March update

March was a busy month. This month we went to our first Girl Scout mall "sleep in." The girls had a blast. There was very little sleeping with all the activities at the mall. Most girls spent a lot of time in the food court, eating all sorts of fun things without their parents telling them they had enough.

Sophia and I tried to make macarons. We did not do bad for our first attempts. They tasted yummy. We made our first batch with a nutella filling and the second with a raspberry mascarpone filling. Sophia also made homemade frosting and did a beautiful job of frosting cupcakes. She made them for one of her coaches birthday.

She also made horse treats, sugar cookies and headbands for a bake sale at the barn.

Sophia got bucked off Ella again. It was at a Friday night practice, March 11th.  They were practicing coming in the gate and doing a courtesy circle before jumping the course. Sophia things that Ella spooked when the gate closed. She bucked pretty hard and Sophia came off. I missed this again. The last time she was bucked off, October 23rd,  a horse was right in front of me blocking the buck. This time I was watching another kid jump and then saw Ella galloping across the field without Sophia on her back. Sophia was not hurt, thankfully. Her coach decided that Ella is too unpredictable and that it is best that Sophia rides another horse. This broke Sophia's heart. She loves Ella. Ella is a difficult pony. Not many kids can ride her. Sophia and her worked well together and Sophia prefers to ride her but the coach knows best.

ThisAiden and Ginny joined us for a few days during their spring break. It is so nice to see Aiden so happy. Ginny is super sweet. They went to DC and Annapolis. We went to visit Grandma Bev while they were in town.

Linda, Chuck, Stephanie and Hollie joined us for Easter weekend. This is the second year they have come down. A lot has changed since Grandma Barb passed away. These trips to see each other are too short and infrequent but a lot of fun. Sophia loves hanging around with her cousins. Sophia and Stephanie did some rock climbing. Hollie broke her elbow again right before our visit so she could not climb. We went to inner harbor and had an Easter egg hunt in the park. 

We had Easter dinner at Maggiano's.  That is nothing short of a feast.

Sophia and Steve had their own adventures on spring break.They went to Philly to visit Nick and go to the Franklin Museum. What fun.

Otto loved the baskets Linda brought for the Easter bunny to fill. Linda is allergic to cats so of course this is where Otto hung out for days.