The kids have been feeling way over-scheduled--Emily especially. Some friends were meeting at the park today, and she actually wanted to stay home! Part of it may have been, too, that she stayed up late last night watching Walking With Dinosaurs. But, we've definitely been running around a lot and spending way too much time in the car!

So, today we had a slow relaxing day at home. We did some baking: made banana bread with cream cheese icing and some chocolate chip cookies. The kids played with legos and playdough, watched the new Scooby Doo DVDs we borrowed from the library and finally had to be dragged outside. ;) It was a gorgeous day outside, and we had fun playing in the yard with the puppy.

I mucked some of the recent algae bloom out of the pond--a result of the weather changes. Hopefully, it will balance itself soon. I tested the water and the pH levels seem okay. I need to check the water temperature to find out when to add some start-up bacteria for the season. I futzed around with some of the rocks and pulled out some leaves (and someone's paper airplane) that were trapped in the waterfall. You can check out pictures of the pond at our website on the Science page. They're towards the bottom of the page. I had fun relaxing by the pond and just listening to the flow of water and the birds. I read a bit of Alfie Kohn's Punished by Rewards, but mostly I just relaxed.

Our neighbor came over and played for a while after she got home from school, and we had a good time visiting with them. I love when the weather warms up and everyone comes outside again!

While dh was making pizza for dinner, Em and I read some of the Genesis stories from the Children's Bible we got from the library. We read about the creation of the world, Adam and Eve's fall from Eden, Cain and Able, and the Great Flood. Em's not too crazy about the vengeful God of the Old Testament. She's making lots of great connections between the biblical stories and those we've been reading about from Greek and Egyptian mythology. She's comparing Satan, Hades and Osiris, and it's really cool to hear her thoughts on the different personas.