Spring

My word, this was a jammed pack March break week. I knew it would be, and as March break approached, I had that nagging, anxious feeling that we had overbooked our calendar. That is something I had resolved NOT to do back in January when we were making some New Year's resolutions, and I have actually stuck to this one. We have had more Saturdays of being together and doing nothing in particular than ever before in the past. I've enjoyed the last three months so much, I am sitting on the fence on whether we should sign up for soccer or baseball or swimming or nothing this summer. It's been so nice just having the kids doing one thing each that they really love (basketball for Carter and Sparks for Chloe) and enjoying a lot of family time. For the first time in a long time, I go to bed with a lot less guilt. I feel like things are gelling. I can truly say we are "functioning" better as a family.

All that being said, March break filled up really quickly and I wasn't looking totally forward to it, but it ended up being fantastic. The weekend was great, Carter had a birthday party Friday and we still had our lazy Saturday to recharge. Sunday after church, I got in a beautiful 10km run/walk to my sister-in-law's house for a great roast beef dinner. She is a fantastic cook, so I wanted to bring my A game. I brought 2 desserts (well Darryl drove them over as I ran, lol) First, this cake. It's my Grandma's chocolate bunt cake recipe, iced with milk chocolate icing, topped with raspberries and drizzled with melted semi-sweet chocolate chips (see why I had to run there?) Then I made an easy favourite of mine, Cherry Cheese Pie. Many Friday nights in grade nine, my friends and I would make a couple of these and eat them while we watched Dawson's Creek. Both are delish and easy.

Grandma's Chocolate Bunt Cake
1 (15.25-oz) box Devil's Food cake mix
1 (5.9-oz) package instant chocolate pudding mix
½ cup warm water
½ cup canola oil (or vegetable)
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a Bundt pan well with non-stick spray.
2. For the cake: In a large bowl, stir the cake mix, pudding mix, water, oil, eggs, and sour cream until combined well. You can also do this with a mixer. Fold in the 1½ cups chocolate chips.
3. Pour mixture into the Bundt pan and bake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. My oven cooks fast and it was done after 50 minutes so make sure you start checking it then. Let cake cool 5-10 minutes in the pan and then invert on a plate. Cool completely.

Cherry Cheese Pie

• 1 8 (oz) package cream cheese, softened.
• 1 (14 oz) can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 (6 oz) ready made graham cracker crumb pie crust or homemade graham cracker crust
• 1 (21 oz) can cherry pie filling

1. In large mixing bowl , beat cream cheese until fluffy. If your cream cheese isn't soft enough you will get lumps. Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth. Mix in lemon juice and vanilla.
2. Pour into graham cracker crust and chill at least 3 hours. Pour on cherries and chill before serving.

Sunday night Hudson came home with us for a sleepover. Can I just say I am so grateful that Carter has so many boy cousins that love him like a brother and treat him as such? He is adored by his 6 boy cousins and I feel like this is a huge blessing, since I wish he had a brother. Anyway, Monday morning when the 4 kids woke up, they wanted to go to the zoo, so we packed lunch and dinner and headed out. Unfortunately, it's not March break for Daddy, so I was on my own. But we had the best day. I am not one of those moms who longs for her babies to be babies again. Each year they get older, I enjoy them more. I loved jumping in the car with no stroller or diaper bag or a million Baby Mum Mums to get through the long drive. We just went! Nobody needed a nap or a diaper change, we just enjoyed the day and it was awesome. We ended the day with free ice cream at Dairy Queen. It was great. Tuesday we had kid date nights, with Carter and Darryl playing NBA 2K15 and watching BYU lose in the NCAA tournament, and I took Chloe to the beautiful, magical Cinderella movie with my mum and Auntie Ceilidh and it was fabulous. Auntie Ceilidh is the funnest. Chloe loved the arcade and Auntie Ceilidh let her go crazy.  This movie was so great. So glad I could see it whole sitting beside my mama who sang "Lavender Blue" to me ever night, just like Cinderella's mother did. In the morning, we headed to Gran and Papa's for Smarties and dance parties, as usual. The kids loved putting on a show for Gran to the tune of "I Got You Babe" (recorded by Gran and Uncle Jay) and Tay Swift. We picked up cousin Alicia Latchman on the way home so we could spend some time with her and take her to EFY. Thursday we started the morning early at Nana's and then took the girls to "Frozen" on ice at the Rogers Center. Can my kids just stay little forever please??? Seeing Chloe and Claire mesmerized by Disney princesses is up there with my favourite things. Claire cried when it was all over.  Friday we were up at the crack of dawn to go to London. We took Celeste and Alicia to EFY and on the way we took Ollie to get his teeth pulled and popped into see my sweet Grandma who had some major surgery at Victoria Hospital. Dropping off the dog for dental surgery was way more emotional than I was expecting, but luckily it all went smoothly. I love that toothless pup of mine soooo much. Grandma was receiving great care at the hospital as well, so even though it was a super long day, it was good. I was glad I could see my Grandma, London is so far, so the timing of all 3 things worked really well. Auntie Ceilidh to the rescue once again, watching my babies, taking them to the park and cleaning my house while we were gone for the day. Did I mention I love my sister?? We finished the March break off by going to Cinderella one more time with Regimbals and all 3 of my kids this time. Claire cracks me up. As we were leaving, she yells "I love the part when the bad lady locks her up and smashes her shoe".

March break didn't really feel like a break, being so jam packed, but it was good to have so much fun with the whole family.