The crazed piece of toast disowned the well-groomed gummy worms, or Pocket poetry.

Today is Poem in Your Pocket Day. To celebrate, Zachary kept Jack Prelutsky's "Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens" in his pocket. Here it is:

Last night I dreamed of chickens,
there were chickens everywhere,
they were standing on my stomach,
they were nesting in my hair,
they were pecking at my pillow,
they were hopping on my head,
they were ruffling up their feathers
as they raced about my bed.

They were on the chairs and tables,
they were on the chandeliers,
they were roosting in the corners,
they were clucking in my ears,
there were chickens, chickens, chickens
for as far as I could see...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were eggs on top of me.

And here is Zachary's version:

Last night I dreamed of bunnies,
there were bunnies everywhere,
they were jumping on my bed,
they were hitting my head,
they were hopping on my stomach,
they were running on my bed,
they were bouncing on my ball...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were carrots on my head.

Now I need to find another poem--he wants a different one in his pocket every day...

Friday afternoon update: Zachary came home without his poem. He has decided to read a poem to his class every day and give it to the most respectful student...

For more kid-friendly ideas, check out I Blame My Mother.

The domestic smellfeast longed for the brainy beggar, or Muffin Tin Monday.

(Under the Sea theme: watermelon wave; tuna salad sandwich shaped like a star; cranberry-pomegranate octopop; and go fish--pretzel rods, peanut butter bait and goldfish)

Here are the boys enjoying their snack:





When he was done eating, Corey stuffed a paper bag with newspaper and painted it:



For more Muffin Tin Mondays, go to Her Cup Overfloweth.

The neurotic scissors came upon the pompous vermicelli, or Unplugged: Yellow.

This week's Unplugged theme was yellow, so Zachary wrote a script and we put on a play for Yellow Submarine. Here it is...

Once upon a time, or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland.

The Apple Bonkers:



The four-headed bulldogs:



The snapping Turks:



And the dreadful flying Glove:



"Splendid!" the Chief's big teeth gnashed. "Today, Pepperland goes blu-ey!":



I guess we'll do Sergeant Pepper later, but until then...



For more Unplugged projects, go to Unplug Your Kids.

The droogish octogenarian serenaded the chubby pocket, or Baseball.

Last night was Zachary's first practice of the season. To get ready for it, we made a baseball:



And read two books:





And then we played:



And watched:



And took breaks from hitting the fence with the bat:

The gallinaceous crutches fawned over the unsightly burgoo, or Art lessons.

Lately Zachary has taken an interest in learning how to draw, and Corey has taken an interest in drawing something other than letters.

Their houses (Corey's is the last one), with a little help from Art Projects for Kids:







Zachary's flowers, copied from Art Projects for Kids:



Corey wasn't in the mood to make flowers, so he made this instead:



From Zachary's I Can Draw People and I Can Draw Animals books:



I drew the square for this one, and Corey added the rest:



We took the easel outside, and Corey painted what he saw:



And then we read Bear's Picture (go see the NPR slideshow about it):



See more We Made It, Friday Showcase ideas at The Ramblings of a Crazy Woman.

The abdominous puppeteer ran circles around the pecksniffian lobster roll, or Earth Day activities.

We started off our Earth Day activities last week with lima bean seeds:



We kept one taped to our back door and one in Zachary's pocket. Here they are yesterday (window seed is on the left; pocket seed is on the right):



And we planted them today:



We also made a melted crayon Earth:





And planted a pine tree with Daddy:



And turned a Cheerios box into a bookmark:



And a clipboard (see here and here):

For more Kid Friendly Fridays, check out I Blame My Mother.

The vinolent nanny chortled at the delirious marshmallow, or Muffin Tin Monday.

(bananas; blackberries; pink fruit dip; cheddar cheese cubes; apple yogurt dip; apple cupcake with apple yogurt dip and sprinkles)

Today we took our tins to the backyard:







And now the boys are playing behind the trees and pretending to be pandas.

Here are the dip recipes:

Apple Yogurt Dip

Mix together 1/2 cup plain or vanilla yogurt, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Bright Pink Fruit Dip, from Pretend Soup

Blend 1 ten-ounce package sweetened raspberries, defrosted, and 1/2 cup softened cream cheese; transfer to a bowl and mix in 1 cup firm yogurt and 2 teaspoons lemon juice.

For more muffin tins, check out Her Cup Overfloweth.

The sluggish cheat-bread jousted with the cowardly checkbook, or Unplugged: Science.

For our Unplugged project this week we taught raisins how to swim in soda:







For more science projects, check out Unplug Your Kids.

The gelatinous porcupine staved off the charitable martinet, or Smoothie taste test.

For our taste test the boys and I made four smoothies: oatmeal cookie; apple, avocado, mint; apple, peach, thyme; and Zachary's St. Clement's Smoothie.

We labeled cups with the letters A, B, C and D and added numbers 1 through 4 to three pieces of paper:



We judged:





The winning smoothie was the St. Clement's, Zachary's own creation:

• juice of 1 orange
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 banana
• handful of spinach
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons flax seed
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• handful of almonds
• 5 ice cubes

Carrot, Peach and Thyme Smoothie (the runner-up)

• shredded carrots
  
• 1 cup frozen peaches
• juice of 1 orange
  
• 1/2 cup cold water
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves only

The oatmeal cookie smoothie was okay, but after drinking the apple avocado one, Zachary said, "Mom, if you ever make another smoothie with mint in it, I will die," followed by Corey's "Mom, if you ever make another smoothie, I will die."

Oh, and in case anyone wants to try out Corey's recipe (unfortunately, we were out of lava), here it is:

• banana
• yogurt
• peanut butter
• jelly
• bread
• sugar
• Zachary
• pig
• lava
• pie
• guitar
  

For more kid-friendly ideas, check out I Blame My Mother.