Happy Easter

We had a nice, quiet Easter this year. I made natural dyes with beets, cabbage, turmeric, and onion skins on Friday and we enjoyed experimenting with them on Sunday. They definitely aren't as vibrant as the store-bought dyes, but we all loved how pretty the shades turned out. 

We invited the Chawla's to have a Easter egg hunt with us during the afternoon. As you can see, everyone was very excited! It's great having such a diverse neighborhood where we can share our various cultural traditions with one another. 

Stitches

On Saturday after my long run, I asked Levi to come and stretch with me. He started to play with my massage ball and in the process bent over and slammed his head off of our TV table/shelf. He had a pretty bad gash but we weren't sure if it was deep enough to require stitches. We got the bleeding pretty much stopped and hung around the house for a few hours. At this point it was still a little oozy and started to appear like it was gaping. Since it was on his face, we decided to head to the ER. Thankfully we were seen quickly and the Dr. recommended stitches because of the length of his cut. She placed lidocaine on his wound and came back after 20 minutes to stitch him up. The first stitch was uncomfortable and the second hurt very badly, clearly the lidocaine didn't numb it 100%. The 2nd stitch closed the wound enough that she was able to glue the rest of the cut closed. Levi was extremely brave and cooperated like a tough kid. 

Adventures in Running

Our family has been accumulating lots of running miles so far this year. Randy and Caleb have been preparing for a 10K (see below) and my marathon training is in full swing. Caleb had been wanting a pair of running split-shorts for a while. It took some searching, but I finally was able to find a pair that fit him. He was very excited! 

 I was really excited to get this box of goodies from Dick's Sporting goods to help me along with my marathon training.

 Caleb was the runner of the week a few weeks back for running the most miles in a week at school.

 On March 19th, Randy and Caleb ran the St. Patty's 10K up in Salisbury. It was overall a beautiful day and the boys ran really well. Caleb lead the way with a blazing time of 42:09 and Randy exceeded his goals by running a 43:38.

I'm at the peak of marathon training and just completed my first 20 miler. It was a great day running and I'm feeling pretty strong. Randy and the kids showed up around mile 17 and cheered me on for the last 3 miles. It was a great feeling! Only one more super long run before marathon day. 

Pi Day

We had another fun year celebrating Pi day on March 14th. I made Shepherd's Pie for dinner and we enjoyed a coconut cream pie for dessert. 

House Clean-Out and New Furniture

One of our 2016 goals has been to decide whether to move or renovate our home. At this point, we are pretty solidly on the renovate train and have been working hard to purge our house of all the things that we don't need. After 15 years and 3 kids, it's amazing how much extra stuff a family can accumulate. Randy and I purged books that we've been holding on to since college and the kids pared down their book shelves as well. We were able to get rid of old furniture from the previous owners of our house, boxes and boxes of notes and papers from graduate school, old toys, and other junk. Our basement is finally clean and we have made space for Caleb to move up to the 3rd floor later this year. 

As a reward for our purging, we purchased a new kitchen table and a new desk. We've also begun working with a home designer to make plans for how to use the space in our house most efficiently. 

Durand and Chopin Waltzes

Caleb has been working on two waltzes, one by Chopin and the other by Durand. They have both been very fun to listen to and he's learned a lot of technique by playing them.

Chopin B Minor Waltz

Durand Waltz in E Flat Major

Bach Prelude Story

Caleb's been working on his first Bach Prelude and Fugue over the last couple of weeks. As he's matured, he's been working on telling the story of the music through his playing. This Bach prelude inspired a pretty fun story, which you'll hear him narrate in this video.

Hammock

Last year the kids were on a mission to make our backyard better. They had plans for a deck, hot tub, swing set, and hammock. Now in the real world, these things cost money and were not a priority for us. We told the kids that if they wanted to pick something and work towards saving money for it, we'd be happy to support their efforts. They quickly learned that a hammock was the only item that had a reasonable price point. We looked at some different options and they found a hammock and a stand that they really liked for abut $450. They started doing special jobs around the house to earn money, held a lemonade stand, and saved every dollar that they got from their grandparents. After many months, they recently reached their savings goal and we ordered the hammock. We've had few warm days and they've gotten to really enjoy the fruits of their labor.

Happy Birthday Levi!!

We had a wonderful day celebrating Levi's 5th birthday on February 25th. We started the day with waffles for breakfast, a nice walk to school, and some time reading books at home. Levi had basketball class that morning, which was the perfect way for him to celebrate his day. After class, I took Levi to Mexico Lindo for lunch. For dinner, Levi chose to have Tofu Banh Mi wraps and a carrot cake for dessert. He enjoyed opening his presents, which included some personalized coupons from Caleb, bird pictures from the Jewells, some new shirts, and a basketball hoop. We had a great day celebrating our fun-loving Levi. It's almost hard to believe that the 5 years since his birth have gone by so quickly. He's grown into such a great little boy and we look forward to seeing what this next year will bring. Happy Birthday Levi! 

The Cascades

The kids and I continue to really enjoy exploring new (for us) sections of the Middlesex Fells.  Over February break I took the kids on a short hike to see the Cascades, which is in Melrose just a couple of miles from the house. It's not a huge waterfall, but it was nevertheless very pretty. We went on a day that was just above freezing, so there was some water flowing but the remainder of the cascade was covered in ice. The kids already have plans to hike back there on a warm spring day...it is a pretty special place.

Visit with Grammy and Grandpa

Adelina's birthday was made even more special because Grammy and Grandpa were here. Their timing was perfect since we also had February vacation the following week, so the kids got to spend lots of time enjoying their grandparent's company.