Who Knew History Was So Fascinating?

We're ending the official school year tomorrow. We've been having so much fun in History though, at times I almost don't want to stop. When that happens however, I just open up a bottle of sunscreen, close my eyes and inhale the aroma of summer. Works every time.

We've been reading about Henry VIII and his six wives. Sissy learned a very short rhyme that tells what happened to each of Henry's queens.....

divorced, beheaded, died,

divorced, beheaded, survived

I'm still not sure in what situation she'll find that knowledge helpful later in life, but it is kind of cute.

And I have to say, it thrills me to have the opportunity to not only teach my daughters about people like Henry the VIII, but to learn along with them. I mean, for most of my life, all I knew about Henry the VIII were the lyrics to a Herman's Hermits song. I'm not proud of it, I'm just sayin....

We read from our History book about Queen Elizabeth I and then Sissy read Good Queen Bess, a biography by Diane Stanley. We've read other biographies by this author and I love them. They have that rare combination of large, beautiful illustrations, AND an abundance of information on the subject.

After that, the girls acted out the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. A friend had just given us some dress-up clothes that include a little-girl sized wedding gown with a long train and lots of lace. They also used some costume jewelry and one of their play tiaras, and the whole effect was quite regal.

We're ending the year on a Shakespearean note.

I checked out a couple of children's versions of Shakespeare plays, and tried one of the tricks I use when I want to get the girls' to read a certain book. I sat down to read "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and made sure I was seen. When I was finished, I left the book lying on the couch and made a casual comment about the good story with fairies in it, and then walked off.... and Sissy took the bait!! And she really liked it!

Our History book contained a very short, very simplified version of Macbeth, and although I'm usually not into witches and the like, when I read the related activity suggestion, I knew we had to do it.

We made "eye-of-newt soup". The girls read the "Double, double, toil and trouble..." poem chanted by the weird sisters in Macbeth, and stirred in the corresponding ingredients, replacing unsavory things like "severed fingers" and "tongue of dog" with Tootsie rolls and red licorice. Chocolate chips served as "eye of newt". They had the best time.

And now, because all good things must come to an end, and more importantly, because Momma needs to rest and recharge, our school year is over.

Yay for summer!

Blogging For a Cause

It seems there are just not enough hours in the day lately for me to even blog once a week. Life just keeps happening at warp speed. I do blog in my head sometimes..... trying to permanently etch into my memory, the sweetly innocent yet somehow deeply profound comment casually made by Peanut, or the image of Sissy, all arms and legs these days, sitting in assorted, ever-changing angles on her Daddy's lap. A kind-of internal radar goes off in me.... "Remember this", I say to myself. I focus as hard as I can on the details of these precious snapshots in time, and for a little while, I am seduced into believing I'll never forget them. But later when I call on them, the unforgettable moments become the vaporous, elusive details of a dream. What WAS it Peanut said that was so funny and perceptive last week? It was about people called "something"s and how they never "something" as the name would imply. I try in vain. The dissipation of a memory is in progress. In a couple of weeks it will be completely gone.

On a more positive note, I have managed to rescue several endangered memories since I started blogging. My first post, a little over a year ago, captured a small but priceless snippet of a day so uneventful and ordinary, my recollection of it would have faded long ago. But because I wrote about it, I remember it.

I'm reposting it here. It's my new inspiration.


May 9, 2007 -

Today we blew bubbles. The girls had new bubble blowing gizmos that were supposed to make Gigantic Mega Bubbles. Hmmmmm. We must have done something wrong. We had lots of bubbles, some fairly big, just not Gigantic Mega big. But I kept my cynical 'false advertising' rant to myself, and amazingly, the girls were having too much fun to notice that their bubbles did not live up to the promise on the package. Peanut and I sat down in the shade and played catch, blowing bubbles back and forth to each other and catching them with our wands. Or more often, not catching them, and watching them float away on the breeze. Sissy wasn't into it as long, but she hung around with us anyway. It was one of those wonderful 80 degree days in May when you could just stay outside all day. This is the kind of thing I want the girls to remember when they're grown. If I can just not lose sight of that, this summer will be a good one.

And like an unexpected gift, I realize that these words cause me to remember details I didn't even write about. We're not just blowing bubbles. Peanut and I are sitting on the still-soft grass of spring, in the backyard under the silver maple tree. Sissy plays on the swing that hangs from the same tree. The air feels like pure oxygen. It's just that kind of day. Three souls in the world are simultaneously, if temporarily, content.

To remember that afternoon is to retreat to a peaceful haven .

And that is all the reason I need to keep blogging.

Recent Observations of the Otherwise Astute

1. If, in the interest of both getting your son to work on time and combining trips to town to save gas, you find yourself in the middle of Wal-Mart wearing no make-up and with your hair pulled back in a ponytail – a style which neatly groups together all your gray hairs into obvious STREAKS of gray….. rest assured you will encounter at least three people you know.


2. If this occurs mid-morning on a weekday, and if you take care to let your children wear whatever favorite rag they pulled out of the drawer that morning, AND if you just-this-once-cause-we’re-in-a-hurry trust them to brush their own hair, and then promptly forget to follow-up on that ….. rest assured you will be asked why your kids are not in school.

3. If you want to commit family-time suicide, agree to play a game that both kids insist they know the rules to, but that you personally, have never played in your life. Croquet, perhaps.

4. Sugared pecans are evil.

Recent Observations of the Short and Otherwise Astute

1. Walking up to your sister as she is practicing her Tiger Woods - swing is a bad idea… unless you just WANT a purple beauty mark under your eye.

2. Speaking of bad ideas, here’s another one …. using Mommy’s razor to pretend to shave like Brother.

3. Lips bleed a LOT.

Peanut Cracks an Egg.....

and something goes horribly wrong.

I saw the whole thing and I still can't explain it.

Sometimes the Wrong Word Can Be Very Appropriate

Case in point: Sissy had a dental check-up today and she was very nervous. I could sympathize. I always dread going to the dentist too, so I totally knew what she meant when she leaned over to me in the waiting room and said,

" Mommy, my stomach feels kind of SQUEEZY".

I felt for her, but I couldn't help think how her word made complete sense. When you're so nervous about something you're almost sick, 'squeezy' is the perfect way to describe it. And if waiting to get poked in the mouth with sharp instruments isn't enough to make your stomach feel squeezy, I don't know what is.