Science Friday: Parachutes!



Boy, I felt like I spent most of the day untangling parachutes and/or getting them off the roof and out of trees, but the kids sure did have a ball with this week's science project.  They were not content just to have a weight on the end of the parachute, of course.  No, not my children.  They had to attach an animal.  The kids informed me that the animals liked their rides in the morning so well, they bought the parachutes in the afternoon (for which they paid anywhere from$50-$100).  Wow!  It was a fun day. 

 

I love our neighbor's pink flowering trees.

After trying throwing the parachutes from the front porch, they moved to the chicken coop!

 

 

Puttin' on the Ritz

I mentioned that Kenneth and I went to a dance at Church.  Well the theme of the dance was 'Puttin' on the Ritz and they had a photo booth with some props.  Here we are:

We had a lot of fun at this dance.  Kenneth was such a good sport to just have fun with me even if it put him out of his comfort zone a little (picture him doing the chicken dance!!!!)

I love you, Kenneth!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter Weekend.  Kenneth's company gives him Good Friday off, so we went to the zoo that day, which was a lot of fun (post to come soon).  Saturday we worked around the yard and prepared for Sunday (among other preparations, I got all over-zealous again and MADE Easter candy- Strawberry Crème truffles with only 4 ingredients- yummy and healthy) and then Kenneth and I went out on a real live date!  With a paid babysitter and everything!  Our Stake hosted an Adult Dance.  It was fabulous.  I sure love my sweet husband of almost 10 years.  We had a great time together. 
Church on Easter was wonderful: wonderful talks during Sacrament Meeting, wonderful musical number, great lesson in Primary (that's where I serve- I did not teach, just got to listen) and just a happy day all around.  Our neighbor was nice to take our family picture when we got home from church.  I didn't buy any new dresses or anything, we just wore what we have.  (Shopping is just not fun for me right now.  Too much work.)
And, here's our Easter Sunday celebrations pictures starting with breakfast:

With 9 AM church, I knew I couldn't handle anything fancy for breakfast.  Enter this fun idea.  Kenneth and I filled them the night before (except for the banana) and stuck them in the fridge ready to go.  The kids LOVED them!

 In case you are wondering they are filled with: mini-muffins, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, raisins, Cheerios, strawberries, almonds, mini red pepper, banana.

Hard-boiled egg with carrot and chia seeds as the face

Grant opening his eggs

This is their kind of meal- a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

Arianna's breakfast.  This might just become a tradition!

I love my family!!  We had a great Easter

Kate's second Easter, first Easter Egg Hunt (well, we had a small one with some friends on Thursday, but that was in the house due to rain)

Ready for the hunt

He is getting so old!  I can hardly handle it!

Arianna

Egg hidden on the chicken coop

She got the hang of it very quickly

Small woman on a mission

So excited!

Thanks for helping me, Dad!

Dried Mangoes!  He was so excited about these!!!!!

Checking out their spoils. 

Pistachios- Grant was so excited about these, too! 

Kate getting some dried mangoes

Dad put together a scavenger hunt with clues for the big kids.  They had fun, even if it was drizzling.  The clues led them to games from the Thrift Store.  They have been playing Scrabble Junior almost non-stop since!

Had the Baldaufs over for dinner on Sunday.  (Kenneth's cousin's family)

Dough Moustache

I made rolls today and the kids wanted to play with some dough.  Here is what Arianna did with hers:

Funny girl

How do ya like my moustache?

Kate Update

Little Kate is growing up too fast.  I wanted to write a little list of all the adorable things she does right now so that I can remember them forever.  She is so precious.  I wish I could share some of the videos of her lately, but alas, I am having technical difficulties with uploading videos here to blogger.  Anyone know how to solve that problem?

Anyway, here is the list of Kate's cuteness:

• When I put her to nap and bed I always say I love you and blow her a kiss.  So, now when she hears I love you she puts her little hand up to her mouth.  It melts my heart every time. 
• 'Sets table'- carries plastic cups and bowls we have in a low drawer for the kids over to the table. 
• Loves to entertain us.  In the evening when we all pile on the couch for the Bible and Narnia she will put on a little show.  She does tricks.  If you say, "Kate, do a trick for us."  She will pivot around on one foot in circles and usually end up falling down.  Then she'll ham it up on the floor before she pops up and makes another circle around the family room/living room/ entry hall.  She is hilarious!
• So interested in the chickens, chicks, bugs, trees, etc.   Almost every time she finishes nursing, she'll pop up and look out the window and say, "Chickens!" Which actually sounds like 'chicks'. 
• Loves to be outside and see all of the above. 
• Says "that"
• Obsessed with the toothbrush drawer and listens for the bathroom door to open and makes a bee-line for the room so she can get her hands on everybody's toothbrushes.  If she does get ahold of them she parades around the house sucking on two toothbrushes. 
• Really flies down the stairs now on her belly.
• Oh- and she wants to walk down the stairs.  She stands on the bottom step and tried to step down and mostly falls. 
• She has a knack for picking things up.  We were amazed to watch her pick up each and every one of the Bananagrams tiles and put them in the bag all by herself.  I'm sure that will fly out the window when she turns two. 
•  Says "milk" and does the sign when she wants to nurse or wants cow's milk.
• Gets jealous when the other kids sit on my lap
• Has a knack for falling asleep in Dad's arms right at the end of the church meeting when he tries the whole time to get her to sleep.
• Starting to say animal noises- moos, barks, buzzes. 

Kate loves to climb up on the hearth and play

Kate loves books!

She loves to pull out my shoes and try to walk around

Little Ham-bone

Picking up Bananagrams tiles.  Every single one.  Kenneth and I kept looking at each other in disbelief as she kept on going.

 

 

Peep Dioramas

 

The kids made these for a contest our library is having this month.  They had so much fun this week.  Now I've got to get them to clean up the mess they made in the process!  In order: Grant, Emma and Arianna.

 

 

What a beautiful mess

You know that old country song. . ."What a beautiful mess, what a beautiful mess I'm in. . ."  Well, that went through my mind today as I was cleaning up after lunch.  We certainly do have a lot of messes around here that's for sure.  That's one of the things about homeschooling; you eat home more, you play at home more, you just ARE home more and all that equals more messes.  But, I wouldn't have it any other way.  Someday I am going to miss these messes. 


Here we are doing art.  It can get kind of messy.  On this particular day, we were making gardens on paper plates.  It was actually a project from our History Book.  We were making gardens like Babur the Tiger's Garden of Scattered Flowers in India.

 

Here are the finished products.  The kids played with their animals in the gardens for about a week when I was tired of having them in my kitchen.

 

More animal homes.  Kate was delighted that they were on her level.  Because she can be so destructive to their creations, Grant calls her "Dewey the Hun".  He remembers the Huns attacking people in our history lessons.

 One of the messiest areas of my life:  The chicks!  I make the kids put on Kenneth's old T-shirts to try to keep chick droppings off their clothes.. 

Arianna with Buffy and Exclamation Point

 

They love to play with these little chicks!

Happy Grant with Polka Dots and Puffy

Kate can say Chicks!  For quite a while she has tried to say chicken and gets the ch sound, but not the whole word.  Well, she can really say chicks.  It is so cute and she loves to go out and see them, too!