Monday: Summer Colds

Going to: Swim lessons and gymnastics. Some of us, anyway. I woke up with a nasty summer cold yesterday, and by last night it was clear that a couple of the fine young gents are following in my snuffly achey footsteps. I left the younger gents at home this morning and took their brother to his swim lesson. My sister wasn't able to take her kids to the pool, so on the way I stopped to pick up three fine young cousins and a dozen eggs. Let's just say that I'm glad we've just got colds instead of falling victim to bad pizza. "I was going to go into the bathroom to throw up," said ten-year-old cousin, who apparently threw up down the wall and into the window cracks (poor kid), "But there were too many people in there." Yikes. They all swam happily and returned home, and no one threw up in my car, thank goodness.

Later, six-year-old gent went to his last gymnastics class of the summer. I like taking the kids to the gym, but it's dark and smells like socks and old cheese. I'm glad for the break.

Listening to: Mozart's Magic Fantasy, a Classical Kids CD. We own a few of the CD's in this series, and Mozart's Magic Fantasy is the hands-down favorite, particularly for four-year-old gent. Very loosely based on Mozart's opera, The Magic Flute, the story of Mozart's Magic Fantasy begins when young Sara visits backstage on the set on opening night, looking for her mother, who sings the part of Queen of the Night. Sara suddenly enters a magical story in which her own flute is magical. She meets the dragon (shrunken rather than slain), Papageno the bird man in search of his Papgena, the prince and princess, the evil sorceror Sarastro and, of course, the Queen of the Night. The tale features the major arias composed by Mozart, with child-friendly lyrics to fit the story about Sara and her own magic flute. On a quiet afternoon I pop Mozart's Magic Fantasy into the CD player and put Legos and craft supplies on the table-- instant peace.

Watching: Bill Nye the Science Guy. This time, Ocean Exploration. The Eugene Public Library carries the entire set of Bill Nye educational videos, and my guys are hooked. So am I, because we can watch them for free, they're educational, and when we're not feeling up to par it's nice to pop in a video and veg out for a while. The DVD case says that the movies are for grades 4 and up, but four-year-old gent absorbs quite a bit, and six-year-old gent does pretty well on the quiz at the end of the DVD, so younger children definitely benefit from watching. I can't tell you much about Ocean Exploration because I haven't watched it since the first time we checked it out. It's about exploring the ocean, that's all I remember.

And Dumbo. The younger gents and I are so snorty and snuffly that I made an exception to the 5:00 rule, and we watched a movie in the middle of the day. I love parts of Dumbo: The stork, the parade, the song "Baby Mine," which makes me cry a little, especially this part: "From your head to your toes, You're not much, goodness knows, But you're so precious to me." I am a big sap.

Weeding: The weird little area in the back yard next to the house. I've been trying to decide what to do with it for a while. Maybe a rock garden, something easy to care for.

Reading: Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science books from the library. This is a great science series. We've checked out several books in this series, and we're never disappointed.

Fossils Tell of Long Ago (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science), Aliki.
Aliki is a favorite author-illustrator here at Poohsticks. The pictures are simple and clear, fun for the fine young gents to look at, and the text is also simple and clear. Fossils Tell of Long Ago tells about different fossils and how they are formed. For a great companion to Fossils Tell of Long Ago, try Digging Up Dinosaurs, also by Aliki. As with many books in the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science series, Fossils Tell of Long Ago includes a simple activity related to the subject matter of the book, in this case how to make a fossil-like imprint in clay.

Ducks Don't Get Wet (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science), Augusta Goldin. Illustrated by Helen K. Davie.
Four-year-old gent requests this one over and over. On a recent trip to the park with friends, six-year-old gent explained to them exactly why ducks don't get wet. There's lots more information about ducks, and the illustrations are wonderful. Tomorrow, we plan to try the feather experiment at the end of the book.


How Mountains Are Made (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science), Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld.
One nice thing about the Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science books is that the title tells you exactly what you'll learn from the book. This book, obviously, is about how different kinds of mountains are made. I learned quite a bit from this book myself. My favorite page is the last one with a map of North America and its major mountain ranges, and information about types of mountains on our continent. Another good solid science book for my science fans.

Decluttering: Nothing. I have a headache.

Eating: Ribs, cheesy mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green salad. Loving husband is a darn fine cook, and he makes fabulous ribs with to-die-for barbeque sauce. Six-year-old gent must be growing because he ate five ribs, two ears of corn, two helpings of cheesy mashed potatoes, a helping of leftover coleslaw, and green salad.