Frozen athletes in Pullman

Brrr.... it is windy and COLD!! My hand is going numb typing this on my phone. Signe shed her coat just before running the 400. (She told me she never wants to run that distance again) 😂
She did the long jump for the first time today and loved it, and she prefers running the 1600. Gunnar's baseball game was rained out, so we had an unexpected opportunity to go to Signe's track meet.

Pleiades poem: The Chess Game

This year Signe had a poem chosen to be in a booklet sponsored by a local women's society, just as Gunnar did in 2nd grade. We took her to the 1912 Center yesterday where she stood in front of the audience and had her poem read aloud, along with the other students with selected pieces. We were a little disappointed that the reader completely missed the meter of Signe's poem, and switched up the words "up me". But it was still a very cool experience for Signe, who loves to write.

Easter candy and games

The kids are filling up on sweets and playing with games and puzzles they found in their baskets (thanks Dollar Tree Store!), while waiting for mom to finish Easter feast prep. We are heading over to the Sentz's house soon.

My other artist

Signe spent several hours last night on these rough draft imitations of Leonardo da Vinci sketches for her 6th grade project. She looked at small pictures on my phone for a reference to copy.

Queen starts with Q

I love the art that Mrs. Handel is doing with her preschool class! Karsten might be like his big sister, with some real artistic capabilities.

Robin Hood

Yesterday, immediately after the wind storm, I hurried to Logos to see Gunnar's 4th grade play. I was going to leave Signe at home, but she was so spooked after the pinecones pelted our roof like bowling balls, and my screaming as I watched the trees collapse from the kitchen window, that she insisted on going with me (and bringing the dog in the car too). We sat in the back of the audience to keep her sickness to herself.
Gunnar did a great job, and they had tons of fun with sword fights and archery competitions! You can see that a couple of great-Grandpa Hap's walking sticks were used as props.
And Signe was very sweet, saying that she was glad she got the fever, and not Gunnar, so that he didn't have to miss his play. Cousin Ransom missed almost all of last week at school with the same illness, and I know Ms. Clemans was relieved to have him back for rehearsals this week!

Sad Signe

These are pics that didn't get through on the last email

Not the Saturday we expected

We were supposed to get Signe out the door by 5am for her final volleyball tournament in Chatteroy, WA (we'd never heard of it either), but instead she's spending the day on the couch. She missed the last 3 days of school with a weird lingering fever that seems to take 4-5 days to recover from. It was with sadness and tears of disappointment yesterday afternoon that we conceded that she just wouldn't be able to go.
So instead of cheering her on all day as anticipated, Nick is in the back yard turning downed trees into firewood. Lucy has been outside since breakfast, eagerly digging with her nose and pulling at tree roots. You can see her inspecting her progress in the middle picture. She is having a wonderful muddy day in the slushy rain.
Karsten cried when he got home after school yesterday and saw his play fort crushed. It's been a bit emotional around here.

So this just happened...

Two of our biggest trees JUST went down in a sudden windstorm. Thankful they didn't hit the house and I'm thankful I have some firewood already for next year!