Every Monday I babysit a homeschooling friend's three girls, aged 7, 4, and 2. We only have them for a few hours, but it's a great learning experience for my two kids, who need to share their toys and their mama. It has taught me something too: I do not want to have 5 children. I am so wiped out after they all leave! It tires J and R out as well, so they are generally quiet in the afternoons, creating a win-win situation for all of us!

Today we did the bubble experiment in The Backyard Scientist. I mixed up a juice bottle full of bubble solution (Joy dishwashing liquid and water), and cut the ends off of a bunch of small water bottles. They made some great bubbles! I did not have any straws, so we did not do the part of the experiment where they make a frame out of straws and string for some really huge bubbles. While we were outside, the kids played "baseball" with a small toy rake as a bat, and a soccer-sized ball as the ball. They also found a huge tree frog in our palm tree, and I had to physically restrain a couple of the kids so that the frog could climb back up the tree and live another day, if he didn't die of a froggy heart attack from the fear of these huge kids nearly stomping on him!

Inside, we did playdough and everyone played silently with J's "new" GI Joe toys. (Not something I'd buy him, but they are left over from when their dad was a child, and we ended up bringing them home with us from our recent trip to Connecticut.) I think the girls were having the soldiers have picnics and such while J made them fight. He only realized today that he is the only boy when we have our friends over, and he seems very pleased with the idea.

After the girls left, the kids watched some TV, and we took a trip to the post office to mail a letter certified mail. R actually slept on my shoulder, so it was a quiet and uneventful trip.

I need to make it to the dollar store for some supplies for the week's activities, so I'm hoping to do that tonight.