the weekend

Swimmin'
and hanging out
and love.

Maddie has evidently perfected her underwater swim, and is now moving on to her backstroke.
Amazing, to me.

So I had been seeing this weird book around the house - noticing it, but not really noticing it, if you know what I mean.  I supposed that we had just checked it out on accident.
I went into the livingroom to see what the babes were doing, Trev was lying on the floor reading Capybara - The World's Largest Rodent, and on top of the recent library stack, is Special Effects - An Introduction to Movie Magic.
When I finally read the title, I smiled, and asked Trev if it was his.  "Yup.  It's all about how special effects are made."
This is not an easy read - it's a pretty heavy book with over a hundred pages.  Lots of science and technical info.
Remember how I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he always reads the closing credits for movies?  And does research on them - reads everything he can find on Wikipedia?
Makes me smile.
Definitely a non-fiction loving kid.  (Thus the Fact Books on our list - he's totally digging Actually, Factually, The Book of When, and Really, Really Big Questions right now.)

Trev and I played Qwirkle while Madd drifted in and out of our game, speaking Spanish and other made-up languages.

We challenged each other and practiced our math skills while we played.

First thing Sunday morning there was some singing in the rain goin' on.  Complete with umbrella and rainboots.  (That was Madeleine.)

I was checking into Shakespeare videos for children in the morning, and found that BBC created a series called  Shakespeare Animated Tales.  (And all viewable online!)
We have a book called Tales From Shakespeare by Tina Packer, and have read two or three of them.
So this morning upon discovering that there was a film on Hamlet (but sadly, not one of our so-far favorite - Much Ado About Nothing), I called to Trev and asked him if he remembers Hamlet.
He then proceeded to tell me the story of Hamlet - effectively refreshing my memory.  :)
So, we watched it!
And thoroughly enjoyed it.
And plan to read the stories in our book, and then to watch the tales.

Swiiiiiing.

Physics lesson.  : )  This was great fun - lessons and demos with a tipping swingset.

Sun's out!  Let there be swimming.

Garden love and a little computer play and reading and MarioKart on the wiiiii.

While that was going on, Mama spent much of her time jotting down some things so she doesn't panic, and think "Ack!  But what do we have that's interesting for a nine year old!?!"

Soon it was time for loadin' up and heading to Grandma's for a barbecue.
Which was a really, really lovely time.
Big kisses to everyone there.

Who knows what today brings?