SPRING
Well it is fully spring here, or at least it has felt that way lately. It was in the high 70s for the last half of last week and we have been outside constantly. Sunday both kids actually cried because I hadn't let them watch any TV for a full week because everytime they would ask for it I would rant about how nice it was out and since we live in darn near the arctic circle we should be out enjoying what little nice weather we get. Poor kids, I am so turning into my father.
Last Monday, we went to Como Zoo with my dad. The funniest thing that I can remember is that baby was walking along holding hands with us when he stopped and wouldn't walk over a grate in the sidewalk. Cows won't walk over such things either, so it is interesting to see where cow and eighteen month old logic intersect. With some coaxing he finally did it, and then immediately went over it again several more times to see if it would still work.
It was great to spend time with my dad and the kids dig it too. He has so much great outdoor knowledge and respect to share with the kids.
Tuesday we went to the Minnesota Zoo with my friend Lori and her kids Chet and Annabel. After that, the kids and I walked and rode bikes to the playground. I then got called in to work a night shift that night so...
Ryan stayed home Wednesday. We were supposed to have Malcolm the full day as he was off school on Spring Break, so his mom dropped him off in the AM. I had planned to take the kids to the Science Museum and suggested that Ryan do so instead. Instead he took them down to the river for the first time of the year.
Our family has always had a close relationship with the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi near the Lake Street Bridge since Ryan and I were 19 and 25 and first lived 2 blocks away from it (we are a little farther from it now). We used to take our first puppy down there back then to run around and have always gone down there to explore ever since. Malcolm has been there several times with us and it is the inspiration for our school's name.
So they had a fabulous time of course, and came home 4 hours later filthy, exhausted and hungry. They brought back the usual muddy treasures including a coconut shell. It was really hard to talk them out of their ideas that it had floated up the river from the ocean from Hawaii or that there was a lone coconut tree somewhere on the riverbank that we just hadn't found yet.
Thursday, was a really beautiful occasion for me! A friend was kind enough to not only invite my TWO oldest kids to her son's MN Zoo B-day party but also to PICK THEM UP and take them there for me!! It bought me like 3.5 quiet hours with just my baby. We played outside, did housework inside and then topped it off with a lovely quiet walk around the neighborhood on which he fell asleep and then I had SILENCE at my house! I just can't express how awesome it was! It brought back memories of when J was a baby and I was home with her.
I think of myself then, 21, feeling like I was a kid playing house but trying so hard to be a good mom. I wish I had relaxed and enjoyed her more, but I really felt the stigma of being a young mom and felt like I had to do twice as well as anyone else to avoid being judged harshly.
Back to the weeks events. Friday we just hung out at home and went on two long walks to a different playground and the corner store. I worked that evening and stayed late till 3am. I worked late because they were short a nursing assitant for nights so I stayed to help in the nursery.
This weekend we worked on the yard and spent time helping Zeff learn to ride his bike. Yes, at 4yrs and 2 months he can now independently ride his two wheeler which has been useless since he insisted on the removal of his training wills 8 months ago!! It was so fun to see his pride in his new accomplishment and watch him go from feeling very anxious and tense about riding to confident and enjoying his new ability.
I got my compost bin moved and had two wheelbarrows full of great compost to put on my vegetable garden. I also dug a trench around what was our scarlet runner bean teepee last year and worked 3/4 of a wheelbarrow full of compost in there. We are planning a sunflower hut and Zeff is especially excited. He is just enchanted with the idea of a flower house.
Joss has even planted a row of peas though it is quite early for it. If the current weather holds, or even if it stays above 40 they will be all right. They are in a sunny patch at the former site of our compost bin so if they don't freeze they should do tremendously.
The kids have been having fun identifying birds by sight and by call (mostly cardinals, but also blue jays and house finches), digging in the dirt and finding, capturing and observing many disgusting, I mean interesting insects and worms. We have had centipedes and this disgusting blobby white thing with and this other thing with pinchers. I need to find a better insect ID book! We mostly have books about insects in general and these aren't working like a field guide, which is what we really need. I should check at No. Miss. Regional park, home of the awesome nature backpacks and see what they have in the bug backpack again.
Today was nice. Zeff started Magic Treehouse again, about which he is thrilled! He loved it in the Fall and then I made a serious mistake and had him try a different park n rec preschool program for the Winter session. He absolutely hated that one and we ended up pulling him out because he was so freaked out about going. This class is perfect for our goals for our kids. Very fun, creative play with little to no academic focus. Today they acted out stories (per Zeff) and all the boys had spiderman stories and all the girls had princess stories! When I got there they were all sitting under the table eating their lunches being mice.
Rachel came over, we picked up Zeff and ran errands then came bakc and had smoothies and cucumber sandwiches. Played in the yard till it started raining after that. Rachel left and Ryan got home early.
My neighbor Noelle then watched big kids (her friend Vanessa and her 3 were also over) while baby napped and Ryan and I power cleaned. I put away all laundry and swept and mopped and cleaned the bathroom. Ryan folded laundry and cleaned and vacuumed living room. Then went and had tea with the other moms while our 9! total combined kids played in gleeful anarchy. That was really fun as there were an 8g, 7b, 7b, 6g and 5g in the older kids group and 4b, 4b and 3b in the little kids group which is who baby played with, though he ran up and hugged his sister whenever the big kid tornado swirled by him.
Well, I fell asleep early, then woke up in the middle of the night cuz I was hungry and have now eaten, blogged and read other people's blogs so I am going to bed!
Peace!
Well it is fully spring here, or at least it has felt that way lately. It was in the high 70s for the last half of last week and we have been outside constantly. Sunday both kids actually cried because I hadn't let them watch any TV for a full week because everytime they would ask for it I would rant about how nice it was out and since we live in darn near the arctic circle we should be out enjoying what little nice weather we get. Poor kids, I am so turning into my father.
Last Monday, we went to Como Zoo with my dad. The funniest thing that I can remember is that baby was walking along holding hands with us when he stopped and wouldn't walk over a grate in the sidewalk. Cows won't walk over such things either, so it is interesting to see where cow and eighteen month old logic intersect. With some coaxing he finally did it, and then immediately went over it again several more times to see if it would still work.
It was great to spend time with my dad and the kids dig it too. He has so much great outdoor knowledge and respect to share with the kids.
Tuesday we went to the Minnesota Zoo with my friend Lori and her kids Chet and Annabel. After that, the kids and I walked and rode bikes to the playground. I then got called in to work a night shift that night so...
Ryan stayed home Wednesday. We were supposed to have Malcolm the full day as he was off school on Spring Break, so his mom dropped him off in the AM. I had planned to take the kids to the Science Museum and suggested that Ryan do so instead. Instead he took them down to the river for the first time of the year.
Our family has always had a close relationship with the Minneapolis side of the Mississippi near the Lake Street Bridge since Ryan and I were 19 and 25 and first lived 2 blocks away from it (we are a little farther from it now). We used to take our first puppy down there back then to run around and have always gone down there to explore ever since. Malcolm has been there several times with us and it is the inspiration for our school's name.
So they had a fabulous time of course, and came home 4 hours later filthy, exhausted and hungry. They brought back the usual muddy treasures including a coconut shell. It was really hard to talk them out of their ideas that it had floated up the river from the ocean from Hawaii or that there was a lone coconut tree somewhere on the riverbank that we just hadn't found yet.
Thursday, was a really beautiful occasion for me! A friend was kind enough to not only invite my TWO oldest kids to her son's MN Zoo B-day party but also to PICK THEM UP and take them there for me!! It bought me like 3.5 quiet hours with just my baby. We played outside, did housework inside and then topped it off with a lovely quiet walk around the neighborhood on which he fell asleep and then I had SILENCE at my house! I just can't express how awesome it was! It brought back memories of when J was a baby and I was home with her.
I think of myself then, 21, feeling like I was a kid playing house but trying so hard to be a good mom. I wish I had relaxed and enjoyed her more, but I really felt the stigma of being a young mom and felt like I had to do twice as well as anyone else to avoid being judged harshly.
Back to the weeks events. Friday we just hung out at home and went on two long walks to a different playground and the corner store. I worked that evening and stayed late till 3am. I worked late because they were short a nursing assitant for nights so I stayed to help in the nursery.
This weekend we worked on the yard and spent time helping Zeff learn to ride his bike. Yes, at 4yrs and 2 months he can now independently ride his two wheeler which has been useless since he insisted on the removal of his training wills 8 months ago!! It was so fun to see his pride in his new accomplishment and watch him go from feeling very anxious and tense about riding to confident and enjoying his new ability.
I got my compost bin moved and had two wheelbarrows full of great compost to put on my vegetable garden. I also dug a trench around what was our scarlet runner bean teepee last year and worked 3/4 of a wheelbarrow full of compost in there. We are planning a sunflower hut and Zeff is especially excited. He is just enchanted with the idea of a flower house.
Joss has even planted a row of peas though it is quite early for it. If the current weather holds, or even if it stays above 40 they will be all right. They are in a sunny patch at the former site of our compost bin so if they don't freeze they should do tremendously.
The kids have been having fun identifying birds by sight and by call (mostly cardinals, but also blue jays and house finches), digging in the dirt and finding, capturing and observing many disgusting, I mean interesting insects and worms. We have had centipedes and this disgusting blobby white thing with and this other thing with pinchers. I need to find a better insect ID book! We mostly have books about insects in general and these aren't working like a field guide, which is what we really need. I should check at No. Miss. Regional park, home of the awesome nature backpacks and see what they have in the bug backpack again.
Today was nice. Zeff started Magic Treehouse again, about which he is thrilled! He loved it in the Fall and then I made a serious mistake and had him try a different park n rec preschool program for the Winter session. He absolutely hated that one and we ended up pulling him out because he was so freaked out about going. This class is perfect for our goals for our kids. Very fun, creative play with little to no academic focus. Today they acted out stories (per Zeff) and all the boys had spiderman stories and all the girls had princess stories! When I got there they were all sitting under the table eating their lunches being mice.
Rachel came over, we picked up Zeff and ran errands then came bakc and had smoothies and cucumber sandwiches. Played in the yard till it started raining after that. Rachel left and Ryan got home early.
My neighbor Noelle then watched big kids (her friend Vanessa and her 3 were also over) while baby napped and Ryan and I power cleaned. I put away all laundry and swept and mopped and cleaned the bathroom. Ryan folded laundry and cleaned and vacuumed living room. Then went and had tea with the other moms while our 9! total combined kids played in gleeful anarchy. That was really fun as there were an 8g, 7b, 7b, 6g and 5g in the older kids group and 4b, 4b and 3b in the little kids group which is who baby played with, though he ran up and hugged his sister whenever the big kid tornado swirled by him.
Well, I fell asleep early, then woke up in the middle of the night cuz I was hungry and have now eaten, blogged and read other people's blogs so I am going to bed!
Peace!
posted by KatyM @ 12:50 AM
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