Uphill Monday

It was a Monday that everything seemed like an effort. Overall, we had a good day. Everything I had planned basically got done - just not as easily or graciously as I had thought it would.



We were coming off of a good weekend and the girls just were not quite ready to give it up. DH took the girls Saturday to help him with his pools and then attend a Kids Festival put on by the local parks and rec. I got a lot of quiet time,and enjoyed it. I spent a lot of time actually cleaning my bookmarks on the computer. Everything is all nicely organized - it is the little things.

Sunday we had our first day of Sunday School. One of the reasons we switched back to DH's childhood church was that their children's activities are so well established. The girls have never been involved in a constant Sunday School experience and were looking forward to it. Each girl is in their very own class, and the way the ages/grades are they will continue to be - and that is a wonderful thing to me.

This Sunday also marked Mary's 'graduation' from Children's Church during worship. She is now expected to remain with us in worship. To mark this occassion the church gives each child their own Bible. Mary was very excited to receive her first 'grown-up' bible. It is not a KJV, but I like the size of the print and breakdown - Mary was already able to start picking some things out of it.

Once we got home from Church and had some lunch, Mary and I went out to the library to find our books for this week. She has asked for more experiments, but I wanted her to pick out the books and the experiments for us to do. We also found a few books on Italy, and connected to that the Renaissance, Knights & castles.

Last night we noticed that the sky was unusually clear (thanks Gabrielle) so Mary and I went out after the others had been put to bed for some stargazing. Unfortunately, we found that our $14 cheapie telescope had been broken. So, we tried to just enjoy the time outside. I'm guessing it is time we move from the $14 cheap to the $30 cheap telescope.

And, then today. It was just one of those days. Everything was done - but it seemed to take so long. We had PE this morning, as it got just so hot (97) later today. After 30 minutes everyone was ready to come in and start - but then we had the argument between Mary and Katie about what to read first. And, honestly, I am really tired of "The Little Red Hen". So reading took us nearly 45 minutes for two stories.

Even though Math took forever today, and Katie ended up spending way more time on Jumpstart than I had planned - we still had a few notable positives.

~My friend Tobi linked this Washington Post article in my comments about the playful octopus. Mary got a big kick out of it as I read the article to her.

~I finished bookmarking a bunch of Schoolhouse Rock Videos from Youtube to use with the girls.

~ We watched a Hairy Woodpecker (the name alone just totally turns on my adolescent humor button - Hairy 'Pecker Hee Hee) hunting for insects in the tree just outside our kitchen door. I tried to take some pictures but they did not turn out well. When we saw it, Mary was the one who went for the Bird Book - she is learning something after all.

~ We produced Hydrogen gas today using this experiment. It was so easy once I got all the wires set up. We were not able to collect the gas very well to try the little explosion part. But the girls enjoyed watching the experiment. And, since we have been talking about how atoms join to form molecules - it was neat to watch it in reverse.

~ After quiet reading time, which went over like a ton of bricks today, the girls spent over an hour setting up their plastic bugs into a large imaginative play exercise. Lots of conversations over what each bug was and what they do.

~ I spent my time catching up on laundry and dishes. I did find some time for personal reading and knitted about three more rows on the current washcloth. Now, the turkey breast is in the oven and our friends that I watch on Monday evenings are over. And, the children are just as cantankerous as they have been all day.

Peace,

Amy