Science!

Andrew is full of great ideas these days. A few days ago, he suggested we add Nutella to our Peanut Butter and Rice Cake snack - a delicious suggestions! And this morning he suggested we have a "science afternoon" after school.

Amanda and I were heading to the library anyway, so while we were there, I found a book about states of matter. It is what Scott is studying in Science this 9-weeks.

Our first experiment was to see whether water moves from one vessel to another. We used muddy water, so our first step was to gather dirt.


We added the water and set it on a book. We placed a cup on the counter and connected them with a white cloth. Sure enough, within a few hours, we saw the water was moving from one cup to another. So cool!

We also looked at ice (solid) and water vapor (gas) in several other experiments. Working with the kids is so much fun!

Back on Track

Six weeks without a kitchen, followed by three weeks of no computer is not a good combination, especially when you add in a new year with new activities and two (wonderful) packed travel weekends. There were days when I could barely keep my head above water, much less keep up on world events, pictures, my calendar, blogging, email, etc. It is amazing how tied I am to MY computer...not just any computer, but my own computer, at my desk, sitting in the chair I love. I don't function well without it. And when I don't function well, the family doesn't function well. So we bumped our way through Christmas, holiday travel and back to school with only a few bruises and missed appointments.

Change is constant and all seasons pass. Thankfully, I'm sailing again with a newly rebuilt hard drive and a stocked kitchen. I'm hoping to blog December & January because they were such exciting months. I don't want to forget them.

Speaking of not wanting to forget something, let me tell you about our bible time last night...

We are studying Isaiah in bible study this year, and I have the joy of leading 1st-3rd graders through the same material that their Moms are studying. Since we meet on a Thursday morning, my class consists of home schooled kids and my kids are in school. I try to go through it at home with S & A, but we vary in consistency.

We are in Isaiah 40 this week...one of my favorite chapters in the bible (also the chapter I prayed over Andrew before birth.) I definitely made time for us to go through the home study questions this week.

I snuggled on the couch with Andrew on my left and Scott on my right and we dove in. I wish I had a recording of Andrew's comments. He was so excited about God's power: "See, God will just take all of those idols and blow them up!!!!" Scott: "I don't think they had bombs back then." Andrew: "Yep, they had swords and stuff. He will just cut them up."

Later, we read "He brings princes to naught and reduces the rulers of the world to nothing (v. 23). Andrew: "See! That's what I'm talking about!"

We are memorizing v. 28-31. Andrew: "He (God) will not grow tired or weird."

Those comments brought a smile to my face - such a different interpretation than I had when I studied it.

100 Days!

My little Andrew has hit the 100 day mark! He had a celebration and parade at school. Only 78 days* left in Kindergarten!

*The kids actually only go to school 178 days. They furlough the other two days.

USS Yorktown

We spent MLK weekend on one of the most memorable trips ever...visiting and spending the night on the USS Yorktown, a WWII aircraft carrier. It wasn't just that the ship was spectacular and the airplanes were incredible. It was that we spent a full 24 hours immersed in WWII history. We ate where the sailors and airmen ate; and slept where they slept; and sat in the pre-flight room, just as they did before taking off on daring missions. We watched movies about what life was like on the eve of battle. And I dreamt all night of what it would be like to spend six months at sea on this huge ship, not knowing when the next Kamikaze pilot would strike.



Our sleeping arrangements were divided by gender. The ladies were assigned the Junior Officer's Quarters. We slept in a room that held about 30 beds. It was tight, but we had much more privacy than the guys...


The guys slept in the enlisted men quarters. There were about 2000 men on the ship when it was sailing. They divided the men by jobs, so you slept with others who were doing the same job as you. The beds were three high and side-by-side. In our case, Derrick and Andrew were both in middle beds. Scott slept below Derrick. Other scouts from our troop slept above, below and to the sides. I don't think anyone got much sleep.




Not much head room!


The boys were in full "war" mode, operating everything they could find, including many anti-aircraft guns positioned all around.


Scott says that his favorite part of the weekend was touring the submarine that is docked next to the Yorktown. If we thought we had little sleeping space, we changed our minds when we saw the submarine. Those guys moved their beds wherever they could find space, including on top of the missiles!


I enjoyed the flight deck. There were many different planes that we could inspect.






My least favorite part of the trip was descending the steep steps into the depths of the ship to see the engine room. The boilers were large and scary, and I just imagined them blowing up at any second without an escape route. Working in the engine room would definitely NOT be my job of choice.


I think I would prefer to work in the bakery. Check out this large mixer! I could mix the boys in it. :)



The weekend was not all war. We also listened to an excellent an Oceanography talk.

And saw some beautiful wildlife in the river.

But it was mostly about war. I left with a new appreciation of the sacrifices of our veterans of war. And an awe for those men and women who make such sacrifices.

Memorable weekend

What a wonderful, memory-packed weekend we have had. We visited with dear friends from Thursday through Saturday. As they left to head home, we headed to SC for an adventure on an aircraft carrier. (More on that in another post.)

Brent, Sara, Hannah & Sam came for no other reason than to hang out with us. What a wonderful treat! Amanda is just between Hannah and Sam in age and the three got along beautifully.

I loved seeing Sam play with our little boy toys that aren't used as often any more. Here he is enjoying our horse, Pedro.


Perhaps the most fun the kids had was after dinner on Friday. Sara blew up five glow-in-the-dark balloons. We turned off all of the lights and let the kids go wild. What fun!!!!


You can see that they did not stay still for long. My camera could not catch the photo in such low light, but it made for some cool images.

Amanda had green...


Scott's was yellow. Hannah has the purple balloon in the background.


Andrew's was orange.


Cute little Sam (wearing one of our old hand-me-down sweatshirts...I just LOVED seeing him wearing things I remembered our boys wearing)


At one point I asked all to sit still for a picture. Here they are with the lights out.


And another with the lights on.

Thanks for hauling your kids six hours to see us!! We enjoyed it!

Resourceful

Amanda really wants a front carrier for her babies. This morning she uses a bathing suit to strap Isabella to her front.

we are cooking!!!

We are cooking again and, oh my, it is wonderful!! We arrived home from Texas yesterday, and I immediately started unpacking the kitchen boxes. By bedtime, all of the cabinets were loaded. The plumber came bright and early this morning to connect the dishwasher, refrigerator and oven. I don't think he was gone 10 minutes before I had the oven pre-heating and ingredients in the mixer.


The first thing in the oven was a big batch of Chex Mix.


Cookies are waiting.

Ahhh, life is good again.

PS - As an aside, the cookies turned out beautifully. I've never had a batch of cookies brown so perfectly. I see MANY more baked goods in our future.