March Madness

No, not basketball. Just the every day life of two full-time working adults raising four children. Living the dream one day at a time!

We are feeling very settled in South Portland and are so grateful to be in a beautiful state surrounded by my family (and in a place where his family loves to visit). Trevor's job is going very well and he's really enjoying it. I just accepted a new position at Maine Medical Center and am super excited to be the supervisor at the Access Center, which is a call center taking calls for 14 primary care practices.

March started off with lots of musical excitement. Corinne played her first gig at Port City Music Hall with her band. They're still working on their name, so we'll hopefully be able to share that in my next post. Her and her bandmates did a great job with the two songs they performed- Xs and O's by Elle King and Let It Be by The Beatles. Being on stage for the first time ever was also a pretty cool way for Corinne to spend her 14th birthday!!

Continuing the music theme, Trevor and I took Corinne to a concert to celebrate her birthday the week after her own concert. We saw Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds and they were awesome!!! They're a very high energy band with a great brass section. We even went to a fancy restaurant before the show for some cocktails. (Virgin for Corinne of course!) Even though Trevor and I danced more than Corinne, we all had a great time and hopefully didn't embarrass Corinne too much!

Transition night at South Portland High School went pretty well considering Corinne really had her heart set on Baxter Academy. She is still on the wait list, so we're holding out some hope she still gets in. With that said, we're focusing on some of the cool electives that South Portland offers. Corinne seems somewhat excited and by somewhat excited, I mean she's moving away from the end of the spectrum labeled, "I absolutely will hate South Portland High School." :)

Sophie participated in a fun after school event for the month of March. They practiced Frozen songs and dance moves. I went to the performance on the last afternoon and was very impressed with how loudly and clearly Sophie spoke her lines. She wasn't as in to the singing and dancing, but she said she had lots of fun at the practices!

Lincoln had an absolute blast at his 3rd birthday party. We had his friends from school come to the Scarborough Fire Department. They had so much fun climbing all over the fire trucks, shooting the hose at "fire" and seeing all the tricks the trucks could do. I think the parents had as much as the kids, too! Lincoln still talks about the fire trucks and every time he sees one he says "That's from my birthday!" I also have to give a shout out to the amazing fire fighters at the Scarborough Fire Department who made the party super fun and stress-free!!

Ayla started Girls on The Run, which is an after school program two days a week. They say it best on their website: "The goal of the program is to unleash confidence through accomplishment while establishing a lifetime appreciation of health and fitness." In true Ayla fashion, when I asked her if she wanted to do it, she replied, "Sure!" After the first week she said, "I didn't actually think it would be that fun, but it really is!" I love her positive attitude! She's had several practices and even though the weather hasn't been ideal, they run outside every meeting.

Ayla also started softball through the rec department in South Portland. She is really enjoying it and it's great to see her making friends! There are four teams in South Portland, so they'll play each other and there are also surrounding towns that have teams, who they'll play as well.

We enjoyed the first grade concert in March. It was fun being able to see not only Sophie, but her cousin Ava in the show. We are really enjoying having family less than a mile away! We had a blast bowling with not only our family of six, but my brother's family of four and the Cote gang. The kids enjoyed bowling, but even more so, being able to roast s'mores there! We all came back to our house for lunch and play time for the kids. We're all looking forward to hanging out more as the weather gets nicer.

We have a new addition to our family! Don't worry- it's not alive, but it is pretty amazing. Grandma Connie sent us her baby grand piano!!! Although our house is pretty small, where there's a will, there's a way! All of the girls love playing it and Ayla especially has an ear for being able hear a song on the radio and then play it on the piano- it's pretty amazing. I'm looking for a teacher to come to our house to give lessons. Our schedules are pretty crazy, but we're determined to figure something out. I have a few more teachers to call, so I'm sure something will work!

We finished the month with a really fun Easter weekend at my moms. Our kids and their cousins loved playing outside in the mud, on the four wheeler, the go-cart and the tractor. Even though we love our "city" life, it's really nice to be able to go to the country and have good old fashion fun outdoors! The easter egg hunt was a big hit- all of the kids enjoyed looking for their own eggs.

The girls are looking forward to April vacation and we're already making plans for the summer!! Time flies when you're having fun!