Oh, what a beautiful morning!

What a beautiful day!  It killed me to drag the kids on errands for the first half (during piano) so we made up for it by holding our school outside for a few hours.  We were "interrupted" a few times, observing our backyard friends (our many birds that we entice in with some tasty bird seed/ nectar) and the blossoming trees.  Laying on the blanket with the girls, checking their math, I was overcome with gratitude to all of our friends at Nike that made this possible. (Think PBS: This program was brought to you by Chris' amazing friends at Nike)  No matter how beautiful the day, I can't imagine that it would have been nearly as tranquil if we had our blankets set out in the mud.  Yep.  It just doesn't sound as nice.  Three hours later, I brought the girls in to get a few other subjects done, which upset Elise greatly.  Yes, she could theoretically stay out by herself but where is the fun in that?  She kept pulling Rachel to the door, asking her to jump on the trampoline.  Rachel told her that she couldn't because she was reading.  Elise's response?  She chucked the book to the floor and told Rachel that she DID NOT want to read and that she wanted to jump on the trampoline.  Elise knows best, apparently.   And none of this would have been if our backyard was still a muddy, goopy clay mess.