In With an "Ow"--First Week of March

March came in with a dump of snow.  And strep throat. 

But first there was Monday which was glorious.  After school all morning and cello lesson at noon we took off with nets and our aquarium (full of minnows), buckets, and puppy to our favorite local park.  We released the minnows that we'd caught last week (they were starting to smell but were still very much alive) and started to hunt for new ones.  Really, we're on the lookout for polywogs, but since those aren't expected until the weather warms up even more, we'll suffice with minnows and the odd whirligig.  Asher is especially adept at sitting still for long enough to catch the good ones.  But Ethan and Ella do their part.

After collecting quite a haul they ran Milo around the park and explored.

We had a fairly normal Tuesday, a full morning of school and then playing with friends.  Then strep hit.  Blah. 

Thursday had me feeling a bit better.  It was sunny all morning.  We planted our garden (three kinds of peas, broccoli, lettuce, kale, swiss chard.  I even hung out sheets I was so hopeful!  Then we went in for lunch and some journaling and I looked out the window mid-afternoon and the sky was dark and the snow was coming down.  So much for line-drying those sheets! 

But we had this amazing light on the mountains around dinnertime.

We had Friday Fun Classes all Friday morning.  The kids take:  Lego Art, Math Fun, Clogging, etc.  Ella had Irish Dance in the afternoon.  Barn Dance at night.  Scott took Ella and Ethan because Asher came down with the sick and I took him in to get some medicine and popsicles. 

Today we've just been doing Saturday stuff:

and letting Ethan work on his photo-taking skills (next three courtesy of EJH Photography):

Favorite Quote of the Week:

"Mama, I have to like brown because bears are brown and I don't think I'd like a blue bear...or a purple one!"--Ella

We are reading aloud at night:

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

Kids' Doings and Readings and Random Things of Note:

Asher:  legos, legos, legos.  Did I say legos?  Also, looking for money everywhere.  And I mean everywhere:  in Papa's pockets, in the couch, in the parking lots, under the shelves while shopping at the grocery store (he was lying on his belly at one point....), reading the Bob books, starting to write (oh, goodness...he does not like to write, she says with a bit of panic in her voice), tells me that when he grows up he is not going to get married and he'll live all by himself with 8 dogs, is crazy for pickles, has taken to wearing a green hankerchief around his body because it makes him look like a pirate, wanted me to follow a real man around the grocery store today because he had long gray hair and a beard and Asher thought he really WAS a pirate.  created a centipede habitat by hacking up a rotten log.  Is tracking a hawk that seems to visit our tree a lot.  Is obsessed with trophies and wants to start a marble collection. Loves The Littles books--we've read about 8 in the last few weeks during bedtime read aloud. 

Ethan:  tries to make us laugh all-the-time!  wants to eat "swacks" all-the-time, has the biggest man-voice I've ever heard in a three year old,  can make his own pb&j, loves the book Bears At Night (Bernstain Bears series), also loves Sylvester and the Magic Pebble, does a great wiggle-dance when he needs to go to the bathroom, likes to stand up on his chair at dinner, stick out his leg and declare "I am a perfect ballerina!",  does not like to leave Mama. 

Ella:  is reading The Lightning Thief and Fablehaven Book 2 at the same time and can't decide which is her favorite, is obsessed with Shakespeare, brought the flowers that she got for her violin recital last week to my bedside when I was sick, likes to make things in the garage with Papa, freaked out while watching us collect centipedes and kept saying "oh, I don't like when we do these kinds of things.  I feel an itch on my skin and I just KNOW it's a centipede".  Loves to cook on her own.  Is never without some project.  Is amazingly thoughtful.

More Randomness:

I've been reading:

Gilgamesh by Joan London (the other Joan London)

Call to Brilliance by can't remember but an interesting read

Researching:

Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry

Lingua Latina

Movies:

Coco (me)

Benji (kids)

Food:

Homemade kefir is working!!! (grains, not starter)

Trying to make a good miso soup

Had Chinese Hot Pot last Saturday---fun and yum!