Isaac at the dentist

Isaac has been to the dentist's office many times. He has watched fillings and cleanings for all sorts of family members. This was his turn, though, and he was so cute! He got right down to business and was very cooperative! He enjoyed himself and was very relaxed. He knew what was expected, and was beautiful! No cavities, even!

Lydia's new read!

Lyd has become hooked on The Magic Tree House series. She picked one up at the library Friday at 11am, and had it read before 10am Sunday. She's already begun the next one. It's fun to have her tell me the things she's learned about real places and people. I'm glad I have my little book worms!

Josh got into mud and tadpoles at the pond today. Then he showed Isaac to climb atop the van!

A late night to begin the weeks of family visitors!

Baldauf reunion

We met in Morris for a lovely afternoon with several Baldauf relations. The kids dropped a pole with a net on it in the pond, and we spent a long time treading and diving and kicking around to find it. No luck. I was bummed to not retrieve it. I like how the kids are getting older and able to interact well with the cousins, though.

Nature's on me!

Elisa was with us in April when we said goodbye to one of our Rogers interns. Isaac got really attached to Alex during winter hikes, programs and storytimes. He held his hand as they walked the trails, showed him his finds and talked about him when we were away from Rogers.

Elisa was with us on a program to study the fallen log. At one point she realized she had some hitch hiking seeds on her glove and declared, "nature's on me!"

Trikes

When the weather was warmer than 15 degrees this spring the tricycles came out. Yes, all 4 of them! These guys, especially Josh, are all trike riders. The big thing was to ride up the hill a bit, then coast down past our driveway and see which trike won! This certainly didn't help in trying to get Isaac onto two wheels!

NJHS

Caleb was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society. The students put on a lovely program and the inductees were well recognized for their contributions to our community and their commitment to scholarship.

After school labor

Thanks, josh for mowing the lawn! I did it the first time, he's done it twice since then!

High jump

Here's Caleb with his new event! His elbows and knees are scraped up, but he's doing well! Looks like fun!

Baby geese

Here is Isaac enjoying play time at Rogers after storytime. He sometimes has had a hard time with me being the teacher, but he sure enjoys the routine of seeing friends and experiencing Rogers Center!

You can also see this one little family of geese at Rogers! I haven't noticed too many babies this year, but this group was in the parking lot when I went back to the car.

Josh's Concert

Tonight was Josh's band and chorus concert. 4-5 grade combined. The singing was great! I enjoyed the quality these young people and their leaders presented. The children just began learning their instruments at the beginning of fourth grade, and this was a great opportunity to get experience performing. The instrumental music was just a little less polished than the vocal. They have been singing all their lives! There were some great 5th grade instrumentalists. I can't wait to see how they all progress thru middle and high school!

Coloring fun

Since Elisa was here Lydia has really been hooked on geometric and patterned coloring pages. Not only did Elisa share her pages with us, but Lydia has hooked up with Penny to get copies from her book. Last week she would finish a page, go show Penny and get the next one, a few times! Here we were at the park for a salamander program and lyd was sitting on the bank of the creek coloring.

The airplane swing

We had a branch down in our own backyard. The tree that holds the airplane swing has long been vulnerable. We know it's only a matter of time before the swing is no longer available. This week the break came very close!

Rogers

We love Rogers Center. There was a lovely full moon the other night after my board meeting, and here's Isaac enjoying one of our weekly storytime and hikes.

May 17

This is a photo of our quick visit to the Rexford Falls Bridge up the road from us.

We have had intense rains and winds and were on an outing to see what the weather had done. The bridge goes over a huge gorge with a powerful waterfall beneath.

We also drove west of town where intense winds took down several trees, some of which were completely uprooted. Some root beds stood sideways taller than a man. My favorite scene was of pieces of sheet metal from a shed roof hanging in a tree near the shed. It was sad to see these old, old trees knocked down!

The river water changes so dramatically over the period of the storm. Isaac noticed when the "islands" could or could not be seen near the bridge at one end of our road.

Caleb's choral concert

Caleb sang in the 7-8th grade chorus, then they had all the choral students sing a final song together. I bribed Isaac with ice cream to keep him quiet. It was pretty effective, and he showed good math skills in counting down to the last song. Unfortunately the concert didn't end until 8:30 so we are straight to bed! I gave each child a spoonful of mint chocolate chip and promised ice cream with breakfast if they all got to sleep nicely.

Easter egg hunt!

We had several egg hunts during the days around Easter. Only our Easter Sunday hunt had candy filled eggs. We carefully counted the number of eggs each child should find, but by the time we went out for the hunt there were two missing. We found them days later- with an end chewed out and the candy gone.

Track

Well into track season. Only 2 weeks left. Caleb is holding steady on his times and having a great time. Quite a distance runner!

The record setter!

Josh was very serious last night, ready for his turn to run the pacer test in gym class. Months ago his score for this series of timed sprints was 65. He disciplined himself to go to bed early last night and was very focused on running his best, including wearing the right clothes.

After school he got in the car and said he go a 96. I thought he was joking, but Lydia confirmed that it was true, and his name was on a board in the hall. I got emotional. What an exciting accomplishment!

Nice ride!

Caleb wanted some training time in early April. The 2 of us went downtown for groceries. I rose my bike with trailer, he ran. With a full load on the way home he ran behind and pushed me! Now, that felt good! What a life!

Caleb's 5k

Caleb brought lyd and I to the track on a Saturday to count laps for him so he could run. 24:01:31. He's bummed cause he wanted 24!

He did a great job! Now he's pooped!

Happy Birthday, Isaac

Isaac shared his birthday with Abby. We met lots of friends at the playground during the day, then had Isaac's select over at night. The boys did a great job getting the back yard ready for our first picnic!

Isaac was so funny. All day he denied being 4. He was waiting for the moment he blew out the candles and everyone chanted, Are you 1? Are you 2? It was so cute watching his anticipation of the big moment!