Grace on SHEP, Jasmin on Spring

SHEP - Science History Education Plus (homeschool co-op day)

An old, experienced teacher
Soccer every day
Listening to a comic on contemplation
Hand-eye coordination with a ball
And art with Chinese ink
Science of machines
History on the fur trade
And foosball waiting to go
The ball bouncing everywhere
A busy day at SHEP.

Spring
Nice, cool, sunny days
Green grass growing
Leaves budding on the trees
Longing for flowers blooming

Spring
Looking forward to
Playing outside long
Puddle jumping
Climbing trees with leaves
Barefoot outdoors

Spring
Gentle rains
Fresh new air
Bird chorus
Friends on the street
School break coming
Birds nesting in the vents

I'm glad it's Spring!

A few pictures from the last few weeks

A play dough afternoon:

 A new species of deer...

Actually, a whole bunch of new ones!

And then a more conventional creation - 

A bowl of fruit.

Back yard critter watching afternoon:

A rare chipmunk

Usually we have 2 squirrels

who have visited so often

they now have names...

 A visit to the river

An almost balmy Spring day

Obsession with rocks

Collect 'em

Chuck 'em

Chalk 'em

Name 'em

Carry them home?!?

Yep, they did. Three a piece, no less!

 Independent Aiden

thought it was time for a snack...

 An Imma treat

An afternoon at the Nature Museum

A visit with the dinosaurs

Pleased as punch with the deer displays

(well, caribou, but just as good)

Fully boy, Aiden most enjoyed

priming a volcano 

and blowing it up!

And the growling, burping bear

That you have to feed up for the coming winter

By scanning cardboard food items...

And after that,

Fully 3 years old,

He spent his time

Writhing on the floor

Asking "how long is this going to take?"

"Are you done yet?"

"Can we go home now?"

But since we went to McDonald's

On the way home

He was quite mollified.

And we all had a great time there

learning new things

seeing incredible displays

trying out

an odd assortment of

hand-on activities.

Thank you, Imma!

Easter Garden Video

We made an Easter garden this afternoon!  Not at all like I remembered, with a walk in the woods to discover any spring growth and to harvest mats of moss for our hillside and tomb.  But quite successful and satisfactory for all creators none-the-less.  Grace and Jasmin decided to make a movie tour of their creation:

Imma's Here!

Aiden so excited to go pick Imma up
It wasn't till we were leaving out the door
That I realized he thought we were going on the airplane!

Still, he was quite content to be the proud first greeter
To not be competing with big sisters straight away
And he made the most of it -
No room for words from mom to Imma all the way home.

Amazing things happen when Imma is here
Bed times fall at the right time more consistently
Meals appear more quickly - and sometimes without my help
School goes slower and calmer - but we finish the day's work all the same

Late night talks and companionable silence
The sharing of household tasks builds a smoother rhythm
Industrious crafting picks up again
Kids seem to disappear less and want to be around more

Wood walks and river trips multiply
Biking and other outdoor play without resistance
How much is Imma's presence
How much is simply the hints of Spring?

Freedom for shopping or errands alone
No wasted brilliant sunny days for kids because there are mom jobs to do
What a much nicer smoother rhythm to family life
Why can't she stay longer? - or forever!