March Madness

Lots of pictures to share today!  You may remember about two weeks ago when I posted my kids' NCAA tournament picks.  At the time, I picked on them for favoring underdogs so heavily, and yet here we are with Butler and VCU playing in the Final Four.  More amazingly, Ava actually picked one of the Final Four teams correctly!  Sure, it's UConn, and they aren't exactly a shocker, but she doesn't know that.  Blake, on the other hand, is out.  His bracket is busted.  Here they are again (click them to view full-size).

Ava's bracket

Blake's bracket



This weekend was too busy with other things for us to watch much basketball, though.  We decided to take the kids to get some photos done in their Easter outfits.  Now, the last time we did studio portraits was almost two years ago.  The experience left us so battle-scarred that it's taken us this long to try it again.  This time, though, nobody was in tears until after the shoot, which was progress, and I think the photos speak for themselves!  (I'm going to put more of them up on my Facebook page later, if you're interested.)

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After being so great for the pictures, the kids needed to air out some.  Swords have always been one of Blake's favorite things to play, as I imagine they are for lots of boys, but what cracks me up lately is how much the terms of the game have changed for him.  Three years ago, he was all about pirates, but now he spends the whole time talking about how if you get hit like *this*, you lose one heart, but if you get hit like *that*, you'll lose two hearts.  Yep, my boy has become a videogamer like dad.  Look at the intensity on that face - he's bracing himself for a boss battle, scanning me for weaknesses.

Jack busied himself with the sandbox.  We have a chiminea on the back porch which has never actually been used, and which is full of sand that Blake has shoveled in there over the years.  Jack decided to move it back to the sandbox... with a sieve.  Then he just got sidetracked and dumped it into my lap.  He's special, that one.

Ava supervised.