Spring Forward

 Although in general I'm not a fan of the clocks changing twice a year, I actually prefer to "spring ahead" even though we lose an hour. The kids and Milo got up later than usual on Sunday according to what the clock said, which meant we didn't actually lose an hour of sleep. Nadia got up at her usual time the past two mornings, but Ian and Milo have been getting up at 7:30, whereas they had been getting up at 6:45 prior to the time change. It *felt* like spring last week. It doesn't feel like spring this week even though spring technically arrives this Saturday, on what would have been my Mom's 76th birthday. It snowed here this morning. I walk a lot longer outside when the weather is warmer, but I did walk for at least a little bit the last three days even though it was colder outside (about 1 mile a day instead of 3-4 miles a day). Something is better than nothing, right?

I have started taking a videography course. I have learned that clips should be 5-10 seconds long. I have been taking some short videos with my DSLR as I am planning to make some cinematic home videos - ex. the first one I plan to do about Milo and the second will probably be about Nadia. Today I didn't follow any of the guidance I've been given when I used our camcorder to record Ian practicing the piano. One of the pieces he's been working on lately is an arrangement of Pachelbel's Canon. The piece is four pages long. I recorded the first two pages and the second two pages as two different videos, but even so the video below is 5 minutes long. It's from Alfred Level 6. If I had to list three of my favorite moments each day with Ian they would be: his hugs, listening to him play the piano, and snuggling while I read to Ian and Oliver. I'm really hoping that this summer Ian and I will play more piano duets together. That would be heavenly! Oliver wants me to teach him how to play the recorder.

Today I tried a new recipe - Egyptian sweet cookies. We think it's a bit of a misnomer. The recipe called for four cups of flour and only 1/2 cup of sugar. Most cookies that I make use more sugar than that. I can assure you I won't ever be making them again. The question is - will anyone eat them or will they just end up being tossed in the garbage? Nadia has really been enjoying the Szarlotka that I made on Sunday. I was going to make Irish barmbrack and beef stew for St. Patrick's Day, but the barmbrack recipe looked too similar to the panettone I made a few months ago. The kids aren't fans of dried fruit (aside from raisins) so I decided to go with Irish soda bread instead. We've tried 133 new foods over the past 6 months. We have about 45 more recipes on my list left to try.