Mucking About

We have an odd report card timeline at school. Term 2 reports are due in the office this coming Thursday. Yes, I know that the year is 3/4 over and that really isn't a logical time for a second report. It seems to be a timeline that is the result of an elementary and a high school sharing a building. I don't know what the exact reasoning is...

Anyway, LK is upstairs this afternoon working hard on getting all his grades into the computer and tallied up so that he can write reports over the next week. Since I was the recipient of a fabulous Christmas gift (my dearly loved laptop) from a fabulous spouse, my grades are up-to-date. So I am on duty with the Little People today.

After lunch we had an hour of 'play time' independently. That usually means 10 minutes of cheerful giggling and laughter followed by 15 minutes of crying and Mommy marching upstairs to mediate amidst the tears.

That was followed by half an hour of prepping the April birthday cards for mailing. Both kids got involved, so some envelopes are slightly crumpled. However, cards will be on time for the first month this year. (I have been a bit lax with my card making and mailing this year). There were far fewer tears in that activity than the independent play.

Then we donned splash pants, boots, coats and 'spring mittens' for a trek outside. After examining the neighbour's' porch, which is covered in items from inside the house while they are doing their spring cleaning, we headed down to the lake.

The ice on the lake is slowly melting. We could actually hear it if we stopped and listened very closely. Then we meandered along the lake shore for about a half an hour. We stopped for some rock throwing, examined all sorts of interesting things that caught our eyes along the shoreline, and then made our way back up to the road.

Since the kids were only just starting to tire, we then climbed the hill behind the house and mucked about on the 'big rocks'. It made me realize how quickly my Little People are growing up. Jo was clambering up and down the rock faces. Fi kept giving him coaching about how to approach each rock. He didn't listen. He just tackled everything head on without an apparent strategy. He is brimming with enthusiasm for exploration.

Then, as his clambering turned more into staggering we made our way home. Both kids are pooped from the climbing and so it seemed a good time for some TV. Since we don't have satellite that means a DVD.

As spring is creeping ever closer outside, my children chose to watch "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". They are quite a pair, my Little People. Christmas in April.