Spring Is in the Air

 Spring is right around the corner!

While our St. Patrick's Day corned beef was simmering in the pressure cooker . . .

. . . the kids spent the afternoon scooting on the driveway.  After months of bracing myself against winter chill every time I stepped outside, it's lovely to be able to enjoy the outdoors again.

Hopeful Signs

We've loved the flexibility and fun memories of homeschooling, but as life edges steadily back toward normality, we've decided that it would be best for our kids' education and social development if they went back to public school in fall.  To that end, I went to four different schools today to register the kids for the next school year.

I started at the high school ('cuz my firstborn child's gonna be a freshman next year!), and I saw clear signs . . .

. . . that life isn't normal yet.

I saw heartening things too, like the happy faces and flowers someone painted in the high school parking lot . . .

. . . spring flowers poking their leaves up out of the ground . . . 

. . . and these messages on a school bulletin board:

"It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.  They went out and happened to things." (Leonardo da Vinci)

"Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today." (Mark Twain)

Doom Goo Day

Happy Pi(e) Day!  In honor of our family's favorite irrational number (pi = 3.14...), we make pie for dinner and dessert every 3/14!

After church today, Anna helped me juice lemons and stir the filling for a lemon pie . . .

. . . which jiggled ominously when we put it in the fridge to chill.  I worried that the filling hadn't set up enough to hold its shape.  Only time would tell.

Meanwhile, snow was falling thickly outside . . .

. . . as I worked on shepherd's pie (or as my mom and her college roommates liked to call it, "shepherd stuff") for dinner.  And the lemon pie, you ask?  It didn't set up and was a total mess to serve.  The kids dubbed it "doom goo," but agreed that it was really delicious doom goo.  Their mother quietly resolved to consult the internet for lemon pie troubleshooting tips, and make another lemon pie attempt very soon. 'Cuz sometimes you win, and sometimes you learn.

Games and Floats

We went over to another family's house for some games this afternoon.

Some of us played Lords of Waterdeep . . .

. . . while others chatted or made designs with the Otrio game pieces.

Then our family went home and had root beer floats for dessert.  Todd thinks the mound of bubbles on top is half the fun.

A Snow-Free Hike and Goblin Bandits

Warm weather was never very exciting when we lived in Southern California.  It was kind of like trying to get excited about oxygen.  Now that we live in New England, I'm thrilled that the forecast includes so many pleasant sunny days this month . . .

. . . and I'm determined to take the kids hiking at least once a week.  I plan to explore other trails in our town this spring and summer, but today we revisited the one near our home (which is now snow free!) . . .

. . . to enjoy lunch on good old Picnic Rock . . .

. . . while Spike basked in the sun.  He's loving the warm weather too.

Today was also the day we started a Dungeons and Dragons quest Daddy purchased.  The kids have all made up new characters: Daniel is an impulsive elf ranger, Anna is a practical gnome cleric, Todd is a dwarf fighter who is new to questing, and Joy is a half-elf bard who is secretly a spy (SHHH! DON'T TELL ANYONE!).  I'm still playing a human fighter named Nogadocia, because I like her and I didn't get to play her much while I was leading quests.  Plus, her name is really fun to say.  Try it: "No-guh-DOE-shuh!"

We played one session this morning before Daddy went to work, and another this evening.  The first session was pretty uneventful, but in the second one some of us nearly got killed by goblins.  We lived to tell the tale though, and hopefully learned some helpful lessons from it.  Next item on our to-do list: get out of the goblin bandits' lair alive!

Multipurpose Lessons

Today's ELA unit include a little geography lesson that required the kids to identify some states or countries on a map.

When someone correctly answered that the orange dot was on Cuba, somebody else asked, "Wasn't there some missile crisis there?"  Before I knew it, we had spent twenty minutes discussing the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War nuclear arms race, and why communism might have seemed attractive to oppressed people.  At the end of the conversation, Daniel asked if that counted as our history lesson for the day.  I said, "Sure."

Daniel was pretty thrilled by that answer. . .

. . . and Anna did a celebratory dance . . .

. . . then we finished our ELA unit and the kids went out to play.

 Should we call that P.E., or recess?  How about both?

Happy Things

Ivy came over to visit again today. :)

It's fun to have a puppy to play with . . .

. . . and a family to hug.

(And also some Gruyere in the fridge.)