The Fells

Clara gamely bringing up the rear

What better than rain boots and a lot of mud?

Big Rock

Clara gets a ride

Home School for Clara

I had to laugh the other morning when Lee said to me, "Mommy, Clara can count to 63!"

There they were, side by side at the easel, and Lee had written the numbers from 1 to 63 and was teaching Clara to count that high. This is exactly what Deb supposedly did with me when I was a little girl.

Clara is so interested in everything that Lee is learning. A few months ago she asked for her own workbooks, so I bought her a few Kumon books. But now, she wants the same books that Lee has. "When can I have my own math book?" she asks.

Harmony

The other day the girls were being very quiet (often a sign that something is up), and when I went to check on them, I found them sitting side by side, each intently coloring opposite pages in a coloring book.

It was so incredibly sweet. I know they'll have periods where they don't get along well, but they're so close now it's hard to imagine.

The Solar System

I bought a sheet of planet stickers. They are in scale, and even Pluto is represented, despite its new status as a "dwarf plant."

We decided to put them up on the windows around the house with an attempt to show approximate distances between. Well, that's a lesson.

Mercury, Earth, Venus, and Mars are all within about six feet of each other, and Mercury would be just a few feet from the edge of the sun. The Earth is 3-inches across, and given that the sun would be taller than the house. Jupiter is in the dining room, Saturn is in the living room, Uranus is all the way around the house in the bathroom, and if you continue upstairs and walk around the house again, Neptune is up there.

We left out Pluto.

Grrr.....

Clara, unlike Lee, loves to stay for lunch at school. Because Lee doesn't go to school and therefore doesn't need a lunch box, Clara's been using the purple insulated bag we own that has "LEE" written on it.

She's not too happy about this, and has apparently told everyone this. So, after a few comments by her teachers, I felt shamed into buying her her own lunchbox.

I wasn't actually sure where to buy a lunch box in town, but I happened to be in the toy store yesterday and asked if they had one. "I do, but I just have one left, " said the owner, and as she glanced at my cute little girl she kind of whispered, "but it's a tiger." The insinuation was that no self-respecting girl would take anything but a princess or Dora lunchbox to school.

"Perfect!" I laughed. Clara was thrilled. She took a Sharpie and wrote her name on the back, and took it to school today.

Good Guys, Bad Guys

There's been a lot of talk about good guys and bad guys around here lately. I think it began after watching Star Wars.

The other day they were involved in some pretend play, and I heard Clara say "No, that's a good guy. Good guys don't die."

My heart always hurts a bit when I hear them make statements full of such innocence. Those are the times I find myself wishing they just didn't have to grow up.

Clara's Latest Artwork