Blizzard of 2016

Winter Storm Jonas hit us last weekend and left us with about 20 inches of snow.  The kids were super-excited to play in the snow and help us shovel out(!)

After chores, we went over the playground to play on the snowslide!  Sean got the first turn but then the kids happily took turns...

Sean and Thom John started work on an igloo:

Sunday morning was bright and sunny and the day was actually pretty warm so the snow started to melt almost immediately!

We went to the backyard to make a snowfort

and a throne for the snow queen inside the snowfort

and a Basilisk (or "Basilips") to guard the snow fort.

The kids and Daddy worked more on the igloo and started another igloo so we ended up with a little igloo village in our front yard.

We went inside for hot chocolate (with marshmallows!) and crafts.  Then the boys watched football (Sean's so into the playoffs!) while the girls watched "Frozen"

Crafting and a new snack

When picking up our CSA box last Saturday, the farm had out samples of red, orange, and yellow watermelon.  Clare decided she liked yellow the best and Sean wasn't really a fan of any of them - he's more of a cantaloupe kind of guy...

After we get our "farm box" and whatever else (e.g., extra tomatoes and white sweet corn), we got ice cream!

We went home with a yellow watermelon, btw - it tastes just like a regular watermelon but it's yellow. Strange.  But tasty.

The kids got to work putting together a birdhouse kit and painting it - they we so nice to each other despite sitting in the same chair (which could have gone very badly)

We also did this melted crayon canvas craft - we hot glued crayons to a canvas and then melted the crayons with a hair dryer.  Once the desired level and pattern of melty-ness was achieved, the canvases were done.  Note - the crayon will SPLATTER everywhere.  This is an outdoor/garage craft for sure.

First Dance Recital

Clare has been taking dance classes every Monday during the school year.  There are only five girls in the class - four pre-kindergarteners and Clare :-)  Her teacher put together a little recital for the girls' families in May.  Sean was very happy to support Clare at her first recital:

Clare's teacher taught them some jazz, ballet, and cheerleading and the recital was a little bit of everything.

Her teacher also worked with the girls to improve their flexibility and helped them perfect their splits:

Here are some videos of a few of the numbers.  Here's Jazz:

 

The Kitty Cat Pounce:

Ballet and a solo performance:

After the performance, we got to congratulate the little dancer while she enjoyed her lollipop and showed off her ribbon:

Farmer's El Opening Day

Hooray!  It's really Spring now!  On the first Saturday of May, the Farmer's El opened up and the kids were very excited to get back to the market.  Sean looked forward to kettle corn and Clare looked forward to a blueberry muffin and... clams!!  We went right after baseball on a warm, sunny morning.

Because it was opening day, there were some special additions to the market including a group having a fundraiser with facepainting!  Clare chose a rainbow for her cheek:

Sean also chose a rainbow...

...and Spiderman!

"Why did Seany get two face paints and I only got one?"  By the time I realized this (rookie) mistake, the line for face painting was rather long.  And we were hungry for lunch!

So we stopped at the Pour House for lunch...

...and Clare and I ducked into the bathroom and she got another cheek "face painted" and all was well :-)

To Catch a Leprechaun

To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Sean's teacher assigned an optional project - a leprechaun trap!  I asked Sean if he wanted to make one and he said yes! After we brainstormed together and I searched the Internet for ideas, we decided on a design. The design was also influenced by a tip from Sean's grandpa that leprechauns are not very good climbers unless they have a ladder :-)  Essentially, we'd lure a leprechaun with pennies as bait to the trap and up a ladder leading the leprechaun to the top of a tall oatmeal tub, and then the leprechaun would fall in and be stuck!

With Clare helping, we started with an empty oatmeal tub and began to paint it green...

...and then we took a short break for some drama over who got to use the purple paintbrush (hint: it wasn't Clare):

That didn't last too long and soon we were all calm and painting the tub green together :-)  Once it was painted, we set it aside to dry and focused our attention on the bait - shiny pennies!  But we didn't have any pennies that were super-shiny, so we took a little science break to shine up our pennies.  First, we made a solution of white vinegar and salt.

Next, we soaked 4 or 5 pennies at a time for about 10 seconds.  

Then, we rinsed the pennies in water.  

And finally, we dried them off and polished them until they shined bright enough to attract leprechauns.

After this, the kids messed around with the water for awhile before lunch and nap.  After nap, I took Clare to the craft store for some more decorations for the trap.

Later that evening, Sean started on the ladder...

...and the next morning, we got busy decorating the trap and setting the bait.

We added a rainbow for a bit of insurance that the leprechaun would follow the trail of pennies up the ladder to the rainbow.

And in case the leprechaun should approach the trap from the back, Sean wrote out a sign:

Finally! The trap is complete and ready for Sean to take to school on Monday.  On Tuesday afternoon, he told me that his trap caught not one but TWO leprechauns!  He was so pleased!

 And a picture of our little cuties ready for school (and parties) on St. Patrick's Day: