the whole thing now. Ryan had eight or nine roofing companies come out to give us bids. We were SHOCKED at the price. We knew our roof was big and steep with lots of dormers (7 in all), but we were not expecting bids to come in so high. And that wasn’t even for my beloved metal roof! That would have run an extra $20k.

All to say, we went with a very nice composition material in a dark gray and while the change is very unremarkable, it does look nice and will keep our house nice and dry for 30 years.

 

I FORGOT HOW MUCH I LOVE WATERCOLORS

Actually, I forgot how much I love creating, in general.

2016 for me was all about our family road trip and 2017 was all about our new house. Since our big project to the house this year was putting on that fancy new roof (#4) and I had nothing to do with it, I have been free to play around in my craft stuff and remember how much I like creating.

I’ve been meaning to create a watercolor class for a few years now and finally decided to figure out just what I would want to include in the class. I set up a little table in the studio with all my watercolor supplies and it is amazing how just leaving it out and available draws me in. One Sunday morning I woke up earlier than normal and felt the urge to paint … and these springy flowers are what came out.

It feels good to create.

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And that is what the month of March taught me.

What did you learn in March?