Tenth Birthday Photo Shoot

Boris turned 10 yesterday. I had a seminar, Jay went to a concert, and the kids stayed with my parents, so the poor cat spent his birthday evening alone.

Alice tried to make up for it by making him the star of his own photo shoot.

She is a very serious photographer.

She tried several angles and actually got Boris in several shots.

Boris, of course, never seemed to think it was odd to have two cameras taking pictures of him at once. He must remember the days before we had children!

Happy birthday, Bobey!

Inside Outside

Upside down.
(She does this every time we get in the elevator.)

Now that the weather is getting nicer we don't spend as much time inside. When we do, I still find the kids in the sunshine.

And since it's spring, some of the outside has been coming inside. After killing a ton of ants, I put this one om the counter and told Jack I was hoping it would scare the real ones away. He didn't realize Jay had sprayed, so he was pretty impressed with my plan when we woke up to an ant-free kitchen.

Wheelbarrow rides are one of Alice's new favorite things!

I hope you are having beautiful weather where you are!

Freezer Finds

I found this in my freezer!

This was in there, too!

I struggle with my freezers. I love being able to cook ahead, and it's even easier now that we have an extra freezer in the garage. Unfortunately, though, once I put something in there, it may or may not see the light of day again. That pork loin in the first picture? It had been in there for more than a year! The blackberries for the pie? They were picked last summer. (Ha! I just noticed that I said I would use them in a pie in that last post!)

Tracey passed on a link to some great household organization sheets the other day, and I printed off the freezer sheets and went to work. I was amazed at what I found in there! Hopefully having a current list will help me to make better use of what I have. I've printed off a list for the pantry--which may even be more of a trouble spot than the freezers are, if you can believe it!

Spring Cleaning

I don't know about where you live, but here, it looks like spring. I've been working on a bit of spring cleaning and decluttering.

This book came highly recommended by two friends, so I ordered it. I was a bit intimidated by the cover--if a woman has gotten rid of the vowels in her name, you know she's hard core. It's actually a really good book. She has a web site, too, which I will check out one day when I am not squashing ants or wiping noses.

I was also inspired by some of the Spring Spruce Up blog entries I read earlier in the week. I was shocked to find there was a blog all about laundry! I actually don't mind laundry, but when the laundry room gets cluttered, it makes things rough, so that's where I decided to start.

After many long years, I have a laundry room that is actually a room--not a closet, not a hole, not a walk-through room from the garage, but a real room with a window and everything. I love it. When we moved, we got a new washer and dryer and they are both top-loading, which means I can't sit stuff on top of the dryer, like I used to do in the last house. And every apartment we've ever had.

But never fear! There is a counter top to clutter up! I am working on it slowly, and believe it or not, this picture is an improvement over what it has been lately. The cabinets above hold all the art supply stuff the kids use; the cabinets below hold Bobey's litter box.

Now I even have a bar for hanging things! I really do love this room.

Now I'm on to the school room--I got inspired by Amber's notebooking post and I have some other ideas to work on to cut down on clutter.

Happy spring cleaning!

Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires

Truthfully, I think Alice is more of the Ramona in the family, but when we were reading Henry and the Clubhouse, he thought Ramona's imitation of Smokey Bear was so funny he had to try it himself!

Nature Study: Baby Style

In case you weren't aware, it's a law that you have to "do" nature study if you're a homeschooler. Well, maybe not a law, but I would guess that 90% of homsechoolers would tell you they do it, and probably at least half of those actually do.

We're all for nature study around here. Both kids love being outside and exploring. We used to attend a nature study group on a regular basis, but a couple of things have deterred us lately: the weather and Alice. Honestly, I'm just not up for taking two kids out in freezing temperatures when it's guaranteed that one will want to run far ahead where I can't see him and the other will poop as soon as we're in the middle of the woods. There's a lot to explore around the house, though, where kids are free to run and diaper changes are easy!

While Jack was playing with the neighbor, Alice and I had some neat finds in the flower bed. She loves the caterpillars--but she still won't hold one.

We came across a snail! He was still in the same area when we checked the next day!

We also found a dead wasp and of course, an ant. There are always ants here. Always. Later in the evening, we dug around and found a giant worm--at least 3 inches long.

There's lots to find in your own yard, so take your kids out--however young they may be--and enjoy!

Spring Fever

My children have been felled by the vicious Spring Fever. Symptoms of this disease may include (but are not limited to):

Trips to the playground in flip-flops

Ditching footwear altogether at the playground

Twirling around the yard for no apparent reason

Digging out the Easter baskets and finding new uses for them

Having school outside

Trying out sunglasses

Excessive use of the swingset, even after the sun goes down

Should your children experience any of these symptoms, put them outside immediately and for as long as possible. The disease should wind down once temperatures reach the 90s.