Bike Ride

The weather was beautiful so Saturday afternoon we loaded up all the bikes, packed a picnic dinner, and headed out to our favorite trail. We had to make a slight change of plans when we found the trail closed due to beaver damage. After a little more driving we had our bikes off and were ready for some action.

Abigail was so excited to ride in the bike trailer. Emersynne wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing. She wasn't happy, but she did tolerate it. Hopefully she will get used to it more since it is an activity that everybody really enjoys.



Jeremiah pulled the bike trailer with Abigail and Emersynne in it and I had Natalie hooked on the back of my bike. Trevor was a trooper and rode his bike with training wheels the whole way. There were some pretty big hills but with a little help from daddy Trevor made it up those as well. Michaela and Anthony took the lead on the trail and would often double back to meet us when they got tired of waiting.

We stopped half-way, ate our gourmet dinner of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then headed back home. We raced some pretty dark rain clouds back home and made it back without getting wet. The kids had so much fun and keep asking when we can go again.

Rain

We had a very wet day today and it brought a few special visitors. The kids were excited to look out our window and see some ducks. We even got them to come quite close to our porch with some tempting bread.

I guess when you live right next door to a creek/swamp you get special visitors once in awhile. The ducks are much better visitors than the skunks we have had on occasion!

Trevor's new smile

It came out easily while he was eating his snack this afternoon. All of a sudden he was holding his tooth in his hand. It is so small I'm glad he didn't swallow it!

Now he is excited for a visit from the tooth fairy. I think the tooth fairy will be glad for some business again. It has been awhile since she has made any stops at our house!

Mother's Day

Mother's day started early around here. Tuesday was the Mother/Daughter activity for Activity Girls and the girls all had fun pampering their moms. We were served tropical drinks and were given a pedicure. Michaela did a great job and my feet were nice and soft when she was finished and I still have nice pink polish on my toe nails!

I have many new homemade cards and pictures from the kids to add to my collection. Those are my favorite treasures and have already been carefully set aside.

Saturday evening Jeremiah and the kids were busy planting our little garden for my Mother's Day present. It was a very big project and one that Natalie seemed to enjoy the most. I think she has decided she wants to be a gardener when she grows up. She has done a good job at reminding me to water our new plants and so far our little garden is doing well!

Here are all the plants waiting to be planted

We even have a few tomato plants

Trevor is waiting his turn to plant the yellow flowers

Natalie did lots of planting because she stuck around the longest

Digging in the dirt always seems to be lots of fun!

I now have a beautiful garden and it is something I will be able to enjoy all summer long and long after summer has ended. Tiny plants planted with love by my children.

Welcome to Athena Diagnostics!

I took my Cub Scouts on a tour of Athena Diagnostics yesterday. I had been jumping through hoops for almost two months to get the tour approved, but I think it paid off. In addition to filling the final requirement for the Science belt loop, the tour was fun for me to conduct. I was really excited, and the boys were interested in some portions of the tour.

We started in the accessioning department, where patient
samples are stripped of the patients' names and assigned
numbers for the sake of privacy.
The boys even got to see real blood!


Then we visited the extraction bay, where the DNA is
harvested from the red blood cells in the patients'
blood. It is a largely automated process, with much
of the work done by a very large robot that shakes,
incubates, and spins the blood samples.


The robots at different stations in the lab seemed to be a
hit with the boys. They are great machines that save
us time and money by doing repetitive batch
processes that would take a technician hours to do.



Adam Herrera attended with his son, Joshua, who is a Webelo.



Jennie Green was there with her son, also a Joshua,
the Wolf on the left. Joshua Green told me that his
favorite part of the tour was the cookies,
but I think he was just being [gasp] obnoxious.

I hope that the tour sparked some interest in the boys. It was when I was about their age that I (along with countless other children) realized that I was going to be a scientist. For me the interest was nuclear physics at first. High school biology changed my mind, and here I am today a scientist!

If any of you are ever in the area, please stop by, and I'll give you a tour, too.

Busy Hands

One of the many challenges at our house is finding things to keep little hands quiet, busy, and out of trouble while the older children are doing homework. The other day I found something magical and Abigail sat and played quietly for about an hour.




One by one she put each penny into the slot in the jar and then we dumped them back into the container and she did it all over again!

Pretzel time!

For our Family Home Evening activity last night we made pretzels. I am glad that the kids had fun, because I felt that I was not being "fun" enough.

walmart.com/stupid

I wanted a particular gift for a friend who is leaving to go on his mission soon. I was lucky enough to find it for a good price at walmart.com. I ordered it and waited anxiously.

A package from walmart.com finally arrived, but I knew it couldn't be the one I was expecting--it was just too big. I mean, really, really too big.

I was wrong.

Wish list

In case you still harbored any doubts:

This is how much of a geek I am--I want these t-shirts!

Spring has sprung!

We spent some time this afternoon on the campus of Clark University while Jeremiah was getting stuff done in the lab.  It is so nice to finally be able to enjoy some time outside and feel like winter is over and spring is finally here!

Flowers are in bloom, trees area budding, and everything is starting to look green again.  

Natalie must have been in the picture mood because she kept asking me to take her picture.

The kids were a little upset that we didn't go home after Michaela's award ceremony.  They wanted to change their clothes before going to daddy's school.  They still had a good time outside and I held my breath that no nice clothes would end up with holes in them before we went home!

Good Job Michaela!

This afternoon we attended an awards ceremony for the Worcester school district poster contest.  Michaela's poster for her 6th grade India report was entered and won.  It was a long ceremony of lots of names listed off but it was great to be there and show our love and support for Michaela.  Her hard work paid off and her poster was awesome!

Reflections

So we just got a new computer and now have access to all our photos which is a real treat. I've had so much fun going through old pictures and reminiscing. I know my kids look a lot alike but it still amazes me to see photos of Natalie and think they are Abigail. Abigail argued with me over all the picture we looked at when Michaela and Natalie were about her age. Especially when she saw one of them wearing something that she is wearing now!

Abigail

Natalie who also had crazy hair like Abigail. Natalie just happened to have hers combed and hadn't pulled it out yet!

Can you tell who this is?

And this one is....?

Up until now it seems that our girls have looked a lot alike.  Emersynne changed all that.  I look at her and see Trevor.  Here is the proof!  In case you aren't sure which one is which, Emersynne is in pink and Trevor is in blue!   (ha!ha!)