March Madness, Baby!

March Madness is definitely one of our favorite times of the year. This year, however, I was still in the throes of my horrid sickness so, unlike previous years where I study my brackets for several days leading up to the start of the tournament, I barely had them filled out and sent in by tip off of the first game. (I am going to forever blame my poor performance on that!) Also, David was once again out of town for the first day of the tourney so we really didn't have a fun kick off lunch or dinner or anything like what I had wanted to do. Oh, well. This year we did have the kids join in the fun and they all filled out their brackets with their favorite teams emerging victorious. Normally I just let them pick whoever they want, with no helpful hints or direction, but I could not let Xander choose to have BYU in the Final Four. I just couldn't! After assuring him that they probably wouldn't even make it past the first round and that he really needed to change that pick, I got an earful from him as he angrily erased them. He told me that he was going to be so mad at me if they did make it to the Final Four. I laughed and told him I was not worried, not one little bit! And thank goodness for him that he did make that change because guess who went out in the first round, like always?
Overall I was pretty impressed with the kids and they actually did a great job on their picks. Savannah even got one of her regions completely correct all the way to the final four. Amazing! Xander ended up winning out of our kids but it was pretty close.  And all the kids did better than me. Yikes!
Grandpa sent each of us a certificate for participating in the family March Madness Tournament as well as some prize money. 

For the Schaeffer family tournament David came in first place in the round by round so he was obviously very pleased with himself...and his winnings!

The most important thing, though, is that we all had a great time watching the games together and talking a little smack with our loved ones. Who doesn't like to be called a crack head by their brother-in-law just because one is able to make a huge comeback and tie for third with him.  It's all done with such love!