Ready for Circus Smirkus

Lee is going to go to Smirkling Camp this summer (just for one overnight). Circus Smirkus happened to be putting on a show in Braintree, so Bridges took the girls to see it. They both really liked it, and Lee is excited about being in the circus, and Clara can't wait to "be grownup" and go to Circus Camp with Lee.

The kids got their faces painted at the show.

Pile o' Mulch

And Now, for the Heat

85 degrees on Easter Day (which was April 4th this year) and 90 degrees on April 7th.

Spring is arriving about two weeks early. My daffodils opened up when they were about four inches tall and then proceeded to grow to full height in about two days. I think you could sit outside and actually watch things grow.

They say it's going to be a tough tick and mosquito season with all the rain and heat.

Here are the kids playing at the Arlington Res with Alistair and Sofia on one of the recent warm days.

Girls in the Neighborhood

Two girls who fall between my two in age moved in down the street. And their mom is laid-back and they're actually home quite a bit. Wow, six years of living in Lexington and we finally have some neighbor kids to play with.

They came over for the first time and within about thirty seconds they were all running around having fun. The child chemistry is really interesting, but it often seems that kids play together well only if a) they are not hanging on to their mother, and b) they are not bossy or physically rough. Well, these girls meet both criteria and it was just awesome.

Here they all are, playing in the water being pumped out of our basement after the 50-year-flood.

Adalie

Esme

Clara

Lots of Little Things

Lee likes to play with lots of little things. Lots of different little things. All mixed together. This creation (I believe it was a castle) was actually quite organized. It consisted of Polly Pockets, shells, beads, sequins, and some other odds and ends.

Inevitably, it's time to clean up (I do usually give her a few days). "Nooooooo! It's my castle. It goes together!" So this time we resorted to dumping everything together into multiple ziploc bags. Oh, what a mess. But a few days later she took out the bags, dumped them out, separated everything, and put it all back where it belongs.

Although, then again, I haven't checked her bed lately. My little magpie.

The Cardboard Box as a Canvas

Clara's Creation

Lee's Creation

Drawing Easter Eggs

Before Easter Lee wanted to wrap some gifts (mostly odd bits of pottery she created in class) for various people. She asked if we had any wrapping paper with Easter Eggs on it. No, I said, why don't you make some? I had no idea she would spend hours covering about seven pieces of tissue paper with eggs, each one different.

Wrapping Paper for Daddy

There was a jack-o-lantern egg, an angel egg, a fish egg, a butterfly egg, and

on and on. I especially liked the black-and-white holstein egg that says "Moooo." Her creativity was pretty impressive, although at one point she mentioned she was running out of ideas. I told her she could recycle ideas, that great artists did that all the time.

Easter

We spent the night at Uncle Dave's in Rye, so we had Easter morning there, and then we all met in New Castle for an Easter Egg hunt and dinner.

Here are the girls in their Easter dresses (the bunny is one that I believe was Grammie's as a little girl).

The kids all had a great time playing with the long swing out front. Here the boys are diving to get out of Lee's way.
Clara looking adoringly at her cousins.

Lee nimbly gathering candy.
The aftermath of the Easter Egg hunt.

Grammie and her cake.

Cock-a-Doodle-Doo

Today I was woken up at 6 am by wild turkeys. Yes, in Lexington. I knew they were wild turkeys because I had seen several wandering around just three houses away a few days ago. Where they live I have no idea. The conservation areas closest to use just don't seem large enough to support a turkey population.

But anyway, I was lying there a bit grumpy about the whole thing, when I said to Bridges, "And we're thinking of moving to a farm?"