Breathtaking

The spring flowering trees are stunning.  I just can't say that enough this year!  This was our last great outing to savor the sights and smells before the cold rainy days came on us.  Most of the petals are being replaced with leaves now, but with a flow of photos like this one.... I can go back and savor them all over again.  And look how cooperative my kids have gotten with smiling for the camera!

Bits & Pieces :: Early May

* Chloe loves almost every book by Bill Peet.  She grabs a stack and sits down like this most days to flip through every single one.

* Our house has been lovingly decorated by Chloe and her bundles of flowers.  She snips and arranges and places these beautiful vases all over the house.  Right now the vases are overflowing with lilacs and branches from the flowering plum in the backyard.  On the honey jar below, she dismantled one single rockcress flower from our neighbor's yard (she wouldn't miss just one, right?) into 5 little hearts and taped them on there :-)

* Chloe's second little tooth on the bottom is finally loose!  Her grown up tooth is growing up behind it swelling up her gums pretty badly, but she's not in pain.  Well, except when she tries to eat her daily carrot. 



* Out in Edinboro, Todd has wrapped up his part of this enormous project.  Just waiting on carpet :-)

* The kids have been enjoying playing with neighbor friends most nights after dinner.  They taught them how to play "Panther and Mouse" (which they learned from Grace and Anna originally) so there is a bunch of growling and squeaking for a hour or two and then it's bedtime.



* We joined Bryce and Ajay at the playground one day and all was great until Evan overworked his arms and his shoulders were really sore.  After that he just moped around until we left.  I guess when you are 9 1/2 the monkey bars are really the only reason to go the playground and without those... well, blah.

* The Cubee collections still get almost daily playtime.  The other day they made houses for them on the couch complete with guards, pets, weapons, beds and treasures.  Naturally. 

* Evan recently made a goblin Cubee of his own design -- inspired by his new most favorite ever book, The Hobbit.  It's really ugly and makes him laugh.



* The backyard with all its swings and our fabulous dirt patch is really the only place to be on a beautiful day.    If only mom would stop spying on us with the camera....

Spring Blooms

Spring is beautiful this year -- sunny and full of flowers!  Chloe loves flowers maybe more than I do, and she also has become quite adept at using my camera.  So, yesterday she played photographer on our walk to admire the lovelies in the neighborhood.  Here is some of what I found on the camera mingled with the ones I took.  Enjoy!!

 {All photos of flowers were taken by Chloe 

with the exception of the pink dogwood 

close-up and the red tulip with 

Chloe's hands holding it open.  

Didn't she do great?}

Currently

Usually my "Currently" posts are updates on random happenings that don't necessarily show up in photos, but are cute and worth remembering.  But lately since the weather turned warmer, the kids have spent every possible moment outside.  It's been really nice for me, being able to sit on the deck, rest, do yardwork, housework and meal planning with minimal interruptions.  The only problem is that I am lacking in the random tidbits about my kids.  One thing though, that we always do together, multiple times a day, is sit down together and read aloud or to ourselves.  So this is What They Are 'Currently' Reading instead.

He ::

:: has been listening to Todd read The Hobbit each night before bed.  Then, when we lay down to cuddle he tells me everything that happens with insanely accurate detail.  He really loves this adventure!

::  loves old fashioned cars and Tin Lizzie is one of his favorite books.  The drawings are so detailed and the story is wonderfully told.

:: loves all things anglerfish and I finally found a great book called Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea that depicts every grotesque creature God put deep in the ocean.  He is always looking at it.

::  is on a Magic School Bus kick again.  There are 6 books in this series that are excellent (minus the teacher teasing that goes on) and he reads and re-reads them and asks me to read them too.

::  surprised me with his interest in Miss Hunnicutt's Hat which we must have read two dozen times.

::  reads Island Boy, They Were Strong and Good, Petunia and Mouse Tales to himself.  I'm so glad he enjoys picture books -- too many kids get pushed into chapter books too soon and give up these wonderful stories (a lot of which aren't really appreciated by the under 8 crowd).

:: will be starting The Wizard of Oz as a read-aloud with me as soon as he is done with The Hobbit.

She ::

:: really enjoys the Betty Bunny books.  We have all three out of the library at the same time, and she hands me the stack and asks me to read them everyday. They're really funny.  (Thanks to Liz for the recommendation :-)

:: uses field guides on birds and butterflies on a regular basis.  She always grabs a few new ones whenever we are at the library.  The smaller the better. She also really likes the Diana Hutts Aston books, especially her new one A Rock is Lively which is filled with gemstones!

:: has rediscovered The Big Treasury of Little Animals all over again. I often catch her flipping through it just enjoying the gorgeous photography that tells a story without the words even being necessary.  She particularly favors The Little Kitten.

::  likes The Old Woman Who Named Things, The Quiltmaker's Gift and Tikki Tikki Tembo which we check out frequently and no one tires of hearing them.

::  picks Barbaro: America's Horse every night for her bedtime story.  I wish I knew what kind of magic she finds in that book.  It is her most favorite book.

::  loves fairy tales like Twelve Dancing Princesses and Cinderella (both illustrated by Ruth Sanderson)

::  will be joining me and Evan for The Wizard of Oz soon and I know she'll love it.

Mud, Glorious Mud

They've been in car city all morning making mud, digging tunnels under roots and playing cars.  I had to force them to eat around 2pm since they forgot!  I'm thinking I won't see them till dinner.... whenever that ends up being :-)