MARCH MADNESS

In December as we were putting our plans on the calendar for baking Christmas goodies, hosting parties, decorating the tree, celebrating advent, counting down till family came, waiting for Jesus' birthday - it hit me that all these events and celebrations were what made the month.  December is so fun, so full and it goes so fast.  

So, what if there was something during that horrible time of year when we're done with winter but it's STILL not spring?  Something to look forward to, to keep our mind off of the cold, to bring a little fun and spark into the sleepy, cranky household?  ...Our own little March Madness :)

Enter...the first annual Frank Family March Holiday!

My idea was to pick a week in that forever long month and plan something unusual and fun to do everyday.  This year I also picked unique dinners for each night, but that may not always be the case.  It turned into a bit much, especially for a family of young children, so perhaps I'll do that again here and there in years down the road.  

Our schedule looked like this:  Monday - Children's Museum in Boston; Tuesday - Baking and Decorating Friendship Cookies; Wednesday - Delivering the Friendship Cookies and Bowling; Thursday - Craft Day; Friday - Make Your Own Pizza Night and Family Movie

MONDAY

Our libraries here have passes to several great museums, parks, and events.  The Children's Museum pass gets you in for half off.  So, into Boston we headed (it ended up snowing all day so it was a great way to ignore the yucky weather.)

 

Last year when we came, Eli was not yet walking and so spent the entire time in the stroller.  What a difference a year makes!  It was really fun to see our more timid Addison spurred on by his adventurous sister to try things he had never tried before on his own.  It was a great time!

The Bubble Room

Meeting Arthur!

Sammy did not sleep a wink.  He loved watching all the kids.

The construction Zone

TUESDAY

On Tuesday morning while Addison was at school, I went out and bought some new cookie cutters as we only had Christmas and Valentine ones.  Our new set now includes spring ones, along with some "boy" ones (cars, airplanes, trains, etc).  I made the butter cookie dough up during nap time since it needed to set for a bit in the fridge and then the kids had a great time cutting them all out.  While they were baking, we colored frosting for them to paint onto the cookies.  What an adventure!  Messy, but really very fun.

Eli would "decorate" one and then immediately eat it :)

Addison was very purposeful with each cookie, how he would decorate it and who it would be for.

My little man.

Beautiful!  I had fun too :)

Working hard...

El, after testing out some cookies...

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning we drove around to deliver the cookies to friends.  Many of them were not home, but Addison still had fun knocking on doors with a "Happy Spring!  I made you some cookies!"  

That afternoon, Justin came home early from work and we took off for the bowling alley with a coupon printed from their website.  I knew Addison would have fun, but was a little nervous about taking Eli, picturing her throwing balls around and running down the lanes.  She was great!  A couple close calls for her head as she would hang over the ball return watching and waiting for them to roll back, but she had fun just singing to the loud music and climbing in and out off all the chairs.

The bumpers would come up on the sides automatically every time it was Addison's turn, which was great!  Justin and I only wished they stayed for our turns too!!  We unfortunately, got a lot of gutter balls with those tiny bowling balls :(

Addison had great form and follow-through (not sure if that's needed in bowling or not though)

Sam was just happy watching everyone, as usual!

Look at the look-alikes!

Justin's form...

Addison had a bit more flare.

Handsome guy.

And the winner is...!!!

Addison had received some quarters in the mail that day from his grandparents.  They were stored in his boot for safe keeping and were brought out at the arcade :)

THURSDAY

Thanks to the Christmas Tree Shops and JoAnn Fabrics, I was able to score some cheap fun spring crafts a few weeks ago that I tucked away till today.  It got Addison up from his nap early and he had a great time working alone with me on painting a bird house, decorating magnets and coloring a paddle ball game.  Eli had fun with some new markers when she woke up.

The brothers.

FRIDAY

All day we looked forward to pizza and family movie night.  Our kids are not old enough that we have regular movie nights, although I can't wait for that!  This night everyone got to make their own pizza.  My personal favorite was marinated chicken, balsamic apple slices, carmelized onions and monteray jack cheese.  YUM!  Then we all went in to watch Finding Nemo in our pjs.

Making our pizzas.

Eating our pizzas and waiting for the movie to begin!!!

There were moments of stress in the week, but all in all I think it was a success - for the kids at least :)  I look forward to doing it again and changing up the activities, although some of them may just become traditions.  It will be fun to let the children each pick days as they grow so they have more input into what the week looks like.  This is what memories are made of!