The sun is (sort of) shining through the hazy sky, and the kids are playing outside with light jackets on. I'm ostensibly cleaning house (though here I sit with a nursing baby dozing on my lap) and enjoying the open windows.

The dive headlong into our next math block has begun and I'm very proud of our progress. I realized that we've been too busy to really get down to circle time in the mornings, so we've been reciting arithmetic facts in the car and it's actually been great fun. I feel like we'll be done with fourth grade in total by June, and our second grade lessons are already winding down for the year. Next year will be first, third and fifth if the little one comes home from public school. I am so looking forward to the fifth grade. Botany! Geometry! I can't wait. (And, um, the future-fifth-grader is plenty excited as well, I think.)

We've also been mapping the Erie Canal for local history/geography. Having grown up here, I don't think I ever got a clear picture of the canal's significance, and it's fascinating to see how our local geography shaped, and was shaped by, the canal.

Another load of laundry is calling my name, so I'll end this post here. Maybe I'll get the hang of this "blogging regularly" thing after all.

So nearly a month has passed again, but I am still determined to start blogging more often. Hopelessly optimistic, that's me.

Our home school lessons have been on hiatus for a couple of very busy weeks. March was supposed to be a math block, and we'll be starting that tomorrow, pushing everything else forward a couple of weeks. My perfectionist tendencies go into overtime every time we have a math block approaching and I keep putting it off until I feel everything is perfect (which never happens, of course). I've decided we're just going to dig right in now and then if we don't accomplish everything we'd like, we can do a long, slow math block over the summer.

The kids adore math, so this is my problem, not theirs.

We've been doing a lot of reading aloud lately. Middle Girl is reading "When We Were Very Young" by A.A. Milne. She's very into poetry right now. Middle Boy is reading "Highway Robbery" by Kate Thompson. All three kids are currently enamored with "The Highwayman" by Alfred Noyes (as sung by Loreena McKennitt), so this book fits in perfectly. And Eldest and I have been reading Anne of Green Gables. Oh, Anne. My first literary love.

Eldest is also reading "Beowulf" (a graphic novel version), and "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing". Next up on her list is "Ella Enchanted".

Tomorrow Middle Girl is off school for conferences and I promised her I'd help her make her own knitting needles. I made a bunting baby for the little guy this week and I'm feeling very much in a handwork groove. Speaking of the wee boy, he's telling me he's ready for bed, so I'd better oblige him.

Oh, the Toddlerness of You!

It's been that kind of few months in which there has been much to blog about and no time to blog. The girls turned 6 and 10 at the beginning of January, but more on that later. The big news around here is the very first birthday of Sir Babypants.


The birthday ring and lemon cake:



For five seconds, he even wore his birthday crown:



Sweet potato soup is good birthday food:



And this one, I couldn't resist. Those eyes, swoon:



He is fearless, single-minded, happy and funny. Oh, is this boy funny. And he knows it. We just started a parent-child Waldorf class together, taught by a dear friend, our amazing kindergarten room teacher at LCG. He is having a fabulously good time there with all the other small people. At home, all he wants is to keep up with his siblings (who are luckily willing to slow down to a reasonable pace for him).

Still alive. Still, apparently, a horribly slack blogger. Sorry about that.

Too tired to update properly just now, but things are just lovely. From the sweet (fast) crawling baby who can stand on his own and teeter as he winds up his bravery to take those first few steps, to the kindergartener who is soaking up everything she sees and hears like a sponge, to the long-haired boy with a MUCH shorter hair cut, to the pink-and-black-haired girl who is becoming a young woman much faster than I ever dreamed. All lovely. And tonight, all very sleepy.

It's amazing what a little bit of a change in environment can do for my mental state. I did some rearranging in the kitchen today and removed a huge, clunking shelf unit in favor of a little table my parents picked up for us at a garage sale earlier in the summer. The difference is astounding. I cleared away all the clutter, and the window is no longer blocked, and my kitchen is now sunny and light and so dearly deserving of a fresh coat of paint (and some patch for the walls, and a new floor...).

Last weekend I was so blessed to spend time with a group of wonderful, amazing, talented, fascinating women that I've known for many years. There was wine, and baby cuddling, and so much conversation that at times I didn't know where to settle in for a chat. The hellmonkeys and I loved every minute of it. I am truly, truly lucky to have the friends I do.

In other news, I'm planning the upcoming school year, missing Eldest, who is away at camp for 2 weeks, and trying to fill as many donation bags of clothes as possible. The kids have outgrown so many things and they're all just piling up around us. I'm on a clutter clearing binge lately.

Oh yes, and there was cherry picking a couple of weeks ago.



The results were my first fresh cherry pie, which was delicious.

Our life in pictures

Because I've been too busy to document it any other way lately.

First outdoor fire of the year:



Sleeping baby:



That pretty much sums us up at the moment. If we're not doing, then chances are we're not conscious.

Little things I am grateful for:

* Two recommendations for the same doctor when I put out a notice that we're searching for a new ped. That fills me with confidence about making the call on Monday.

* A baby who stayed up late enough that I know he's going to let me sleep in a bit in the morning. (But not too long, because the small one has ballet.)

* Being able to see the end of this (home)school year and look forward to our summer activities as well as the year to come.

* Getting the oldest a spot in a limited (and very inexpensive) swim lesson program that takes place before she goes to Girl Scout camp. (Her swimming skills, or lack thereof, were an issue for her last year.)

* That Middle Boy got up there on stage and recited all of his lines for our class play. Even if he was pacing in circles the whole time, he DID it.

* That Eldest was willing and able to jump in at the very last second and play a part on stage when another student realized he'd be more comfortable helping out backstage.

* The camporee I coordinated (with massive help from other volunteers) last weekend being a huge success. And all those volunteers who did extraordinary jobs feeding and entertaining 130 people.

* My upcoming Daisy troop for next year. I'm so excited about working with the little girls.

I am an incredibly blessed and lucky mama.