Dandelions and Allegrettos

When Joy and I look out the front window . . .

. . . we see a verdant field, dotted with cheery yellow dandelion blossoms.

Daddy sees a bunch of weeds that must be forcibly eradicated from our lawn.  Joy and I were sad to see all those pretty flowers disappear under the mower, but I recognize that they wouldn't be nearly as pretty in a few days, after they scattered seeds all over neighborhood and left hundreds of bare stalks in our yard.  I also know that the neighbors on either side of our yard work hard to keep their lawns weed free, and I don't want to cause them a bunch of dandelion-related headaches.

This evening, Anna performed her Suzuki Book 1 recital, in which she played all of the songs she's learned since she started piano lessons back in Maryland.  That recital would usually occur at a public venue with lots of guests in attendance, but with the pandemic going on, we decided to hold it at home with a much smaller audience.

What's with the chair and the coat, you ask?  Well, the coat always hangs on that chair, and the chair is for Anna's two grandmas . . . 

. . . who attended the concert virtually.  It was delightful to see them, and they enjoyed hearing the songs Anna has worked so hard to master.

Then we wrapped up the evening with a pillow fight.  The End.

Mapmaking and Cookie Baking

This week's virtual learning assignments included . . .

. . . a BrainPop video about poetry . . .

. . . measuring stuff for math . . .

. . . and mapmaking.  I'm not sure why Todd felt that a map of our entire state . . .

. . . would help him make a map of our neighborhood, but it turned out OK in the end.  He even included the "Apple People" with the sour apple tree at the end of our street.  I suspect that Joy acted as Todd's cartographic consultant at some point, because only a teenager would think to call our next-door neighbors "Frisbee Peeps" (since we got our Frisbee stuck in their tree).

Speaking of Joy, she drew some nice illustrations for her Latin homework.  I'm not sure why she included a Christmas tree, though.

Maybe it was inspired by her epic, holiday-themed skateboard design for art class.

After schoolwork was done yesterday, the kids made some Pillowy Sugar cookies.  Joy and Anna mixed the dough, then Anna and Todd cut out the cookies.  They're a bit of work, but so yummy!

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. ;)