April - half over?

The kids and I have been busy - inside on those brrrrr cold days and outside on those lovely warm days. I rather like the changing weather. We're even using it for learning ASL AND learning math . Nearly every morning we assess the weather, use our signs to describe it, and then record it on a calendar. At the end of the month we'll compile our data and create a chart of some sort.

inside fun: painting (by the way, that's morris the moose he's painting, in the circus when he's a clown. That's why he has an umbrella.)

We also whipped some cream into ...whipped cream. Conrad thought that was amazing - more science to eat! Most of it though we plopped out on a tray for Norrie to explore and started adding food coloring to see how colors would form and mix.

Outside fun: kites of course, it's spring time and windy! Too windy some days though, especially the day mommy had to sprint across the bean field to tackle the kite after it snapped from its line. Not fun. I don't like running in general, and on this particular day I had my slippers on. Slip on slippers. Not very easy to run in. So I'm running, CW is picking up what I drop (first the kite line, then my coat - I was getting very warm and besides, it was just weighing me down), and Norrie is standing abandoned in the middle of the field crying. I finally caught up to the kite and after recovery limped back to the kids. Conrad was so sweet, comforting his sister. When he noticed me with kite in arm he lit up. I was totally his hero that morning. Can I bottle that up?

More otuside fun: playing with the newly set up sand table and picking dandelions. I hope he doesn't do that on the soccer field when he starts next week. Notice he's sporting the new gear? Very excited little dude.

And back inside - working on his plaster block, mining for crystals.

And waiting for his turtle to hatch. Fake turtle, from QH. This picture was taken on day 2. It's day four today and he's still waiting. I'm impressed with his patience. I thought by now he would have reached in the water and squeezed the egg shell to pieces.

Easter Weekend

We had a nice weekend. Tim had to work on Saturday but ended up getting out early enough to join us for dinner. So Saturday morning was just me and the kids. We had a quiet morning, did a little school, and a little playing. After lunch we loaded up and went to visit our friend Clara. She's no longer living next door to my parents, but she seems very happy in her new place. The kids had a basket and card for her, and lots of hugs and kisses.

After our visit, I took Conrad to see Kelsey the Triceratops (spelling?) at Quarry Hill. It wasn't a bad exhibit, but after all the museums and dinosaurs he's seen in the last two months he wasn't very impressed. He did like the gift shop however ;-)



From there we went to Papa Ray's house. Brenda's daughter (and family) from Duluth had come down the night before, and Tim's two sisters (and families) would be there. In all there were 6 grand kids running around, Conrad being the oldest and the littlest ones 4 months and 5 months old. It was a very nice evening, great food, wonderful to catch up with each other, and the kids played so well together. Mostly. Norrie womped the baby with a pillow! I think it was her way of trying to engage him - it's exactly what her and Conrad do when they want to play with each other!! We'll have to work on that.... (watch out Henry!) We were pleasantly surprised when Tim called before dinner was served to say he was in from the field and could be there soon.

The next morning we went to church and had a few pictures taken afterwards, since the kids were all dressed up and in good moods :)

We finished the weekend by breaking bread with some good friends. She's an amazing cook and the ham she had prepared was better than any other I've ever tasted. Conrad shocked us all by how much he consumed, and Norrie wasn't shy about asking for seconds and thirds either.


After dinner we all went for a walk. Norrie had taken awhile to warm up to the gentle giants, but by the end of the afternoon she was all about being in charge of the leash.