The tots ate my homework

Today we…

— went out for a short flounder in the snow. (Coats, hats, mittens, snowpants, scarves/neckwarmers, boots times four.)

— during which time the puppy had a pee. “YAY, Romeo!!!” (Toddlers being experts in Encouraging Housebreaking Potty-training. There may even have been some Potty Dancing around the puddle of steaming dampness.

— came back inside (De-coat, hat, mitten, scarf/neckwarmer, boots… times four.) Oh wait, five. I was wearing all that stuff, too.

— Oh, wait. Six coats, if you count the puppy.

— made some more foam mittens for our WINTER banner (pictures forthcoming)

— made some foam winter clothing cut-outs for Emily’s banner, which she will be taking home today

— cleared the table of 146 pounds of craft debris so that we could

— eat apples and peanut butter for snack.

— We read forty-three gazillion books

— made an attempt to sing our way through the Porcupine in a Pine Tree book. (“Attempt” because I have a touch of laryngitis, which manifests most obviously when I sing. The voice starts out okay… a bit thready, but okay, and steadily deteriorates.) By the ninth day, Tyler looked at me and said, MOST reproachfully,

“You are just PRETENDING to sing, Mary.”

My attempts to explain — with a voice that is pretty much business as usual for talking — that I wasn’t doing that on purpose were met with scathing skepticism.

We also…

— played with puzzles

— talked about shapes and colours

— did our weather calendar

— and our regular calendar

— and our charting (for vocabulary and reading)

We sang… well, they sang, and I sort of chanted… “Ring around a Rosie”…

— which led to a discussion of why Lily says “Ashes, Ashes” while the rest of us say “Hush-a, Hush-a”. (Touching on things like “folk song”, “very old”, “many variations”, she’s from West Virginia (er, far away from here, in a whole ‘nuther country!!))

…Twinkle, Twinkle; ABC; My Father is a Garbageman; I’m a Little Smelly Skunk… and a bunch of other songs.

— We had rice and beans for lunch. Emily LOVES rice and beans. “I will have FOUR helpings!” she declared as she raised her spoon. Everyone enjoys rice and beans, but no one loves them like Emily.

She managed three helpings before rolling away from the table…

We washed hands and faces, then cleared the table so that we could

— colour large paper pieces, cut into mitten shapes

— and then, while the other children were napping, Emily and I made some of these VERY cool snowflakes starbursts. (Can’t be snowflakes, you know, because our theme for the month is Winter (subset snow), and EVERYONE knows that snowflakes have SIX points, not eight. Emily was Very Clear on this point. “And six is two less than eight”, she declared, showing commendable subtraction skills, “so these are not snowflakes!”)

— Then, while Emily napped, I made a couple of quiches and a spicy carrot salad for dinner, and took the puppy out to pee.

— When Emily woke again, she and I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

— and did the dishes from cookies, quiche, and salad prep.

And now everyone else is starting to wake up. We will have fresh-baked oatmeal cookies and milk for snack.

And that? That is why I didn’t blog today.