What can I say about May?  Another month in quarantine… homeschool, hikes, virtual meetings, cooking, cleaning, screen time.  We did have some excitement, including some home haircuts!  And our first attempt at growing vegetables (cherry tomatoes)!

I mentioned that in April we saw a house centipede?  It made such an impression on Sarah that she wrote in her nature journal about the “deadliest bugs.”

One week the kids’ nature assignments focused on birds!  We particularly enjoyed an app they sent us that plays all sorts of bird calls.

And we enjoyed these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (recipe from my friend Elizabeth).

Sarah started working on her last big writing assignment for Kindergarten, a How-To Book.  First she brainstormed things she is an expert in.

And we finished another puzzle (#4?).

The kids’ PE videos were all about learning difference dances… the Macarena, the Electric Slide, the Bunny Hop, the Hokey Pokey, and the Hustle (below).

May was also the month that Andrew finally talked me into giving him a haircut!  My first ever, with much help from YouTube.  Andrew said it was not the worst haircut he’d ever had.  And I only cut myself once with the scissors!  🙂

I think I took this picture to show that it was briefly snowing one evening.  Also, Blaine was reading a new series called “Warriors” about clans of fighting cats.

On Mother’s Day we went for a hike at the Marshland Conservancy in Rye.  It was a beautiful day and we saw a flying turkey, many deer, and a woodpecker.

Here is Blaine doing his nature writing about trees.

We finally decided it was warm enough to plant the cherry tomato plants Blaine had been pushing for all winter, in this new planter he received from Gram and Grand-dad.  I went out for the first time to a real store, our local nursery, and picked up some cherry tomato plants (sweet 100?) and some herbs, and exchanged our propane tanks to get ready for some grilling.

One day the temp was up in the 80s so we tried to go to Rye Beach.  Everyone else had the same idea so we ended up parking in the Playland lot and walking around a bit on the boardwalk, and then we went down onto the dog beach for some time in the sand.

Blaine was so impressed with my hair cutting skills that he asked for his own haircut.  It wasn’t quite as successful as Andrew’s, because Blaine had a harder time sitting still.  Still, not bad!

Our first dinner of the year cooked on the grill!  Yum!

Sarah’s chalk drawing on the patio.

Sarah’s Paw Patrol NFL matchup.  I don’t know why I am posting this one (quarantine boredom?), except that I liked that the Eagles supporter is Rocky.

Sarah worked on her How-To book for a few days and here is the final result!  It’s called “You Can Learn to Make Drip Castles.”

The music assignment one day involved tuning an instrument with water in glasses.

More science!  This week the kids were learning about seashores, and we took a trip to dog beach.  Sadly, not long after this visit, Larchmont closed dog beach because they said it was becoming too crowded!

Sarah’s journal entry: “Yesterday I went to the beach on the way back I saw a horseshoe crab shell but there was a sign that said private property so I did not go get the shell.  Horseshoe crabs are cool.”