Happy April Fool’s Day! It sure feels like TIME is playing some tricks on me today, because I am finding it almost impossible to believe that the month of March is already over. Spring is in full bloom here in Central Texas and I am relishing the longer days, the greener fields, and all that is gorgeous about this time of year. Before I dive head-first into a new month, here’s a look back at March of 2021.

// READING LATELY //

I had a full month of reading, with several 4.5-star and 5-star books! This mystery (which is two full books in one!) was amazing, this one timely and thought-provoking, and this was a lot of fun. I was moved to tears by this novella about a woman with dementia as well as this redemptive story about an elderly woman and a broken young family.

The month was fairly nonfiction-heavy, with a number of faith-related books that I have not been able to stop recommending, including this on doubt and belief, this book about depression, and this book that was my spring pick for a book on wonder. I’ll be sharing full reviews of all sixteen of these titles over the next few weeks.

// LOVING LATELY //

My Kindle device went missing back in December, and after searching for over a month, I accepted that it was a lost cause and bought myself a new Kindle Paperwhite. Of course, I found my older Kindle (hiding at the bottom of a backpack) a week after the new one arrived, but I decided to keep both devices and am loving this newer model with its lighter weight, pretty plum color, and waterproof screen, among other new features I am continuing to explore.

I wanted a case to go along with my new reader and settled on this one, which has proven to be an excellent purchase. It is durable, attractive (it comes in a variety of colors and patterns and Charleston helped me choose this floral one), and features a built-in stand that allows for hands-free reading while I’m nursing the twins or eating. I’m sure there are higher quality covers out there, but this one is serving me well and the under-$20 price tag is hard to beat!

We don’t do as many Easter traditions in our home as I would like, but one that has “stuck” for the past few years is the Easter Story Egg—a nesting egg with a corresponding book that follows the Biblical narrative of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday and ending Easter morning. This week we have been opening up the egg and reading the book each night at dinner. Charleston has a lot of fun opening the egg and engaging with the story, and it has been awesome to watch his understanding of this tradition (and of faith and Scripture in general) grow each year. This year he was so sweet explaining each egg’s meaning to the twins. (Few things can match seeing your child teach God’s word to his siblings.) It is also a lovely and simple tradition to prepare my OWN heart for Easter.

// MONTHLY CHARLIE-ISMS //

I had a blast with Charleston this month: he has made some big strides in his schoolwork (particularly his reading), and we had a number of really great connection moments during our much-coveted one-on-one time. In his free time, he’s been busy making plans for a store he wants to call “Home Made” where he will sell items of his creation, and he spent much of his spring break creating and laminating drawings to sell. Apart from his time with me, he got to attend a dinosaur drive-thru and an air show with extended family in March—both of which were huge hits.

I didn’t jot down quite as many one-liners this month, but he did have a few zingers I had to document.

+ “Would you rather know things that are going to happen in the future or things that are going to happen in the past? I would want to know future. Because I’ve been wanting to solve a lot of problems. Things like communism.”

+ When the topic of death came up in a story. “I know what we do when people die. We take out their parts to take pictures of them for the internet.”

+ When I explained that back before people had cell phones, they often kept pictures of loved ones in their wallets: “Well if they didn’t have phones, then how did they take the pictures?”

+ After loosing a tooth (his third to fall out): “I’m so glad I lost my tooth because I finally have a new tunnel for my tongue.”

+ While eating chicken nuggets dipped in BBQ sauce: “I get why they call it BBQ sauce! Because BBQ means fire, and this is really hot!”

// TWIN CORNER //

Kali and Sully passed a big milestone last weekend, and I enjoyed writing their half-birthday letter (which you can read here for a full recap of what they have been up to lately). Moving forward, I plan to do more updates on the twins in these Lately posts, as I realized I have not done the best job of sharing their little lives here on the blog since concluding their monthly updates when they turned a year old. I have no doubt that soon they will be contributing their own “Kali-isms” and “Sully-isms” for these posts!

// HAPPENINGS AND HIGHLIGHTS //

On March 2, I turned 37. I had spent the previous several months thinking I was *already* 37, so when I calculated my age on my birthday (how old am I that I have to calculate my own age on my birthday?!) it was like getting a whole extra year! The day was great. That morning when I woke Charleston for school, he immediately remembered it was my birthday, showered me with hugs and kisses, and gave me two beautiful cards he had made for me (without any prompting from Luke). The twins didn’t know it was my birthday, of course, but had a pretty great day and spoiled me with smiles and hugs.

Luke took my birthday off of work so he could watch the kids while I went out to get a massage (thanks to a Massage Envy gift card that was lingering in my wallet since before I was pregnant with the twins!) and run a few errands kid-free. While I was out I picked up some cupcakes for the kids and Luke to eat in my honor (I don’t eat cake myself), and they had fun singing to me and helping me blow out the candles (Sully’s got that skill down!). We ended the day with a fun game night social with our community group. And throughout the day I received texts and calls from family and friends. I felt so truly loved!

Just after my birthday, my parents came out from California for a week-long visit, and we absolutely loved having them here! Our time together was simple: they played endless games with Charleston (he was in Heaven!), giggled with the twins, helped out with homeschool, and graciously joined in on the craziness that is everyday life in the Jernejcic household. While they were here we went on outings to the park and Little Land—things that are difficult for me to do on my own with the kids—and every night they participated in Charleston’s storytime reenactments of the Piggie and Elephant books. Our time with them was such a gift; we missed them before they had even pulled to the end of our street, and we’re already counting down the days to our next visit.

Last Saturday we took the kids to Bass Pro Shop for a picture with the Easter Bunny. This was the twins’ first Easter Bunny visit because last year’s Bunny visit was canceled due to lockdowns. In previous years, we have taken Charleston to the mall to see the Easter Bunny, so we didn’t quite know what to expect with a different spot this year, but we had a really good experience at Bass Pro. We made an appointment and didn’t have to wait in line, the staff was all very friendly, and although the Bunny was behind plexiglass, he still engaged with the kids as much as he could. We even received a free print photo and craft packs and keychains for the kids! Kali, Charlie, and their cousin Collin were all thrilled to see the Easter Bunny and it melted me to see Kali wave hi and put her hand up to the plexiglass to say hello. (I’m curious how she would have done if we’d been able to sit on his lap.) Sully, on the other hand, was somewhat terrified, and the poor guy shook and cried for almost the whole time we were there. Tears aside, it was a fun and memorable trip. After a full year of so much that hasn’t been normal, I appreciate these small things more than ever before.

Last night we dyed our Easter eggs! For the past few weeks, we’ve been saving shells from our eggs to make confetti eggs and we amassed quite a few this year. We get most of our eggs from my in-laws’ chickens, so the eggs are naturally an assortment of colors and sizes, making for some interesting colors once they are dyed. Charleston enjoys this tradition even more every year, and this year the twins sat and watched us and played with some plastic eggs while we dyed the real ones. I’m looking forward to a fun hunt with those eggs on Sunday!

We are headed into a busy but exciting Easter weekend. My friend Cara and her husband Dan are in town. In addition to spending some time with them this weekend, we will be attending Easter services at church, awaiting a visit from the Easter Bunny, and participating in our share of egg-hunting.

I hope you, too, have a delightful weekend!