Good grief. March blew in full speed ahead and suddenly, it’s practically April.

We had a very busy month, despite not doing much in the adventuring department.

We kicked off the month with an unplanned trip to Nashville for Hattie B’s Hot Chicken with my cousin and her kids. They tagged along for a last minute business trip and wanted to meet Little Man. We’d been meaning to try Hattie B’s for years anyway, so it was a no brainer!

He wasn’t too sure about meeting his distant cousins (and those French fries were super distracting), but it was a nice visit — though short!

The weather finally started to feel like spring, so we spent a lot of time outside at the beginning of the month.

My parents came down for their Spring Break, which meant even more time outside and our sole day excursion.

It was awesome having them here. Indie was thrilled to have Maddie and Charlie (but mostly Maddie) to play with. It was bittersweet, since Maddie and Audie were best friends. She looked for him the second she came in the door, which broke my heart.

Little Man adores spending time with his Nana and Grandad. Nana has him outside playing all day and Grandad will play Stinky Feet and tickle him.

We trekked out to Fort Defiance for a very quick outing. It was another one of those been meaning to go but just never did trips.

There wasn’t much to the interpretive center, but we did learn a few things we didn’t know and Dad was able to count it as some diversity credit and professional development credit (yay history!).

After a week of having my parents here, we had to let them go back home. Little Man was not impressed.

We did, however, get to have a little get together with the Hozas before everyone went back to their normal routines. It was great to catch up.

The last couple of weeks have been slower since it’s back to being chilly again. We’ve spent a lot more time inside and the house is definitely starting to look that way.

We did have a few nice days between chilly ones where we planted some lavender (ok, a lot of lavender) in our planters and moved some tulip and narcissus bulbs. Had to replace one of the azalea bushes too since it didn’t take root last fall.

We also finally got a bird bath and new hummingbird feeders (since I forgot to bring them in before it froze and all of them cracked/shattered…oops).

Basically, we’re doing some spring clean up outside. I think we found some different pavers that we like better for the front, so hopefully we can get some landscaping finished. My hope, in addition to that, is to create a memorial bed with a flowering tree or bush in one corner of the back yard, once we get it cleared out, for Audie (since this was his home too).

I have a lot of irises that we took out of the front yard that will be planted back there, as well as some tulips and all the volunteer narcissus that the squirrels keep putting in the lawn. I think once we get it going, it’ll be a fabulous tribute to my sweet bub. Spring is so close and I’m itching for some outside time to play in the dirt.

In other news: remember my kidney function scare a few months ago? I had my labs redone to refill my blood pressure medication and everything came back normal, so we are quite thankful to have dodged that bullet. One less thing going on for me to stress over.

The Mister got his official ratings back for his med board. He has been found unfit for duty and the Army will only give him 20% of what he’s making now–with a bunch of modifications based on his years of service and Army math– if he doesn’t appeal the decision (obviously he will appeal it so the board can have another look and so he can squeeze out a bit more time as he’s now over the 18 year mark). The “good” news is that the VA found his injury to be worth 100%, so he would continue to have his benefits through them as well as a monthly disability check.

All that really means for us family-wise is that we are still in limbo while they work through the red tape and delve into all of his options (there are still ways he can extend his service until retirement at 20, despite their findings). The VA percentages might also change as he continues the process. It’s all a lot of information I don’t quite understand, so Little Man and I just continue on with our day to day activities while not really having a set plan for the not-so-distant future.

Despite all the Army stuff, we are looking forward to a few things next month, including Little Man’s spring/Easter photos and a long overdue visit to Nebraska. We’re taking about 2 weeks so we can spend some time with everyone without having to sprint through the visit.

Until then,

Cheers!

–A. xoxo