Parentheticals

The weather was really good this week. Because it was so good, we played outside a lot - many days we went mushroom hunting, and tried to find morels, but we didn't end up finding any yet. Tuesday nature group at the park went long, and Mike got off work a little early, so he met us at the park. Then we decided to pick up fast food on the way to Dimple Dell and hunt morels for the evening. It was a nice evening. Alison started to attend a water aerobics class this week. She developed Symphysis Pubis Pain this pregnancy for the first time, and all her normal forms of cardio hurt. Water aerobics was recommended by everyone she asked, so she's excited to try it out for a few weeks. Most of the water aerobics moves didn't hurt, which is better than anything else she's tried. On Friday we tried to go to the OBT and catch a show, however we decided to take the train, and the weather was so crazy that lightning struck the train lines, and the trains were no longer running ...

This week we celebrated Holy Week and Easter. When we told the kids that last Sunday was Palm Sunday, they got very excited. Apparently Rea and Sara at least remember some of our Easter traditions and were excited to do them again. That made Alison very happy. Mike was sick with a cold, so the kids took turns being the donkey for the Palm Sunday game. Then they went outside to find green things to wave while we sang "Hosanna" from the Children's Songbook. On Monday Mike was still feeling sick (as he had most of the last week), so he decided to take a sick day for himself. In the evening we talked about Jesus cleansing the temple and played a game of Clean Up Your Own Backyard with socks. Sara didn't want to play at first (she currently resents all organized games), but she got drawn in because it was so fun. We all enjoyed it. Tuesday we went outside in the rain at Wheeler Farm. Gideon actually made it a whole hour! He's hated being out in precipitation or ...

Last week we failed to post, so this is going to be a double post. This year Alison said that when Mike went on his week long work conference that she and the kids would drive out to Nevada to see her parents, but Mike's work decided to do an online week long training instead of a conference (it is cheaper), and it happened to be last week, so we all drove out to Nevada and visited with them for the entire week. The kids loved playing in the heated pool and hot tub, and walking around the lake which was full of all kinds of waterfowl. Mike's training went well - he learned a technology that he has never really understood, and it will be useful. Alison was impressed at how nice it is to live in a small apartment. We talked about if that was something we wanted to do at some point in our life. The maintenance needs of an apartment are much lower than a house, and as long as you don't want a goat, not having a yard is a nice plus as well. We spent Saturday with the Pou...

On Monday we went to Macey's and bought ice cream cones for Family Activity Night. Macey's smallest cones are a very nice size and only 50 cents each, so they're a good treat. We had fun. This was the last week to spend money and be reimbursed through the homeschool charter school we use, so Alison spent lots of time doing math to get all the best things. We got a bunch of books, another Kindle, and some math, botany, and French stuff. It's starting to feel like spring, so we played outside a lot in the nice weather. Our daffodils started blooming this week, and the kids were very excited, since they'd been watching them for a month and waiting. Gideon is at the age of wanting to pick every flower he sees, so we have to guard them from him, but they are beautiful. While Mike was milking earlier this week, he noticed that the goat that we have been calling Enchanted is in fact a male goat. Apparently Mike somehow messed up when he gender identified him. Because...