Maggie is WALKING! & Mardi Gras

Our girl, Maggie, is WALKING!

She took her first steps from one couch to the other on Feb 9, but then we could barely get her to take a step for a few days... By February 15 she was taking off! She is still much faster when crawling, so she generally prefers crawling or walking holding someone's hand for balance. I have loved watching her big sisters cheer for her and marvel at her as she learns this new skill. What a joy to have big siblings! 😃

This week we started Lent, and of course the season leading up to it is Mardi Gras!

We  invited the Lancaster's to join us in New Orleans for the Carrollton parade. Thankfully, Jason's aunts went before us to claim an excellent spot on the route and we were able to show up and enjoy time with everyone! We all had a blast!!

The next week at school was full of FUN!!

The whole School celebrated Valentine's Day with parties. Kathleen, Tucker, and Maggie split their time 4 ways to be with everyone! 

On Thursday, 2nd graders put on a Wax Museum of Famous Americans. Gigi, Jason, Kathleen, Tucker, and Maggie all got to come and see Nora tell the school about Mia Hamm! (We were not able to attend in person when D and K were in second grade due to COVID restrictions.)

On Friday, the kindergarten did their own Mardi gras parade for the school and neighborhood!! Again, Gigi, Jason, Kathleen, Tucker, and Maggie all got to see it firsthand. Dakota, Kiley, and Nora's classes got to watch it too! (Evelyn is second from the front on the right side!)

Friday afternoon, Grandma Rene and Dave came to visit! At the last minute we decided to jump in the car (BUS) and head to New Orleans AGAIN! Again we are so grateful that Aunt Monica and the other aunts claimed a great spot for us! 

We wrapped up our weekend with a beach bonfire on Sunday night! The weather was perfect although it got colder as the sun went down. It was a wonderful night to be outside and enjoy the sunset!

Future Scientists?

Dakota and Kiley were required to do the science fair this year! They each picked projects that interested them and completed the entire experiment on their own.

Kiley evaluated the effectiveness of sunscreen using UV sensitive beads and a variety of brands of sunscreen. One of the top performing brands was banana boat sport, which we currently use, and sea star sparkle cakes or whatever that purple glitter one is. It actually has glitter in it AND It blocks UV rays!

Dakota compared brands of popcorn to determine which brand had the smallest amount of kernels left in the bag. The winner? POP secret?

The real winner? Us! We got to try all kinds of different popcorn! We had popcorn twice a day for a week - for the sake of science! 🤣

We had a lot of fun doing it and they worked very hard. In the end they were very proud of their finished work! They had a vision and I made sure we had the tools to make it turn out well!