Brackets & Spring Fever

In between the melting ice layers of mud and fresh patches of snow, I’ve started to see the first signs of spring. I don't care what that wily groundhog says about 6 more weeks; I can see the signs myself, and it's enough to get me excited about spring fever hitting. Daffodil foliage pushing up the first edges of blades from the ground, vibrant colors of crocus blooming tight to the earth, birds chirping to tell us of their return, the chaos of spring is marching forward. I would love to sit and soak it in, but I’ve been a bit busy lately. I’ve had my schedule filled to the brim with my kids' array of activities, playing the endearing role of free Uber driver to and from all of the extracurriculars. No one really warned me about this job perk. Levon is my sports kid, and his schedule is one of the most taxing, with all of the practices, games, and events. I was not a sports kid growing up, so the learning curve has been steep for me. He has been teaching me all the different rules, the athletes, and why he loves each of the different sports that he participates in, and I personally just love watching him grow.

He started breaking down March Madness for me recently. He loves shooting hoops, and he loves bracket games, so speculating who would win what is right up his alley.  He started asking me who I thought would win, and honestly I have no clue about these teams. So I just started picking on my favorite team color combos...he said that wasn't a very good strategy, but I’m willing to gamble that it is. Now he has his sisters and the whole family in on it, too. Everyone has their own way of assessing who will be the top dog. 

So when Catherine said she wanted to do MUM MADNESS this March with voting brackets on the top mum, I said let's do it! I mean, why should the ballers get all the bracket fun?!?  If I can pick basketball teams based on jersey colors alone, then surely we can have some fun with some mum-heads figuring out who the best variety is in the garden. It's silly, yes, but what else are you going to do in March besides fill out basketball brackets and wish you were gardening while Ubering your kids around? This month, we will be running polls in our newsletter, on social media, and well, just anywhere we can think of that we all hang out, having some light-hearted fun, throwing up some stats, and ranking our favorite MVPs of the garden. Each week we will vote on our favorite, and from the top picks, we will narrow the selection down week by week until we get to our final winner. And don't worry, just like any Top Winner, we have a really cool prize in store for EVERYONE! We would love to know what you think while you kill some time this month, join us for our voting during Mum Madness while you're busy watching daffodils push out the first growth from your car window, waiting on kids in pickup lines like me!

P.S. If you're like me and have NO Clue about March Madness but really need to relate to some sports fanatics in your life, here is a super easy to digest video that helped break it down for me so I can talk with Levon without him rolling his eyes. 

XOXO, Jess

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