A Livestock Walk

Lately I've been feeling like we do the same activities day after day, so I decided to mix things up this afternoon.

We drove to a street whose residents keep a lot of livestock, and the kids had fun checking out a bunch of goats, ducks, and geese.  The animals checked us out too, possibly because they thought we had brought them something to eat.  Sorry guys--I don't know what goats eat.  Maybe I should Google that before we come back next time.

It was kind of chilly out, but Todd insisted that he didn't need a coat.  Of course, thirty seconds after he got out of the van, he started feeling cold.  His kind big sister shared her coat with him, and I'm not sure which looked stranger: the sight of Todd in an oversized coat, or the sight of Joy without the coat she wears nearly every minute that she's awake.

Up the road from the goats, we paid a visit to a couple of horses.  I had cut up some apples for the kids to feed them, so the horses came right over to us.

It was a win for everybody.  The horses got a treat, and we got to pet them. :)

Spring is Here!

There are signs of spring all throughout our neighborhood . . .

. . . like the flower buds on this white dogwood down the street . . .

. . . and this stunning pink dogwood next door.

I'm also seeing little kale sprouts pop up in my vegetable garden . . .

. . . and some cute little bunny has come out of hibernation to nibble my parsley and cilantro nearly down to the ground.  Nature is heartwarming, except when it isn't.  As soon as my indoor garden is ready, I guess I'll be moving these two plants indoors.

Pluto and Batman

This week's virtual learning highlights included . . .

. . . turning a common household object into a woodwind instrument.  I'm not even sure where Daniel found this random piece of plastic tubing, but it kept him musically entertained all day.

Todd's kindergarten assignments follow a different theme every week, and this week's theme was "superheroes."  For this math activity, he was supposed to color in portions of a Batman picture based on what the equation in each section added up to.  He finished the stars, then apparently ran out of steam halfway through the Dark Knight's first boot.  Oh well--since he indicated what color each section is supposed to be, I think we'll give him a pass on the aesthetics.

Joy was assigned to draw a comic for Latin class, so she made up one entitled "Pluto stultus est" ("The God of the Dead Is Stupid").  Let's just say she thinks Pluto could have handled that whole Prosperine-kidnapping episode a lot better.

Speaking of social skills, the kindergartners at our school are encouraged to watch "social emotional learning" videos. I suppose if you want to deliver a soothing message, framing yourself with puffy cumulus clouds is a good way to create a positive mood.

In other news, a friend loaned us some of her favorite young-adult books, and my library-starved children ate them right up.  Thanks, Sadie!

May the Crunches Be with You

When I went upstairs to exercise on the elliptical machine this morning . . .

. . . I found that somebody else had beaten me to it.  So I tried again a little later . . .

. . . and discovered that the machine was free, but someone had decorated the pool table with dozens of orange ping pong balls.  Do I even want to ask?

Speaking of exercise, this may look like a typical Uno game, but it's actually Daniel and Anna's P.E. assignment for the week.  The card you set down . . .

. . . determines what exercise the next player has to do, and how many reps.  You might have to do seven crunches, four frog jumps, or (Heaven help you) nine burpees.

After they finished one grueling game this morning, they started over again just for fun.  Seriously?  What kid volunteers to do extra crunches and burpees?  While they're on this health kick, should I cook some liver and Brussels sprouts for lunch?

In any case, I'm glad the Force is strong with them.  Happy May the Fourth!

The Birthday Parade

Today is our friend Mayra's daughter's birthday, and a mutual friend organized a birthday parade, complete with the fire department and a police escort.

Todd and Anna made some birthday signs . . .

. . . then we got in line at the fire station with other well wishers.  Most of them were friends from church, and we got of our cars and chatted (from a safe distance) while we waited for the parade to start.  After weeks at home, it was fun (yet surreal) to see real, live, maskless friends again.

Soon it was time to head to Mayra's house.  As we drove by, we honked our horns and shouted "Happy Birthday!" as loud as we could.

Mayra's daughter loved her birthday parade. 

The next-door neighbor's cows just thought we were all crazy. :)

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!