Nature Center

Just when I thought I was warming up from the weekend, Riley had a study trip to the Nature Center, mostly outside, and of course, another frozen day and I will never get over this cold this way! But, it was a great trip, they had an inflatable planetarium, where they learned about different constellations and where they are in the sky, and how to find them, and some of the Greek mythology about them. They learned about the planets, the sizes, and used different size balls to show how big they are in relation to one another. Riley had a yellow softball which I believe was Jupiter, and his "girlfriend" Annie had Pluto which was a tiny BB.

Then they walked off steps to see how far the planets would be from the sun if the sun was a yellow balloon. There were beads or nuts in various sizes to represent the different planets. We only got a few planets in before we were almost off the Nature Center property! It was a pretty neat lesson that the kids really enjoyed and seeing how small some of the planets were really blew them away.

They got to learn how a star is made, and our "guide" was really good, he made it fun, and made it easy to understand, even for a non-science person like me! Then we got to walk around the Nature Center and see the animals outside, the coyotes are Riley's favorite, and have snack before heading back to school for King Cake.

Since we're heading to New Orleans next month, we had King Cake parties in both the kids classes to share with them some of the culture of Mardi Gras! Riley's friend George, and Regan's friend Frankie got the baby in the cake, and they all enjoyed it, and can't wait till next month when we come back with TONS of Mardi Gras beads!

Girl Scout Cookies!

After a nice, balmy 80 degree's on Friday, a cold front came through just in time for our first cookie booths on Saturday so Regan and I were out there freezing our butts off for 4 hours! First we had Texaco, and we did end up leaving early after selling only 13 boxes of cookies. Then we had a Walmart booth, and we sold 104 boxes there! That one was almost worth the frozen fingers. It was about 36 degrees, and we were wrapped in blankets and scarves and hats, and still so cold. Thankfully dad had a fire in the fireplace and we had cocoa as soon as we got home. Not a bad start to our first sales weekend though! I'm just hoping we get better weather for the next 5 weekends!

Science Fair

Have a few minutes to post, been extremely busy lately, but wanted to share pictures of our science fair project, we got great remarks on it by the judges! And all the kids really liked it. I was subbing in 2/3 and when I told that class what we did, they had tons of questions, and they talked about making one at home and wanted to try some of the food themselves, so I think we picked a good experiment. Ours was Solar Cooking, we made a Pizza Box Oven, and made s'mores, and I have pictures of Regan helping me set it all up.

I also have pictures of Regan's class project, they grew plants in several types of soil, playground sand, potting soil, gravel, etc, to see which one grew the best, and of course, potting soil was the best. Each kid in her class made their own graph and they had a nice colorful presentation board. I didn't get any pictures of Riley's class project because once we got to the Science Fair, he took off with his friends, and I never found out which one his class did.

Busy Times

Well, it's been busy around here again. Christmas break is O-VER. Here's pictures from the last game though:



That was Saturday. Monday was MLK, and David smoked meat, which is apparently how we celebrate holidays around here. Other than that, it was low key. Tuesday was the day I picked up Girl Scout Cookies and now I drive around with them in the back of my truck feeling like a drug dealer, "Hey, I got your Thin Mints, pay up." And today, I get to finish up with the kids science fair project because I've been subbing and we've been so busy we haven't gotten around to finishing it, and the science fair is, yep, tomorrow. I hated these when *I* was doing them, and here I am, STILL doing them! And I would love to say that the Merry Go Round will end soon, but it won't because we will be selling Girl Scout cookies at cookie booths for the next 6 weekends, along with Cheerleading and Basketball games, and I'm the cookie booth coordinator so I have to make sure that everyone has the booths they want, the times they want, and WAY behind on my laundry. Oh, and LOST starts back up tonight.

Rockin' Hotel

So for Fun Family Friday, got the yahooligans from school, met dad for lunch at one of his favorite places (can't say it's one of mine, but it's not too bad) Rockin' Tomato, a pizza buffet, and then since dad had to head back to work (from home, poor thing) I took the kids to see Hotel for Dogs. It was cute, they loved it, and there were several of their school friends there. Guess I'm not the only one who likes an early Friday movie!

Culture Fair

Regan's class had a Culture Fair today. Their portable has 4 classrooms, so each class presented a different culture, and the kids rotated to each room. One of Regan's friends, Case, his grandparents have been to each of the 7 continents, so they came and gave a slide presentation to the kids of their travels, and taught them how to say hello in several languages.

Regan's class was Australia, and her teacher talked about her travels there, showed them a "digiridoo," boomerang, played native music, and talked about the native animals, the Aborigine's, and we all tried to talk like an Australian, "G'Day" "Crikey" and all that.

Then it was on to Sweden where they learned about some of their customs which to be honest, I was too busy helping with the craft to pay any attention. They made "Crowns of Light" and all I know was it required a lot of glue and a lot of parent attention!


Then to China, the teacher went there recently and had several of her souvenirs there to show the kids, so it was fun to reminisce. She passed out fortune cookies to all the kids and let them see the silk scarves, bamboo, and compared the differences in our money and writing.

Next stop, Senegal, West Africa, where the kids learned a native African dance and got to play a drum, and saw some pretty African beads made from recycled paper. They got to make their own beaded rings on pipe cleaners also.


I love that they are learning at such a young age about different cultures, and languages and that everyone is different, but yet so much the same.

Family Time at Red Robin

The kids get out of school at noon on Fridays and that's usually our family time, David will either get off work early or at least arrange to meet us for lunch, and try to work from home the rest of the day. Today we met at Red Robin (kids eat free) and had a good time. It always seems to be a special treat when Dad can come meet us somewhere in the middle of the day. I pack a snack in their lunch box so they don't starve, and then we go have a FUN lunch! It's become our fun Friday routine! Today I realized I had my camera in my purse so I just thought I would snap a few quick shots of them enjoying their burgers.

Sleepyhead

Poor Regan passed out with her dog "Leslie". I don't know if this one in particular is Leslie, but it's a safe bet since she names almost all of them Leslie, after the girl in "Bridge to Terabithia."

Game Day #1

So today was the big day, first Upward game of the season. Regan had to be there by 8:30 so she could stand on the sidelines with poms in the air shaking them as the players ran through, it was so cute. She has all of a sudden decided she's "too shy" to cheer in front of people. I told her we finish what we start, and then lied and said everyone would be watching the game anyway. It was cute, and the girls are all adorable in their uniform. I'll have to work on better pictures next week, the lighting in the church is HORRIBLE, so with flash, they have evil eyes, and without it's too dark.

Then we went to breakfast with Mimi and back in time to see Riley play. He did really well, even though his team lost, Riley scored several baskets for his team, one would have been a 3 pointer, and the crowd went wild! It was cute, those boys are ferocious! Can't wait to see how they evolve over the next few weeks.

Bowling

Regan and I were getting sick of all the testosterone and Xbox 360 playing going on around here, so we split for a girl day. We went shopping, bought us some crafty things to do together, and had lunch at one of our favorite burger places, Mooyah! and then I got my hair cut and brows waxed while she got a manicure. It was a last minute thing, but she enjoyed it, and it kept her occupied while I was in the chair. But I think she likes it, a LOT. I created a monster! But then we met up with the boys and for some black-light bowling at Main Event before cheerleading practice.

Scootering

Here's a couple pics of the kids on their new scooters, their Christmas present from Mimi and Papa, Riley doing tricks already, and Regan, cautious as always, I could not have two more different children!