KC's a dancer and a singer...

You can't tell by this picture, but KC is dancing with his friend Leap, who is singing the Alphabet song. He decided to pop the fun frog into his mouth for his final spin, and I got the camera quick enough to capture it! He is really enjoying Leap, a gift from his Auntie.

By popular demand....

Here's the hair raising story...last Monday a.m.....light yellow=blonde. Last Monday p.m....platinum blonde...Tuesday afternoon...ash blonde rejected by hair, but changed hair to a previously undiscovered shade of gray, not a pretty sight and you'll note that there are no photo's of that frightening color. Tuesday night, tried to re=lighten hair...got a brighter gray. Woke up Wednesday a.m., scared myself when I looked in the mirror, colored hair at 5 a.m. a medium, rich brown, used highlights included in color I bought....and love it! It's fun, it's interesting, and most importantly, it is neither platinum blonde, nor gray!!!

Robbie's Garden

Last fall, Robbie's homeschooling revolved around cycles of nature. As part of the learning experience, he spent many hours planting bulbs around the yard. The greatest concentration of these were put in the front yard. Now, you can talk with a 9 year old about the promise that lies waiting in these strange brown packages, and the life that is hiding deep inside each lifeless-looking bulb...but all he knew then was that he had to dig, and dig, and dig, throw in some mothballs, and put in the bulb, cover, and repeat! He planted well over 100 bulbs, nearly all by himself. I got him started, but in the afternoons, after our lessons were over, he would spend at least 30 minutes a day planting bulbs, without my urging.

After a tedious, and not terribly snowy winter, one day we pull aside the leaf blanket we'd left on the garden and WOW! Green shoots are up all over the place. So the above is the picture of Robbie's garden taken just a few days ago. The small, multiblossomed mini daffodils are by now, but everything else is in full, beautiful color.

Robbie, a young man of few words, has got the gardening fever. How do I know? Did he jump up and down in pyroxisms of joy over the garden? No...he did not! Just not his style. He would come in and tell me when this flower or that was ready to burst into bloom, but when the Breck's Bulb catalog came in the mail last week, before I could look through it, Robbie got ahold of it...and made check marks on all the flowers that he loved. There were more check marks than I have money, lol, but in the end we compromised, and we each got several new varieties of tulips and daffodils picked out, which will come just in time for next season's homeschooling activities.

Bulbs are the promise that helps us get through winter here in New England. I'm so glad my son has felt the weight of that promise, and the joy of the beauty that those funny looking bulbs packed inside them. Behold Robbie's Garden, a parcel of peace and beauty, created by a young boy, who believes in promises.

KC's Birthday!

Wow, it's so hard to believe that KC is now 2. Of course, if you lived with him, you might have sworn that he was 2 several weeks ago...when he first began using, correctly, the word 'no'! And refusing to eat good food, and only eating goldfish, the crackers, not the real swimming kind, for days at a time. Small things, but glimmers of the separation that happens at this stage. Wasn't he just a 'wee worm', all wriggly and pink, just yesterday? The days fly by, that's for sure! So the above shows KC singing to us after we sang to him, the next pic is of all 3 boys working on the passing of the gifts, and the last is his birthday cake, which he wanted with 'colors', so I made a rainbow of colored sprinkles, which he adored!

All About Robbie!

Robbie has been taking courses at Wachusett Meadows, an Audubon Sanctuary since last fall. The last session has been on the native people of Princeton, and the settlers who came into this area. Since we have been on that same learning continuum, I was thrilled that WM was offering this as one of their homeschooling sessions. The first week the class focused on the native peoples of the Wachusett area, and they built a wigwam from materials garnered on site. The picture shows the wigwam framed, and with some bark on it. They ran out of bark...the wigwam was large enough for the 12 kids in the class, the 3 adult leaders, 4 or 5 parents and younger sibs to fit in, comfortably around the fire pit in the center! Rob had a wonderful time, commenting to me on the drive back home that he had gotten to use the saw to cut one of the saplings and "I didn't even get cut even a tiny bit" thank goodnes! Turns out one of the adults did cut themselves!
Wachusett Meadows has opened Robbie up to nature in a wonderful and positive way. In the second shot he is pausing during one of our family hikes there. Isn't he handsome as can be??!!

Sunday was....Haircut Day!

Oh My! Well, it was time to shave the boy's heads, and, while Robbie was okay with it, KC was far from amused by it. The first picture shows what he thinks of the whole deal, the 2nd is his displeased full frontal view!! Even one day later, he yells at his reflection in themirror!! The third picture shows Rob and Fergie posing with Rob's new and old hats. Ferg is more than willing to wear a Red Sox hat if it makes Rob happy...what a pair!

Jeepers Creepers!

If you look very carefully, on the left side of the tree, you will spy a wee brown creeper. I was outside in the backyard today, taking pictures of the brook, and this spry fellow nearly zoomed into my head! Quickly he darted away, landing on the tree away from me. After a few moments, he flew across the brook to the dead tree there. I've never seen a creeper in the yard before! Then the male cardinal came into the yard, too! A good birding day in the backyard!

Happy Ducks!

On our way home from Lancaster, where Chet works, we pass a large open field that is part of the floodplain for the lower Nashua River. Right next to the road is a small pond, and we have been watching the ducks there for the last 2 weeks. Today I saw my first wood duck! But it flew away when Robbie opened the van door for a better look with the field glasses. Perhaps it will come back tomorrow? We also saw a good assortment of mallards, with their irridescent green heads, and finally identified a single pair of green winged teals. Robbie snagged that id; he is really into birds! So the pix you see here are from our bird book and I'll try to get some real photo's of "our" duck pond another day!

A fun weekend visit to the Meadows

Wachusett Meadows had a wonderful Sheep Shearing Day event on Saturday. The weather was warm and sunny to start, but quickly became stormy as the weather front raced into the area. Still, we had time to watch a sheep being shorn, see a 2 day old lamb, have a mini-hike through the field to the frog pond, and run-run-run back to the car to beat the rain! KC loves dashing through the fields, and Robbie excitedly pointed out the first fat tadpoles in the pond! All in all it was a wonderful morning, and it was exhilarating to feel the push of wind and the dance of clouds as the rain swept through the area.