Race to Nowhere- please find this and watch it

kitchen science experiment #1- fruit battery

Some of you might not know this yet but after Christmas break I began picking up Mickey at 11:30 and homeschooling him in the afternoon. Why just the afternoon? Well, in the morning he has choir, orchestra, gym, music, library, and art(not all on the same days!) and he really enjoys those activities. So we decided to pick him up right before recess and lunch. We eat together and do Math and some other stuff(writing, Social Studies, Science, reading- depends on the day). He takes breaks in between and the new Math curriculum I'm using is making WAY more sense to him. It is working really well for Mick to have the one on one attention and most of all to not have to spend his whole evening doing homework after sitting in a desk all day. We are always done with everything by 2:30ish and then he plays outside with his brother and sister when they get home. And I get to spend time with my wonderful, amazing boy and do fun activities with him that we usually don't have time to do. WIN-WIN!

I bought a kitchen science kit from Hobby Lobby(using my coupon of course!) and today we tried one of them: making a fruit battery out of lemon halves.

He loved it! Mickey could definitely do science-y things all day...

He asked if he could start his own blog to share his science experiments, lego creations, and comics on and I told him I thought that would be an excellent idea.

So watch for that coming soon!

So how did this work? Well... The forks act like the positive electrodes of a battery. They are plated with a metal that is less reactive than zinc plates we were using(came with the kit). When the forks and the zinc plates are inserted into the lemon, a chemical reaction takes place. Electrons move from the zinc plates to the forks to form a current, thus activating the watch. The lemon juice helps to conduct electricity. It would work with a potato, a grapefruit, or soft drinks also. Really cool! I am learning a lot too!

tubby time

Jeffrey wanted me to come take pictures of his mohawk in the tub. It reminded me of when he was a tiny... John would always do that to kids when he was washing their hair.

And John would also always say "let's go take a tub" or "time to take a tub" when it was bath time. I had never heard that expression before and neither had my family... I remember when they first heard John saying that and they thought it was funny... or cute... or weird- I'm not sure which it was. Just reminiscing...

Lego Mania 2011

Apparently there is a Lego competition that goes on every year at the library and I just found out about it this past December. The kids thought it sounded like fun(although it did take some coaxing as far as Mickey was concerned since he HATES competitions) so they worked on their creations for a couple of days leading up to Lego Mania.

Since it was on December 28th I figured there wouldn't be too many kids there- with the holidays and all... boy was I wrong! Some of you know that I, unlike Mickey, am HIGHLY competitive and the sight of so many other kids there gave me heart palpitations. I, naturally, wanted all 3 kids to win! :) John kept trying to give me little pep talks- urging me to be low key. I think I did pretty good considering...

There was a professor of Architect from the University there as a judge- as well as some Architect students. Yikes! There was also a People's Choice voting thing going on. The pressure!! I could barely stand the suspense... we had to just hang out in the library for about 45 minutes with all the competitors while the judging was going on. I felt like throwing up.

Then it was finally time to announce the winners...

Well, there was a side competition going on too... a guess how many Legos are in the jar. That was announced first. Happily Jeffrey won that(well, technically it was a tie but whatever)!! Above he is accepting his prize- I know it is blurry- I was holding the phone up above my head to try and get the shot.

Then it was time for the winners of the 4-6 age group... Mary Beth won 1st place!!!!!! I yelled REALLY loud when they said her name- a lot of people looked over at me with a shocked look on their face. I'm used to that so no biggie! We are so proud of that little peanut! She made her creation ALL BY HERSELF. She won a $20 gift card to Toys R Us. Isn't that cool??

Mickey and Jeffrey received participant ribbons- sadly they didn't place but they were REALLY good about it- not sore losers at all. Which is not something they are known for so John and I were happily surprised. :) People all loved their creations though- they worked hard on them and they were excellent. There was so many competitors in their age brackets though...

After I took this picture the professor came up to me and told me that he thought Jeffrey's was really good and it was the next one in line for 3rd place. That was very nice but I can never figure out if it's better to know that or worse...

Lego Mania 2011 was a great experience for the kids and John and a stressful one for me- shocking I know... we will definitely keep doing it in the coming years. At least we know what to expect now! Maybe more ribbons next year?? Just kidding- winning isn't what's important(well, that's what I've heard anyway).

puppet show... I think

today consisted of: stuffed animals having light saber fights,

dress-up,

and dramatic performances.

This is one of the new Lego Friends sets that Mary Beth got with her prize money:

We love these new sets! Check them out here.

we had a fun day today- just playing!

spontaneous hugging

thankfully my camera was nearby so I could capture this:

I love how much they love each other...

I never take that for granted.

Happy New Year's!

After a very fun party at our friends' house last night we just hung out today and took it easy, watching movies together and playing games. Have you seen Dolphin Tale? It was really good!

After supper I made a treat for the kids: rootbeer floats. For some reason they LOVE them.

We hope everyone has a wonderful New Year.

Oh and I think this blog is 2 years old now!