3/14/15 9:26:53

Pi Day came with great fanfare in our home.  I am not even exaggerating when I say we celebrated it with pretty much the same enthusiasm we have for 4th of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving.  Maybe more.  (Christmas and Easter get a little more enthusiasm because...Jesus) We started our prep weeks in advance (if not years), made a family trip to the store to buy pie supplies, and celebrated well into the night.  I personally love that Dom greeted me in the morning with:  Happy Pi Day!  And we had multiple conversations about the fact that this particular year's event will not happen again for 100 years.  As Will put it, we might still be around, or we might not.  Better celebrate this one!

 Last December, Eric randomly brought home a pumpkin pie from the store.  I wasn't impressed until I saw the sell by date was 12/13/14.  I immediately knew I had to locate a pie in March with the sell by date of 3/14/15.  Success!

 I fulfilled a minor dream of mine when I purchased fraction circles for our homeschool resources.  Turns out, Dom is pretty good at fractions so I haven't had to break them out.  However, Molly loves to play with them all the while saying the mantra of:  I will be careful, I will not lose them.  It was neat to see my little 4 year old play with them and make observations.  For example, were you aware that a circle can not be divided evenly into 7 or 11 parts?  Molly is!

 When I went in search of my special pie, I saw a display of mini-pies at the front of the store.  2 for $1!  Obviously, I knew why there was a lot of pie in a huge display, but there was not a sign explaining it.  I felt a need to tell everyone I saw...and they just smiled and hurried away.  Ah well.  (Ok...I'm beginning to feel a little like Linus and the Great Pumpkin)

 For a few months now, several different people have either sent me emails or facebook posts with links to buy an Ultimate Pi Day shirt.  The prices were ridiculous, I might add.  I had basically decided we would just make our own when I did my daily check on all things Pi and discovered this shirt for $6.99 (plus $4 dollar shipping).  I ordered it and virtually rolled the dice by choosing the cheap shipping option.  I tracked the package all across America and was thrilled when I saw it would arrive on March 13.  Some Pi tattoos arrived the same day that I'd actually ordered with plenty of time to spare...but, whatever.  It all arrived in time for the big day!  (just not in time to mail them out...which had sort of been the intent...but, let's be realistic, I would have procrastinated and not gotten them out in time anyway.)

 In a random twist that was great benefit to me, Eric was really into the whole baking pies thing.  He made two key lime pies.  One for work and one for us.  They were both delicious.  Then, he insisted on making a sausage pie for our dinner on that Saturday.  He did more baking for this holiday than he has ever done for my birthday.  He claims because he didn't have the added stress of figuring out what to give me as a gift.  Don't tell him, but he can forgo the gifts if he would just decide a meal, shop for the meal, cook the meal, and clean up after the meal.  I think I speak for a lot of wives when I say this.  Oh...and get donuts.  Don't forget the donuts.  And Eric didn't!  Pi Day was better than my birthday! (Though I did have a wonderful birthday...this was just more better...like an amp that goes to 11)

 And here we have the Pi Tattoos.  I love my kids so much.  They were all excited to celebrate Pi Day.  I'm sure the chocolate pie they'd picked out had nothing to do with this.

 Our two PIrates.  Get it?  Because they are wearing a patch?  Like a pirate!  But, I capitalized the P and I because they are wearing a pi tattoo!  Too much explaining?  Ah well, I laughed and laughed and laughed about it.

 I did have some great Pi Day activities planned.  The first was to give the kids three more Sir Cumference books.  Will, in particular, loves these books.  He was pretty disappointed when Eric took a new one to work to give away (a big hit at work I might add).  Luckily, he got three to replace it.  He read them cover to cover and told me all about them.  His brain has been doing calculations all week as a matter of fact.  He came out the other night to tell us how he calculated how many days in 3 years.  It's sort of complicated, but I'm sure he'll explain it to you if you want to ask him about it.

 Another activity was measuring the circumference and diameter of various circular objects.  The kids were all good sports about this.  I think it helped that we have brand new Pocket Pi measuring tape.  One side has the number pi out to about 1000 decimals and the opposite side has centimeters.  I was quite pleased that Molly kept finding circular objects for us to measure. 

 Super Mom!  See the cool tat on my cheek?  John did not get a tattoo this year, but don't worry, I still have 39.  He'll get his chance next year!  Eric had his on the inside of his wrist.  It looked pretty hardcore. 

 My two engineers. 

 All of our measurements.  I attempted this activity several years ago and shockingly, my 4 and 2 year old were not very good at it.  They did a much better job this year.  As you can see, we had some pretty good measurements. 

 Eric is a huge fan of the Men in Blazers soccer show.  Each week they eat a savory pie to determine who will win in the upcoming Premier League matches.  As such, Eric was particularly keen about baking a meat pie.  As I had no other ideas (aside from ordering pizza pie), I gave him full command of the kitchen.  And the pie turned out very good.  (This is also a great example of how our marriage works, we find things we are both interested in and figure out a way for those things to intersect.  Like when we watched Fever Pitch which is a British film about soccer...starring Colin Firth)

 In the spirit of the day and because we didn't want to dampen the mood by having kids complain about the meal, we just let them eat dessert pie for dinner.  Will approved our decision.

 The day came to a close with the family reading of several Sir Cumference books and Eric and I having a nightcap of coffee and more pie.  It was a glorious end to a glorious day.  And the kids are already talking about what they want to do next year for Pi Day.  (FYI it involves eating a chocolate pie for dinner)

I forgot to mention one thing I did just for myself.  As I've said before, I'm training for a half-marathon in a few weeks.  I had not really thought I would run (and by 'run' I mean 'move at a slightly quicker pace than walking') as our day was going to be jam packed with not runner friendly activities.  But, when I awoke to my sister's facebook post that she had already completed her 9 mile run, I started to reconsider.  Then I saw another friend had completed his Pi Day run (3.14 miles)...I decided to combine these two and ran 3pi miles (I think I got that right...).   I wore a garmin and stopped it when it hit 9.42 miles.   I was going to take a picture...but got distracted with the pie when I returned home.  Just take my word for it.  I'm a mathematician.

OH, and I think I'll figure out a way to add "I Survived" on the back of my Ultimate Pi Day shirt.  It's a nice shirt after all.