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.

Homework Helpers

The kids started back to school last Monday, and then promptly had a four day weekend. So now summer is officially, unofficially over!

In preparation for the first day of school we did our normal school supply shopping. Sprout is quite the connoisseur of school supplies, and is in possession of the world's largest collection of novelty erasers. I am thinking about submitting her to the Guinness Book of World Records. But regardless of how many pencils, pens and erasers (shaped like ice cream, and lipstick, and small animals, and hearts, and...) she has, there is always a thrill when "the list" arrives and we have to hit the Target to stock up for the year.

I have to say, I share in the thrill of the hunt for just the right notebook. And of course, an excuse to hit the Target is always welcome!

This year, we added some extras to our shopping list. I saw these homework cubbies in Family Fun Magazine and thought they might help the kids focus on getting through the dreaded homework hour (hopefully keeping it from becoming the homework four-hour-nightmare...)

We started with a cardboard presentation board and cut it in half height-wise (I did the cutting - utility knives + children + neurotic mother = too much for me to handle.)

After we had two half-height boards, I scored an additional line down each seam (described in the directions from FF Magazine, so that the cubby can be folded up with "stuff" inside.)

This picture shows Sprout holding the (closed) utility knife and ruler. Just to show you how...I did the cutting, but couldn't figure out how to take a picture of my own hands...

The lines are just scored through the top layer of cardboard so that the board can fold.

Like this...

After the cutting, we covered the inside of the cubby/board with contact paper.

Sprout was so traumatized by my inability to line things up correctly that she decided not to cover the outside of hers. Tater went along with covering both sides. We had to re-score the folds on his from the outside so it would fold with the covering on.

Then we used mounting tape to hang up hooks and supplies inside the cubbies. Each kid has a little white board to write down assignments or reminders, one side is covered with cork squares so they can pin up things, and they each have a pencil box mounted with Velcro so that they can take it down to get the pencils out.

Here is Tater's finished cubby:


And here is Sprout's. She is very excited about her protractor.


They were so excited when they finished these that they immediately went and got some workbooks to do a trial run. They were both sitting on the porch with their cubbies up, working on crossword puzzles or something...


Then they realized school hadn't started yet and they went to watch some Phineas & Ferb.

I hope these will be fun for them to use when they are doing real homework.

Maybe I need one, too. And some fun pencils - and an eraser that looks like a hamburger - and a protractor...

Teaser

Tater bought this in late June.

He saw an ad on Nickelodeon (of course) and was trying to get me to order over the phone. But I prevailed and made him to to Toys R Us and get it in person without paying shipping.

Because that's the kind of tough-love parent I am - FORCING the children to go to Toys R Us!

The caterpillars had to be ordered via mail, and would take several weeks. Considering our week-long trip to Maine, we decided to get them delivered in early August, so we would be around to experience the whole "metamorphosis" thing - which is sort of the whole point, right?

So the "tent" has been sitting, forlorn and empty in Tater's room for many weeks. And he has frequently said that he was waiting for August 3rd, which I thought meant he was PRETTY excited about my birthday - but alas...no...it was the bugs.

And the caterpillars did not come yesterday.

BUT...this little box was in the mail today. And I must admit I was a little skittish (squeamish? skeevish?) about picking it up to carry it inside.

Live insects. Yuck.

But when Tater gets home from camp this afternoon, there will be much rejoicing.
And live insects.

I'll keep you posted!

Black Thumb = genetic?

Tater brought home his "Plant Log" today...a daily book of observations from planting seeds at school.

It made me laugh - so I will share it with you. I am generous that way.
All spelling is original - I think it lends to the story.

A Plant Begins: Daily Log of Observations - by Tater B.

Day 1: Today I planted a forget me not and a wildflower. I put soil in my cup. I put a stick in my cup with my name. I put in seeds and put it by the window sill and am leting it grow.

Day 2: nothing hapined

Day 3: nothing hapined

Day 4: Nothing hapined

Day 5: Nothing hapined

Day 6: Nothing hapined

Day 7: It grew

Day 8: nothing happined

Day 9: Nothing happined

Day 10: It Died.

Day 11: nothing happined

Poor Tater. But such an insightful glimpse into elementary school gardening, right?

And every single time I have planted a seed - this has pretty much been my experience. I am sort of relieved that the plant didn't make it. Otherwise, he would have brought it home to grow.

And it would have died.

UPDATE: On Friday, the cup of dirt came home from school with Tater's popsicle-stick name tag standing forlorn and alone in the center of the vast emptiness of the Dixie Cup. He thinks that maybe if we just water it some more, there is still hope...

UPDATE II: Holy cow!! THERE'S A SPROUT IN THERE!!!

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!

A Tale of Two Field Trips

Two weeks ago (sorry, I am getting behind here!) we went with my Mom to check out the Hopewell Furnace Historical Site.

Last week we went with some friends to see Playhouse Disney Live in Reading.

Guess which one the kids liked better?

Hopewell Furnace! Wow!

And get this - we didn't even get anything in the gift shop (!)

Playhouse Disney Live was OK - but I think basically my kids are just too big for it. There was no plot to speak of. One hour total running time. And the "actors" were lip-synching along to a soundtrack of cartoon character voices.

Very pre-packaged. Very Disney-ish. Kind of blah.

The littler kids in the audience were very excited to see Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger. And Mickey of course. Gotta say I have never been a huge fan of the mouse (please don't throw things at me - just being honest!)

Anyhoo...it cost a truckload of money to go, we were in mediocre seats, and I think my kids were most excited that they got to eat cotton candy ($10 each with a "free" hat (!))

In contrast, Hopewell Furnace was a far different experience. It is just up the road from home here. We have been driving past signs for it for years, but had no idea what it was.

It turns out it is an a historic iron producing site. The Furnace itself is a huge stone structure and "back in the day" they put iron ore (rocks) and charcoal into the furnace to melt the iron out and make things out of it.

I know that doesn't sound all that fun. But it is actually like a mini-Williamsburg. The Furnace was like a small town. There are houses where the workers lived, the "big house" where the owners lived, a barn, and the actual production facilities.

It is all completely beautiful (look at that picture!) and I bet in the Spring and Summer even better. It seems that they have live demonstrations in the summer, so we'll have to check that out.

The tour starts with a quick movie that talks about the history of the site and the iron industry. I know that sounds horrifically boring, but it really wasn't.

The kids got a scavenger hunt page of things to find during the tour. If they found everything they would get a "Ranger Badge". My kids are pretty competitive so they were totally into that.

They have a nice map and information so you can do a self-guided tour. There are audio recordings at many of the landmarks - the kids were very excited to find the buttons. Not so interested in hearing what they had to say - but finding the buttons was like a bonus part of the scavenger hunt.

There is a lot of outside space, so the kids enjoyed running around. We were basically the only people there, so I was OK with them doing that. No lost-in-the-crowd fears here!

We were there for probably about 2 hours. And the kids were into the scavenger hunt right till the end and completely thrilled with their badges. A hint for anyone who does go - look in the little museum in the gift shop - it is part of the scavenger hunt.

There was no admission charge for kids under 16 and adults were only $4. AND the kids were happy enough with the badges that I was able to drag them out of the tiny gift shop with no money spent. Whew!

So, somehow the lower cost, more convenient, interesting even for grown-ups, educational expedition was the big winner here. I can't tell you how much I LOVE that!