Since we are on the topic of school, I thought I’d post some more pictures of what goes on here during the day.

In history, we learned about the historic voyage of Christóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus). Of course, we couldn’t merely read about this event, so we reenacted it with blue punch, pistachio ice cream and apple ships.

Part of the clean-up required drinking the punch. Let’s just say it looked better than it tasted…and that’s saying a lot.

After a few sips, we let Molly give it a try.

With the weather being so nice, Ruth and I have done her schoolwork outside just about every day.

It’s a nice break from the routine, and it keeps the inside quiet while her brothers work. Working outside has not been without distraction, however. This has been the year of the box elder beetle. I’ve sometimes wondered if they are attempting to take over the world. Ruthie loves them, so as they fly and creep around us, she watches and laughs. And they aren’t shy creatures!

Finally, we celebrated Derek’s birthday this week! He is now (gasp) 17 years old. Unfortunately, he was up well before the sun so he could finish homework that was due that day. He said it was not a happy birthday so far. But the birthday pancake tradition carried on nonetheless; we were not going to let homework put a damper on it. So we lit a candle in the D pancake and let Derek eat his birthday pancakes while he worked.