March . . . in like a lion? Not so much, actually. We spent the first day of March in a rather spring-like state, with grass and melted sidewalks and only jackets to keep us warm (it was a bit chilly with only jackets, but we did it anyway). Callie keeps asking when it will really be spring, "since the groundhog said it was coming early but it's still not here!" We're still buried in snow at home, so any glimpses of spring we can get are most welcome. I guess we'll just have to wait and see how this moody month concludes. Until then, here's what we've been up to:
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| 3.1.19 (Sam is really into dinos lately, always asking to check out dinosaur books at the library and telling everyone about the plant eaters ("they're safe to stay by because they don't eat us") and the meat eaters ("like tyranosaurus rex!!"). This was a new one (to us) at the dino park - it's off at the far end of the park where we have never wandered till now, but it was fun to go pay it a visit this time.) |
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| 3.1.19 (and now you know.) |
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| 3.1.19 (my meat eaters picnicking in the back of the subaru (it was warmer there).) |
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| 3.1.19 (I love how Sam decorates his pizza - the pepperoni-mushroom-olive stack is his specialty.) |
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| 3.2.19 (spent a saturday morning at the bowling alley) |
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| 3.2.19 (ha! this cracked me up!) |
bonus video!
3.2.19
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| 3.2.19 (just finished these two - the first two in a series (of sorts), and I hear that there's a new one to finish it out coming this spring. I loved them! Kate DiCamillo has quickly shot up into my favorite authors list) |
bonus video!
3.2.19
(We've been hearing our owl friends a lot lately, but we don't see them as often
as we hear them. The other night I was in the garage and could hear one right
above me - it sounded like it was inside! When I came out, I could see one in the
big tree above the living room, and when I got inside I could see one in the big
tree above the garage - they were talking to each other! And it was so cool.
But this video is not of that evening. This one was taken when I went out to get
the mail after dinner Saturday night. I looked up and could barely see it in the top
of the tree. It was starting to snow, but I was able to catch a little hoo-hoo-ing.
So definitely turn up your volume for this one. And maybe zoom in if you can.)
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| 3.4.19 (he didn't even start out sitting up this time - after we dropped Cal off he said he was tired and curled up on the seat right then and there.) |
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| 3.4.19 (from a great collection of essays about reading and writing for children by Katherine Paterson (National Book Award and Newbery Medal winner) called The Invisible Child. I like the part that starts at "My preacher husband . . . ") |
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| 3.4.19 (. . . and this whole page . . .) |
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| 3.4.19 (. . . and ends at "who they are.") |
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| 3.4.19 (we made it back to Nordic for another Monday Night Ski - Sam is getting so good that we're definitely wishing we had two sets of skis for them so we don't have to switch off all the time. Next year, for sure!) |
bonus video!
3.4.19
(see what I mean about getting good?)
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| 3.4.19 (it was such a pretty evening!) |
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| 3.4.19 (so nice!) |
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| 3.5.19 (two kids on a heat vent. with books. be still my heart!) |
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| 3.5.19 (another good nugget from The Invisible Child.) |
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| 3.6.19 (she "mastered" (her word) her first crossword puzzle today! (her mom is so proud!)) |
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| 3.11.89 (I came across this photo when I was looking for something to post to invite family to my birthday dinner and thought the smile on Cal above and the smile on my 4-year-old self were pretty similar. The eyes, too. But not the color (or the color of hair). |
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| 3.6.19 (dinner was good tonight!) |
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| 3.7.19 (but really it was probably written in 1992) (I was writing up a blog post about my favorite spaghetti sauce and it prompted a memory of this page in My Book About Me.) |
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| 3.7.19 (too cool waiting for cal after school) |
bonus video!
3.7.19
(she's had a checkbox on her homework for the past few weeks
asking if she knows how to tie her shoes. We finally sat down
today to practice and she picked it up amazingly quickly - I showed
her once, walked her through it once or twice, and then she
was a tying machine!"
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| 3.7.19 (more from The Invisible Child - start with the last paragraph . . .) |
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| 3.7.19 (. . . and then this whole page . . .) |
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| 3.7.19 (. . . and then this whole page . . .) |
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| 3.7.19 (I loved the first paragraph of this one, too. Still from The Invisible Child). |
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| 3.7.9 (interesting stuff about "creative reading" - the last paragraph in The Invisible Child.) |
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| 3.7.19 (a few more quotes from some of her other books at the end of The Invisible Child. I love Katherine Paterson!) |
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| 3.8.19 (we needed new furnace filters in a bad way - this was mostly taken so I could remember the sizes I needed to find at the store) |
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| 3.8.19 (Sam's into writing lots of letters and numbers lately. I thought he did a pretty good job with most of these (a few had help).) |
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| 3.10.19 (I love this list Cal wrote out as we were waiting for church to start: *I can tie shoes* *All made by Callie* *I can draw stars* (she learned that one last Sunday during church doodle time) *I have grone* (she loves to check her height on our ruler every day (and sometimes more than that) to see if she is getting taller. And she is!)) |
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| 3.12.19 (walking teddy home from school) |
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| 3.12.19 (in desperate need of a haircut! - see that hat line?!) |
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| 3.12.19 (a little Tuesday evening skiing (and playing in the snow)) |
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| 3.12.19 ("I want to go skiing with Daddy!") |
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| 3.13.19 (Cal's homework sentences this week made me smile - I had to share this with Heatha since it was about her.) |
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| 3.13.19 (Minnie and Doll were having ski lessons today) |
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| 3.14.19 (not taken by me, but I love it so I'm sharing it - Heather sent this to me because she thought I'd like the crepuscular rays she saw on her hike. And she was right!) |
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| 3.17.19 (used one of my birthday mini loaf pans to make irish brown soda bread for st. paddy's day - it came out slick as a whistle!) |
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| 3.16.19 (a few library faves this week - the lighthouse one is this year's Caldecott medal winner) |
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| 3.16.19 (after our bike ride/walk around the loop - I think this means it's officially mud season?) |
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| 3.17.19 (yum!) |
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| 3.17.19 (we went for a walk on the loop and then a walk to the park - and even though it still looks like winter, we are feeling the springtime itch big time!) |
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| 3.17.19 (the snow being so deep under the monkey bars made Cal extra brave to attempt them (they were just a bit too high for her liking last year) - and she rocked it!) |
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| 3.17.19 (deep dino!) |
bonus video!
3.17.19
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| 3.17.19 ("I drew some dinosaurs!" - my favorite is his stegosaurus on the right in pink and purple) |
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| 3.17.19 (Cal made up this springtime song on our walk (after we saw some robins) and wanted to make a poster to teach the kids at music makers this week (insert heart eyes!)) |
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| 3.18.19 (my birthday gift from Heather W. arrived today - she gave me an amazon gift card and I picked out a new purse!) |
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| 3.18.19 (Lots of inside storage) |
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| 3.18.19 (and these zippers on the side open up to make it expand if needed!) |
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| 3.18.19 (voila! I love that I can fit everything I need when it's in its small form, but I also love that if I need it to be bigger I can make it so) |
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| 3.18.19 (terrible selfie to show the size relative to me - I took all these photos for Heather O. because she is in the market for a new purse, too. I think I sold her on this one! haha) |
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| 3.18.19 (our after school adventure was a compromise between these two: Cal wanted to go on a walk to pick up trash "to help the earth" and Sam wanted to go on a bike ride around the loop. Put 'em together and we were all happy! Sidenote: their camelbaks were empty and apparently just for show on this outing. But they sure look cool!) |
bonus video!
3.18.19
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| 3.18.19 (trash queen! this was all her idea and she carried the bag for 3/4 of the way around the ~2 mile loop. Also, she only collected on one side of the road - we'll have to go back around on the other side and see if we get any more!) |
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| 3.19.19 (we had a free morning so that meant cookie-baking! I wanted to post the recipe on the bistro, so I snapped a couple pics . . . including this gem!) |
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| 3.19.19 (little miss bookworm enjoyed her cookie, too, between pages in her latest Junie b. Jones book) |
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| 3.19.19 (a little pit stop on our bike ride home from dropping Cal off at school) |
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| 3.19.19 (we had to check on the lake levels - it's starting to melt down there!) |
bonus video!
3.19.19
(just listen to that - sounds like spring to me!)
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| 3.19.19 (we walked/biked over to the park to soak up the sun . . .) |
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| 3.19.19 (. . . and ride on the snow-free and car-free surfaces.) |
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| 3.19.19 (but the snow wasn't stopping him) |
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| 3.19.19 (another fun one from my high school friend, Ty. (I'm going to claim the connection as long as I possibly can, even though I haven't talked to or seen him since I graduated, probably.)) |
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| 3.19.19 (one day before the super worm moon) |
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| 3.20.19 (first day of spring plus super worm moon equals pretty special sky tonight) |
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| 3.20.19 (another day, another book - I was on a roll this week! (though I stayed up till 2 am to finish this one - oops!) This was the 2019 winner of the Newbery Medal and I really enjoyed it.) |
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| 3.21.19 (second day of spring vibes.) |
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| 3.21.19 (I had to snap this since my facebook memories brought back so many springy looking photos from this day in years past (see below).) |
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| 3.21.15 (on the bike path in Colorado before we moved to Eden) |
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| 3.20.16 (almost "on this day", but close enough - crazy to see that big ol' gnarly tree again) |
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| 3.21.17 (roasting marshmallows?! we can't even see our firepit this year!) |
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| 3.21.18 (the kids have been begging for deck lunches this week, but I haven't given in, given that we still have a giant snowbank next to the deck and it's quite cooling to sit next to it.) |
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| 3.22.19 (some more from the wonderful picture book biography list from read aloud revival.) |
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| 3.22.19 (a few other fun ones we've enjoyed this week) |
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| 3.22.19 (we got to see Mugs in the Hurd section at the USU vs Washington game in the first round of the NCAA tournament - we were so excited about the Ags getting back to the Big Dance, but unfortunately they weren't able to pull it out against the Huskies zone D. So the fact that we got to see Megan a few times on TV (the TV people loved the aggie fans), certainly became the highlight for our watching party.) |
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| 3.22.19 (oh yeah, this happened - that's a pedal bike and this is his first attempt to ride one) |
bonus videos!
3.22.19
(we were blown away how quickly he picked up
pedaling on a bike)
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| 3.22.19 (Gregg macgyver-ed up this stand that would keep his back wheel off the ground so he could practice the pedaling motion (he was still having a little trouble remembering which direction to push) |
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| 3.23.19 (I heard about this one on this year's ALA awards list (but I can't remember what it won). Whatever it was, though, I think it totally deserved it. I learned a lot and absolutely loved the photos and illustrations!) |
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| 3.23.19 (I had to share this with my mom since she has a cabinet of curiosities in her classroom) |
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| 3.23.19 (more cabinet of curiosities info) |
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| 3.23.19 (back at it!) |
bonus videos!
3.23.19
(I was amazed at the difference that happened just
overnight (and with a little bit of indoor pedal practice
on the stand))
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| 3.23.19 (Saturday afternoon - and he can't get enough!) |
bonus videos!
3.23.19
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| 3.23.19 (and then went to the park and he rode almost all the way home without stopping! he can't start by himself if he does stop, and he doesn't like to be too far ahead of the walking group, so Gregg jogged alongside him all the way home so he'd keep on pedaling.) |
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| 3.25.19 (Kim and Paul and the Wihongi boys invited us to go mini golfing with them on Monday evening. We met them at Boondocks and had a great (if rather crazy - Cal and Sam only lasted for 3-4 holes before they were running around like goofballs) time. Then we headed back to West Haven for a hot dog roast. It sure felt like spring!) |
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| 3.25.19 (I love his concentration tongue - it reminds me of my brother, Nate. haha) |
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bonus video!
3.25.19
(the final hole talked to you if you didn't
make it directly in the main hole - the kids thought
it was hilarious)
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| 3.25.19 (goofball city!) |
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| 3.25.19 (golfing goofball group) |
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| 3.26.19 (daffodils! it's spring at the temple!) |
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| 3.26.19 (cute purple flowers! it's spring at the temple!) |
bonus video!
3.26.19
(Gregg sent me this video while I was
grocery shopping after my temple night.
What was that about not being able to start by
himself? NBD)
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| 3.27.19 (we had a special visit from a firetruck (and its firefighters) to our music makers group on Wednesday - it was the last week of our spring/transportation themed month and it was finally springy plus we had a giant vehicle to climb in and explore! what a finale!) |
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| 3.27.19 (he was a little nervous to sit up so high, but once he got brave he couldn't be stopped) |
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| 3.27.19 (and then we played at the park afterward (by ourselves because apparently it wasn't springy enough for the others?) - it was sunny and warm and most of the snow had melted off the park.) |
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| 3.27.19 (two pedaling kids - what?!) |
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| 3.27.19 (I pushed the burley full of toys to the park while they rode (and I couldn't keep up!)) |
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| 3.28.19 (bread day! this was a test of my mini loaf pans and how much dough they needed to make a good loaf. it would have been better if I was more scientific about it and wrote things down, so I don't know if I can replicate any of these loaves again, but I do know that they all baked for the same amount of time as I usually do for a big loaf (30 minutes) even though they are smaller. Also, they were delicious!) |
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| 3.28.19 (after some rain in the morning it turned into such a beautiful blue-sky day! And look at that field - it's greenish instead of whitish! It's really spring!) |
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| 3.28.19 (some serious meltage has been going on at the park!) |
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| 3.28.19 (so nice) |
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| 3.28.19 (it's swing swing swing again!) |
bonus video!
3.28.19
(I am still flabbergasted at how quickly
he mastered this two-wheel pedal biking thing.
His first try was not even a full week ago!
And now he's riding like he was born on a bike.)
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| 3.29.19 (a little art morning went down at our house this morning. these were all drawn (and labeled) by Sam without help. be still my heart!) |
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| 3.29.19 (Callie came up with these adorable paper dolls and a house/storage contraption - an artist and an engineer! be still my heart!) |
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| 3.30.19 (closing day at Nordic was a bright bluebird day - Grandpa and Grandma Blanchard came to watch the kids on the snow) |
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| 3.30.19 (the kids pond skim set up off the magic carpet. no kids in our family tried it, but we saw a friend, Caleb, lap it over and over and over) |
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| 3.30.19 (Sam was excited to "ski with dad") |
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| 3.30.19 (she was warm) |
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| 3.30.19 (Paul and Kim hiked up the hill to watch the big people's pond skim) |
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| 3.30.19 (we came back home and Cal and Sam put on a bike show (with Sam's newly acquired pedaling skills)) |
bonus video!
3.30.19
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| 3.30.19 (proud boy) |
March may not have come in exactly like a lion, but it went out like a lamb, that's for sure!
LOVE these updates keep them coming!!
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