the squibix family blog

With Leah working these days she didn't have time to make bespoke suits for them, but that's fine: their activity level doesn't match up well with fine tailoring. Zion was overwhelmed and clingy during the Easter service at church, but he came alive for the egg hunt and was willing to sacrifice both body and light-colored fabric in the pursuit of the egg.

Of course, the hunt at church was but a prelude to the main event at our house. We had nine kids hunting, but Harvey and Zion were quickest off the mark.

I did a good job hiding the 200 eggs this year; it took the kids about half an hour to feel done, and they had a fine sense of accomplishment after figuring out some of my trickier hiding spots. Harvey found the golden egg to bring his take for the weekend to six dollars—it's no fair being the biggest.

After the intensity of the egg hunt, everybody was happy to relax for the next few hours. The kids traded plastic pokemons in the play house, and the adults sat around the fire and tried to stay warm without getting too smokey. Hot dogs are perhaps not the most traditional of Easter foods, but I'm not sure why not.

I hope your holidays were as enjoyable!

The iPad can do other things too. It has music on it that we can listen to in the car if the radio isn’t performing to our satisfaction. We can look up things we’re curious about—not only Pokémons, but flora and fauna, maps, and historical trivia as well. And with the addition of a keyboard I can do my own work while the boys enjoy the library or the play space. Theoretically. In actual fact I find myself required at a frequency which prevents any real concentration—but it’s early days. I have high hopes for the future. The keyboard works fine; I’m using it to type these very words now, from the comfort of my bed. If the keys were only lit—and maybe a little bit bigger—it would be perfect.

Or we could get rid of the thing tomorrow; that would be fine too. The great thing about mixed feelings is that you can be happy with either outcome! But for now we’re doing technology; and that being the case, I’m off to play a little Pokemon before I go to sleep.

We paid special attention to the reenactors' outfits because we're just beginning our unit on Colonial times (I told the boys that morning that we would start in on Monday; Harvey asked, "why not today?!"). I took more photos of people's backs than I usually do.

It's interesting to see the different styles—the balance between historical accuracy, individualism, and comfort. I noticed comfortable walking shoes—black, but definitely 21st century—on the feet of some of the older reenactors. This morning we looked at the pictures and talked about why people were wore the things they did, and how they might have made different parts of the outfits. I do always think that studying clothes is a great way to get into any historical period. There may have also been an extended discussion about firearm technology.

We didn't talk much about the music we heard, though that would be a fun thing to explore too. Harvey was the videographer for the expedition, and captured nearly the whole parade; we'll take a look at that tomorrow and see what we can come up with in the way of a band.

And we're looking forward to lots more Patriots Day fun to come this weekend!

After a beautiful sunny morning Saturday the weather turned overcast and wintery cold by afternoon. We were well-bundled in preparation for the late-afternoon event—hats, coats, even blankets—so we didn't mind the cold too much, but the gloomy sky made the photography trickier. I did get the one good shot that I put at the end of yesterday's post, but that was about it—if you want to see what it would have looked like in better weather, there are some photos from last time we went.

There were horses then; I was disappointed that nobody brought theirs this time. But there were plenty of guns and fine outfits, and a couple of cannons that made lots of noise. Too much for some: Leah was made to keep her hands over Lijah's ears the whole time (doesn't he have his own hands?!). We saw lots of friends, some that we planned to meet and others that we hadn't seen in years (or ever for some of us). It isn't actually clear what happened in the battle, but that doesn't matter for our purposes. There were historical details to observe! And a chance to get out all together as a family, something that's rare these days. Yay holidays! Happy Patriots Day

Of course, then all the other kids had to join him—and I did too. But unlike Harvey, who went barefoot, everyone else made the mistake of wearing boots. It took them three days to dry. It was pretty fun, though.

All the rain lately has swollen the local waterways impressively. On Tuesday we took a short excursion to the boat launch on the Concord River to play in the water. It was sunny when we left; it had turned cloudy and quite chilly by the time we got there, five minutes later, so we stayed dry this time. But it was still delightful to see how high the river was among the trees. The land is so low on the approach to the boat launch you really could imagine the whole world being flooded.

Seeing all that water, we decided we had to buy a canoe. So now we've done that. We're waiting on paddles and life jackets, then we're going to launch our life afloat!

The bad news is that, out of the seven boosters and one 23-card prerelease pack, Harvey didn't pull a single ultra-rare card. The good new is he went undefeated and probably would have won the whole thing had there been a final round (since there were six juniors they didn't all get to play each other, so two of them made it to three wins; of course I know Harvey's deck was better so I have no problem thinking of him as the winner). And it was a fun scene—more a party than a cut-throat competitive event. I enjoyed chatting with the other old people, and the juniors played tag outside between rounds. Besides all his cards—and his glory—Harvey came home with a lovely orange Pokemon t-shirt; his brothers, who endured two and a half hours of relative boredom in a hot, crowded store, got bouncy balls, candy, and McDonalds for lunch.

It was totally worth the $30 dollar entry fee—and the $2.25 for chips. We're looking forward to the next one in a few months, and now Harvey is ready to enter his first standard tournament too. I'm so proud to be a Poképarent!