Spring is for flowers and kites and eclipses

By Easter Monday we were mostly feeling ok.  Bob was still not feeling 100%, so I took the three oldest to church cleaning and we took care of his Sunday school room with Heidi. 

Everybody went to school/work on Tuesday, but by Tuesday evening Cecily was sick.  mur.  She had a rough night, but was ok the next day and spent most of it frying her brain.  Note Perrin trying to get as close to the moo-ies as possible.  :P 

I was so paranoid that I would be sick next, but somehow I alone have escaped.  Last I heard, Jake and Jack also weren't ill... perhaps it's the superiority of names that start with J?  Anyway, we've all been healthy since.  :)  

Mister 'help-uh boy' is very enthusiastically unhelpful.  😆

Quick game of ring-around-the-rosie.  Applicable after our own personal plague. 

Koch Easter was the Saturday following, for brunch.  Perrin was interested in the egg hunt for about a minute.  :) 

 I was kind of excited about the eclipse....  these two were just excited to play outside. 

 

The shadows when we were at our most eclipsed were the coolest part.  They were so eerie.  

  

We made eclipse cupcakes, though they didn't turn out very pretty.  :D  

 

 Michelle and kids came over one morning to divide perennials.  

They wanted umbrellas because it was raining slightly- Perrin was most interested in pointing out each type of vehicle on his. 

It was windy one afternoon and they reeeaaally wanted to fly their new Easter kites.  It was probably too windy, but we tried. 

 

 

Kite flying is really a two-adult activity because as soon as I got one kite untangled, another one would need help, and nobody has any patience.

 

 Perrin was so excited to fly his kite, and I was untangling someone else's kite tails and he ran off, with the wind, and then let go of the string.  *sigh*  Off it went.  And there it stuck.  High up in Mrs. F's tree.  She's a gem though, and said it was decoration and 'we'll just have to let the Lord bring it down.'

Meanwhile, Bob found mushrooms this year!  Woot woot! There was great rejoicing.  

 

I took the girls to see Disney on Ice in Bloomington.  Since we were over there anyway, and it's only a few blocks from the arena, we went to the Old House Society store and I might have brought home a few more light fixtures.  The girls were marginally impressed.  I don't love crowds or stadium seating, so I was slightly flustered getting to our seats.  It was fun to discover that we were right in front of some people we know!

 

The show was really fun.  The ice skating is incredible, and the girls thought it was great.  They've been singing the songs non-stop since.  They all decided they were hungry and weren't impressed that I wasn't going to spend $16 on a commemorative bucket of popcorn.  

We got to introduce the Brakers to Firefly Woods after church on Sunday.  It was a lovely day for a walk, but it was hotter than we are used to. 

Their outfits all coordinate and it makes me laugh.

Most of them ended up with wet shoes and feet.... and mine were all wearing school shoes.  (why?!?)

This one just wanted to throw rocks in the water.

Bob had to jump the lawnmower battery... our neighbor was happy to lend moral support.  :D 

Emmy made herself a spring salad with dandelion greens and violet blossoms, then decided that the greens were too bitter after one bite.

The annual washing of the playhouse dishes ended up with them all getting soaked.

Candied violets...

 

Spring is my favorite and I hate mowing while the violets are blooming.  The yard looks so blousy frowsy in a good way and fresh and natural, and then mowing ruins it. 

 

 They have a house under the lilacs.  😍

 

 There were storms predicted, but then we never got much of anything but rain.  Instead the power went out for a couple of hours. 

 

 

 Bob hooked up our battery powered light bulb (I love it! So much light and less harsh than a lantern.) and we all hung out around it reading and knitting and driving cars.  We put three kids in the shower at once with glow sticks to save hot water, and then the power came on as soon as they got out.  :)

 I took three girls to Joshua's grand opening and we came home with three dolls.  That we didn't need, nor do we have anywhere to keep them.  *sigh*  They were so excited though, and it's never too early to foster an appreciation for antiques. 

Dang came over for a little bit one afternoon.  Miri got left behind when they went on a walk, so she made a dande-lion with me.  Somebody posted the idea on facebook and it looked like a quick easy project to cheer her up.  

 

I have been plugging away at Emmy's dollhouse.  This kit has so.many.pieces.  I feel like I've been painting forever.  I've been working on it (in very small amounts of time) for three months and it's still pieces all spread out while I prep everything.  😜

 

We made violet jelly (left) and tried lilac jelly (right) for fun this spring.  I like violet, it's got a tangy taste to it.  The lilac must be really subtlety flavored, because I'm not convinced that it doesn't just taste like sugar.  :P   And the color isn't very exciting... some recipes called for adding a few blue berries while it boiled to make it more pink and now I understand why. 

 

 Emmy got to help me replace the bath fan motor... she would have gladly passed being electrical assistant off to someone else, but Cecily was keeping Perrin occupied, and Cadence went to Menards with Bob, and Miri was off being Miri. 

Yay projects... or something. 

It was a pretty productive day, we got the fan switched and a bunch of spring cleaning done inside; we replaced some broken fire pit blocks and cut trees out of the fence outside. 
Then we got to enjoy a puppet show.  :) 

 

They were finally all in their Easter outfits together and we had a few minutes Sunday morning... still didn't get a cute picture.  haha. 

Mister Buster likes 'my ah-mul' puppets. 

 

He also really likes filling things with dirt.... my rain gauge... the playhouse mailbox....

Oo!  We have a plan!  And a lovely rendering of the front elevation of said plan.  Next step is to talk to builders and find out that we can't afford it... mur. 

Blessings.