Root River bike ridin'

From our Palm Sunday trip to Lanesboro and the Root River trail:

The kids enjoyed doing some exploration off the trail.

Once one had a picture taken on the log, EVERYONE had to have a picture on
the log. We drew the line at Alleluia Boy going out there...

Our turn-around point, about an hour up the trail from Lanesboro.

This should have been predictable, right?

We thought this sign was funny.

After our long, really enjoyable bike ride, we went out for pizza at a local joint that shall remain nameless because its pizza was not worth the money we paid for it, by a long shot.

This was a great afternoon, though...biking through the countryside with nothing but meadowlarks, spring peepers, red-winged blackbirds, and the wind and sunshine all around.

Apple blossoms

Pictures of apple blossoms from the trees in the backyard. This is by far the earliest they've ever bloomed -- usually we see them blooming in May, but they're already fading and it's only mid-April!

The unusually warm weather forced them to bloom early. During the three nights we had serious hard frost threats, I tried to save them by covering them and putting large amounts of warm water under them. We'll know in a few weeks whether that was effective...if so, we might have an apple crop this fall.

Jaybird: Annoyed at not being part of the family before her birth

Where has Gracewatch been lately??? I have all sorts of wonderful video/photos and stories to tell, and so little time to tell them! All I can say is that lately my kid-free time has been limited to MAYBE an hour in the afternoon and an hour after bedtime...which gets sucked up into other things, like doing our taxes! I promise I will catch up soon.

Having said that, I couldn't let this one wait.

So...we can generally expect a fit/tantrum from Jaybird about once a day, usually after school when she is "done" in terms of her energy for being good (they have gotten less frequent and less severe over time). It's hard to know what will trigger these. Yesterday, it was dehorning paste. Yeah, I don't know what it is either, but it was in a bedtime story we read ("Betsy's Up-and-Down Year"), and she found it VERY UPSETTING.

Today she was looking through our 2004 family journal; after half an hour, she came stomping into the kitchen with a scowl on her face. "WELL. How can this be a FAMILY journal when I AM NOT EVEN IN IT???"

"Oh, this is from 2004, honey...you weren't born yet."

"Well, couldn't I have even been in mama's womb???"

"Uh, no, not yet."

"You mean...YOU DIDN'T EVEN KNOW ME???"

"Nope. We don't know you were going to come along."

Slight pause. Then: "Waaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" And Jaybird exits the kitchen, hysterical at the thought of her non-existence in our lives....

....only to re-enter fifteen minutes later, dropping the family journal open-faced on the table and folding her arms across her chest, still scowling.

"I would like you to read this page, please."

So I take a look. Turns out she had drawn a picture of the whole family...including herself...and inserted it into the sleeve for the first page of the journal.

I have not laughed so hard in many, many, many days. I am still laughing. And I suspect I will be laughing over this for many years to come.

And yes, Jaybord, your picture will stay exactly where it is. : )

Don't Let the Jaybird Stay Up Late

True story!

Found this book completely covering this sleeping child's face. I pulled the book down a little for the sake of the picture, which wouldn't have looked half as good if it had just been a book in a bed. : )

The winter (and spring?) that wasn't

Well, everyone around here has high compliments for whoever is in charge of the weather around here -- they're calling it the winter that wasn't, which suits most of us just fine, although it did have some downsides for our family...like we bought all the kids fancy new (used-new) skates that they could only use a handful of times because the ice wasn't deemed "safe" by Parks and Recreation until the third week of January...and then it was deemed done for the season by the last Wednesday in February. Whoever heard of such a short skating season? And we had very little snow, which meant very little shoveling...but also only one trip to the sledding hill. What is this, Iowa???

Now we're experiencing an unprecedented spring, with record highs (daytime highs and nighttime high minimum temps) for the past few weeks. On Friday, I noticed that our strawberry plants were up and already the size of dinner plates. Today I noticed that the apple trees, lilacs, and other bushes and trees are beginning to leaf out. We actually hit 81 this afternoon.

And it's March 18. Generally, this time of year, we're dealing with late-winter snowstorms, or at least lots of mud and puddles, and frozen garden beds.

Last Wednesday, the kids got out their swimsuits and slip-n-slide.

So I planted sugar snap peas and lettuce on Friday, because there is no sign of this unusually warm weather letting up...they're forecasting temps to moderate, but stay about 10 degrees above normal. We're not forecast to come anywhere near a freezing temp in the next ten days.

Tomorrow I think I will plant beets. In the meantime, here are some of the photographic highlights from our winter that wasn't.

January 1 - Skating at the municipal ice rink because the ice on Lake Winona
wasn't deemed safe enough. Jaybird has improved in her confidence, moving up
to single-blade skates.

Playing in the driveway on January 10. Note the lack of snow. Or coats.

January 20. At last, real snow! At least three inches! Whoa, break out the snow
plow! Or at least the little shoveler! Alleluia Boy is always happy to help.

Then again...eleven days later, and we've survived our worst cold of the season.
Back to no coats....

February 2. A sort of cold day while visiting the Twin Cities, so we thought
we'd visit the Centenniel Lakes skating canal (this is a manmade pond/canal
behind some upscale stores, with piped-in music and fancy landscaping).
Nope, no luck. CLOSED, due to thin ice. In the Twin Cities. On Feb. 2.
And in Edina, of all places! (Inside Twin Cities joke there.)

February 23. Need I say more?

The sandbox is always most fun first thing in the spring.

Jaybird and her friend set up the very first lemonade stand of the season, probably in the entire city.
March 6. And they got quite a few takers, too!

First dinner on the back deck, March 11.

Little boy likes climbing all over the play equipment now...

...and trying out his big sister's scooter.

Mouse doing public art on the sidewalk in front of our house.

Our first "away" picnic, Wednesday, March 14.

Alleluia Boy frequently walks around with his hands in his pockets...strolling along, looking
around like he owns the place.

And later the same day...swimsuits and a makeshift water slide, all before
St. Patrick's Day.

Bear gives a homily, Mouse gives him lip

We had an interesting family prayer time tonight.

Jackrabbit was gone so it was me and the kids.  We read the gospel for the day, which is what we typically do, and then I got ready to do a short discussion about it.  The gospel was Matthew 9:14-15.  But Bear piped up and said "I want to do a homily, you know, for practice in case I become a pastor."  Well, hard to say no to that, so I nodded and he stood up before us.

First off, I have to say, I've heard worse.  :)  But it was also funny, primarily because Mouse was being a cut-up that she never would have done in the church itself.  But Bear opened that door.  Well, me too.

He made two points (with much earnest hand motioning throughout).  First: the reason we fast during Lent is that we are waiting for the resurrection.  The wedding feast, he said, is like Easter.  And who fasts on Easter?  Jesus is with you then, in a new way.  So: you fast during Lent.  Then Easter comes and ... drum roll... it's like a second Mardi Gras!  (and he begins dancing in place)

As Mouse and I laugh, I say, Bear, they're going to throw you out of seminary if you try that one.  Which caused Bear to fall on the ground laughing.

Bear tried to compose himself and continue the homily's second point, about how to fast and how not to fast.  When you're fasting from chocolate, he said sagely, don't go into Chocolate World.

Mouse: Chocolate World?
Bear:  Yeah, it's a store.  (Mudpup in background: Choc-o-late!  Choc-o-late!)
Mouse: Well, there's nothing wrong with going INTO the store.
Bear: Well, true, but you want to avoid the temptation.  If you really want to avoid the chocolate, you don't want to go near things that make you want to give in.  Especially when you're older and you know there is a dark chocolate aisle there.  (Mudpup: Choc-o-late Mama!  Choc-o-late Bear!  Choc-o-late Mouse!)
Starling: Yo, Mouse.  Most parishioners don't talk back to the priest when he's doing the homily.
Mouse: I would if Bear were my pastor.
Bear: You're totally not coming to my church, Mouse.

(If you're wondering where Jaybird was, she was having a bad night.)
(They were also much more serious about intentions afterwards.  It was just a funny few moments.)

Bear usually says he wants to be a computer person of some sort.  But it was fun to see him "try this out."

--Starling

Hello again!

Whew, it's been a long time since I updated our family journal! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been busy to overflowing with volunteer responsibilities, plus adoption stuff (including learning Russian). I will probably remember this past six months as the straw that broke the camel's back when it comes to volunteering -- I am scaling back as much as I can, and saying no to everybody!

What's been happening in the past few months? Mostly, Alleluia Boy has just been exploding socially and verbally. He interacts with us much more than he did before -- we have little vignettes of conversations. He is stretching in every way possible...sometimes overreaching, but that's what it takes to grow up! (He likes opening the refrigerator and investigating what's inside. He'll peer in and comment on thing: "Oh!" he says. The other day, he tried taking out a full gallon of milk -- it tooj him down!) For as much trouble as he causes (we finally had to put away the radio, before he destroyed it), he sure is cute...always with a smile or a joke. His latest catch-phrase is, "Oh...nice!" Sometimes he draws out the "nice" for emphasis, which just cracks me up. The other phrase that cracks everyone up (particularly the kids) is "ketchup," which he pronounces exactly like "shut up."

Beyond that, I suppose the other notable thing is our complete lack of a winter. (Although as I write this a winter storm is SUPPOSEDLY bearing down on us.) We have had no appreciable snow accumulation, and very mild weather. This means that we've only been sledding once, and only ice skating a few times -- the outdoor rink at the lake didn't even open until mid-January, which is unheard of around here.

I'm calling it a day for now, but I hope to catch up on posting over the next few days.

Here's a sample of what I have been working on for the kids' school. I edited this video (and took the interview footage):