May, first half

By May the covid lockdown restrictions are feeling very old. We miss church. We miss being able to take out library books, and it'd be awfully nice to see some friends that we haven't in two months! I miss normal shopping trips. Jennifer works on a puzzle emailed out from someone at church. The kids spent a few hours working it out. It was fun! 

My seedlings are looking ready to go outside. Some of them anyways. Philip has been working on my shelf, and it's missing the top and bottom shelf here yet, but it is certainly functional! I'm wondering if I can convince him to make even more, I think I've outgrown this shelf already (heehee).

Nathan has been working on his go-cart, now that his schoolwork has been winding down. That meant several trips to Princess Auto for curbside pickup. We'd tried an online order and that was WAY slower.

Don't ask me any technical questions. I just drive him if he needs a ride, he has to figure out what parts he needs, I'm no help at all!

A relaxing Sunday at home, the girls zip around after our morning worship service.

Matthew chills with a book.

Melanie reads and Nathan meditates.

We went for a bike ride. It's nice to get out as a family, although the girls and I headed back before the rest, as their ability to keep up much longer was doubted. Jennifer was quite offended that she was considered not capable.

Biology class for Nathan and Melanie is almost over. The long dreaded (for Melanie) frog dissection time arrived. It was gross. But not smelly. I did the cutting and helping for Melanie. She only had to look. I think she got a good deal. I even cleaned up.

One exciting thing for the month was a donation of lots of free things from friends planning on moving (not so exciting :( ). Free wood was snatched up immediately and Melanie got to plan a fort with Matthew and Daniel helping.

Getting the foundation sorted out.

Why not be frogs while bringing up your sheets and making your bed?

More free stuff! It's a cold day, but why not play with...water guns!!

Wild red trilliums are in bloom. Very pretty! Everyone is old enough now to know that we aren't supposed to pick them, just admire. All other wildflowers are game for being picked, however.

Progress!!

Yup, it's going good Mom! (note that these sensible older children are wearing mittens because it is so cold, while their younger siblings are playing with water guns!)

Nathan came by when asked, to offer suggestions on structural support, and to do some awkward drilling. Melanie was nervous about dropping the drill and breaking it while leaning over the edge. It'd be better if Nathan got in trouble for that! ;)

Everyone has to finish up their math before they are officially done their school work. But most of everything else is done!

Counting down how many days are left of math!!

Matthew is done, but working on the next year's math, a real go-getter, that one. ;)

It really drives me crazy how many items the kids rescue from the recycling bin. Jennifer has a huge stack of cereal boxes! I don't know where they get these scavanging habits from.

Look at the great chick-pen I've made out of cardboard I've saved from ages ago! I've got the box from the liner from the skating rink, and packed it away back in Nov/Dec. It sure is handy saving up things that would otherwise be thrown out! :)

Melanie had a craft idea and her and Jennifer experimented.

Evelyn came and tried it out too. By then Melanie knew what sorts of tools worked best and could offer tips.

 It was fun to put the chandelier in the school room to practical use! Support for the heat lamp! We are almost ready for the chicks to arrive!

The "Lego corner" is getting out of hand. I think the buckets are mostly empty, and the Lego is mostly on the floor.

So I made a big fuss and got the kids to help clean...and whatever they didn't do was taken away (you can have it back if you sort it and put it away first!) I quickly snatched a picture while it looked clean. Because soon it won't be, this way I can remember it longer. :)

Aren't bed coverings also clothes? Yes, you look great...uh, Princess Evelyn?

Yes, it's the same day. There are teddies all over the shelves and there is Kapla all over the floor. I guess the thought is "hey, here is a clean spot I can play my game!"

Livestreaming church is routine for us now. We are thankful that we do have the technology for it. It's not the same as church in person, though.

And then we had snow. It didn't stay long. Which is good. Because it is May.

Cutely dressed girls playing sweetly. Better remember that too!

Early morning chats.

The long awaited chicks have arrived!! We knew that they, being farm/agriculture, weren't going to be delayed or locked down, so we'd been eagerly counting down the days until our day old chicks arrived.

The chicks are super cute! They are soft and fluffy and have so much energy. Try and count them. Did we really get 20? OK, try to hold still while I count you!!

Such a lot of cute little peeping sounds are made too. We ordered 20 plymouth rock hens. With a 90% reliability of being ladies, we are hoping to have two roosters in there. Nice ones, not like our last rooster.

The worst part about day old chicks is the "crusty bum" problem. I got the honours of wiping down their bottoms so that the didn't get issues.

It's time for the plants to get used to the harsh real world. It takes a fairly long time to take them all out and put them back in again. It's a good thing it only has to be done for a short while.

We love baby chicks!

Matthew reads upside down.

 Melanie reads upside down in a different way altogether. She challenged herself (and did it too!) of reading "The Mask of Zorro" completely upside down. Yes, she is bored. She'd read it at least twice already, so was looking for a different angle on the story.

So glad our library opened up for curbside pickups after this!