Holi- March 29th.

Since I had so much fun last year at Holi in DC, I was eager for the kids to have a shot at it as well. 

Lucky for us, the campus Indian Cuture Exchange put on a Holi of their own. 

So we high tailed it on over and got in on the action. 

A posed shot right as Henry pelts us with red.

There's your 37 week pregnant shot.  

We even talked our friends into coming.  Sylvia was very into it.

Amelia stayed on the sidelines, but Miss Claiborne was a very good sport, even after we realized that the color ruined her platinum hair.

Our attempt at a group action shot.

As usual, it took June some time to come around to this new, messy idea.  

June nails Henry.

I love this shot.  Georgie had so much fun that she still insists on wearing this old shirt that is now very stained.  And Amelia looks like she's ready to get in on the action.

Whoa, baby.

It looks like only one of us remembered to keep our mouth closed.

It wasn't just us.  It was us and Henry attacking several college kids.

I love this picture of Brandon.  

Some girls graciously let Jo sprinkle them with baby powder after the color ran out.

Afterward, we had to drag these zombies home.

June was not happy that an afternoon of reckless debauchery just meant she'd have to take a bath.

March.

March was a bit of a blur.  

I continued to be enormous (33 weeks and counting!)

The weather was lovely and the neighborhood kids put together a tailgate party with the jeep, snacks and a CD player.

The elementary school had an international festival.  Kids were invited to participate in the parade of nations.  Of course, we represented China and India.  Though the lady sitting next to me rather rudely leaned over and said "Those kids don't look like they're from China."  I was pretty glad to get to tell her they were in fact my kids and the cultural appropriation was my doing.  I mean, if you've got the clothes, you might as well wear them to an international festival, right?  (I was also wearing a HUGE kurta.)

Henry's class performed some international songs.  He's the short one in the third row.

A normal afternoon at our house includes the big kids walking home from the bus stop to find Georgie napping and me passed out on the couch.  Their only job is to occupy themselves until I can be bothered enough to wake up.  (Don't wake up a pregnant mama!!)  June usually used her time to create.  One day she came home with a daffodil (probably stolen from an unsuspecting neighbor's yard- sorry!) and created a picture of herself holding the flower.  Pretty cute.

June also passed hours practicing her Chinese calligraphy in her workbook.

The girls found the box with their summer clothes, but we've had an unusually cool spring.  No problem.  You just add a few layers and your summer look transitions straight to colder weather.

Georgie got in on the cold weather cover up too.

We car-pool with friends to and from Henry's swim practices.  One day, Georgie was so excited to see Henry come home (and her friend Ellie) that she ran to the car, but didn't bother to slow down as Henry opened the door.  She hit the corner of the door with her face and split open her lip. (Classic Georgie.)

Papa was the lucky one who got to take her to urgent care and help hold her down while she got three stitches.  Which doesn't seem so bad, unless it's Georgie, who was NOT happy at all that some nurse was trying to hold a sheet over her face. I don't know how they got her to hold still enough to actually get any stitches in her lip, because Brandon said she spent the entire time yelling "Guys!  Hey, you doctors!  I don't want to do this!  Stop!  Guys!  Stop!"  But she did get some yogurt and ice cream when she got back home.  And after a day, her lip didn't even hurt her anymore. 

10th Anniversary- March 6th.

On March 6th, we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary.  

10 years doesn't seem like much, but I doubt we're going to have another as eventful as these have been.  2 advanced degrees. 5 towns. (And Clemson twice!)  7 total house moves.  And (almost) 4 kids.  

But now looking at these two young people, maybe it was a long time ago.  We didn't even have digital photography back when we got married!

In honor of our anniversary, I bit the bullet and pulled my wedding dress out of its cryogenic packaging.  (I mean, we moved that thing how many times?  Let's get some use out of it.)  So we pulled it out and gave the girls a chance to try it on.  

Jo's first shot was more of a punk rocker look.

She was really not so sure about the whole idea.

But soon she started to warm up to it.

Especially when the veil came out.

There's a good one!

Next up was June.  

You'd figure any little girl would be super into this, but I really had to do some convincing to get June into my dress.  (I actually tried to talk her into it 2 years ago and she wasn't having it.)

After 10 years, I was really surprised at how much I still love my dress. 

To be fair, we gave Henry a chance to try on the dress too, but he wasn't interested.

And for your viewing pleasure, I did slip into my dress too.

The effect wasn't quite the same.

June's party- March 1.

June had big plans for a birthday party.  BIG plans. Like starting at Chuck E. Cheez and ending at the inflatable bounce house.  And inviting all 26 of her classmates.

Luckily, we were able to scale it back into a tea party for 8 friends.  Much easier on your mom who only got around to planning your party a week in advance.

We even got out the nice tablecloths and the party set I bought at a garage sale when I was in college.  (I don't know why I've held on to them this long and I certainly didn't anticipate in college I'd be using them for a 6 year old's birthday party.  From Georgie, we were joined by Helen, Ellie, Andy, Alyssa, June, and Maddie.

Papa led a brief etiquette lesson, which included trying to get the kids to drink with one pinkie in the air, which proved to be a little difficult for some.

The theme of the tea party was "Dress however you want."  Helen had an awesome feather fascinator and her mom's wedding gloves.

Grams even brought extra bright flowers to adorn the table.

Andy really came through on the theme.  As the only boy at the party, he and his brother James fashioned an awesome knight costume- complete with a milk jug helmet.  It was a huge hit with all the princesses.

And here's a video of the action, with June looking super pleased, mama looking huge, and Georgie being loud.