April- Already?

Not only is it April, but it's mid-April! An early burst of spring here in upstate NY has brought on E11's tree pollen allergies. We thought we were ready with the antihistamines early, but that proved wrong as his eyes swelled shut. I7 is wheezing, R9's had the fever...we are heading back to the dr today actually. Ok editing to add that we have two more rounds of antibiotics for the kids. I've been making great calls on that lately. No..."it's just a virus" kind of talk. It's the real deal. The Target pharmacist told me to stay away for a while. Yeah...we've been there that much.

In the meantime, baseball season has begun! All three boys are playing and this is the first week of practice. It's rocking my world. The world where dinner is on the table at 6:30pm and now has to be ready at 5:00pm. I haven't completely shifted my afternoon to accommodate this change. Which means rushing out the door moments before practice begins. Good thing the ball fields are a quarter mile away.

R9 has three more sewing shop classes and we've been really enjoying being outdoors with the unseasonably warm weather we've been having.

It also means we only have 3 more homeschool co-op classes this semester. Where has the time gone??

This is a view from the field behind our co-op location. I'm helping to teach a birds class and we went out to observe this past Monday. The class didn't see or hear much. The birds quiet up close to 3pm. However, J4 was given a Popsicle in his 5 Senses class and I couldn't get into the new van with that so we took a walk back to the field. And look what we did find. We heard him and then R9 spotted this Chickadee. What do you think of the Cybershot's images? Not bad...
Remember we were getting a new camera? I think it might be a keeper.

I don't think I've reported on co-op yet...here's what we've been up to since mid-February:

• R9 is part of the homeschool production of The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. She has two small parts with two speaking lines. She is the white stag and a member of the witch's army and her speaking line is so heart warming. She taunts Aslan during the stone table scene. Pretty well too. Makes a mama proud.
• E11 is in our First Lego League class- we are teaching the kids more NXT programming to be ready for next year's challenge.
• I7 is taking "Making Things with Stuff" class- the name gets us every time. He's made yarn belts, paper airplanes, and burlap pouches which go perfectly with his newspaper fedora complete with a snakeskin.
• J4 has two classes- playdough class which he loves. They have a new theme each week and he has shared with us many facts that they must talk about with the kids while they mold and he's taking Fun with the Five Senses. He has done a lot of cool exploring in there.
• E11 is also taking Math Games and Puzzles which he thoroughly enjoys. They've been using Family Math Middle School Math and enjoying the challenges with the other kids.
• Finally, R9's other class is Collage Making- it's a class using mixed media to make collages. This involves lots of glue and R is in heaven on earth!

So, it's a busy time especially when you include all the school quarterly reports are due and my MOPS work is off the charts this month. Plus, my commitment with the TOS Crew is drawing to a close next month (thankfully!) and I have quite a few outstanding reviews left to publish in the next 6 weeks.

We've also been doing a lot of fun school- I just haven't had the time to blog about it. But look out...I'm feeling like it's time to get things published!

So, it's April. What has your family been doing?