Beavers

When you manufacture a product, the initial start up fee can be hefty, but as you produce more, the cost/item goes down. Well I'm here to tell you that is not the case with kids.

Daniel had a decent initial cost. We had to get the bed, car seat, clothes, etc. James was by far the cheapest. We already had everything. I think I bought him one new little outfit to come home from the hospital in, but that was it.

Well with Anna, we had a new gender and all the fun accessories that come with a girl, but we also had to upgrade our family transportation.

Well, this one is costing an upgrade to our house. We are adding a room in the basement. We have been busy beavers hauling wood back and forth from Lowe's and digging a huge hole. So if you don't hear from us for a while, it is because we are working on the "dam" house.

But they are worth every penny, every sleepless night, every mess, every sacrifice.

Ron Paul 2012

In James' sunbeam class, they asked the kids if they knew the name of our Bishop. James said,

"Ron Paul!"

We may be a little fanatical here. We distributed 100 Ron Paul fliers in our neighborhood. Our neighbors will NEVER figure out who slipped that little flier in their door. We are the only ones sporting Ron Paul bumper stickers, t-shirts, beanies, and a yard sign within 100 miles. They'll never know it was us.

Valentines

For Valentines Day this year...

...we set up a Valentines making factory.
All the little Valentine Elves were hard at work decorating cards and cookies.

This elf got the dreaded frosting quality checker job.
Poor girl.

There was glitter and sprinkles everywhere.
Not the tidiest elves.
Then we delivered them to a widower and nursing home friend.
My kids said
"Don't you have a good feeling?"
as we were walking out of the nursing home.

And for dinner....

Feta pastry puffs topped with caramelized onion.
I bought these at Trader Joes.
As my friend once wisely said

"If you don't live near Trader Joes...Move!"

and

All of this deliciousness.

I love Valentines.

Better Than Disney World

I'm pretty sure all the work we have put into your backyard,
and all the work we have yet to put into it,
has taken years off our lives.

It will never be perfect, but it truly has become a kid's paradise.

The log cabin

The teepee

The runaway horse and cowboy.

We just need a tire swing and a tree house.

Perfect!

Are You Dating Anyone?

So this little Brain Regan clip got us talking about dating at the dinner table the other night. Well, in a sure stroke of genius Christian came up with some dating guidelines for Anna.

"Anna has to have a black belt in jiu jitsu, muay thai, or krav maga before she can go on her first date."

Another one of Christian's rules.

"All children will receive a fire extinguisher for their 8th birthday. If they ever need it recharged, I won't even ask why, I'll just get it recharged."

Oh the wisdom of a father.

Saturday Morning Donut Run

Saturday morning found Christian at an early morning meeting and wet snow.
Blah!

So we went and got the really good donuts...the 20 minute drive each way donuts.
For all you non New Englanders reading this you may think 20 minutes for donuts is not so bad.
But, there are two Dunkin Donut shops within three blocks of my house.
I probably passed about 987634597862345 Dunkin Donut shops on the way to Kanes.
But once you have had a donut from Kanes, there is no going back.

Good for My Soul

We had some pretty nice weather this week. Good enough to jump on the trampoline, kick a soccer ball around in the backyard, ride bikes, and rake up some leaves. It is good for my soul to dig and touch the earth. I like getting dirt under my finger nails...it just feels right.

Coco Key

Just thought this picture would make you smile.

We took the kids to an indoor water park this last week.
It was a nice winter treat.

Polymers, Acids, and Bases

Poor little blog. I've neglected you. This is why.

• I've had nothing blog worthy to post (a winter without snow is like summer without a pool...terrible)
  
• As soon as we tuck the kids into bed, I've been crawling into bed myself (the little sprout is zapping up all my energy)
• But mostly, I've just been blogger lazy

But I have to at least update you on our fun Science Fridays. Well, actually, Jackie has extended the science fun to 4 days a week. Jackie is amazing, but she just took things up a notch. She has developed a curriculum that she drops off on Mondays. The curriculum has activities and experiments for us to do that lead up to the big Friday Science morning.

I don't know if I mentioned, but we trade services. I send her home with two meals each week for her amazing services. But she keeps upping me. Pretty soon I will be cleaning her house and doing her laundry! But that is besides the point. At any given time during the week, we have about 2 experiments going on thanks to her. Like this one...that was a little stinky.

We just finished up our section on polymers.

We made three types of glue. Glue out of half and half, glue out of whole milk, and glue out of powdered milk. Then we constructed things with the glue and compared their strength.

The glue made from half and half was the strongest.

Then to finish off the polymer section, Jackie brought silly string (a polymer).

Now we are studying reactions, specifically acid and base reactions.
But first we had to figure our which substances were acids, and which were bases with out homemade ph indicating cabbage juice
.

We combined an acid (Tang) with a base (baking soda) and put it in our mouth.
The reaction was a fizzy treat.

This was their reaction of "pop rock" candy.
Right now my kids think science = treats.

And finally, another acid base reaction.
Vinegar + baking soda = carbon dioxide

We love Jackie.
We love Fridays.

The Confirmation

Yes, it is true. Our fourth little sprout is scheduled to arrive at the end of August.