le weekend

cutting onions? wear goggles.

It was brief, but we soaked it up. Time with Dan, I mean.  Two days between interview trips - gotta fill it with playing ball across the street, and the whirlwind of activities that is spring in this town.  Market, of course, the Film Festival (we saw The Painting, which was great; the play with perspective was inspiring, especially for the girls), and walk home to make dinner for a friend, and then hop to the contra dance. 

I begged off of the dance.  I was afraid I would be filled with remorse - indecision is my downfall, and passing up time with my whole family is a difficult call for me, but you know what? It was absolutely the right thing to do.  They had a great time, I had some downtime, puttering.  Gotta take it when I can get it these days; Sunday Dan left again for the airport. 

 Yesterday was our Day at Home During Which I Try to Organize Our Lives Around Learning.  How does that work at your house?  Well, here it sometimes goes swimmingly, and sometimes it seems to flop at every turn.  I will let you guess which way yesterday fell.  I sometimes make the mistake of taking it personally when something I wanted to share/learn/do gets voted out.  I mean, really, don't they know I lie awake at night dreaming up these schemes to slip in a little formal learning?! Well, as life would have it, these children have their own agendas, and while it sometimes includes letting me take the wheel, it often does not.  No hike, no reading about the middle east, no maps, no math games.  Yes piano, yes Magic Tree House games online (new! a little boring, I thought, but not for Ani who loves Jack and Annie), yes to Manny Files on audio, yes to Animal Jam, yes to designing and partially sewing a jacket (wha---?!), yes to helping organize and purge the summer/winter clothing, yes to re-reading the Ramona books because they are the best books she ever read, yes to biking to the end of the street to check and see if the jewelweed is coming in (it is!), yes to Magic School Bus and yes to playing magic games with a sister. So. Lovely day, even if it weren't my agenda. But to all y'all who think I'm a homeschooling magician (you misguided few know who you are...), there it is.  Reality.

whose children ARE these???

spring...and, go!

The days are slipping by - I can feel the pace picking up as if measured by the number of sunbeams and spring breeze, increasing by the minute as the race begins towards summer. We wait so long for spring and then...it flashes by.  So we are soaking it up with teepees, peeper walks, and time in the woods.

hepatica

bloodroot

We missed the bloodroot last year. Missed it completely! The weather was so warm so early, that by the time we remembered to look there were only the leaves with an inconspicuous stalk standing nearby, flowerless.  How exciting to catch them here in their complete beauty!

almost trillium...

trout lily

Speaking of time racing by, I want to freeze frame every second of Seven. I mean, look at these two! They are perfectly seven, gloriously seven. It is the perfect age of childhood, measured in gaping holes, curiousity and courage, giving me a glimpse into the pluck they may have at seventy.  The love is big, the thoughts are big, there is still romping play and puppy wrestling and longer minutes of focus and attention - the combination is electric!

ari and ani with their holey mouths

I leave you with this confession that I was eavesdropping on Ani the other day as she vacuumed the living room:

Wave! Just sweep and wave, sweep and wave - clean as a sunbeam!

Those crumbs deserve the garbage.

She has the makings of a GREAT cleaner, folks!

(turns off vacuum)

I won!!

workin into april

Argh, when I get behind on here I miss so many nice moments in between the rumblings and the scramblings and the deep thinkings and the chewing of the inside of my lips...you do that too, right?

Ani completed an awesome little sewing project for a wee cousin.  It's new for her to have a completed project; she's pretty content to just keep working at it, but not worrying for the final outcome.  She felt really good about this though.

I capture these moments whenever I can.  I remind myself that they seem to come more frequently than they used to.

The woods are beginning to erupt with life. We're at the point where I feel like if we miss a day outside it will look like an entirely new season the next time we emerge.

quick hike with Jen and Ari

 Our friends-in-the-woods may have left for Texas (yes, it's true, they're still gone), but they left behind some wicked good card playin' daughters who are happy to come over with beaus in tow for lasagne and card play.

I'm not sure if it makes me miss them more or less when we see the girls, but we love that we still have a part of the family to spend time with...

Oh! And there was a little bit of foolin'! Yeah, we tried again - this time Ani was in on it, but still really wanted nothing to do with it.

Fake vomit! Is that a classic, or am I making that up? All over Dan's slippers.

He wasn't fooled for a second.

And the soaking up of Dan. Whenever and however. He's gone again, this time on interviews, so exciting and so nerve-wracking and we miss him, you know...

working on the blues, together

springalingaling

The lone peeper in the neighbor's backyard is peeping away; Dan has turned off the Michael Jackson dance party music downstairs, and we are slowing folding up towards bed...I can still hear birds, above the peepers, and I know we are slowly planting our feet more firmly in spring.  Huge exhalation....

Let's see how we've been ringing it in these past few days.  There was some of this, in the company of friends...

 (and chickens)

...and some Easter day making...

...yes, and this...

 ...which inevitably lead to this...

It is odd to remember that last year, this time, there were redbud blossoms and violets, and this year only this...

...though I know it will all happen in the blink of an eye.

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

Bed is much closer now, and the peeper continues still.  I can hear Ani and Dan reading in the next room.  She just read the words "extremely adaptable" without skipping a beat. Life is marvelous, as in  pretty wonderful and I marvel...

herb fairies...

I am so pleased to finally be able to share a resource that we have enjoyed this last year!  LearningHerbs - the makers of the board game Wildcraft - put together a series of thirteen books about herbs, called Herb Fairies.  We were lucky to have jumped on it when they offered the books initially a year ago, while they were still being developed, and have enjoyed every month of story and activity since.  They are once again selling access to the books, starting tomorrow, for five days only. 

This would be a great time of year to begin an herbal study, at least for those of you in the northern hemisphere!  We are planning on delving deeper this spring, trying more recipes, stretching our knowledge beyond identification and enjoyment of the fairies.

If you visit their website beginning Tuesday, April 2, you will be able to learn more about the availability and pricing of the Herb Fairies program here.  The final book, about Dandy, the Dandelion Fairy, came out today and is our new starting point for our spring herbal studies...The girls were inspired by the videos that other children sent in, voicing their opinions about the books (you can see it on the website), and spent a good part of the afternoon yesterday, writing a script and filming their own herb fairy video...if I could figure out how to edit it, I'd share it with you! Ah, that's also on the list for the week...