Feederwatch

This year we began participating in Feederwatch, which is a program run by the Cornell Department of Ornithology to collect bird counts at feeders across the country.

On two consecutive days per week, we look out the window and count the maximum number of birds of any particular species that we see at the same time. Then at the end of the two days we submit our counts online. We can watch for as long as we like. Our cumulative time is probably less than an hour each day.

Last Monday we had a snowstorm, and we saw 13 species of birds with a total count of 65 birds. That was really high, because we had a group of red-winged blackbirds and a group of robins show up. Most days we seem to have between 5 and 10 species for a total count of about 20 birds.

It's been fun, though. Lee can recognize all the common species, including male and female morphs, and Clara likes to watch and count too.

A Hairy Woodpecker and a Female Cardinal

Nataly

Lee has a pen pal, Nataly. She's a Honduran girl who lives in Flores, the town where my church is very active.

Here is Lee's first letter to Nataly.

A Typical Week

I think there's a tendency for me to only blog interesting things, so I thought for the record's sake I should, every once in a while, write down what we do during a typical week. So, here goes.

I usually wake up early (between 5-6 am) and read or do some things on the computer. I used to go to the Y twice a week but that hasn't happened the last few months as I've just been so much more interested in getting exercise outside, even in 10 degree weather. I have to figure it out, as we're paying the Y nearly $90 a month and only using it to swim on Mondays at the moment.

The kids are now sleeping wonderfully late, usually past 7 and sometimes until 7:30. When they get up, I will often get them going on breakfast and then go out for a run or walk. Bridges wakes up with them and mucks about upstairs for a while (checking email, getting showered, etc....)

On TWF Clara goes to preschool, which starts at 9 am. Until then the kids usually play in their pyjamas. It's a very relaxed morning. While Clara's at school, Lee and I typically hang out here and do reading, math, science, etc...There's the occasional doctor appointment. Wednesdays Clara is now staying for lunch and Lee and I go skating over the lunch hour.

Mondays when Clara does not have school, we stay here for a while, and then we go to the Y. I do a lap swim first, then I swim with the girls for an hour. We get home in time for lunch (once a month or so we have lunch at the 99). Thursdays we were babysitting Alistair in the fall but that's not happening this month, so we've been having Thursdays free which has been nice. Yesterday we went to the MFA. At this point I think Lee would get much more out of museums like the MFA if Clara weren't there, so perhaps Lee and I will start going on our own while Clara's at school.

Clara has just dropped her nap, so suddenly we have early afternoons free. This has been a time for me to catch up on things, work out in the basement, or spend time with Lee (I often read to her or we play games). This week we got together with friends one day, went grocery shopping another, went to the library another. So I'm looking forward to having this time a bit freed up, although of course it's hard to lose that nice quiet nap time.

But, oh, Clara is falling asleep before 7:30 and it is wonderful! We put Clara to bed early, and then I have time to read to Lee, and then she's asleep around 8 and Bridges and I suddenly have an evening back again!

Let's see, as far as late afternoons, this is what's going on. Mondays Lee takes a ceramics class at the Hayden. Clara either plays with the other kids there, or we go sledding which has been fun. Tuesday afternoon Lee now has French tutoring from 5:15-5:45 which means we can get together with a friend or just hang out here before then. Wednesdays we all go to MGC. Clara has her class at 3 pm and Lee at 3:15. We get back around 5 pm. Thursdays we have been getting together with friends on Thursdays or hanging out here. Fridays I drop Clara at Nicole's and bring Kiersten and Lee to MGC.

Monday evenings there is usually something going on (PNS meeting, council meeting for Bridges, my book group). Tuesdays I now have Masterworks Chorale rehearsals (I just joined and we're singing Verdi's Requiem). Wednesdays Bridges tries to go rock climbing but does not always make it. Thursdays we're sometimes home and sometimes doing something social. Then it's the weekend!

Oh, at some point during the week I bake, cook, clean, pay the bills, grocery shop, etc....I don't know when that happens.

So that's our week. Probably not interesting for anyone but me later on. :)

Mary and Joseph

The kids take on multiple personae during their pretend play now.

Of course, Little Ruff-Ruff and Sister Ruff-Ruff are old favorites. Sister Ruff-Ruff has now taught Little Ruff-Ruff all sorts of tricks, and training goes on at some point nearly every day in the basement.

Since the Christmas pageant, they've also pretended to be Mary and Joseph, although only in the morning while they're getting dressed. For some reason unknown to me, Clara (aka Mary) must be half-naked, with her pyjama tops inside out on top of her head like a hat, and her bottoms inside out on her bottom half but with Tiger stuffed in the front. I gather she's supposed to be giving birth to Tiger. After that the fun begins. Joseph then runs around full of hilarity and tells Mary what to do.

Hopefully God won't be offended.

Wachuset Snowshoe

Dave, Dan, Bridges and I snowshoed up Mt. Wachuset last weekend for Bridges' birthday. Hanneke kindly agreed to watch the kids most of the day. We had high hopes of doing Monadnock, but the weather was bitter, and knowing how icy and exposed it is on top, we opted for a shorter, more protected hike up Wachuset.

The weather was beautiful, if a bit cold, with clear blue skies and nice powdery snow. It felt great just to be outside.

The Four of Us On Top

The Birthday Boy

The Windmill "Farm"

Dave Getting Ready

When we returned, Althea stayed with the kids while we all went out for a bite. A very fun day.

Wednesday-Friday

This is Bob, who occasionally sits for the girls. They adore him. For some reason they call him "Wednesday-Friday," and he in turn calls them "Tuesday-Thursday" or "Saturday-Sunday."

New Year's at Loon

We spent the weekend of New Year's Eve at Loon with Dave and Meredith. It was a lot of fun, with a nice mixture of snowshoeing, skiing, games, conversation, wine, fondue, and fun in the snow.

Dave Sledding (on a plastic bag)

Mer Enjoying the Snow

Lee with her Icicles

Another Game of Candyland

Reading Time with Dave

This Couch Just Sucks You In!

Warm Me Up, Mer-de-dith!

The weather was actually fantastic; not too cold with a foot of snowfall over three days. We got the girls out on skis for the first time, and it went really well. Lee skied a bit three days in a row, and she was really starting to pick it up by the third day. Clara just wanted to hang out between your legs and go fast, which, while fun for her, was not so fun for our backs. But they both loved the chairlifts. All in all it was a rousing success.

There was a fair amount of excitement too, involving our definitely not-four-wheel-drive car, which was incapable of getting up the hill to leave without some pushing from Dave's CR-V (although thankfully it did get us there when we arrived). We also got locked out at one point and had to call the reservation folks for spare keys (because I completely forgot Bridges' Dad had told me about the location of the spare key). And, on the last day, as I was bringing Clara back down to the condo via a crowded blue run, I made a sharp turn to keep us from falling over, and a kid completely took us out, which resulted in some bruises for both of us and lots of tears for Clara. It didn't help that when I got back up and started down again I didn't have my skis on all the way and the first turn I took we instantly went down again.

Oh, and I forgot the part about bushwhacking through the woods with the kids and all of our equipment to escape from the terrain park. I think we could laugh about it now, but just in case I won't go into the details.

Little Gymnasts

Hexagons!

This is my first post in a very long time, and it's going to be a completely inane one because it's too overwhelming at the moment to try and catch up. I'm just going to jump on in.

The kids nickname their favorite cereals, and Barbara's Shredded Oats is called "Squares" because it's square-shaped, although also puffy. Then we introduced them to Barbara's Shredded Spoonfuls, which were promptly nicknamed "Flat Squares."

But, as Bridges pointed out, that is not quite accurate, and so now the kids say "Hexagons!" in the morning. It's quite funny actually (in a geeky sort of way).