Coloring Easter eggs

The big kids are getting good at this so the process feels less stressful even though there is more happening at once. 

 Nora made a solid colored egg in each available color.

The finished product always looks so cheerful.

 Happy eggs for lunches.

Turkey Trotting

Two years in a row makes this a firmly established tradition.

But if we run into bad weather it's one I'm ready to relinquish. This year that wasn't a problem and we had another lovely sunny morning for our walk. Penny walked some and rode in the stroller some. Millie and Mark stayed home with the actual turkey in the oven.

Henry did some running and was our fastest finisher. It's fun to see the costumes that some of the runners wear.

Art

The kids painted a couple pictures one warm afternoon on our patio.

 This is Helena's "two-legged dinosaur in the woods."

Cooking with water

One of their favorite warm weather activities is to take their dishes outside and play with water. For added fun I gave them some spices and loose leaf tea to mix in. They had a great time.

Running with friends

Another fun run, the last in our 8-day long "season." This time we met up with Grace and Ian to run. They are the ones that inspired this activity. This run doesn't attract a very large crowd. The weather was perfect and the kids had a great time. Ian led our pack and Henry came in second (about 12:30), Nora and Grace finished in about 15 minutes. Helena chose to walk just some of the course.

More running

An evening fun run this time. We met Mark at the park with a picnic dinner. The kids played while we waited for the run to start. It was windy but not cold.

Penny picked up seed pods while we waited for registration to open.

Henry was our fastest finisher. Nora came in just after 16 minutes and Helena was about 18 minutes again.

Running

The kids enjoy a 1 mile fun run and found one to participate in this weekend. The weather was warm and it was a nice morning to be out. Mark and I each had a stroller with one of the little girls.

Henry and Nora finished in about 15 minutes and Helena came in at 18. Afterward we went and picked up doughnuts.

Easter eggs

We colored our eggs this morning. I boiled 18 this year. We used crayons to draw designs on some of them. Penny really wanted a crayon, but this resulted in our only egg casualty. She was more successful at dying eggs. Henry specialized in blues and greens. Helena tried every color. Everyone had a good time and it felt easy to do this year.

Science Experiment

I had seen and bookmarked a post on microwaving Ivory soap and we gave it a try. It was fun, the soap puffed up impressively. It deflates pretty quickly and the soap feels dry and papery to the touch. The only drawback was that all of the perfumes in the bar were released. I don't think of Ivory as being very heavily scented, but our house (and for several days the microwave) had a sickly sweet smell. If we do this again it will be in the summer when we can open the windows.

Molasses cookies

December is a great month for baking cookies. These cookies are good all year, but they seem especially appropriate in the fall and during the holidays. The kids love rolling them in sugar. Helena helped me make the dough and everyone helped with the rolling.

Eggs

Easter is Sunday so it was time to color our eggs. Helena latched on to the red and used it to color all her eggs. We tried using crayon on them for the first time this year. I think it worked pretty well.

Thanks, Grandma!

For Valentine's Day the kids got some new Play-doh, perfect for a chilly afternoon.

Lumilyhty

The snow was perfect for packing today. The kids had fun making a snowman and snow fort and watching Mark use his snowball slingshot. And I made this little Finnish snow lantern.

Carving pumpkins

We had a volunteer pumpkin plant this year and harvested quite a few pumpkins. The kids each chose one for carving.
Designed by Henry, Helena, and Nora.

Recital Rehearsal

Dress rehearsal this morning at the park. Nora is so excited for the performance. We have been counting down for at least 10 days. She convinced me to stop for an iced chai on the way home because "today is her special day."
Watching another performance and waiting for their turn.And a video clip:



Remember last year?

Swimming School

Want cooler weather? Schedule swim lessons. There are 4 other little girls (including her friend Jill) in Nora's beginning swim class. Nora doesn't really like getting her face wet but she is taking it in stride and still having fun. Here they are pretending to be dogs as they make their way across the wading pool. Nora suggested they be lions when it was her turn.