Elephant Toothpaste

Brad found us a fun science experiment called Elephant Toothpaste. We don't often fit in the time to do science experiments, but what with it being summer and all I thought I have no excuse but to do at least one experiment a week. So first week... done. I also had visions of crafts and lots of reading out loud and daily Math and English. I mean, for goodness sake, it's summer for crying out loud! I have all this extra time, right? Well, as it turns out, life is pretty much the same as when school is officially in session. Kaeley is not required to write or practice reading with me as she is in school, but those two subjects don't take nearly as much time a day as I thought they did. I also can't seem to imagine a day without reading out loud, so that's another chunk of time. But I digress. The point is we did a science experiment. Yay for us! As you can see from the pictures it was enjoyed it a great deal.
Today I actually did get a lot of projects done that had been put off day after day. As it turns out a DMV paper I've had in the house for about a week said my drivers license is up for renewal and I actually have to go into the DMV office. Good to know. Then I learned that because of my procrastination I will now have to vote in person. Sigh. Serves me right. I cancelled two credit cards that I haven't used in years. I wrote in the kids journals. I cleared out my huge pile of papers and trash and coupons.
I still took time to take out play dough for the kids and read out loud from The Hardy Boys (Nathan's choice) for a good hour or more in the morning. In the afternoon I think I read for an hour again this time from Treasure Island while Kaeley played with her Lego Friends. She turned the Lego Friends Cafe into a Doggy Hotel.
What is my secret for doing "school" and also getting a load of projects started or done? I didn't clean the house. Besides washing dishes nothing else got done. The kitchen floor is sticky. The beds are not made. There are baby toys scattered through out the house. I'm choosing to feel good about the paper stack being smaller. I can also feel good about the one science experiment and one field trip we did this week. Did we get to the craft and sewing project I had planned as well? No. Did we play our new board game Life with Kaeley? No, darn it. Funny how I lived life with my kids this week and yet, darn, we didn't play the board game Life with the eight year old. I guess somehow she won't be scared for... well... life.