March-ing Onward

Well, I give up.  I keep thinking I'm going to get around to blogging about the things that have happened in the several months since I blogged last (Christmas, etc.).  But obviously that's not going to happen, so I guess I'll just try a few pictures from March.

It's sure been a weird month as far as the weather goes.  We've had some beautiful warm days, some cold rainy days, a small snowstorm, and a large snowstorm (I mean large for Eugene, of course).

We've had some pruning projects in the backyard that needed to be done, and one nice warm day early in the month, Melissa and Danica decided to tackle them.  A couple of butterfly bushes had taken over one corner of the yard, and a juniper bush was out of control by the back door to the garage.  The girls definitely showed those bushes who's the boss!

Here is Danica going after the butterfly bushes with the handsaw. 

I wish I had a "before" picture of the juniper bush, because the "after" picture is kinda sad. I'm not sure this can be classified as "pruning."

This is what used to be part of the juniper bush.

We had a slight snowstorm early in the month, so of course that calls for snow angels. I assume the bigger angel was Melissa's. I notice that it's easier to see snow angels from a light snowfall than from a heavier one.

Danica somehow managed to gather enough snow to make a small snowman.  She was rather devastated when the sun came out the next day and melted it.  If she knew what was coming later in the month, it probably wouldn't have bothered her so much when this one was gone!

A picture of the girls one day after church.

Some recent art projects of Danica's.

Mandi's final project at the University of Oregon. The architecture students worked with the City of Springfield and each came up with their own design for a new school the city is going to build sometime in the future. It's a good partnership because the city ends up with lots of ideas to consider when working with their own architect in the future, plus it gives the students a "real" project to work on instead of a "fake" one, so to speak.

We asked Mandi to show us her workspace after she gave her presentation, just so we'd know where she has been spending so much time the past few months.

As we walked across the U of O campus after seeing Mandi's project, I stopped to take a picture of the beautiful tree blossoms. This young woman apologized for interfering with my picture, but I think her colorful umbrella added some fun to the photo.

Lots of daffodils were appearing all over town.

Mira put together her Lego set (a girl with a little vehicle and a bunny). She then amused herself for quite some time by making up stories of what the bunny was doing. Our granddaughters have wonderful imaginations, probably thanks to Melissa not allowing them to sit in front of the TV for hours and hours (except when she's trying to take a nap!)

Melissa was making an apple crisp one evening, and the girls were totally fascinated with the apple peeling machine. The peeling often comes off in one long skinny continuous strip, and they got quite a kick out of that.

On Wednesday, March 21st, we woke up to a winter wonderland. It set a record for Eugene for this late in the season (7.5 inches). I know that doesn't sound like much to our friends and family who live in areas that regularly get much more snow, but that really is a lot for this area, and basically shuts everything down.  The schools declared a snow day on Wednesday and Thursday.

Clay decided to take the bus to work and leave his precious truck at home because he was afraid of somebody running into him (people in this area do NOT know how to drive in snow!). A couple hours after he left, a boy from across the street came to our door and said we'd better move our vehicles because our neighbor's tree was coming down. But before Rob could get dressed and get out there to move the truck, the tree had fallen. Luckily it missed Clay's truck, but only by a few inches!  The snow was so wet and heavy that there were trees and branches down all over town, including causing power outages and crushing a few vehicles (no one was hurt though).

I felt sorry for the crocus and tulip plants that were covered with snow. I looked at them today, though, and they look all right.

Danica was anxious to get out there and build a snowman (she's in her pajamas).

Her snowman didn't get very big. I don't think she understands the concept of "rolling" a snowball since she hasn't had much experience with it.  Plus, it was pretty cold out there.

At least Mira had a snowsuit on over her pajamas.

Later on, they had fun pretending they were eating ice cream cones. When I asked Danica what flavor they were, she said "Vanilla." (Of course! That was a silly question!) Notice that by that time, Mira was borrowing Uncle Neil's gloves because her mittens were all wet.

The next day I saw Danica laying out in the snow apparently doing some kind of exercises because she would lift one leg and then the other, then her arms, then sit up and lay back down and start over again. Hmmm, is exercising in the snow any easier? Maybe I should try that.