Cello, Cilantro, and S'mores

With a somewhat heavy heart . . .

. . . I returned Joy's cello to the instrument rental store today.  After a few months of cello lessons, Joy realized that she really prefers the piano after all.  She likes that the piano can produce a wide range of sounds that create beautiful harmonies all on one instrument.  I think the biggest clue about where Joy's heart truly lies is that she often sits down to the piano to play fun variations of familiar tunes, but she never picked up her cello unless she had to. 

I don't regret letting Joy try the cello, but I told her if she wants to take any other non-piano lessons, she'll need to get a job and pay for them herself.  I'm happy to help her expand her skills with an instrument that she will actually play on a regular basis (the piano), but I'm done paying for experiments with instruments she may set aside after a few months.

In other news, we're finally past the final frost of spring (I hope), so I decided to start planting some herbs and vegetables in our raised bed.  But first, I had to yank out all of the mint (AKA the herbal equivalent of the Roman Empire) that had sprung up in our garden again.

Ah, that's better!  I still need to buy some of the veggies I want to plant, but at least the bed is ready, and I've got my cilantro, parsley, and thyme planted.  Also, the garlic I planted last fall is doing pretty well. :)

After the sun went down, we fired up the grill and roasted s'mores for dessert.  Except for Joy, who stayed inside because she worried our gas-powered grill would explode.  Fortunately, no grills exploded in the making of these s'mores, and Joy's nice little sister roasted an extra marshmallow for her to eat in the dining room.

Irony in the Grocery Line

I've gotten used to lines outside Trader Joe's, but today was the first day I found one outside our main grocery store.  They're having to limit how many shoppers are in the building at once, and apparently I came at a busy time.

As if standing in line wasn't bad enough, the guy in front of me was smoking while he waited.  I was struck by the irony that we were all standing six feet apart to avoid getting a nasty respiratory disease, and someone was doing something that is scientifically proven to increase our risk of lung cancer.  I didn't want to inhale carcinogens, but I also didn't want to lose my spot in line, so I moved a few steps to the side so I wouldn't be downwind from all those fumes.  Problem solved.

An Elliptical Road Trip

I've wanted an elliptical machine for many years, but for most of that time we were living in a small apartment, and then we started moving across the country every year or so.  Buying a heavy, bulky exercise machine on a starving student budget just didn't make sense.

Now that we're settled in a house, we finally have room for it.  And now that Congress has decided to stimulate our economy, we have some spare cash for it.  Also, since we can't go out much and I'm having a hard time exercising with the kids home all the time, I decided that an elliptical machine would be a good investment in my physical and mental health.  So I did some shopping on Craig's List . . .

. . . then Phillip and I rented a U-Haul . . .

. . . and drove south to Rhode Island to check out a machine that seemed like a good prospect.  After weeks of barely leaving my house, it felt totally surreal to leave my state.

I tested out the machine to make sure it was comfortable and in good working order, then we loaded it up and drove it home . . .

. . . where a (very strong) friend helped Phillip move it into the house . . .

. . . and up to the bonus room.  It's been there less than a day, and I think everyone in our family has tried it out at least once.  I'm looking forward to getting in better shape and relieving some of the pandemic-related stress in my life.  Hooray for endorphins!

Playing School

I got up yesterday morning and found the three younger kids playing "Globey school."  They were all teachers, and their toys were the students.  Actually, Daniel said he was a "vice vice teacher," because he doesn't teach very often.  I find it kind of amusing that I can't wait for my teaching "job" to end, but they think school is a game.

Here they are on a school field trip.  Vice vice teacher Daniel is doubling as the bus driver, and Anna is the principal (which is why she put on fancy shoes and brought her purse). 

For semi-real school, Joy made a 3-D paper staircase for her art class . . .

. . . Daniel helped Todd build a structure for a math activity . . .

. . . and Todd wrote that he wishes he could build a library.  The kids really miss being able to check out new books every week.

Other highlights this week included Daniel working on his "Children and Youth" goals  . . .

 . . . Anna making cupcakes . . .

. . . and Globey being crowned queen of the banana people.

A Snowy April Saturday

This morning . . .

. . . while our family was doing chores inside . . .

. . . it was snowing outside.  Because that's what Massachusetts does in April.  I thought the springtime snowstorm was pretty, but also slightly ridiculous.  I guess I'm still a Californian at heart.  It may take Massachusetts another year or two to freeze the bemusement out of me.

And speaking of snow, we can offer empirical evidence that brick mortar reaches a freezing temperature faster than bricks or asphalt.  Because I know you've all been wondering about that. ;)

We Love Magnolias (and Daddy)!

As I've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of Chinese magnolia trees.  When most other trees are still hibernating, Chinese magnolias produce beautiful pink blooms as a joyful assurance that spring is right around the corner.

As I walked along our street this week, I was delighted to discover that one of our neighbors has a Chinese magnolia in their yard!

Anna asked me to snap a picture of her in front of that tree wearing her "Love Sweater," to show that we LOVE Chinese magnolias!

We also LOVE Daddy!!!

Pizza and Pansies

Since the kids are home for lunch these days, I sometimes get more adventurous with it than I would if I was home alone reheating leftovers.

For example, today we made homemade pizza.  We call it Pyatt ("PIE-ett") pizza, after the family who shared their recipe with us).

I like veggies on my little pizza . . . 

. . . but the kids tend to prefer pepperoni, ham, and maybe some pineapple for good measure.

In other news, this morning we took some treats across the street to our neighbors, only to come home and find that a friend had left ten times as many treats on our porch, along with some beautiful pansies.  Thanks, Kristin!

More Virtual Learning

Highlights from our second week of "virtual learning" include:

Anna's mini art gallery (perused by mini squishmallows, of course)

Todd's artistic depiction of emotions for his social-emotional learning assignment.  (Don't you say "Grr!!!" when you're angry?)

Joy tossing a ball with Todd for his P.E. assignment.

Daniel's science experiment to see which ingredient (sugar, salt, and/or flour) you should add to water to make an egg float.  We learned that flour does NOT make an egg float (but it does make a mess).

Cubing on a Rainy Day

It's raining outside today . . .

. . . but that's OK . . .

. . . 'cuz we've got Rubik's Cubes!  Red Grandma sent us a pastel-colored one for Easter, and Joy immediately appropriated it because it twists faster and smoother than her old one (which she handed down to Daniel).  Joy is thrilled to have a faster cube; Daniel is thrilled to have any cube.

Daniel likes to time how quickly he can solve a mixed up cube.  Slower hardware notwithstanding, he beat Joy's record this afternoon.

Joy likes to let her siblings mix up the cube for her to solve.  She also maintains that there's more than one way to "solve" a Rubik's Cube.  Sometimes she prefers to solve it with a certain pattern on each face (like a checkerboard or donut).  Daniel does those patterns too sometimes, but mostly he favors speed over artistry.

Holy Week 2020

I always say that our Holy Week activities are a lot of work, but totally worth it.  That was truer than ever this week, because in addition to planning things like egg dyeing and a Passover feast, I'm also semi-homeschooling my kids while COVID-19 has all the schools closed.

Fortunately, the kids have been pretty flexible.  They didn't mind that our Temple Monday reenactment didn't happen until Thursday.  (I don't think dogs are kosher animals to sell in the temple.  Oh well.)

We also dyed our eggs on Sunday instead of Wednesday this year, but we did dye them!

We even tried an egg lathe this time, which was pretty fun (thanks, Red Grandma!).

This year's iteration of hot cross buns fell flat (quite literally, because I added too much liquid to the dough--we dubbed them hot cross slabs) . . .

. . . but our special meals on Thursday and Sunday turned out well . . . 

. . . and our Holy Week Wall will be on display for weeks to come.  Probably months, actually--it looks so fun and represents so much effort that I'm always reluctant to take it down.

Fortunately, the best part of our Holy Week tradition takes virtually no work at all.  Every evening except Wednesday, we watch videos about what Jesus did that day.  By the end of the week, His face and voice have become so familiar that it's heartbreaking to watch Him suffer, and it's so joyful to see Him triumphantly alive again on Easter Sunday.

An Easter Egg Hunt and a Cherry Tree

For most of my kids' childhood, I haven't bothered to plan Easter egg hunts.  We were always invited to at least one or two egg hunts with friends, relatives, or church, so if I organized one of our own it was just candy overkill.

As Easter Sunday approached this week, I realized that if I didn't plan an Easter egg hunt for my kids during this pandemic, they weren't going to have one.  Well, we couldn't have that, so this afternoon I locked myself in my room with a bunch of plastic eggs, a few bags of Easter candy (some of which I ate--gotta keep your strength up, ya know?), and lots of coins (to decrease my kids' sugar intake and increase the older kids' egg-hunting enthusiasm).  Once all the eggs were filled, Joy and Daniel hid some out front for the younger kids, and I hid the rest out back for the two older kids.

Anna found her quota of eggs pretty quickly.

Todd took a while longer and needed a few hints, but he had fun and eventually found all of his eggs too.

Joy (whose default setting these days is "Critic") told me that I should really try to hide eggs in places that are at least a little bit challenging next time.  Then she and Daniel spent five or ten minutes looking for the last three eggs, which were sitting in plain sight on the deck.  So there.

While her sibs looked for those last eggs, Anna admired the blossoms that are starting to appear on our big weeping cherry tree.  It was a very fitting backdrop for a beautiful holiday that celebrates hope and rebirth.

Once the eggs had all been found, the kids headed inside to enjoy some of their spoils for dessert . . . 

. . . and do a little candy trading.

Fasting for Relief

During General Conference, the Prophet asked us to fast today for global relief from COVID-19.

Last night, I taped a sign on our pantry to remind our family to fast, and to help us remember the specific things he encouraged us to fast for.  I trust that God will help us with those things, and I'm grateful that we can enlist His help and guidance in challenging times.

Thankfully, life at our home still feels relatively normal.  Although virtual learning is a lot for me to manage, none of us are sick and Daddy is still able to work full time.  In fact, for the kids, life probably feels better than normal.  After music practice and a couple hours of virtual schooling, they have the whole rest of the day free to play on the trampoline . . .

. . . or rock a game of Happy Salmon.