A good week

Megan's room redo has gained a moose.

I love this moose. Kiernan and I put it together when Megan was having nap time on Friday. It was a quiet day and our big adventure was going to Wegman's for lunch. It was a great decision as Wegman's has a hot bar for every palette. Megan got pizza and I had manicotti and Kiernan had Chinese food. We split some cheesecake and had a lovely time. 

Saturday morning dawned cold and rainy. We took the kids to Scearce's. We borrowed the truck and drove back up to Frederick and the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store to pick up moms cabinets.

The worst possible weather for moving. It was cold enough to numb fingers and wet enough to make everything slippery.

I was hungry and cold and tense from driving in the driving rain.

We did it though. David got a bloody thumb and I got a cold wet ride in a coat that refused to dry but we now have some great pieces to fix up moms 'kitchen'.

We rewarded ourselves with some great Fried Green Tomato Po' boys at Family Meal.

The kids had fun all morning. It is such a blessing to have such trustworthy and capable hands to place them in, as Kathryn's family's.

On Sunday we decided to get out of the house and not just watch videos and play games...more on that later.

The plan was to go for a short local hike but as soon as I said hike, Megan asked if we could go with Aunt Pammy and Uncle Chris.

So we drove back down to Silver Spring/Wheaton and met up. 

The green house was packed with cat herding parents and bundled up toddlers. We joined the throng and sniffed flowers and oogled bananas for a while. Then out to the cold for a hike.

The contrast between winter dreary and tropical hot house was amazing.

I felt better chasing the kids in the sunshine and chatting with family than I have felt in so long. It was a really good day.

That night the moon rose as bright and clear and nearly full as I have seen it all year. I brought out the telescope and set it up to show my guys the moon.

It was so bright that it hurt my eyes through the scope.

Though I have used the telescope before it has always been while the children were asleep.

It was deeply gratifying to finally give Kiernan a look. 

He was so excited by it. He jumped up and down and wanted to look so much that we had to go in and out of the house 3x just to keep him warm enough.

I was very proud of us both then.

In other Kiernan news we are tackling a typical parenting issue just now. We are a gaming family. We play console games and PC games and board games an lots of phone and tablet games. Both of our kids play lots of games too.

This picture of Kiernan in the morning illustrates some of our quandary. Here is what he dose when he gets up in the morning. Every morning he comes down stairs and starts playing. 

Now in this picture he is playing a reading game. He loves educational games just as much as zombie games. The problem is that he will play all day everyday if given his druthers.

We need to see to his development here. 

I am thinking of alarming statistics about how many hours a day the average child spends in front of a screen and about neurological impact.

So as of this morning we have begun an experiment with allowing only a half and hour in the morning and evening and then some time (no more than an hour) at quiet time.

This gives him some of his usual routine and manages to not load mom up with all the unstructured time sans aide.

He took the news with good humor and handed his phone right over this morning with nary a blink.

This week the lottery for the Classical Charter School opens up. This year Kiernan must go to school. He will be 5 and that is the required age for Kindergarten enrollment in Frederick.

I hope so much to get Kiernan into this school. Our local elementary school is completely satisfactory and if he doesn't get in that is OK. 

Still I hope so much for him to have a shot at this school. I love their math program and their music and think that Latin is so helpful in day to day understanding. 

Wish us luck.