Morning started out chilly, however, the sun popped out and warmed the day quite nicely. Without checking I'd say it got as high as 60 degrees F. The animals were fed and school was started by 8:45 a.m. I worked with Lou first; we continued listening for the beginning and middle sounds in words. The beginning letters are a breeze; the middle vowels are definitely more difficult for her to hear and then to recognize. Grace and Lee worked on their journals, Catholic Spellers and Saxon Math. Ray set wooden puzzles and played with Duplos. The work was done so quickly and efficiently we had plenty of unhurried time to write out Lee's First Holy Communion invitations. He had so much fun stamping and addressing the envelopes and placing an Easter sticker on each envelope. We jotted down a few notes about food for the luncheon and then headed outside.
Between the five of us there were walkers, bikers, rollerbladers and stroller riders. We made our way to the mailbox; the cold breeze off the reservoir made my arm hairs stand up, but once we hit the blacktop the heat radiating from it warmed us from the feet up. And the sun beating down on the blacktop warmed us from the head down. The trees all around gave a reprieve from the wind. Ray and I strolled along looking for exciting bits of nature. Through the eyes of a 2 1/2 year old everything is exciting. The dry, crunchy oak leaves were so special that we each had to collect a handful. The orange white pine needles being held hostage by the grass alongside the road had to be "raked" out onto the road so we could see how long the pine needles were. The dead log floating in the ditch water, well we just had to stop and gaze for awhile.
Lee did point out a millipede, which was extremely exciting. Last summer we searched under rotting logs and decaying leaves for a week hoping to find a millipede. Other cool things did turn up but no millipedes. Today we watched the millipede; the highlight was putting sticks and pine needles in its way and watching as it effortlessly moved over each item. As it made its way back to the grassy roadside we continued on for home singing and smiling and holding hands and loving every moment in the sun.
Weather forecast is a little bit warmer each day until Sunday when it just might storm. God is good!
