Totally Tuesday

MORNING GROOMING: Before the sun was up this a.m., Annabelle and Kirby were lazing on the couch, watching cartoons. At one point Annabelle says to me, "Mom, would you bring me some child safety scissors?"

Um, sure ...

"I found a mat on Kirby." And so, without taking her eyes off of cartoons, Annabelle did some doggie grooming.

MAKING MUSIC: This morning the kids had some music homework to complete. They transcribed some "triplet" cards into their notebooks. I had to laugh at Annabelle's self-chosen outfit for her day. Maybe we'd all do a little better with the daily drudgery if we donned princess mouse ears and a superhero cape.In addition to a transcribing exercise, the kids had to listen to "My Bonnie" from their Musikgarten CD.
As the track was playing, CJ asked me, "What does 'over the ocean' mean? Does it mean she got washed away by the sea?"

I told him that no, it meant that someone's loved one was far away.

"You mean she forgot to take the plane?" he quizzed.

"Maybe," I replied. "Or maybe she has work or other stuff that keeps her away, but what it means is that she's far away - across the sea - and he misses her."

I thought it would be fun for them to hear another version of the song, and the first one YouTube produced was by The Beatles (who knew?). CJ approved. "I like this more than Miss Nancy's one because it's rockin'. I like the rocking more than just normal music," he qualified.

BOPPIN' BONNIE: The "My Bonnie" theme continued through their music class. When I showed up for the parent participation portion, our fun and games involved the group alternatively sitting and standing every time there was a word starting with the letter B in the song. It got pretty hysterical at points!

STUDY UP: With his free time this afternoon CJ found and watched a three part interview on YouTube with the creators of Mortal Kombat 3. It amazes me how he is taking it upon himself to school himself in the history of computers and gaming consoles. He doesn't just want to play games, he wants to know who designed them, why and how they did it, who the publisher is/was, what systems the games were ported to and so on.

I mean, I don't know how you spent your time in the shower today, but mine was interrupted seven times by CJ needing to tell me some nuance about the genesis and evolution of the "Altered Beast" series of games.

DONE DEAL: Today we put the finishing touches on our cork coaster project. They turned out nicely by my eye.SWEET INDEED This afternoon we read a gem of a book, "Saving Sweetness." It's the story of the "ittiest, bittiest orphan Sweetness." Desperate to escape the orphanage at any cost, Sweetness busts out on her own. A hapless Sheriff sets out after her - and she ends up adopting him, or vice versa.

The book is rife with fun phrases like "hollerin' like a banshee" and "seemed like the wind was too tired to blow" and "cute as a speckled pup under a wagon" and CJ's favorite, "lit off like she was tryin' to catch yesterday." We had fun talkin' about droppin' Gs from the endin' of words and what that makes language sound like. We also talked about the fun phrases used in the book and what some of them might mean.

Tonight, I found a great activity guide on publisher Live Oak Media's Web site (PDF here). We'll be using it tomorrow, for sure.


A PROMISE IS A PROMISE: In the turn-back-the-clock dark and the November rain we drove down to Columbia City for yoga this evening. Christian work schedule has changed a bit, at least for now. He's off at 2:30 every day (yay!) but he doesn't have Mondays off any more (BIG booooooo!) So he accompanied us to class tonight. Our tentative plan was for the kids to go to yoga and afterward, we'd hit up Full Tilt, the awesome arcade near their yoga studio. Problem was, when we pulled up to the arcade, it was CLOSED. Not cool.

Because we had promised the kids a trip there, we made good on that promise by taking them over to the West Seattle location of Full Tilt.
It doesn't have as good an assortment of arcade games as the Columbia City location, but the kids had a great time nonetheless.