Election Day

Today was election day. I am sorry to admit that I was an irresponsible citizen and did not go and vote in my local elections. But I would like someone to explain to me whose idea it was for the kids to have the day off for election day. Is that supposed to make it easier for me to vote?

Um...no. It does not.

We spent the morning waiting for a service to come and clean our carpets. I will not name names, but I was not happy when they did not arrive within their allocated 4 hour time window. So I told them to forget about it. I was tired of waiting and it was noon and we were all still in our jammies.

Spending the day in our jammies isn't a bad thing. We are big fans actually.

But today seemed like a doing day. Except that it turned out not to be.

We started out by not having our carpets cleaned. Progressed to not going out for lunch. Not going to order the cake for Sprout's birthday. Not picking up the movie for the same party. Not getting the gifts for her class. Not really going anywhere beyond our cul-de-sac.

Inspired by my burning desire to get the candy OUT OF THE HOUSE, we did try this science experiment. We used Skittles. We dipped each Skittle in water and drew a line across a strip of coffee filter with the melty color.

The wetness of the Skittles in no way dissuaded my children from eating them. So, the whole idea of this activity as an alternative to eating the candy was a bust. Should have dipped them in spinach. They wouldn't have eaten them then!

Anyway, then we stuck the striped pieces of coffee filter into plastic cups with a little water in the bottom. The bottoms of the strips were in the water, but the stripes were above water.

The idea here is that as the water is sucked up into the coffee filter strip it causes the colors to separate out into the individual dyes used. Unfortunately, this process was not at all exciting to watch. Slow. Watching water seep. Boring.

We went outside to play, and when we came back a while later, the strips looked like this.

The top one was yellow - which stayed yellow.

The next one was green - which separated into blue and yellow. Cool!

The next one was purple - which separated into blue and red. Also cool!

The other ones were orange and red - they didn't do much.

The kids looked at these and said, "Hmmm. Cool." and then went to watch some SpongeBob. So I can't say this was a huge success. But it was sciencey. And we tried.

As I said, while we were waiting for our colors to separate, we went outside to play. Both kids started to ride bikes and scooters, but then Tater found his kite in the garage and asked if it was windy enough. It didn't seem like it was, but we decided to give it a shot anyway.

He was so excited he never stopped to take his helmet off.

First we had to get out the kites. We have four. We have never successfully flown any of them.


Then the launch. Run Tater...Run!

Sprout decided to just watch...and strategize.


OK. Maybe just a little more running...


Maybe uphill would work better...

Uh oh...wipeout...

Take a little break...relax...rewind...

Then run some more...

That boy ran and ran and ran...and the kite never quite took off. But he was smiling and laughing and having a great time.

Then his big sister asked if she could try. And up it went.


And he wasn't even mad. They were both so delighted to see a kite IN THE SKY that for a moment there was no competition. No "it's not fair!"

She even let him hold the string.
It was a beautiful moment.

I guess it was OK that they stayed home. Even if I didn't get to put my vote in for Registrar of Wills.

Whatever that is.

Mug Cake

My aunt sent me this recipe/idea last week and of course we had to try it right away.

The recipe is for a chocolate cake cooked in a coffee mug. Fun, right?

Of course, Tater refuses to eat chocolate cake. So we left the chocolate parts out and made a vanilla version.

So...here's the recipe:

5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa (we left this out)
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (we left these out - my aunt said they all sink to the bottom anyway)
Splash of vanilla extract (we used a big splash since we left out the chocolate)
1 large coffee mug

So we took our mug (new mug from Cape Cod).

Added the dry ingredients and mixed well.
Added the egg and mixed thoroughly.
Added the milk and oil and mixed thoroughly.
Mixed in the vanilla (this is when you would add the chips).


Sprout loves to mix things.

So does Tater.

We should have made two of these - less fighting over who gets to do what.

Live and learn, right?

Once everything is mixed together, you put the mug in the microwave for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

Ours was 1800 watts. I think we overcooked it a tad.

The cake rises dramatically out of the top of the mug. Very exciting! Once the oven goes off, it sinks back down.

So then we let it cool for a minute or two and dumped it out on a plate.

Mmmmm...scary looking, huh? Sort of like a cupcake gone wrong.

But we cut it up a bit and doled it out onto 3 plates and dressed it up with strawberries and whipped cream.

Sprout just had the whipped cream part.

Icing would also be good.

The cake was very dense. Probably more suited to a fudgy chocolate sort of thing. A little heavy for vanilla. Probably also because of the overcooking situation.

But it was still yummy. And I would totally try it again!

5 minutes till cake!

Dancing Raisins

So, last weekend Tater was on a science kick. Perhaps spurred by the great Mentos Experiment, he got out the book of Kid Concoctions and was on a mission to complete as many projects as possible.

We attempted to make a boat out of a soda bottle - fueled with vinegar and baking soda. It fizzed...it bubbled...it sat there. So not fun.

We tried to make a layered creation of colored water, olive oil and colored alcohol. All I can say about that one is, yuck.

Finally we had great success with the Dancing Raisins (I think the book called them Scuba Diving Raisins or something).

This was a very simple (and therefore un-screw-up-able) process. Pour club soda or other clear soda in a clear glass. Drop in a few raisins.

The bubbles from the soda grab onto the wrinkles of the raisins and in a little while, the raisins start to rise to the top of the glass. When they hit the top, the bubbles pop and they sink back down again. Sounds undramatic, but it is actually strangely mesmerizing.

The photos don't fully (OK...don't at all...) show the full effect. It is actually pretty cool.

You can add a little bit of baking soda to make things fizzier and speed the process up.

Tater watched the raisins go up and down for quite a while. After such a string of failure and disappointment, the raisin dance was a little victory.

Yay for the raisins!

Science Weekend

So, we did it...and here, for your viewing pleasure, is the video of the great Mentos Geyser Experiment. The kids thought this was super fun, and despite my sadness at wasting 3 (!) big bottles of Diet Coke, it was very cool to see.

In case it isn't clear from the video - what we did was use the "Geyser Tube" to drop Mentos (11 or 12 at a time) into 2-liter bottles of Diet Coke. The Mentos cause the Diet Coke to erupt out of the bottle in quite a spectacular geyser - higher than the house!!

Now we just have to hope for some rain to wash away the remnants on the sidewalk!

I will fill you in on our other projects later in the week. Tater got his hands on the Kid's Concoctions Book and insisted that we do MANY of the projects. I am all scienced out!

Dramatic Build-up

There was a "Book Fair" at Mike's workplace yesterday. This conveniently coincided with "Take Your Child to Work Day", which Sprout participated in for the first time.

There were non-book items included in the Book Fair, as there often are. And Mike found this "Mento Trigger Device Thing" (the official name is the "Geyser Tube") and felt that this was something we needed.

If you have never seen the science experiment that this device is related to - you need to look here. Fun, right? (Although such an egregious waste of Diet Coke that it hurts a little).

Apparently we are going to re-create that sort of drama right here in the yard this weekend. The tube holds 7 Mentos and drops them into the Diet Coke. I am frightened by what the outcome might be.

Stay tuned...

Swish, Slosh - Recyled "Tornado"

I can tell that you are looking at the picture and thinking "What the heck is THAT?"

Why, that is a tornado in a bottle. Sitting on my kitchen table. Which I probably should have wiped off better - I see crumbs. Sorry.

So - we found this idea in a book. Actually Tater found it in one of the "Kid Concoctions" books that he got for Christmas. I think it was this one. I just can't bring myself to schlep into the kitchen to check. Sorry again...

The "recipe" called for two liter bottles. But since we don't actually buy those (because once I open a bottle of Diet Coke, I am drinking the whole thing right now...no matter how big it is), we had to settle for two 20-ounce water bottles that we dug out of the recycling bin.

The final effect would be better with bigger bottles, so if you can be trusted with them, you should use them.

One of the bottles was filled about 3/4 of the way with water. The other bottle was placed on top (so that the open ends were lined up) and then firmly duct-taped into place. You don't want leakage.

To make the "tornado" or whirlpool, do this:

1) Hold the bottles upright, so that all of the water is in the bottom bottle, with the empty bottle on top.

2) Quickly flip the whole thing over and swirl it around to get the water swishing around as it flows down. If you get it right, you should see the whirlpool in the top bottle (which was the bottom bottle, with the water in it).

Once you get the hang of the flip-swish action, it is pretty cool. The kids were flipping and swishing (and I was muttering under my breath hoping that the duct tape would hold) for much of the afternoon.

The book also suggests that you could mix in some glitter to highlight the whirlpool. I didn't have enough faith in the duct tape (although I should have, it is still leak-free) and didn't want to risk the water/glitter shower across my entire house. But if you like that sort of thing, go for it!

Bits and Pieces of Fun

We had a fairly low-key weekend. Daddy was out of town skiing with friends and following an early basketball game (in which Tater had a brilliant performance!) we were tired and unmotivated.

However, we did finally break out our Smithsonian Frog Dissection Kit (which I would tell you to go get, but apparently they have been discontinued). Sprout receive the kit as a birthday gift a couple of years ago and we never quite got around to doing it. But when, in the midst of lazing around, Tater suggested that now was the time, we decided to go for it.

The kit includes plastic bones, rubber "organs" and a frog-shaped mold. Basically you lay the parts in the mold and then pour super-strength Jell-o into the mold to make the frog's body.

We had some minor mishaps (the Jell-o oozed out of the mold and needed to be melted and poured back in so that the frog didn't have bones hanging out of his legs, we put the head on backwards...) but eventually ended up with a completely disgusting jiggly green frog-like thing.

Then the kids went at him with a plastic scalpel and ripped him apart. I don't know how dissection-like the operation was, but they seemed to be quite enjoying dismembering the fake frog. Which I will try not to be too disturbed about.

The other high point of our weekend (besides watching HSM I, II and Camp Rock) was the kids jumping all over sheets of bubble wrap in their Nana's driveway. Big fun! I think I have a roll in the basement and I will have to remember to get it out next time things get slow!

What we SHOULD have done at some point this weekend was work on Valentine's for the kids' classmates. Oops. We'll have to get cracking on that ASAP! We'll have to do something post-worthy, because I know you can't wait to hear all about it. Right?

Fun with Kitchen Ingredients

The kids did this at school...and I have seen it in a number of books. We were reminded by The Ultimate Book of Kid Concoctions, which Tater received from his Grandma for Christmas. (Santa had coincidentally also stashed a copy aside, but will be returning it to Amazon, since that is where Santa enjoys purchasing books.)

The very complicated instructions:
1. Mix 3/4 cup of cornstarch with 1/3 cup of water in a bowl.

2. Let the kids stick their hands in it.

It feels strangely dry and solid if you scoop out a handful, but as soon as you let it sit for a second it turns liquidy and oozes right through your fingers.

Liquid? Solid? Not sure. But it feels weirdly fun.

Tater played with this for over 30 minutes...and of course since he was so quiet and content I sort of stopped paying attention and turned back to find most of him and much of the entire kitchen counter covered with this stuff. Luckily it wipes up with a damp paper towel.

Try it. Cheap. Easy. Natural. Weird. And very entertaining.

Electric Lemons!

I must admit that I thought we were going to have to call this one a failure. But then our fabulous and hugely intelligent Daddy came home and switched the wires around (that whole positive/negative thing really is important) and it worked!!

I found the little battery powered clock at Target last week and Sprout was desperate to try to make this Lemon-Powered Clock from her Pocket Daring Book for Girls: Things to Do.

The additional shopping list: Electrician's clips, copper wire, 2 galvanized nails, 2 lemons.

We had fun finding our way around the local hardware store. Sprout kept saying "We need galvanized nails, galvanized nails..." As if they would be sparkling with magic or something... I think she was disappointed when we found them. Plain old nails.

Total spent at the hardware store was $2.56.

Quick stop the grocery store for lemons and we were all set. Stripping the ends of the wires was the hardest part. Sticking the nails into the lemons, the most exciting, apparently.

So the idea here is:

1. A wire from one side of the battery compartment of the clock to a lemon (the wire is actually stuck into the lemon)
2. A nail is stuck in the other end of that lemon and a wire is clamped to the nail and then stuck into the second lemon.
   
3. A third wire goes from a nail in the second lemon to the other side of the battery compartment of the clock.

We had to take the clock apart (another exciting step) to get places to clip the wire onto the battery contacts.

All too technical for me. Something about the zinc from the nails dissolving in the acid of the lemons...electrons flowing...

But anyway - if you get it right - voila - electricity! From lemons!

How totally cool is THAT??