Poetry Debut

Peter was supposed to be doing his handwriting today, but was preoccupied with thinking of April Fools jokes.  So I helped him write a poem, and he cheerfully did a whole lot of writing and language arts!  Here it is...

You might be an April Fool

If I cut the leg of your stool,

If I make your shower suddenly cool,

If I saw the handle off your tool.

You might be an April Fool

If I fill your glass with drool,

If I dunk you in a pool,

If I play a trick in school.

You might be an April Fool,

But if you laugh, I’ll think you’re cool.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

This is a fun day when you have a kid named Patrick whose favorite color is green!  We had our corned beef, colcannon, and soda bread for dinner last night.  But we started out today with green oatmeal.  And I couldn't resist a few pictures of a chubby little baby in a green diaper!  :)

2 Moms and 9 Kids... Go Bowling!

What fun!  Be sure to watch the video at the end.

The blowing air was fun for the little guys.

Even Jacob enjoyed himself!

Boys in Motion

Peter and Dad's "special time" became a little more interesting when Billie broke down.

A slug just before its painful demise...

Our walk was sunny but turned a little wet just as we started.  Jacob's first ride in the backpack, and he loved it!

But our efforts were rewarded with a pretty rainbow...

... and tired kids.

self portrait

The photography gene must have gotten into Mathew too.

Picking up slimy things with MY mittens.

We snuck in a trip to the playground in between rain showers.  Jacob loved the swing.  He's not an infant any more!

Busy swinging boys!

Wrapped up "like a baby"

Mathew decided he was a big boy and could sit on a stool.  So he officially abdicated the high chair to Jacob.  If you've ever tried to borrow "his" high chair, you know that this is a monumental event.

At least Peter will slow down for a good book.

Colombian Cooking and Other Fun Stuff

I was in a rut with cooking, and since we've been learning about Colombia, I decided to try some new food this week.  So far it's been pretty good.  We've had chicken & rice, arapes (the kids' favorite), fried plantains, and papa turmada (shown below).  We also had a cake to celebrate Peter finishing his math book in school.  Patrick was excited to find this stick that's his age (4) when he was helping Dad with the firewood.  We've also been playing in the snow and trying to stay warm.  Mathew had an exciting weekend when he grilled his butt on the space heater (he didn't like my idea of drying off with a towel) and summoned the fire department to church.  Ahh, one day he's going to accuse me of making up all these stories!

Vibrating the Air

Peter was completely intrigued when I told him that he could vibrate the air.  We talked about frequency, and I explained that he could make the air particles vibrate back and forth 440 times per second.  "Wow, that's really fast!"  We had a great conversation about sound waves, but eventually he caught on that I was telling him to go practice his violin, and a little of the enthusiasm faded.  But all that hard work is paying off.  This is the song he played at his studio class last night.