Buying - A minivan! After a year and a half of smooshing three kids and their massive carseats in a 5 seater SUV, we were able to upgrade. Now I gotta be totally cliche and go to Target and buy some organizational stuff for it. I probably won't be wearing leggings or buying myself a starbucks while I'm there but I might put my hair in a topknot. Can't break the mom mold too much.
Doing - All the nature stuff, all the time. Seriously, it's crazy! The first of march has us buying a new batch of baby chicks. Baby chicks are so so cute! But then they grow and the cuteness factor decreases while the pooping increases and they needed to go outside. Craig processed the old hens last weekend. It was his first time and I don't think it was a favorite activity of his but he hide it well and managed to sneak in a bit of a science lesson. These are all the eggs he found developing in just one hen! But we cleaned out the empty coop and just this morning moved the babies out there.
They aren't this cute right now. And they aren't pretty like full grown hens. They are awkward adolescents. Apparently its not just the human species that struggles a bit in the middle.
Then we found a dead mouse. Well, first it wasn't dead. I found it in the breezeway and calmly relocated it to the backyard. I may have screamed before I calmly carried it out in a net but that's neither here nor there. Then Craig put out traps. Then it was dead. Lucy insists that the one that the trap caught wasn't the same as the cute cute one she saw me take out in the net. I have no opinion on that matter. But we are right at the end of Term 1 of Year 2 of Ambleside Online and what chapters were coming up next in the Burgess Animal Book but the mice chapters so I couldn't say no to a journaling request. We identified it as a Deer Mouse and when I mentioned that mouse was in the next chapter, they insisted I read it right then on a Sunday afternoon. I rarely read ahead in their school books but I made an exception. I was pretty much feeling like a supermom in the nature study department - until Lucy informed me Monday night that Jonah had found the dead mouse again and was carrying it around all afternoon. Supermom nature mom or not, I have limits and they had been reached!
But even that wasn't the end of nature week! We met up with some friends and searched for a fairly rare flower called the Fremont's Leather Flower. It only grows in a tiny area in our state but with a challenge like that, we had to try. And we found it! And then we ended up on a hike around the glades that none of us was quite prepared for. Over three hours and almost three (up and down, muddy waterfall filled) miles, all three moms and all nine kids made it back to our picnic spot. I may have had to carry Norah in my Boba on my back and a soaking wet Jonah in my arms (he played in the creek) for the last quarter of it, but we made it! My kids insist that even with the ice cream I treated them to afterwards, they never want to do that particular hike again but I think it was worth it. The views were amazing and I'm pretty impressed at what their little (and my older!) body can do. I didn't take any pictures on the hike itself because I left my phone with my bag at the front (because I didn't think we'd be hiking!) but here is the elusive flower. It's more impressive than my photography skills would indicate.
Lucy draws pretty things too. Like this dogwood. I asked her if she wanted to draw the rare flower we drove out specifically to see. No, she wanted to draw a Dogwood which are pretty much everywhere here. I am very proud of myself for letting her choose.
Limping along - The last few weeks of school. Besides the nature studying, we're just pushing through weeks 10 and 11 of the term. Not because anything is wrong with the term, but the weather is so gorgeous that its too hard to call them back inside in the morning and sit at the table. Also, Norah has discovered that she can open my kitchen drawers this week. We toddler proofed the cabinets a while back but she didn't know how to open the drawers. Until now. Craig picked up some locks at home depot tonight and they will be installed this weekend. But one more week! We can do it.
Cleaning - Everything! My spring cleaning fever has kicked in. I don't ever plan for spring cleaning, I just wait until I get the urge. It normally happens around Easter. And yes, all of a sudden I need to clean all the things! But the main floor is almost done and now that the baby chicks around out of the basement, I'll move down there. This is probably another reason the school days seem harder. Doing both well is difficult and maybe I should have waited until exams were done but I want to be done by next week too! Then it's spring break for everyone! I've got books to read! And Macarons to perfect!
First batch of Macarons. Edible but ugly.
So much nature! You are my nature study guru. Teach me your ways.
ReplyDeleteI forgot term 2 exams. I don't worry about them too much, but it's fun to hear what she remembers. And to feel like we are killing it on math even if foreign language isn't happening at all.