mudpies and paint

The park was a great succcess yesterday. But, memo to myself, remembering to take the camera and remembering to actually remove it from the bag and use it are two different things. I have really great pictures of the day - unfortunately they are stored in my head not the memory of the camera.

The day started out well - which I guess is the reason it went so well. The girls got up and helped me with making breakfast - scrambled eggs all around. K broke the eggs, MB whisked them and cooked them on the stove (under my supervision). Then we all helped pack our lunch. The excitement was great for an actual field trip!!

Our plans did change slightly as we were pulling into the park an I received a call from on of our favorite homeschooling families. They were also going to a lake/park for a play day and wanted to know if we wanted to join them. So we pulled out of the parking lot and headed over to another park. Great change of plans. With us, there were three families and seven children. I think this is just about the perfect number.

We played on the play structure, roamed the woods, put our toes in the water and built sandcastles. We had lunch and visited. I ended up home an hour-and-a-half later than I had planned - but with no one whining and crying from being too hot or too tired.

We all rested for about an hour and then hit the books. After MB's intial bucking at the new way her subtraction problems were written it all went smoothly. I even got her to write two sentences about her day (although you might have thought I had asked her to remove her fingernails one-by-one).

On the way to soccer, DH called to say that he needed to work late and then he was going to go straight to his Wednesday night thingy so we would not see him until after bedtime. We picked up a frozen pizza on the way home and had pizza and french fries (MB's choice) for dinner.

We did baths/showers and cuddled up to watch the Amazing Race. off topic for a moment: I have never sat to watch an entire season of this, but I do like the idea of the show. Generally, I have been turned off with the amount of time spent on the arguing an backstabbing of the contestants. I have to say that I was really, really pleased last night as I felt the arguing was minimal, there was a lot of cheering for teammates and the scenery of Oman was beautiful. We talked about where Oman is, the Middle East and some of the cultural aspects that MB noticed in the show (like you only saw men in Oman - she wanted to know where all the women were.)

After the show, MB read me the rest of her story. Then we read the next chapter in Peter Pan.
The girls were so tired and headed off to bed, where they could watch the stars from their beds. (I move around their room and placed the bed next to a window that they both can lay in bed and look out the window - this was very exciting for them.)

It really was a good day. I wish I could bottle it - find out the secret to the day.

Anyway, everyone should be waking soon and I have a few chores I would like to knock out before then.

Peace,

Amy