Pi and Paddy's

PI DAY:  Saturday we had fun observing Pi Day, celebrated on 3/14 annually, since pi = 3.14 and a whole lot more. 

We were up pies, er, cookies, just a little after 8 a.m. I made a sturdy base, we whipped up some apple filling, and Annabelle helped me weave the 'pie dough' atop and pinch the perimeters together. In the oven they went. ... 

Fortunately, they looked great when they came out.

 And they were done just in time to eat them at 9:26 and 53 seconds (pi to the first 9 decimal points is 3.141592653!).

For dinner, the kids helped make pizza 'pi'. We let the olives do the 'talking,' so to speak.

It was delicious!

SEEING GREEN:  Today is/was St. Patrick's Day. We celebrated with some chocolate mint shamrock cookies and corned beef and cabbage for dinner. Very predictable. But the green I am focused on at the moment has nothing to do with the holiday. I've been reading here and there today about a massive solar flare/storm, and that always makes me think "Northern Lights!!!"

I thought to Google for a northern lights alert Web site today, and discovered the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration actually has a three-day forecast on their Web site for Northern lights potential viewing. Check it out here: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/node/114

It's cloudy right now, but we'll certainly be looking toward the north come nightfall. Fingers crossed we somehow get lucky and see them. It's on my bucket list.

In other green news, we got the garden going in a big way today, planting dozens of tomatillo, tomato, zucchini and cilantro seeds. 

MADE IN JAPAN:  This weekend, G&G delivered a huge pack of fun treats from Japan, courtesy of Renee and Jim, who traveled there recently. There was dried squid (which CJ actually really likes), slippers, origami paper, and multiple edible treats, including this adorable hard candy that looks like sushi!

And there were some tiny toys, too, including a challenging Nanoblocks set that Annabelle managed to make into a trio of meerkat, despite not being able to read the Japanese directions. 

Speaking of imports, the kids received a nifty 3D writing pen from brother Rick for Christmas, but the plug on it was definitely not of the use-in-the-U.S. variety. We ordered an adapter via Amazon months ago. It was finally delivered a couple days ago, and this weekend, the kids gave the 3D writer a go.

It won't surprise you to know Annabelle's first 'build' was a pony. 

It was actually a bit tricky getting the hang of the tool, but once she figured it out, Annabelle had lots of fun with it.