Orange Crush

Told the girls not to touch my orange tree, but apparently Z wasn't listening: she ripped a total of four oranges off.

Hands-On Library

Our local library has monthly themed activities geared towards homeschoolers, and if you're willing to trek to the different library branches around the metro area, you could attend a different program every week.

Last week, we learned about body germs as regards to sneezing and coughing, the general spread of them through bad hygiene. I suppose normally this would be appropriate for the height of flu season, but because of the mild winter and early spring, most people are suffering from allergies, not sickness. Then the kids made "snot", which was meant to be a reaction between borax and glue (in water), but was unsuccessful because the borax wasn't properly dissolved. I told the girls we could try again at home.

Some of BB's artwork, I particularly like the prancing posture of the ballerina.

This week, we met our ballet classmate Lily to learn about glue (different library branch). We learned big words like "adhesive" and "collagen"; how they used to make glue (by boiling the bones of animals to extract the bits of collagen); early examples of glue (like in caveman paintings and Egyptian mosaics); and then the kids made glue using milk, vinegar, and a coffee filter. A bit messy, there were a couple of accidents, and smelly, but otherwise successful.

Doon-Doon

Back when Z and M sat next to each other at the dinner table, they liked to clink their water glasses together, probably in imitation of Drew and me toasting the day's saint. Don't know which one of them first started saying it, but whenever they clink glasses, they say, "Doon-doon." Sometimes Z will ask (in Chinese), "Do you want to doon-doon?" Or they have simply to say, "doon-doon" as their cue, and they'll clink glasses. Cute, but it got out of hand (as did the occasional fighting), so they had to be separated.

M's Gift

for Daddy's birthday:

Pee in the potty!

Pig-Pen

Within the last month M's been carrying her blanket around the house. She insists on having it with her when she gets out of the crib in the morning, and then might spend half an hour curled up with it on the floor.


Sometimes I'll see her absent-mindedly stroking one of the edges. And it seems no other blanket will do. One day at naptime, I couldn't find her blanket right away, she'd hidden it in the house somewhere, so I first put her to bed and grabbed Z's blanket. As I was leaving to find her "bay", I heard her yell, "NO!", and as I turned to look, she was standing in her crib, throwing Z's blanket onto the floor.

An Off-Spring

Came home (from Taiwan) to a full compliment of orchids, though fewer than last year's. And now this: a second branching of blooms! Never happened for me before, I wonder how many I'll get.

Sunday Best

G: Daddy, why do men like to be so pretty with their shiny belt buckle and their shoes with no mud on them? 

Heard

Two owls conversing early this morning. The one was so loud, he might as well have been right underneath our open window. At least they weren't howling/screeching like that first summer.

Spring Flower

Made these at library story time this week. Got to remember this little craft.

St Patrick's Day

A gorgeous day out, that Saturday was, we feasted on reuben sandwiches, salad, potato salad, and a colcannon that I made. For dessert – the Bishop gave dispensations –, there were shamrock sugar cookies, green rice crispy treats, and Irish car bomb cupcakes. Most excellent.