Spring has sprung, sort of

I know, I know, there is another month of winter left to go.  Next week we'll be back to the 30s and 40s, but for 24 hours I'm going to make like Sheryl Crow and soak up the sun.  I think my patience grows as the temperature rises.  I will kick myself later for saying this, I'm sure, but what a great day we've had at Ingram School!!!
To begin with, Baxter took a nap in his cradle and we got tons of school work done!!!  We talked about colors today.  Rachel and Ford used the markers to practice spelling and handwriting.  Rachel had to write all 12 colors on lined paper by looking at the marker herself and spelling them correctly. Ford picked three markers and practiced spelling them and, of course, drew a train with them.  Ruby would pick a marker out of her jar and as I wrote the color name she told me the letters, then she colored with that marker.  She felt so grown up.
Ford did his math lesson almost completely by himself, then did some letter work.  Rachel had trouble focusing on her math test due to her 6 year-old molar bothering her, but she got all the problems from this week's lesson correct...we need to do some addition review!  Ruby did some counting all the way to 30!
Rachel read us a story, we did another Mother Goose poem together, and then we talked about Christopher Columbus asking Queen Isabella for some ships for his voyage.  We also talked about the calendar, Ruby did some matching work in her "school book" and everyone looked at library books.
Now for the real fun...after Baxter ate, we all went for a walk to the dentist's office down the street (had to pay a bill) and when we got back we decided to ride bikes.  Ruby did something bad (I can't remember what), so I told her she could only watch (consequences are working today!).  Ford and Rachel had so much fun.  Ruby watched nicely for five minutes, so I pushed her around in the neighbor's play car.  I kept cracking up at the game they came up with.  One of them would sit on the steps to our neighbors' porch and the other two would ride by and say, "Hey, my friend from school, want to come to my house and ride bikes?". The one on the steps would hop down and get on a bike and they'd ride a few laps, then somebody else would sit on the steps.  While they were riding they'd invite each other to lunch or dinner or movie night with their Dad.  So funny!
When we finally put up the bikes (they rode for a LONG time).  We decided to eat lunch on the porch.  They played so nicely while I got lunch ready.  We put out a blanket and had a fun little picnics, then read stories on the blanket before come in for nap time.  It was such a great morning!
If we can just keep the post-nap crabbies away, this day will be awesome.  And if we could just get rid of the mud before it rains again, we could do this every day!!!  I think it also helped that Baxter did some great napping today, too.