April

April has flown by. I can’t believe it is almost May! Fi and I have only seven weeks of school left. We still haven’t decided what sort of a camp to put her in during the summer so she doesn’t go crazy at home, or where to make our annual travels.

Last Friday, April 25, was the seventh anniversary of the death of my brother Matan. I think about him every day, but realized after work that I did not tell my students the significance of the day. It’s just not the me that they know. So I decided not to say anything because it has no effect on how I am going to teach the math. It was like a milestone of sorts. Acceptance, I guess. I do miss him like crazy though. I’m just not going to share it with a bunch of teenagers who probably don’t really care that much and whose sympathy I do not need. My mom did a butterfly release on Saturday. We went early so Fi could release one butterfly but left before guests got there so that Fi could take a much-needed nap.

On a more positive note, we finished putting in the garden and enjoyed a sunny afternoon making orange juice from our oranges.

 

We are so spoiled living here. I can’t drink orange juice that is not fresh squeezed anymore. It is sooooooo sweet without being sugary, and the color a deep orange. Yum yum!

In other news, Fi has taken wearing dresses more often, so we got her a couple. I think she looks adorable, but not overly girly. Here she is getting dressed:

The nice weather has us outside more, including Artist Fi:

After she finished, Fi explained that the painting was a house, and that the red thing toward the top right was chimney with smoke coming out of it. It sounded just like an explanation from a professional artist, explaining the meaning behind some abstract piece, complete with hand gestures.

Fi and I made matzah for Passover and then Fi did some dishes and wiped the counters:

 

 

I have been playing with my sewing machine and made two pillow cases for my mom’s banquette. Here is one:

I plan to make a couple more. They are not perfect, but they are serviceable. I had to try a couple of times to get it right, and I am proud of the end result.

We dyed Easter eggs and then took them to the neighbors. I really like that because it meant we did not have to keep them. Fi drew on them after they dried:

Fi has a cavity. It is in an unusual place, which surprised the dentist. She is getting it filled in about a week. Until then, she had fun playing dentist with everyone, checking teeth with a mirror, finding cavities, and using the carrots as a tool for cleaning and filling:

Cheers!

Labels

Our household isn’t really into labels. We try to teach Fi not to stereotype and we all wear whatever we have and don’t shop at high end stores, but there is one type of label we don’t mind: The custom label that comes out of John’s label maker. John and Fi spent on Saturday labeling many of Fi’s things, in an attempt at being more organized. Fi had a blast and wanted to label EVERYTHING including her closets and her dresser. We let her label the dresser because different drawers contain different types of clothes, but we drew the line at the closet because we all know what lives in the closet.

 

 

 

 

The labeling has helped with clean up tremendously, because now we know where everything goes, and when Fi wants something, she knows where to look for it. Our house no longer looks like a toy box exploded in it.

We spent the last two weekends in the garden, pulling up the last of the winter harvest (tomatoes and leaks), pulling weeds, trimming things, and generally playing in the dirt, in preparation for spring planting.

Here are the leaks we pulled, after I trimmed them:

 

I gave some to a friend and used most of the rest in a potato leak soup using this recipe: Potato Leak Soup. I am not entirely happy with how it turned out, but it wasn’t bad and the recipe can be easily modified slightly.

Here are photos of John and Fi planting a squash:

We went to a birthday party and Fi enjoyed pin the lightsaber on Darth Vader, as well as eating cake:

 

 

Last month we visited Jen and Chris in Riverside. We had such a great time, Fi did not want to leave and keeps asking when we are going back.

Other than that, our lives have been pretty boring. Fi likes to read the comics in the morning:

Fi also likes to read books to us:

We went to the Purim Carnival at the temple and John, my dad, and I got to hold a cockatoo:

  

Fi made a cookie and we posed for a photo with a pirate hat:

 

    

I hope everyone’s spring is going well. Most of our veggies are in, but we still have a few to plant and lots of space to plant them. However, some of our garden space is now shaded much more than when we first put in the garden, mostly due to trees and plants growing larger over time. As usual, I can’t wait until it all grows and we are able to harvest and eat all the yummy vegetables. I sincerely believe that having the garden is one of the reasons Fi is not as picky and eater (vegetable-wise) as some kids her age.

Happy Spring everyone! Only three more weeks until the March of Babies!