Busting Myths and Doing Homework

Joshua (well, actually all of us!) really enjoys the show Mythbusters. Basically, it's a mix of science and entertainment mixed with blowing stuff up. We bought Joshua a Mythbusters kit for Christmas. There are many out there, but this kit's focus is on Air Pressure. Joshua and Daniel checked out all of the different experiments to try and settled on the air pressure marshmallow shooter. Fortunately, the kit came with some balls of fluff, and so we did not have to break into our sticky snacks for ammunition.
Joshua made the shooter and then altered it many times to see how much he could change the air flow through the tubes to change the target area of the fluff ball. It was really neat. There are a few other experiments in there that involve using things out of the recycling bin. Two thumbs up from Joshua!

Here's Keith giving a thumbs-up for drawing the short straw and having to help with homework duty. I'm sure given the choice, he will choose "clean the kitchen" next time. Oh the tears and drama Megan can produce when she just doesn't want to do her school work. The assignment was to cut out "sparkle words" from magazines and bring them to school. Now, I realize I am certainly not an education professional...however, when you tell a (then) 6 year old girl to cut out "sparkle" words, and the two magazines in the house, Time and Shape, do not have anything in them that actually sparkles, then the tears come bubbling out. What ever happened to just calling them adjectives? Once we talked further about these words being describing words, the assignment went a little easier.

Our Newest Addition

Last summer, Keith made a run to the pet store for supplies for the cat and lizard. While he was there, a local shelter had animals for adoption. He came home and told me all about Lilly and insisted that I just "go look". Uh huh, sure...just look...riiiiight. Needless to say, I was won over by her big brown eyes (she fits right in with most of the family there!). Megan was in love with her because Lilly had a pink blanket in her kennel. Daniel was a little hesitant to pet her because she has ten "spikes" on her belly - which after watching Charlotte's Web again, he understands the "spikes". Joshua was pretty excited to bring home a dog that he could teach tricks to.

The adoption lady busted our bubble when she was extremely hesitant to allow us to adopt Lilly, telling us the dog wouldn't be good around kids, etc, etc. We understood her reasons and in the end agreed that if we could adopt Lilly if we attended Dog School at the pet store. After spending a small fortune on dog items and the adoption fee itself, our family grew by 4 feet.

We love Lilly, and Meow-Meow hasn't really expressed an opinion either way.
They seem to tolerate each other's existence, and like to share the sunny spots on the kitchen floor.

My two favorite snugglers. Lilly will get mad at me in the evening if I am milling around the house doing stuff and not sitting on the couch chilling out with her. I thought being a dog owner would encourage me to exercise more. Apparently, my dog has a bit of couch-potato in her!

Merry Christmas 2010

Christmas day was spent at Keith's parents house. Their tree is amazing and lights up the whole living room!
Joshua read to us from one of The Bible Story books.
Megan and Grandpa listening by the light of the tree.
We played a few rounds of chess, which Joshua had unwrapped as one of his Christmas presents the night before. We had to get creative this year because we had so many festive things that we were trying to do! So we opted to have a gift-opening celebration on Christmas Eve and save Christmas morning for our wonderful church service and lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's house.
Grandma sure cooked up a fancy spread for us!

Right as we had arrived around the corner at Grandma and Grandpa's house, I heard smoke detectors and joked with Sandi about possibly burning lunch. It turned out that it was the next door neighbor's house that had actually burned to the ground a few years ago...the new owners were out of town and all of the smoke detectors were alarming quite loudly. We ended up calling the fire department because there was no way to discern if there was indeed a fire in the house or not. Thankfully, there was not a fire, and now I can't recall what the ruckus was about.

However, since we had a yard full of firemen, the kids asked if they could see the truck. The firemen were fabulous and said they could visit until their next alarm went off, so each child took a turn in the driver's seat.



We were given a tour of the truck and a lesson on all of the different tools the firemen use.

Magic Kingdom Trip December 2010 post #2

As you can see, my kids getting older means the un-interrupted computer time for me is few and far between! Without further adieu...pictures from the Most Magical Place on Earth...
A post-hair cut picture (didn't I promise I would be all out of order!). Megan and I were taking a peek at the nighttime colors of the castle, just before getting ready to head home for the night.
We so very much enjoyed the hair-cut experience!

Riding the train was another big hit. We picked up the train somewhere between Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain and rode to the front of the park to exit. The kids enjoyed watching the flume of Splash Mountain. It was just a little too chilly for us to do that ride this time around and after the minor "dip" of Pirates of the Carri bean, I wasn't sure how many tears this ride would evoke.
We saw Woody and Jesse out for a stroll. The line was crazy-long to get a picture with them, so I snapped on in passing.
We ran into Goofy just outside of Pirates. Goofy is one of my favorite characters!
The Jungle Cruise is a must-ride for anyone. Seriously, the cheesy shtick from the cruise director left my sides hurting.
We journeyed through the Swiss Family Robinson tree house. There was not a lot of people wandering through there, so we were able to take our time. We love that movie and so it was really fun to see the bedrooms and kitchen.
The little one's planning their next attack!
My driving partner. Look out, ladies!
With sweet eyes like that, I can forgive his poor driving.
Me and my prince charming in front of Cinderella's castle. Awww....


As you can see, we did not let the rain deter us from having fun. Each of the kids attempted to pull the sword out of the stone. I have heard mixed stories and cannot confirm if this particular sword is actually able to be dislodged from the stone. However, it did not stop these guys (and gal!) from giving it their all.

Magic Kingdom Trip December 2010

I've got a lot of catching up to do! Back in December, Keith's parents and Hannah, one of Keith's cousins (or some thing like that), helped to provide a trip to the Magic Kingdom for the family. When we left for the 20 or so minute drive, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and by lunchtime, it was raining. We didn't let that deter our fun! The pictures are out of order, and this will take a few days for me to get everything posted, but here's a start... As you can see, we had been damp a little earlier in the day. This picture was taken towards the end of our day, and you can see Daniel starting to look tired.

In the area that has Minnie's house and Mickey's house (don't ask me why they live in seperate houses), there is a barn and Mickey and Minnie are in there waiting to be greeted. When we went in there, it was raining and not many people were walking around in this area, and so we got to have some special one-on-one time with our favorite mice.

Minnie was thrilled to see Megan's Minnie Mouse shirt! How cute!!

In the blurry picture above, the kids are listening to the answering machine at Minnie's house. Very funny!

We rode the People-Mover and as we came around over the race-track, we watched the big storm roll in!

Racing cars was so fun! I seem to remember the cars being faster when I was littler. Or maybe, I was just littler and everything seemed faster with that Disney-magic and all!

I believe Buzz has met his match here! The kids LOVE this picture

My little Space-Rangers! They loved the Buzz Lightyear ride. At one point, our car turned a corner and the evil Zurg was there and Daniel screamed, "get him, get him!"...and that's how the ride went - he pointed out the things he wanted me to shoot.

There's nothing like being at the Magic Kingdom to bring out their love for one another.

Our plan was to get Megan a haircut at the Barber Shop. I know there is a Bippidy Boppidy Boutique - but I'm not quite ready to have my 7 year old wearing more make-up than me. It's a little too Toddlers and Tiara's for my taste. I recommend the Barber Shop to everyone now! You can call and make reservations, and for $15 ,Megan got a haircut and a little pixie-dust sprinkled in her hair. It was well worth the short wait!

All of my favorite guys. This picture was early-on in our day and everyone was still looking fresh!

A group picture with Hannah, Keith's cousin. She is adorable and a very well-grounded young lady. I have a bunch more pictures and will add those soon!

Homework!

The kids are really enjoying school, and they are learning so much! I have to say that the homework is a bit of a challenge for us. I think we are finally falling into our groove with it, though.Megan gave her teacher a good giggle when she colored a picture of her favorite summer activity as sleeping! Yes, sleeping - she really is turning into a teenager right before my very eyes. And then every once in a while I get reminded by a little something like the backwards "g" in her name on the paper above that she really is just a little first-grader.

Joshua wrote a story about the time his Ruffy dog was left behind at daycare, and it was a cold snowy night and I sent Keith back out to the base to pick up the dog. Thankfully, Ruffy was sitting under a streetlight and after a little bath, was good as new. Joshua still sleeps with his Ruffy.
Trying to keep us organized, we hung some hooks and a cork board in the dining room, since it seems to be the hub of the morning activities. The kids come home with papers, projects, books, homework, lunch packs, and other very important items like smelly pencils. With everything in one spot, I've been able to pack up most things the night before, since morning time is hectic at our house.

Back to School!

This year, we have all three not-so-little ones back in school. We are fortunate to have a wonderful church-school not to far from our house.

Daniel is in Pre-K. He has Megan's former teacher and he LOVES her. Like really loves her. Like tells me, "Mom, that's not how Miss Dianne does it". He is such a big boy, he didn't want me hanging out in his classroom.

Daniel loves to help pack his lunch. Some of his favorite things are: peanut butter and jelly, yogurt and grape tomatoes.

Megan is in the 1st grade now. She is very shy, believe it or not! She does not like to read in front of class, and I think it has to do with her missing teeth. She is adjusting to school just fine and loves being back with her friends.

Joshua is in 2nd grade and really likes his teacher. She is fabulous - she sends emails almost every day with updates on what they are working on.

Here's the whole crew on the way out the door for the first day of school. Megan (6), Daniel (4) and Joshua (8). It's going to be an exciting year!