weekly summary, week #25, spring #1

Ok, so this may not look much like spring, but this is the reality of early spring in New England. And we're cheating a bit, given that spring doesn't really roll in until later this week. But this was our weather this week -- it would snow a little, the sun would come out and melt it, the clouds would roll in and snow a little more. On and off all week. "Sugar snow!" J claimed, quoting the Maple Sugaring books we read all week.

And, truly, it was. The cold nights and warm days of late winter/early spring in New England is the time for the gathering of sap and the boiling of syrup. Our curriculum story this week was the Enki Nature Story, "Sugaring Time", and our Family Story Time books supported it: Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur, illustrated by Stacey Schuett; Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Doris Ettlinger (yet another one of the My First Little House Book series that we so love); and the wonderful Sugarbush Spring by Marsha Wilson Chall, illustrated by Jim Daly (by far all of our favorite, although we love all 3 of these books). We also attended (as shown) a fabulous program on Maple Sugaring at our favorite park and nature center, which can be read about in detail here and here.

We topped off our week of sugaring activities by making Maple Sugar Candy. I was dubious about boiling down syrup into sugar in my kitchen, but it came out REALLY wonderful! I think we'll make it a yearly tradition. On Saturday night, we had one final telling of "Sugaring Time" by the fireside, while munching on popcorn topped with Maple Syrup. We're looking forward to getting more of a jump on the sugaring season next year, and plan to tap our own trees and make our own syrup.

Here are this week's wet-on-wet watercolor paintings -- on top is J's creation, on the bottom is Zoo Boy's. They continue to really love the entire process of this painting technique, particularly Zoo Boy (which I find both surprising and delightful!). We also began our Raven and River Adventure Circle, based on the book Raven and River by Nancy White Carlstrom. (I will try to get some photos in the coming week and talk a bit more about the details.) It's an early spring adventure, where we take the role of various animals and try to wake the sleeping river from under its blanket of ice. GREAT fun, and a huge hit with the kids. In fact, we had a bit of a sick day on Thursday, due to J having a cold, and instead of the circle, I simply read the story to them. But the boys jumped in and did various parts of the circle as I was reading, and both of them have spent some time "practicing" pieces of the circle on their own throughout the week.

We also paid a visit to the "special" dinosaur exhibit at the Springfield Science Museum as a family this weekend, to mixed reviews. (Kids love it, adults were bored to tears.)

And just because I know everyone wants a Budgie update! The babies left the nest box this week, and are working on fledging, pumping their little wings and, so far, getting nowhere fast. They are now starting to eat on their own and are about 3/4 the size of their parents. They soon will be ready to go to their new homes (although Blueberry, shown here, is going nowhere -- we'll hang onto him ourselves). We (or should I say, I) also introduced two new Budgies to our fruity flock as well, Coconut and Blackberry. Have I mentioned that we love Budgies??