Weeks 8, 9, and 10: End of quarter 1

Weeks 8 &9 -- We finished up quarter 1... or at least we decided that we would take a break. Gareth attended a forestry program for Scouts, and earned most of his Forestry badge. It did not snow... much. I chickened out and did not take Farmerboy or Katydid to swim lessons on the day Gareth and Andy were at the Scout program, because taking 2 hyperactive 4 year olds and a 2 year old to any place with a large, deep body of water and no barriers is not my idea of a good time.

Week 10 -- we take a housecleaning "break". Mostly what we do is excavate the long hallway that serves as the playroom for Lego and Playmobil. (It has a door, so we can keep toddlers out.) It also seems to serve as the place where containers full of dirt, rocks, and worms are tipped over, if what I found in there is any indication. We also stripped the wallpaper off the boys' room wall, which was only half-wall papered because we'd stopped last year when it started turning out badly... and prepped it for painting. And we did an intensive clean of the family room, which also needs to be painted. Strangely, the family room doesn't look any better than when we started, but at least I know that the toys are all out from under the couch and the window screen and glass lamp shade are not full of dust and bugs. This is enough.

Weeks 8, 9, and 10 in a nutshell. :-)

A collection of photos from weeks 8, 9, and 10...

The biggest event: Gareth turned 13. I thought about making a big blog post, but... I was worried I might embarass him. So I'll just embarass him slightly here. ;-) 13 on the 13th...

And he even made and frosted his own cake ("Milk Chocolate Cake", from a 1950 Betty Crocker Recipe), by request. The cake turned out great. It didn't even stick in the pans like my cakes so often do.

I cleaned up and rearranged the nature area. From left: basket of river rocks, basket of feathers, basket of pine cones, plant press, tray with paper and pens for drawing, Timeline of Life, wooden trays of fossils. (It doesn't look this anymore, mostly due to use. I need to rearrange it again.)