overdue update

The past week absolutely flew by.  We ate our favorite Mexican at Ojeda's and attended the spring social at Sara's school.  We celebrated St. Patrick's Day and the start of March Madness.  I completed my bracket in usual fashion (it took me about thirty seconds), and I am doing surprisingly well.  I picked many underdogs who happen to be winning.  I didn't, however, pick Iowa State to go very far since that has backfired on me the past couple of years.  I'm not even a little bit upset that they are winning and busting my bracket!  Last night we all went to the alumni game watch and cheered our beloved Cyclones into the Sweet 16.  I know it probably won't last forever, but I love that our girls enjoy Cyclones games as much as we do.  We are such good brain-washers. 

Sara was the lucky one selected to draw ticket numbers for prizes at halftime.  Even though she didn't draw our number, one winner gave her his prize (a Cyclone pennant) anyway.

Both girls had soccer games yesterday.  Emma had a hat-trick at hers!  I missed it because I was at Sara's game, but we made it to Emma's just for the tail end. Steve said that the first time Emma was in front of the other goal, alone with the ball, she wasn't really sure what to do.  But once she figured out she should kick it in and everyone would cheer, she was on fire.  Even though three is young, I'm glad we decided to go ahead and start a sport.  It's such a good outlet for her.

 In other news, Project Backyard is back on.  Remember when I said I had an idea for all the space in the raised area behind the pool? 

Well ... this is what it looks like now:

 I'm not usually a proponent of getting rid of green, but we just really want the space in our backyard.  The shrubs were fine, but they required a lot of maintenance, and every time the girls went to jump off the ledge, they had to dodge scratchy branches.  So now it's all gone.  I'm waiting to hear back from a couple of turf companies for bids on synthetic grass.  I know that might sound crazy, but it's actually not (I've done my research).  We have a really decent sized space, and we want to be able to use it.  We don't want material that will constantly fly into the pool, and synthetic grass has a fairly long lifespan.  I'm excited about having more usable space around the pool.  I have a million ideas ... if only I had the money to match.  More pics to come, hopefully sooner than later.

We have a four day week!  Friday was put in the calendar as an inclement weather day, but since we haven't had any snow days this year (for the first time in a long time), the girls and I have the day off.  Woo-hoo!  Now it's time to tuck in my girls and enjoy a night cap with Steve before we tackle another week.  Have a good one, all.