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Feast of the Guardian Angels

Sang

Latin (Rose caught up in Prima, Jane did translation exercise in Latin Book 1, we all practiced all chants in LFC through lesson 9).

Jane read Ivanhoe
I read Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare to R & B (As You Like It)

Beanie asked if she could read me Hooray for Grandma Jo. She loves to read aloud to me—is really the first kid who begs to do this.

Rose wrote a letter.

Jane did algebra & read 2 chaps from Marshall's Eng lit book.

All girls together: I read aloud from Story of Fine Art (more on David, Delacroix). Good discussion about the French Revolution after the reading.

For Beanie: listened to songs from Teach Me German. It's so funny how the girls have each latched onto a different language as "theirs." For Rose it was (is) Greek (but that has slipped to the wayside since the move—she still considers it 'hers, though). Jane has put a claim on Gaelic, but I've not been forthcoming with resources in aid of that request. Kind of a big investment...

Baby napped. I helped Rose with her sewing project. (No longer a nine-patch pillow. Now a nine-patch blanket for Rilla's doll.)

Rose practiced piano & did her theory. MUST MUST MUST remember to run note flash cards with Beanie! I keep forgetting.

Then lunch. Shostakovich's 5th.

Quiet time. Jane worked on solving the Rubik's cube. Rose painted. Beanie did Beanie things.

The afternoon was a free-for-all while I attended to the bloggity stuff.

Book Divas, an online community/ book club for young adult and college readers, is having an author visit with Jenny Downham on October 2nd to promote her novel Before I Die.

Morning chores
Gather for prayer time & singing
Nature walk. Collected lots of things for our display.
Rose practiced piano, learned new waltz

Then we split up for one-on-one:

Drawing with Beanie, plus clapping games for piano (ta ti ti ta ta, etc)
Rose was off playing by herself
Jane read Story of a Soul (10 pp), English history

Rose one-on-one: sewing. Began with picking out two fabrics for a nine-patch pillow, taught her how to iron them.
Beanie played with Sculpey, Jane did origami.

All back together. Baby nursed to sleep while Jane practiced piano.

Lunchtime.
Quiet time. All girls off reading. Baby woke up.

Beanie one-on-one:
She read aloud to me from Nesbit's Shakespeare (The Tempest), then I finished the tale. Reading to me was her request--she loves doing this! I didn't realize until today.

Rose one-on-one: we cut out her nine-patch squares.

Jane one-on-one: talked about her 20th cent history scrapbook project. She is on fire, LOL.

More piano for Rose & Jane. I forgot to have Bean practice. Shoot. I don't think she has learned her new song yet. The older girls are playing constantly throughout the day now.

Busy, happy day! Wonderboy fell apart around 5pm and it was hairy from that point on, but dinner was yummy (baked chicken, rice, steamed carrots), and the kids played outside till past dark.

A great day!

Speech therapy.

Jane did science stuff in the a.m.: testing pH of things.

Returned clothes to Old Navy.

Went to the park.

Back home: time for a half-hour tidy-up.

Tried to have an ASL lesson before lunch...it turned into a Signing Time viewing, which was fine of course.

Lunch, then quiet time. (Whew.)

1pm: Lickona kids arrived for a babysitting playdate. Was very happy to be able to reciprocate, as D. had watched the girls for me during the cardiology appt last month. Rose & Is. played Monopoly; Jane & F. did their comics stuff (I think) and made a tiny batch of wheat rolls; Bean & O. mostly played with the baby. And Wedgits, lots of Wedgits action.

After they left, we tidied again and then some of the girls drifted off to read & relax. Rose found bubbles and delighted the little ones in the living room while I fixed up an autumn nature table and did some toy rearranging (bringing the silks & Waldorf dollies into the living room for little miss Rilla).

5pm I opened the fridge ten or eleven times, but no dinner miraculously appeared. The girls made a paper boat & coated it with crayon, then filled the sink and watched it float.

Rose played a lot of piano. Jane got started but I sidetracked her almost right away.

6pm Dinner: oatmeal! This was actually quite a big hit—Rose got to mix up a dish of cinnamon sugar, so life was good. ;)

6:45pm  Scott got home, kids swarmed him, then went out back to play. We ate leftover chicken fajitas. Then he sent me back here for an hour's work. Ahhhh.... The kids are still outside, though it is dark now and getting chilly!

Tuesday

Set up reading journal blog with Jane.
Everybody did MUS.
Read GREEN KNOWE to Beanie.

Dropped girls off at Erica's & took the little ones to WB's IEP meeting. Long.

Wednesday

Speech therapy
Piano
We were supposed to meet friends at the beach after lunch, but after two sleepless nights and the exhaustion of the IEP meeting, I wasn't up to it. And it was chilly! So we bailed and spent the afternoon at home, cleaning house, reading, relaxing. Jane is working on a weaving project with Emily S's lap loom.
Jane read How to Read a Book chap 1
Jane read "The Road Not Taken"

Thursday

Piano practice (Jane)
ASL
Piano (Rose)
Jane read Our Island Story
I read aloud Young People's History of Art (Last 200 Years) to Beanie & Jane. Discussed David, looked up more works on Google. Jane remembered seeing his painting of the Sabine women in my long-ago "All Roads Lead to Rome" post at LH. Funny!

Set up reading journal blog for Rose. She is commenting now.
Beanie practicing piano.
Jane weaving.

Let's see...

Wednesday. Shakespeare with the big kids! So. Much. Fun. Alice is a genius. (Not that this is news.) We started with One Day in Elizabethan England to get in the spirit of the language & customs of the time. Then divvied up parts and read the first scene of Midsummer Night's Dream. (Jane begged to start with this play, since it's what the Gunthers did last year.) The kids were great—not shy at all about diving in & reading. We talked our way through it, speech by speech. I think this is going to be great fun.

Thursday. Mellow morning. We all need down time by this point in the week. Read more Green Knowe to Beanie: we are both glued to every page. Rose read all the Rowan of Rin books. Jane is on a Shannon Hale binge, reading and re-reading every title the library has in stock.

We're listening to James and the Giant Peach on audio.

Friday. Jane did Latin and algebra. Beanie also practiced Latin chants with Jane. Shopped for a birthday present. Found a lizard skin on one of the patio chairs—ewww and supercool! The girls drew some gorgeous pictures. Not of the lizard skin, I mean. This was completely separate.

Jane & I read & discussed Teddy Roosevelt chapter from Landmark Hist of American People. What a guy. We were both fascinated, lots there I hadn't read before. She is really loving that book. Interesting that Sonlight uses it in their Year 3 (or did back when I bought it, what, five years ago?)—it suits her so much better now at age 12. 

Saturday. Birthday party (they're there now) and Uncle Jay's imminent arrival. Woohoo!

This is really just a test post to see if this blog will work—Bonny Glen seems to be down for the count.

Busy week ahead: the new science lab starts, and ballet is back in full swing, and Wonderboy has an appt with genetics at Children's. Eesh.

The girls mostly enjoyed soccer last week (Rose was a little on the fence) and all three want to stick with it for the month. I don't think we'll sign up for the Oct. session (flag football, which sounds fun but we're so darn busy), but we'll definitely be back for future sessions.

They also tried an art class, a free trial I'd signed up for weeks ago—before the sci lab and sports classes came up. I had decided we were way too booked for this fall and would pass on the class, but they all three loved it so much! I was pretty blown away by their artwork, too, after just one lesson. It actually does fall at a pretty convenient time, so we *might* stick with it. I really can't believe, though, how many activities we have going on this year! So unlike us homebodies!

Well, the grandparents are gone. (Sob!) I will have to go back to actually doing some work around here. Heh.

(Thanks, Mom & Dad, for another terrific visit. We all had such a great time.)

We've had so much company this summer, and so much fun! But now it's time to get back into a mellow groove. I find myself haunting Flylady's site once more...must be time for my annual (and probably short-lived) bout of Fly-Fever.

And I haven't cooked in a month; it's been too hot. Time to remedy that as well. Which means, sigh, I must hit the grocery store today. Already missed the good delivery windows for Von's Delivery this morning. Can't take the afternoon window because there's nothing in the house for dinner.

Anyway. What I came here to write about was our fall activities. We have much more in the way of out-of-the-house activities on our plate than usual, this year. San Diego is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to Fun Stuff for Homeschoolers to Do.

I don't like to post specific information about when we'll be out of the house and where we'll be. But with so many things lined up, there will be strange gaps in my daily record if I omit mention of our activities. So, as I've done with piano in the past, I'm not going to include these things in daily lists of what we've done, but I'll list them here for my own record.

Piano—all three girls will continue weekly group lessons.

Ballet—Jane and Beanie will continue; Rose is on the fence. Jane will take ballroom as well.

Sports class—one hour a week, in four-week sessions. Sept session is soccer. We will not take this every month, only select sessions.

Little Flowers (thanks Erica)—once a month.

Science lab—for Jane, her heart's desire. ;)  Meets weekly. Not close to home, so I need to figure out what the rest of us will do during lab. There is a nice park nearby, so that's a good option.

Shakespeare Club—Jane's *other* wish, inspired by, and in imitation of, Alice's group—will meet every other week. We are not staging a full play, though; this will be a reading & discussion group for the 10-12 yr old crowd. We'll read through one play together before Christmas. Then, after the holidays, we're going to take a break from Shakespeare and do Journey North together. Then we'll read another play in the spring.

Our recorder teacher is going back to college soon, so those lessons will end this month, alas. But we'll have more than enough to keep us busy!

Scott's last summer-Friday off. We'll miss those!

Lazy morning, like a Saturday. Kids watched Pink Panther & Liberty's Kids, and I blogged some pictures. Around eleven, we loaded up the van and went to register Scott for his class. First stop was supposed to be the Crown Books outlet, but surprise! It's out of business. :(

Headed to the university and got him registered & bought his (big fat expensive) book.

Home to clean house & hang out. Grandparents arriving tomorrow!

Beanie is enjoying Child's History of the World. Enjoying, too, being made much of by her big sisters for being "old enough" to read it. She comes back from reading a chapter chattering to me about what was in it. Then: "It's a very good book, Mommy. But I hope I won't have to narrate it. Oh! I liked the part where it said....." :)

(Led to quite a funny conversation about narration: how it's just telling the story. "Oh! Then I LOVE to narrate!" Yes, dear, you do.)

Jane did some algebra and Rose spent all morning writing a story about a horse race.

Cont. read-aloud of CHILDREN OF GREEN KNOWE. (But Rose has ditched us. She is not into read-alouds lately, except Scott's at bedtime.)

Rose left a huge stack of picture books on the couch for Beanie. "I think you should read these because I enjoyed them very much at your age."  (Mm-hmm, and also five minutes ago.)

Recorder lesson; they are learning Amazing Grace.

Watched Peter Pan.

Too hot to cook. Melon for dinner?

YESTERDAY:
Scott had to read The Spanish Tragedy (by Thomas Kyd) for his Shakespeare & Contemporaries class. Also an essay on revenge by Francis Bacon.

Revenge is a kind of wild justice; which the more man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince's part to pardon. And Solomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man, to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves, that labor in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong's sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honor, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man's enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he) take good at God's hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate.

Without our noticing it, the tide has begun to lap at our toes...

crocheting, knitting, Our Island Story

Jane read Landmark History of American People, Penrod
Beanie read CHOW
Rose read Great Americans for Little Americans

Rose & I read first chapter of SHORT WALK AROUND THE PYRAMIDS

Jane & I discussed Landmark/ Wm Jennings Bryan against McKinley, Free Silver, Populist Party

Beanie MUS Alpha lesson one

Jane & I looked at history of women's fashions 1900-1970s  --way fun!

Rose & Bean played dressup (more women's fashions)

Read Beanie TOOT & PUDDLE

Beanie read Treasury of Little Golden Books

Watercolor post w/ boy video

Speech therapy started back up. New location. Not sure if time is going to work out; have to set up mtg to discuss cutting down to once a week, possibly switching to new day (wd. mean new therapist though).

Home to round up girls & reload van for visit to some friends in Clairemont. Lovely day. The girls swam, moms chatted. Yummy lunch.

On the way home, did some exploring  (SDSU area).

TUES:

Cleaned house.

Went to Balboa Park for free Tuesday at the Museum of Art, saw Giverny exhibit.

Also went to Japanese Garden. The girls got to feed the (huge!) koi in the fishpond.

On the way home, stopped by Zoo so Rose could spend some of her birthday money on a panda just like the one Livvy bought when she was here. Now they match. :)

Back home, Rose painted. Jane read. Bean played.

Lilting House post.

WED:

Sanchezes for lunch. (Rose & Grace painted.)

Watched Schoolhouse Rock DVD.

Played outside all evening.

Recorder lesson
Golden Children's Bible (beginning afresh for Beanie)
Read some poems—Wordsworth's Daffodils (and talked about images in minds' eye; Beanie recalled view from playground in our old neighborhood—****ask Sarah or Lisa to send us a photo of the view looking past the stone wall, down the hill, toward the train tracks****) and Rachel Field's "The Little Rose Tree" (share on Poetry Friday)

Sang for a long while, songs from the old Baptist hymnal my violin teacher in Fred'burg had given me, any songs I could remember the melodies to.

Began reading aloud Children of Green Knowe, which I read about in the Noel Perrin book recently reviewed at Common Room.

After a long hiatus, pulled out MUS. Little ones played w/ blocks while R & J worked.

Lunch, then quiet time. ASK magazine arrived, our first issue, so the kids were taking turns with that. Then the younger girls wanted to paint again.

Watched The Secret of Roan Inish.

Thursday 8/16

Mark Kistler Art Camp continues. During class, the 3 youngers and I got the car washed. Woohoo!

After class, we eagerly hurried home to await Keri's arrival. She is home from her trip around the world. Fabulous reunion. Her pictures and stories were amazing. SO GOOD to see her, BEYOND good.

Friday 8/17

Scott took Wonderboy for his MRI. Went well. The girls and I took Keri to return her rental car & run some errands, then headed north for the final Kistler class.

Home to hang out & talk talk talk.

Saturday 8/18

Rose's 9th birthday!
Special breakfast, then early dinner @ Red Lobster.

Sunday 8/19

pancakes with lemon
Mass
Keri's departure, sob

Related posts: Mark Kistler's Art

Piano! Art camp! Mass! And a hunt (already) for a lost Tamagotchi. Found, hours later, on Beanie's chair at the dinner table. Hungry but alive. Heh.

During art class, I vacuumed out the car (a task long overdue—there were crumbs in there from Virginia). Found Jane's pocket knife, which she greeted with happy and relieved tears after class. She has been in mourning over its loss for two weeks. Was a birthday present from the Sanchezes and, after a GameBoy (which she didn't get), the top item on her wish list.

Nice chat with Mark Kistler when I picked up the girls. Fun to talk shop & compare notes. We swapped books, which was great—he gave the girls his Imagination Station book and a couple of DVDs. Later, at home, they watched an episode and were of course glued to the screen in fascination. Beanie snatched up paper and pencil on her way to the car for Mass, and by the time we got there she had drawn several whimsical and friendly-looking ghosts, ghosties being the subject of that particular episode. I was impressed with how well she did. Mark's method really works (as I'd already seen with Jane, years ago, from the Draw Squad book).

***

I am continuing to adapt how I use this "Up Close" blog to journal our days (when I'm using it, that is). I think, for my own purposes, I'm going to start adding daily links to my posts on the other sites, so that when I look back later I can easily see everything written about that day. I won't bother to link the PSA-type posts, just the ones about the kids.

Therefore:
8/14 Nature hike with Julia @ Mission Trails
Beanie on the Assumption of Mary

Rough night. Baby woke up around one, bright-eyed and ready to play. Boy woke up three times too! It was a chilly night, much cooler than it has been, so maybe that's what was up.

::::::yawn:::::::

Rose practiced recorder, brought me mine so I could learn the songs too. We played together for a while.

Made eggs.

Watched "Modern Major General" clip with all the girls. They know the song from a Veggie Tales. (Here it is on YouTube, the same Kevin Kline production we got on DVD at the library.)

Rose & Bean looked at Earthsearch (left on end table after Jane read it yesterday). We talked about population growth & decline, how it's different in diff. parts of the world.

Went to aquarium, watched kelp tank feeding/show. Also tidepools, baby seahorses! The girls spent a long time at the currents table setting up current paths for toy boats.

Home, lunch, quiet time. Books.

Zoombinis.

Beanie had hiccups. I offered her a sip of my water. "You're sure this isn't your tea?" (I'd had tea in a similar cup earlier.) "No, it's my prune juice," I said. She giggled and replied, "What if it was your POEM juice?"

Rose & Beanie have hung their bedspreads off the top rail of the bunkbed, enclosing the lower bunk. This is, I'm told, a fairy house, and they are fairies without wings, hiding from Mr. Wind (the new fan).

9:30, first recorder lesson with Mary, the sweet ballet teacher. Went very well, had a great time. Mary is coming here to the house—so convenient!

Watched the new episode of Next Food Network Star. Rose's favorite got sent home; she was bummed.

Jane & I watched some of Pirates of Penzance (recording of 1981 live stage performance w/ Kevin Kline).

All girls took turns playing w/ Spelling Ace (thanks Alice for the recommendation!).

Played outside for long time.

Books read by various people today:

Earthsearch
Otis Spofford
Ellen Tebbits
Theatre Shoes
Moo Cow Fan Club

Dinner—made this recipe from Quick Fix Meals: Apricot-glazed Pork Medallions. Scott & I thought it was delicious. None of the kids cared for it. Kind of extravagant (uses a whole small jar of jam!) but would make a good company dinner. Jane made roasted potatoes & steamed veggies.

After dinner Scott played for us, I sang, the little girls danced. This used to be something we did all the time, but since we got here we sort of fell out of the habit. I missed it!

"Mommy, can I look up the difference between seals and sea lions?" (But of course! Turns out: sea lions have ear flaps, seals have slits only; sea lions can "walk" on/with their flippers, seals hump along on their bellies. Good to know!)

Jane reading all the M. L'Engle books in the house.

R & B doing lots of Sculpey. (Seal v. sea lion question was related to creation of sea animals.)

Am having an educational-resources open house this afternoon--some friends coming to browse our shelves. Should be fun. :)

I'm finding this journal works best for me if I keep a post open and just jot down what people are reading, doing, & talking about during the day. I love being able to look back later and see what trails we (or groups of us, or one of us) meandered down that day.

Jane finished Otto of the Silver Hand, said it was great.
Rose & Beanie are both reading the Magic Tree House series, Bean for the first time. As always with those books, the reading is spinning off into MUCH discussion & much play.

I gave Rose & Jane their summer haircuts.

Rose & I were looking at a book of poetry, and we saw Langston Hughes's "Dreams" poem, with the first stanza:

Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.

And she gasped in recognition of the lyrics of the Martina McBride song, "Broken Wing," which we (and especially Rose) were all fixated with a month ago. I'd read the poem before, many times, but didn't ever think of it in connection with that song. Rose liked the idea that a poem could inspire a whole new song.

Beanie read Eats, Shoots, & Leaves (kid version)

Jane worked on a painting project.

Wonderboy is wanting to watch lots & lots of Signing Time these days. Is making huge leaps in speech and comprehension. (Remember to write about water/wet, funny Miracle Worker moment, and also the dog in the train book.) Words he signed & said today: remember, learn, smart--worth noting because these are abstract concepts, and until recently he had very little understanding of non-concrete concepts. He has also recently grasped animal sounds, another big stride.

More Animaniac clips, including Magellan & Universe.

Rose read some Alice in Wonderland, is now dressing up.

yesterday—

Jane read Otto of the Silver Hand
Rose was into The Littles, I think

I read a few E. Lear limericks out loud, & Rose was listening and wanting more, more, and eventually she took over the book.

Did a major cleaning of the girls' room & craft room (shudder). Finished the big reorganization of the books, all the books in the house! Finished it, at least, to a point where it feels finished enough, and more shuffling can be done casually, piecemeal.

Lots of Sim City.

Girls & I watched part of a Food Network show, "The Search for the Next Food Network Star."

Watched some Animaniacs clips on YouTube. States/capitals, I think, and Presidents.

Last week was VBS. Wonderfully fun week for the girls! And exhausting for their chauffeur! LOL.

A sample of the fun: this hilarious photo taken by one of the VBS helper moms. Think Beanie is enjoying herself?

Jane saw the headline of a Newsweek article about Gaza. Wanted to know what it was about, so we talked about the history of conflict in that area, Wikipediad for some background info, looked at maps online and also the globe. Read part of the article to her, which led to conversation about democracy. She remembered something from Whatever Happened to Penny Candy about countries whose govt is based upon Natural Law, and a kind of scorecard in that book comparing govts. Hong Kong scores highest as having a govt most based on Natl. Law. U.S. and Canada scored fairly well. I need to read the book, get the full context.

The natural law part of the discussion led (natch) to C.S. Lewis, but I couldn't find my copy of Mere Christianity to read what he says about it. I paraphrased.

During this, the younger girls played Neopets. Rose was playing Castle of Eliv Thade (an anagram game) and asking me how to spell words, or to help unscramble some.

(Note to self, finish that Mom's Guide to Neopets post! Sheesh, has been in drafts for months!)

The fruitless book search revved us up to continue our sorting/cataloging efforts. I began pulling Scotland titles from the various rooms. Jane will enter them on Library Thing later. She wanted to complete the tasks for a Little Flowers badge and got busy with that.

I began a new read-aloud with R & B: The Family Under the Bridge. Rose asked what a hobo (the main character) is. I explained, and we talked about how in the U.S., hoboes used to catch trains, and how they had chalk symbols they wrote on house walls or fences to say whether the people in a house were friendly, would give a meal, had mean dogs, etc.

The book is set in Paris & mentions Notre Dame. We looked in Round Buildings Square Buildings for a picture. Wasn't there, but Chartres was. The text talks about it and the Parthenon and the Taj Mahal, all such different kinds of beauty, but all beautiful because of harmony, each element being *just right.* Beanie liked the description of Chartres like a sailing ship against a sea of clouds. I love the passage about the changing colors of the Taj Mahal in diff. lights.

Jane Googled Notre Dame so we could look at that, too. We talked about how different it is from Chartres, without those amazing spires.

After lunch, Little Flowers, the last meeting until September. Mass at the nursing home, then snacks under the shade of a big old tree at the park. Perfect weather.

Got my grocery order in early. All three girls played piano around breakfast time. This reminded me that Beanie needs to practice her flash cards for C-D-E-F-G, and I began an ultimately fruitless hunt for them.

Matthew 4, led to discussion of Massah & Meribah

Beanie wanted to see the Red Sea on the globe. She played with it for a while, spinning it around. Found Finland: "Hey, I didn't know our friend Fin had his own country!"

Jane added a few more shelves of books to Library Thing, using Laurie's CueCat to scan bar codes, entering manually when necessary. She now knows all about ISBNs.

Rose finished her story, began typing it on computer. She asked me to correct her draft ("I want it to be like a real book"), and that led to talk about spelling (slam, slamming; split, splitting) and punctuation (using commas correctly with quotes, indenting paragraphs, how many dots in an ellipse, commas between clauses). She made a list of misspelled words in the back of her notebook—her idea, no prompting at all from me. During the typing, she learned how to center the title, align the text, indent paragraphs, and do a copy-and-paste.

Beanie read McElligott's Pool, upside down in the rocking chair.

Wonderboy asked for a Signing Time. While he & Rilla watched, and Jane and Rose did the above, I gave up looking for Bean's music flash cards (ARGH!! We have THREE SETS of those! Where are they??) and quickly made some with a Sharpie. We practiced together for ten minutes or so.

Rose finished the first two chapters of her story (short chapters) and asked me to check it for her. We made some minor corrections.

Jane decided to make some better music flash cards than the messy ones I'd whipped out for Bean. She measured card stock & used a T-square to draw the lines.

Bean & Wonderboy watched the Word World DVD I was sent for review.

Rose made a fancy cover for her book, printed everything out, wanted it fastened with brads. Then she printed another copy for someone else.

Beanie appeared in her bathing suit & asked if we could "finally" blow up the baby pool I bought on Saturday. I got out the bike pump and let Bean & Rose take turns pumping up the pool. The pump has an air pressure gauge on it, and they liked seeing how many pounds of pressure they could push.

Jane caught up on Alice's blog, answered an email, had an iChat with daddy.

Rose & Bean took the pool outside, filled it, played for a long time. No one wanted lunch.

Jane worked on birthday thank-you notes; Rose began a new story, this one for Beanie. Bean supervised.

Rilla found my cell phone and delivered it to her brother, who promptly called his father. I learned of this when Scott called on the land line to ask which child he was talking to on the other line. Heh.

Bean & I played around at the piano. Then quiet time, sort of. Short lived. Both little ones awake, and Rose came back wanting to type up the new story. This one was called "The Princesses of the Sea" (a short but eventful tale).

More swimming pool for the middles, Jane stuff for Jane. Reading? Crocheting? Dunno, but she was busy busy. I worked on my bedroom closet, as much as the little ones let me. Wonderboy didn't nap, so he was crabby in the afternoon. Then R & B wanted to take him into the baby pool, which he seemed to enjoy for about ninety seconds and then fell apart. Poor guy.

Beanie looked at her German picture dictionary for a long while. She wanted me to "play" it with her (I say the German words and she hunts the pictures), but the groceries arrived and I was busy putting them away, and then it was dinnertime. Somewhere in there the girls watched Cyberchase and Good Eats.

We have a new sort of game where Scott puts a CD in the kitchen boom box before he leaves for work, and it's a surprise for us later in the day. Today it was The Beatles. Magical Mystery Tour, I think.

Decided, somewhat on the spur of the moment, to jump in the car and head to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla this morning. This has been fairly high on my list of things to do since we got here. The kids loved it, loved it, loved it. Arrived just in time for the shark feeding. Spent two hours there, didn't see everything, will definitely be going back.

Home for a mellow afternoon. Neopets, Zooboomafoo (coincidentally, Karen E blogged about that show today!—I was looking for a different video and found this old tape instead), Sculpey butterflies (Jane).

Rose is writing a long story.

Read a big chunk of My Father's Dragon to Beanie. Rose listened in. Don't look at her. She is not listening, she's just hanging out in the vicinity. Can she please see the picture?