Wednesday, January 25, 2012

tuesday

I found this first thing this morning.  She drew it a couple of days ago, she said.  I love it so.


making food for the pups.


Kitty Heaven in the livingroom.  (Condos, toys, climbing things, batting things... she likes to create things)

Magic School Bus (surprise!!)

downstairs for Mama (hup-two exercises--still loving that...)

Do you ever wonder where Trevy is in our pictures?
Here's a fine (and utterly usual) example of his life:

"Whatcha been researchin' today, Bub?"
"Mostly dinosuars.  Did you know there is a dinosaur called the Elvis dinosaur?"
"Really?"
"Yeah.  It lived in the Campanian stage."
"The Campanian stage!?  I've never heard of that."  (And I figure I'm pretty knowledgeable, as I live with him.)
"Yeah.  It's a period at the end of the Cretaceous.  Followed the Santonian.  Was a diverse time filled the first flowering plants, as well as frogs, salamanders, lizards, and birds."
"Oh!  We should fill these time periods in on our timeline.  And the Elvis dinosaur lived here?"
"Yeah.  It's called Brachylophosaurus.  Its remains were found in 2000(ce), and it was literally mummefied.  It was a spectacular find in Montana, with skin imprints tissue, and even the last meal the animal ate."
"Wow."
"I have a picture of one in one of my books..."  (We have several prehistory encyclopedias.)
[He looks for it in a book--knowing exactly which one it's in, of course, and his Mama catches up here, writing all this down.]


"Are you caught up, yet?" he asks.
"Yeah."  Smiles.  "Now... where were we?"


"The Brachylophosaurus.  The dinosaurs also documented in the same feeding grounds in the Campanian stage -in Alberta- included the the tyrannosaur Daspletosaurus, which was a small relative of Tyrannosaurus Rex, and the other hadrosaurs;  which included Parasaurolophus and Hypacrosaurus.  Also [here were] horned dinosuars, which include Centrosaurus and Styracosaurus, and the oviraptid Chirostenotes.  Also included, the giant crocodile Deinosuchus, two kinds of dromaeosaur, one called Saurornitholestes, and Bambiraptor.  And last but not least, the giant of the pterosaur family, Quetzalcoatlus Now, ...." and so goes the lecture.
Mmhmm, I'm absolutely crazy about him.


So we tended to the timeline.
Trev is bemoaning the fact that we have so few creatures on it--really gotta get the printer fixed.



An' there was mucho rasslin' on the stairs for a while.
Because... you know.  We were there.



An' there was Out.





And then... just them.  Into the big, wide world.

And let me just tell you.... that took a reeeeeeeeallly long time.
I'm not sure who was whimpering more.... Annabelle, or me.  Rrrr.
But you know.  Gotta make those babies happy.  Even if it's without me.  Her.  Us.

And so.
How'd that turn out, you ask?
Well. Ahem.
Too much whimpering.  Hers or mine, doesna matter.  Took its toll.
"Five minutes, Annie.  Five minutes, and we go and get them."
That lasted for a few seconds.
'Til I pictured Maddie walking across the ice or bank of the duck pond, and [then quick progression, because, as I've mentioned, this is the way my mind works...] Trevy trying to fish her out while hypothermia sets in.
"C'mon, babe.  Let's go get the babies."
So we loaded up into the truck, and went searchin'.
Up the hill, around the corner, and into the condos and to all the various duck ponds thereabouts.  There are like six or something.
huh uh.
To home, then.
Pull in, and see Trev in the livingroom window.
"Dude.  Too long.  You were gone too long.  That was over an hour."
Maddie cries.  Her mama scoops her up, and holds her tight.
"We went up there," she wails, "and for a walk, and then over there, and to over there, and then there were street lights, and I was cold and tired, and we were lost!!!"  Poor wee one.
"Dude.  Not cool."
"I know...I'm so sorry!.... I didn't mean for that to happen...." and so it was. 
"Here's the thing... I was cool with you wanting to go and have an adventure without me... that's fine with me!  I totally get Kid Freedom!  But you said to me 'up to the top of the hill', and you were not at the top of the hill, and I waited and waited and waited and waited... and then you were so far away that Maddie was uncomfortable... not cool, Bud.  Gotta watch out for her, and take these things into account."
"I know.. I'm so sorry.  I'll never do it again without bikes or a car or a skateboard..."
"No, dude."  I tend to say 'dude' when I"m perturbed, "Not good enough.  Going too far away on bikes isn't cool, either."     God help me. Much larger radius, then.  "Gotta just let me know where you're going.  And stick to it.  Just let me know!  It will help when we have another set of walky-talkies, and we'll do that immediately.  But in the meantime, you gotta do what you say you're going to do.  Just let me know... that's all I ask."
"I'm so sorry, Mom," he says, while Maddie still clings to her mama.
"I know, Babe.  Everything is alright, now.  Here.  Get these warm jammies back on, Madd (she had had a bath right before adventuring), and I'll get dinner on.  Wanna get tucked into the couch with this warm blanket and Magic School Bus, while I start supper?  Getting tucked in will make you feel safe and warm.  It's alright, darling.  All is well."

And yes... All is well.
Enchiladas in the works while one learns about physics, and the other watches yet another dinosaur documentary.

And it's true, lest you wonder, that all really is well.
Life takes on lots of wherefores and heretofores  and even thoughs... an' I adamantly still say, that indeed, it is... a sweet, sweet life.
And thank God I don't have to send them away every day!  :)
I like them too much to be able to stand it.

Roller skating.  While talking a-million-miles-an-hour. 
Mmhmm, she's recovered.


And skating and turning around -sans hands- in the kitchen.
She's getting tricky!

I do love this life.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

monday love

a super delicious day
~

music and dancing










recording time.
because she has a sleep-over in a couple of days, 
and wants to have the passing of time down to minutes.



by herself.




friends.
from the left: Mina, Kyan, Maddie, Soleil



Exago for the three of us.



Rat-a-Tat Cat for Trevy and I.



Mancala for Trev and I.
He wiped the floor with me, one game.
But I rallied, the next.



play




Body play
(SomeBody game)



and a book, too.


And throughout :
research,
working on the Field Journal,
laughing,
and many, many Magic School Bus episodes.

all
is
well.

Monday, January 23, 2012

goodly things

   ♥  ♥  ♥

an hour and a half of exercise
(in a still-sleeping house)
and a half-hour meditation.

sunrise to a blue sky and fresh snow

making waffles

Magic School Bus
 (someone woke up)

smoothie (yogurt, carrots, blueberrries, oj, strawberries, apple)

making a book
(an animal encyclopedia that she calls a field journal)

outside

The Beatles in the kitchen

Spore

bike rides
with Dad

homemade chicken noodle soup

a quick visit with friends

a cleeeeeeean kitchen

and maybe another freshly-cleaned room or two

coming up with a supper idea without too much fuss

brownie batter bowl

hot cocoa with whipped cream

♥ ♥ ♥

Sunday, January 22, 2012

speaking of the same...

Funny enough, our day Saturday looked much like our day Friday.
That happens, though, when things are just lying about, hmm? 

So our day looked like :

reading

prehistory researh (there's always some sort of research, every day; it's Trevelyn's thing.  Everything from pop-culture to prehistory, from world population and racial discrimination to cuss words.)

rain and dark

stories for Madd

power outage!
(that was new)

a couple of babes a little discomfited for a while

Zoombinis on my laptop (battery),

Amazing Math Projects for a minute - multiplying fractions

Kahn video on multiplying fractions, but we realized it wasn't the day for it, so we put it away

more marble-run building and playing (on their own)

more reading

snow!

more twister (really it looks more like yoga for Madd--she's stretching and twisting so)

hacking (after the power came back on)- I tried to alter Trev's JPOG game, but I couldn't get it to work.  ' Course, then the game wouldn't work at all, but I was able to get back in there and undo what I did [phew].

playing with the Some Body game (anatomy)...

and so it went.

life, uninterrupted.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

friday

Though blogging has many wonderful aspects, one of my favorites is the (do-able) inspiration that we get from others that are living a life similar to ours.
This morning mine came from my friend SlimD and her Plot 55.
It was in the form her lovely words, and a scale.  Just a scale. A regular ol' OHaus scale, somewhat like ours.

And I had the idea that the microscope might could be brought out, today.  And since I was going downstairs, I asked the children to come down with me, to see what we could find that seemed like 'something cool'.

I think sometimes we live our days, and don't notice that there are many rather wonderful things going on.
Sometimes it takes looking and smiling at someone else's day to realize that our ordinaries are really something extraordinary.
So today I was all about that Noticing.

Today's play started with cheesy crackers.
(we were 'posed to yesterday, but....)



weighing


launching

looking



building

(and thinking)

jumping

watching
(Magic School Bus)


evolutioning
(Spore and JPOG)

figuring



investigating

cookie-ing


painting

valentining

Sporing for the other one

and Jurassic Park building


making dinner
ing

visiting
(thanks, Aubrey!)

and Twister.

The children spent the day engaged and interested.
I spent the day enchanted.


It's a fine, fine life.