The Nine Days of March Break

On the first day of March Break, I panicked at how busy it felt to take all four children into "town" for the day. Our village of 1300 souls held innumerable dangers, at least in the eyes of this pretty relaxed mother. Mostly the dangers involved four farm kids with no street smarts (they even lack sidewalk-smarts). I recognize now that the more we take them into the big city, the better. Stopping at cross walks is a good skill to have.

We also played in the melting snow and mud of our lane way, all afternoon. That wasn't so scary, and much more fun.

On the second day of March Break, I think I must have been recovering from the stress of the day before, because I can't remember what we did.

On the third day of March Break, my nieces arrived, and the usual hilarity of princess play, jokes that make no sense, bellydance costumes, heaps of kids cuddling on the couch, and messy eating ensued.

On the fourth day of March Break, the older kids (all five of them) visited a local sugar bush, and came home with face paint and the beginnings of taffy-induced tooth decay. We danced to this song, while drinking red wine (me) and having a chocolate fondue (them). Margot completely freaked out at this full body experience. She loved it. We loved it.

On the fifth day of March Break, we said goodbye to the beloved cousins, and went to our local library to create candy sushi. Rice crispy square made with extra marshmallows as the rice, fruit-roll ups for the nori, and candy as the vegetables. Just in case you were wondering. Fun. Big shout out to the staff at the Bonnechere Union Public Library for their amazing child-centred programming!

On the sixth day of March Break, everyone had a melt down (including me) about going out to visit friends. I decided I didn't have the strength to fight with the girls about getting their hair brushed, and that made them melt down more. Finally, once everyone calmed down, the hair was brushed, the four kids were loaded in the van, and I peeled away with my husband's parting words echoing in my head: "Are you sure about this?" Um, no. Never. But there's no turning back now, is there?

Then we came home and watched Doolin give birth to four kittens. Kittens will be available for adoption in about eight weeks, free to loving homes.

On the seventh day of March Break, I almost gave my husband heart failure when I spontaneously decided to join him on his carefully planned trip to my sister's house for St. Patrick's Day. We were worried: about how Norah would cope with the two hour drive, about how she'd sleep, about how I'd sleep, about how it would impact the fun of everyone if I was cross and exhausted. I went anyway.

And whaddya know? Norah slept all the way, with one brief stopover. She slept well both nights. 

On the eighth day, I got to see my niece do some ballet, watched a house concert (a topic for another post), got to sing some Irish songs, and enjoyed the excellent hospitality of my sister and her husband. My children love this annual event, and run around till either their batteries run out or their plug gets yanked. We all wore green, made merry, and were so glad we made the trip.

And on the ninth day, we woke up, had breakfast, relived the best moments of the night before, made the trip home, watched Mary Poppins, and went to bed early.

The End.

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