Calm Before the Storm

February was a busy month. 

First I went on a sisters weekend trip to Nashville to celebrate Maren's 40th birthday. There was much shopping (she was sent there by Scott to get a new wardrobe) and even more eating.

The first place we ate at was Hattie B's, which is known for its hot chicken.

We all got the mild, which was more spicy than I personally care for. 

And then we decided to be total idiots and get the "Shut the Cluck Up," which is their hottest chicken. You can see how dark it is--that's all the spicy coating.

Maren got this video beforehand, but no one was able to film our reactions to the stuff because we were trying to not die. 

I thought the whole thing would be funny, but it wasn't. I was in so much pain. My eyes were watering an insane amount. I thought for a minute that I might need to go to a hospital. My mouth burned for well over an hour after. Never again, man.

The food situation went way up from there. The next morning we ate at a great breakfast place, where I tried and loved chicken and waffles. I also ate the best biscuit of my life. You can see it to my left in this picture.

We also got yummy chocolate chip cookie s'mores from a food truck. Man, I could have had several more of those.

We also ate BBQ takeout in the back of some guy's Uber car on the way to the airport, but there's no documentation of that, for obvious reasons.

The only non-shopping/non-eating thing we did was the Grand Ole Opry, because Nashville. It was fun! I particuarly enjoyed the comedian.

The hotel we stayed in was the Union Station Hotel (courtesy of Scott). It used to be a railroad terminal, so it has a lot of history and cool architecture.

I loved the staircase!

Anyway, it was a super fun (and delicious) weekend, and it was nice to get a break from the kids (who I love, but come on...). It was especially good considering we were about to be on "lockdown" together for the foreseeable future.

After I got home, I had just a little bit of time before my umbilical hernia surgery was scheduled. But before that could happen--literally the night before--Carter had to get stitches. (See his blog for details about that.)

Luckily, my mom was coming to help me because of the surgery, so she was able to help with Carter's stitches care and removal. Yay for Grandma!

While I was recuperating, I found myself researching some genealogy for my mom, and in the process I discovered we're directly descended from the Tudors on my dad's side. I thought it was super neat!

Anyway, at the end of February we went to William's birthday party at a trampoline park. Aubrey made him this super cute card. I love how she spelled "birthday" and "wonderful."

On the inside of the card are a drawing of Aubrey holding balloons (on the left), a line of hearts, and William (on the right).

I got a couple videos of the kids playing at the trampoline park during the party. They had so much fun!

Speaking of fun, I'll never get sick of making my girls match. (Segway! A terrible one, but whatever.)

Anyway, February had some nice weather days, so we started having front yard picnics. Carter had to wear a hat to protect his stitches scar, but he didn't have a hat of his own yet. I think Daniel's looked so cute on him!

Clara was lucky enough to enjoy our first few picnics in her car seat.

 But eventually she was able to sit up next to Carter.

March brought about the end of Carter's soccer class. He was bummed it was over! I got a couple of cute videos from his last class, in which the parents got to play on the field with the kids. I did the whole thing holding Clara, which was interesting.

And the awesome coach substituting for Coach Scott let Carter score a goal on her. She was a great sport.

I love his little fist pump! Cutie.

By the time spring break rolled around, we were ready for a break. And oh, did we get one. Way too much of a break, in fact. We all started to go a little stir crazy, as you can see.

But more on all of that later...