Today's books with the kids:
5 chapters in The Midwife's Apprentice (Cushman) ch 8-12
Rise the Moon (Spinelli)
All for Fall (Kessler)
Turnagain Ptarmigan! Where Did You Go? (Guenther)
Knuffle Bunny (Willems)
Horatio's Bed (Ashforth)
No Jumping on the Bed (Arnold)
The Magic Kerchief (Larson)
15 tracks of The Golden Compass (Pullman) on CD
No Jumping on the Bed got many laughs, Rise the Moon has beautiful illustrations, and The Midwife's Apprentice is in great demand and at this rate we'll finish it tomorrow. The Turnagain Ptarmigan book triggered some great discussions on birds, alpine valleys (we live in one), and camouflage.
Work was low this morning, and Leo and Marian took turns playing the Dora video game for awhile, we watched "Emergency Vets" and "Animal Cops: Houston", and we all brainstormed story ideas for the children's book(s) I'm writing. We went from work to the library, where we returned many pounds of books and checked out even more. While there, Leo closely examined the movement and relationship between the library's sink drain lift rod and pivot rod. He'd have taken it apart if I'd let him.
The kids had their first thermos lunch this fall, with the awesome Crayola crayon thermoses we picked up on clearance for an amazing price. We had vegetarian chili with rice cakes at the park before homeschool group.
I'm not sure the squirrels liked the rice cakes as much as the kids.
On the way home from homeschool group, Marian evaluated her experience as a vegetarian so far, after a full week. She declared, "I like it!", decided her favorite foods are portabella mushrooms and salad, and when asked if she misses meat, answered, "Nope, not at all."
We listened to a symphony on NPR, but never heard what/who it was. The kids, especially Sophie, were really into identifying the emotions that the music conveyed, and were awed that it could change so much. I jotted down some of their their description words as they said them (after Leo's, "Turn it up, please, Momma"):
scary
triumphant
excited
quiet
like a dance
sleepy and happy
And more. :)
We drove around Home Lake...
...before heading to the animal shelter, where the kids helped with cats and dogs, and excitedly met and petted a dachshund. (The chapter book we just finished very clearly stated that the only thing that would get rid of mischievous gremlins in a human's home were stainless steel, vacuum cleaners, and dachshunds.)
At various points today we observed and discussed the Rio Grande, talked about underwater aquifers, watched cooking shows, played with dollhouses, played outside, cared for our critters, and laughed a lot.
The kids go to bed so easily these days. I read to them on the couch, I hug and kiss everyone, and they all go off and fall asleep in various beds. They are growing up so fast.
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