This and That - January Part 2

January was a good month in many ways despite still not having a job lined up for July.

Hattie, Anna, and Niels started taking a weekly science class at our local science museum. While they get to do experiments for an hour every week, I get to hang out with Erik and Anders. It's a bit odd temporarily only having two little kids. I know that if I sent my kids to public school, this wouldn't be such a novelty, but for me, spending an hour following Anders around, doing whatever he wants, has be delightful.

Niels built a tin foil boat on his first week. I still can't get him to keep his tongue in his mouth when he is concentrating.

When learning about groundwater in our geology class, Hattie constructed her own aquifer from clay, sand, dirt, and pebbles.

The boys still wake up around 6:00 every day. When the interrupt my scripture time, I make them snuggle on the floor while they wait for me.

This month we had an amazing homeschool activity, where we discussed the book The Secret Garden. My friend Michelle hosted a fabulous activity, with a good discussion, a scavenger hunt, planting mini gardens, and an Indian/British feast.

This was just too funny when Erik got stuck on her barstools.

The three big kids and I went to see a little play downtown, How I Became a Pirate. I think Niels favorite part was the bus ride from the parking lot to the theatre.

And we finally made it to the zoo! We have a pass that gets us into the zoo, aquarium, and botanical gardens, and we finally checked the zoo off the to-see list.

We've been pretty good at keeping up our regular date nights. Paul's work doesn't let it happen every weekend, but we continue to venture out to new restaurants almost every week. We wish we had the Keddingtons close by again so we could order double the food! We still almost always get three desserts though ;)

This and That - January, part 1

The kids got a box of geodes for Christmas, and after going to Home Depot to find a decent chisel, we spent

 After studying Germany in geography, the girls built a medieval castle.

One thing I love most about Albuquerque, and the thing that will be hardest to leave, is our Charlotte Mason homeschool group. Erin had us over to her home for some winter bird watching and then led the kids in an oil pastel/watercolor art project.

We started giving the kids an allowance to help them learn money management...and this is what Niels wanted more than anything.

May flowers

May. Also went ridiculously fast. Temperatures rose, daffodils and tulips bloomed, and we started mowing the lawn every week. It rained a solid week or two, so we got a slow start on some spring-time fun.

 The girls beaded some headbands

We blew bubbles on the deck

My dad came to town for a few days...he had a business meeting in Chicago, so he spent three days with us. And we put him to work. He built me two planter boxes, 3'x10', which after he left, I ever-so-painfully-and-slowly filled with 2 cubic yards of topsoil. I had to take the dirt from our driveway to the far corner of our backyard, where I thought we would get the best sun (and least amount of interference from children). My back is still in pain. But my garden is planted. More photos of that to come.

After Dad's meeting in Chicago, we went to the Shedd Aquarium. Photo dump follows...

After Dad left, we started having marvelous 70 degree weather. So we went to the beach whenever possible. One reason I love the location of our house - one mile from a nice little-known beach on Lake Michigan. If it weren't for getting so sandy, we would go every day.

Once when we were there with friends they actually found buried treasure - a total of about 65 cents - so it was hard to pull Hattie from that spot as her pirating dreams were literally coming true.

When Dad was here, he got started building a swing set, which Paul finished up throughout the month. The kids pretty much live outside now.

Random, I know, but while cleaning the laundry room, Niels discovered the hole in our floor, designed for flood drainage (I think), which is usually covered by a rug. He couldn't stop putting stuff inside it. He hasn't been that entertained in months.

And my silly Anna-bug, who, when being baby sat at a friends' house, preferred to sleep on the kitchen floor rather than in bed with Hattie.

 And who, a few days later, conked out naked on the floor after a bath. I love this little bug.

Spring might finally come

I thought I was prepared for the cold Wisconsin winters. I love snow. I love bundling up in scarves, hats, poofy down coats, boots, and gloves. And with a good road crew, the roads aren't too bad. I was ready for it. 

I was not prepared for winter to last 5 months.

So although 'spring' is already half over, the trees are still leafless, there are no flowers in bloom, and nothing is green. When the daily high is 39 degrees, what else can you expect? So we have remained indoors while the southern part of the country enjoys a cool, green spring spring. 

During the end of March, with snow still on the ground, we were first starting to feel the itch for spring to come. The girls wanted to throw a "spring surprise party" for Paul when he came home. We spent the day making flowers and butterflies and bunnies. When he walked in, we held up our flower masks and danced to the song "It's spring, spring, spring again," a terribly cheesy song that the girls love. It was definitely a surprise for him.

We pretty much stayed home and enjoyed this cute boy...

...who likes to perch on the ledge to watch TV, turning on and off the Blu-ray player, cable box, and XBox.

And Anna is my precious middle child. She is a snuggler. And when I told her to pack her panties for our trip to Minnesota and Iowa, she got to work organizing them all. Love her.