Update-ish

I'm researching a relative who married her husband twice, in two states, 40 years apart, but who doesn't appear in ANY of the 5 Federal Censuses performed during her married and widowed life. I've found her marriage licenses, I've found her in a couple state censuses, and I clearly see her application for support from her husband's military pension, but she's absent from every Federal Census. It's a fascinating mystery that keeps me up at night, and I was planning to use this quiet time to work on it, but FamilySearch is down right now. I must content myself with a little blogging, then, while I obsessively and frequently check up on FamilySearch :)

James threw up a couple times last night. He's fine now, but tired, and Matthew has been inordinately droopy this morning. Hm. Both are asleep. As I watched James empty his stomach contents onto my living room carpet last night, several times in a row, I felt completely paralyzed and nonchalant at the same time. Like I've seen all this before, so it's not alarming, but I haven't seen it recently enough to act quickly. Bah humbug. Bobby cleaned up the floor while I cleaned up the boy. NOT a fair trade, by the way. Thanks, Bobby.

Droopy Matthew this morning, some laundry in the background.

I've got three loads of laundry left to sort through and fold and put away. That's just what's left of the weekly chore. James' adventure last night only added one load of laundry. Mostly towels...thanks, Bobby.

Yesterday I planted the first seeds for this year's garden. Just a few snapdragons from last year and a Bee Balm or two (new to me, but interesting flower that attracts beneficial insects). These flowers take an especially long time to germinate/grow, so they're the first ones under the grow lights. The seeds are insanely tiny. Barely the size of this period. I sprinkled them in their rows, put a little soil over them, gave them a gentle pat, and suddenly remembered with horror that snapdragon seeds require LIGHT to germinate. This is one reason I don't like dealing with flowers...a HUGE diversity of needs compared to veggies. Ugh. So, I put the grow lights as close as possible, hoping the light would penetrate somehow and kickstart their growth. Might get lucky. Or, might not get any snapdragons this year. Or, just my luck, only the pink ones will germinate ;)

Matthew in the wheelbarrow yesterday, helping me do some spring cleanup.

Crocuses always remind me of the day we brought baby Alice home for the first time.

Alice has recently taken an interest in computer programming. She asked Bobby about it often enough over a period of time that he felt we should give it a go. He ordered a robot kit they could work on together with all sorts of accessories to add functionality. I'm impressed. This is something so far out of my realm of expertise/interest that it never would have happened without Bobby. Robert has been involved, too, but he likes the physical mechanics more at this point...and getting the robot to follow Matthew around the house. Alice is the programming one. She learned how to make the lights blink and got them to spell her name in Morse Code.

Alice getting her "programmer" groove on.

Next, Bobby is going to show her something called, um, what is it? Spark? Stick? Scratch! That's it. I think it's another way to write programs, designed especially for kids.