Kitchen Island Paradise

Mim is enjoying the relaxed rules this week as Mommy battles some serious (tooth-related?) head pain. We made a little hammock from what used to be my best sheet. (It's still my favorite, but no longer as beautiful as it was. Apparently my wet hair bleaches fabrics.)

She has a cup of Chamomile tea there, because she decided that she needed it. I was too tired to argue, and was standing in the kitchen anyway.

She's been very sweet this week as I've been periodically down for the count between pain meds. She made me a little platter with crackers, hummus, roasted kale and sweet soy sauce. She really knows the way to Mama's heart.

I plan to do a post soon of our favorite educational iPad games. She is playing one of them. It's called Stack the Countries, and I highly recommend it and the other games by the same maker. There's nothing like the sweet, sweet joy of tricking your children into learning things.

Zaya has requested some Fizzy Fruit Punch, the recipe for which was in his English lesson today. We have a trip to the grocery store to make, and then I am going nowhere else and planning to do only what is necessary to keep the kids alive and the house from burning down. Three piano lessons and a trip to the dentist are quite enough for one day.

All Done

Here is the almost finished project. It took them several hours, but I think they all had a great time.

Tragically, my taking of these pictures has instigated THE CONVERSATION. Zaya has formally requested that I stop talking about him on the internet. I'm really sad, actually, but I respect his wishes. From here on out, he gets to OK or veto future posts in which he is central.

I guess my little man is growing up. I'm not ready.

Be Afraid, Tesla, Very Afraid

This year Zaya is taking Electric Circuits at our Friday School Co-op, and loving it. They've asked each student to work on making their own circuit-project. I knew from the moment I read Mrs. B's e-mail that it would be Art, and not myself, who helped with this project. He was more than happy to do so, of course. Any chance to play with electricity. The only thing that would make them all happier would be if it was a "make your own fireworks" type lesson.

As usual, they have gone far, far beyond where they were supposed to go, I think. They're currently discussing electricity at an atomic level, rather than saying things like. "Stick this wire here and the pretty light comes on," which is how I would have started the conversation.

Mim was making towers and houses out of the parts for a while (her default activity is to build something out of whatever is in front of her), but then found a solar panel, and is now using it to tickle herself. Hence the grin.

At some point I will have to go recommend that they close up shop for the morning. Art has a lot more patience for technical talk than the kids do, unless Zaya's really interested, in which case it could go on for a long time.

We will see what this project becomes when it's all said and done. Originally, Zaya wanted it to be a light that comes on with a switch on a scavenged remote control. Again, I know as little as possible about all of this, which is why it's great that he's working with Art. Mim is the one who helped him come up with the idea and disassemble their broken RC vehicle. It's definitely a group endeavor, but most things are. Just another benefit of doing school at home.

Pass Go, Collect $200

What should you do when your little sister doesn't want to play Monopoly? Play with your sentient plush dragon.

Zaya and Crimson enjoyed their afternoon. In fact, Zaya was just as excited when he got Boardwalk as one usually is.

The funny thing is, Mim decided she wanted to play after he got it all arranged. He told her, quite calmly, that he would rather play with Crimson anyway. She was miffed, but will, I hope, remember this next time he asks her.

Hop, Hop, Chomp!

Mim made a shadow puppet play for us all tonight. She hung a sheet from her top bunk, then put Daddy's best flashlight on a stool some distance away. We all had to crawl into the bed to watch her show as soon as it was dark outside.

Here's a rough outline of the play.

Act One:
 Scene One - An alligator eats a bunny.
 Scene Two - A large meteor crashes to earth,  and inside are large bunny-shaped aliens.
 Scene Three - An alien bunny eats the alligator.

Act Two:
 Scene One - Another large meteor crashes to earth, and inside are even larger alligator-shaped aliens.
 Scene Two - An alien alligator eats an alien bunny.

After that, things descended rapidly into chaos.

Can you guess what two hand-shadow puppets Mim can make?