April Fools

April Fools!  But, it's not a joke.  There were Bloodroots bursting into bloom, a full three weeks ahead of schedule.  Here's a photo I shot with my iPod while I was out running.

It's terrible shot, I know, but I just had to have proof in hand that these little guys were really there on April 1. 

Seventy on St. Patrick's

Are we still in Minnesota?  I have never seen a winter like this, so I have to write this down. We have three days in a row with highs of 79 degrees, preceded by a week of 60's and 70's. I just looked at the forecast, and another week of the same is predicted. Yesterday, on St. Patrick's Day, the ice went out on the lake, and we had a bonfire in our backyard in the evening.

My onions, garlic and tarragon are up, and I even noticed a few weeds sprouting. 

Saturday and Sunday night, we slept with all the windows wide open, listening to the frogs in the pond. We were not cold. The robins arrived in full force last Tuesday, March 13 (after Monday's rain). The plants, animals, and I are lulled into a false sense that the calendar says May, but it's not. It's a little weird and scary if I stop to think about it. The kids were unable to have any outdoor hockey games this winter; cars were going through the ice on the lake in February. The kids got virtually no sledding time because of the warm winter and lack of snow. How will we pay for this unnaturalness, I wonder? A summer drought?

Compliment Gone Awry

Whenever I see Christian get that look in his eye and make a beeline to talk to a stranger, I know it's not going to end well {for me}. Tonight after church was over, I saw him heading toward a man getting up to leave. I trailed Christian just in time to hear him say with much enthusiasm, "You could be on the Biggest Loser!" Are you imagining me cringing? Oh my word. But let me backup and say that Christian meant this as the highest compliment. My kids love that show. Of course you can imagine it might not have been so well received. Thankfully for me, the man happens to have a son with Asperger's. I don't really know the family, but I'm hoping he didn't take the comment too personally, and maybe, just maybe, he even went home and had a little chuckle about it.

Christian does not have a mean bone in his body. He would never intentionally hurt anyone's feelings. It's just that he sees the world so differently than the average person. After all, how could anyone not want to be on that popular TV show?

Leap!

Anna has begged to take dance forever {too many Angelina Ballerina books!}.  Finally this winter, we let Anna step into the world of dance via a community education class.  The students had their final class today and got to show the parents a few moves. 

I was a little frightened at how well Anna had this move down.  Look at her shaking those hips!

Even though the kids didn't learn anything very technical, Anna gave it her all.  Her enthusiasm was something to be proud of.

But truthfully, I wish I had signed her up for the six-year-old class because being with a whole lot of preschoolers was a little boring.

Crazy Day at School

Cursive

I remember last year, one of the boys told me, "[classmate] writes her name in cursive."  They were impressed.  But hey, she had an older sister to teach her, and her name is only four letters long.  The other night Christian showed me he could write his whole name in cursive.   For some reason, I think he's starting to like cursive, even though he dislikes writing in general. 

Then last night, Ehren came home with his name written in cursive on both of his math worksheets.

I like it!

Anna Hits the Slopes

Please, Dad, please.  Will you take me skiing?  When, Dad, when?

Even though her brothers didn't get to ski until they turned seven, Dad finally agreed to take Anna skiing for a few hours on her day off school. 

Lucky for Dad, Anna's a good student.

Lucky for Anna, Dad used to be a ski instructor.

Ready?

Here we go!

This is the life, baby!