Science Fair '10

Last year Natalie and Sarah did science projects for the Science Fair and I was up so ridiculously late the night before because I didn't realize how long it would take to glue all the stuff onto the boards. This year, since the kids aren't required to do it until 4th grade, I just helped Sarah do one. Natalie can have a turn next year if she wants. She really didn't care this go round thank goodness.

Sarah chose to learn about fingerprints. She fingerprinted grandma and grandpa, our family and the neighbors. I think that was her favorite part. Then she looked closely at them through a microscope and magnifying glass. But the best way to look at them turned out to be when I got pictures of them with my macro lens and then we printed them. It was fun to compare them that way. Sarah hypothesized that even though siblings have very similar genes, their fingerprints are still different enough to identify at the crime of a scene. We made it into a game where the people looking at her board had to try and figure out which fingerprint taken at the scene of a crime (a cookie jar) matched which of the girls. I think it turned out fun.

I got teased a bit about how neat and nice her board looked - I guess I should not be so anal about matting everything and lining everything up. It's just something I really want to look nice. Sarah really did help put it together - I taught her the art of matting and lining things up - but I do have to admit that I finished it up after she went to bed. Mostly doing the gluing. Hopefully no one takes fingerprints off the board and accuses me of doing the whole thing!

At the science fair night, OMSI always comes and has fun exhibits and science experiments. It's hard to see against the white sign behind it, but this guy and the karate girl were making "elephant toothpaste". (o: The thick foamy stuff came shooting out of a jar - pretty darn cool even for a 30 something year old. (O;

Angela and Natalie looking at the science experiment.
I was so busy gabbing at the event, that I never got a picture of Sarah standing with her board!

WOW

WHOA - will this look be on the runways in a few years? If Natalie has any say in it, the answer will be YOU BET! That has Fancy Nancy written all over it!

Healthy Eating Night

From Blog Favorites #2

I am going back to fill in all the pictures that for some reason didn't get blogged and found these clear back from February! This was our Laurel activity at Penny's house sharing healthy recipes and foods. It was such a fun night just hanging out together. I love these girls - Penny included!

From Blog Favorites #2

Penny and Sarah and a pot.

From Blog Favorites #2

Lizzy and a bran muffin.

From Blog Favorites #2

A yummy raw veggie "pizza"

Happy

Natalie has had a rash of tummy aches this year. She gets one on a school day about once every other week. I haven't figured out what it is yet. I'm guessing it might be a day after she eats an especially large amount of fruits and veggies. It's so funny how opposite Natalie's eating is to Sarah and Angela's. She has always had a more sensitive tummy. Anyway, we already got on the "blacklist" with the district for missing too much school because of our Disneyland trip and a couple illnesses that took Nat out for 2-3 days. So when her tummy is hurting and there aren't' other symptoms I have to give her a pep talk about being brave. She is a home body, so she prefers to be home anyway and most of the time her tummy aches go away.

On one morning last Wednesday, she said she had a tummy ache and didn't want to go to school. We made a deal that if she would go and be brave, I would come and eat lunch with her.

At 10:30 (yes, lunch is at 10:30! Ridiculous...) - I headed over for our date. (Angela was at preschool.) Mrs. B. said Natalie had been acting fine all morning which was good. When Natalie saw me, she had a huge grin on her face and ran up to me with a HUGE hug. She always does that and it melts my heart every time. She was so excited for our lunch date and we had such a fun time. She definitely was feeling better, which was nice to see so I didn't worry about her.

After Nat finished her lunch, I went out to play with her for a few minutes at recess. I pushed her on the swing. And let me tell you, when an adult offers to push a child on a swing - suddenly you hear a chorus from every other kid on a swing. "Push me! Push me!" So I ran back and forth pushing about six kids for a while until I had to go. Natalie walked with me to where the van was, giving me lots of hugs along the way and smiling so big. I could tell that our lunch date meant a lot to her and it made me feel so happy to do something so simple for her that brought her so much joy. I need to do that more often.

As I drove away she waved with a huge grin and then skipped off happily back to her friends. She skipped all the way across the playground. I drove slow so I could watch her for a minute. It was such a sweet moment seeing how the simplest thing could make my sweet Nat so exceedingly happy. At that moment I felt so grateful and so happy. So grateful I could be a stay at home mom with my girls so I could do things like this. And so grateful for my sweet girls who don't ask for much - just to be loved and to be shown it in simple ways. Children are the greatest blessing we could ever be given. And with all the hard work, headaches, lack of sleep, worry and stress - there is nothing that makes my heart soar or that brings me more joy than the huge hugs, smiling faces and the laughter of my sweet girls. I am so happy to be a mom and drove away from school that day with tears of joy and gratitude.

Self Teaching the Birds and the Bees

Hey moms! I just figured out a new way to teach kids about the birds and the bees. Having the "talk" with Sarah has been on my parent 'to do' list for a few months now. I have procrastinated it 1. because we've been so busy and 2. I'm not ready! However, I have recently discovered that if I just hold off a little, my smart 9 year old will figure it all out on her own. Problem solved!

I didn't ever think that doing a science experiment with Sarah would get the wheels turning on this subject. Our school science fair is coming up and Sarah chose to do an experiment with fingerprints. So she gathered fingerprints from our family, including grandma and grandpa P. who were visiting this last weekend. She is looking to see if there is any similarity between family members' patterns on their fingerprints.

As we got talking about her hypothesis, she guessed that our fingerprint patterns will maybe look similar because of genes. She's always understood about the basics of genetics and how you inherit certain qualities from your parents - she knows her olive skin color comes from me and Natalie's dark hair comes from daddy, etc. But this time she really started thinking about this and it turned into quite the conversation. Chris and I were in stitches by the time we were done...

First Sarah started wondering, "How do I get genes from daddy? I was in YOUR stomach. Daddy's don't have babies." She pointed out to me. I followed up cautiously with: "Well, it takes a mommy AND a daddy to make a baby."

Sarah, "So there's got to be some way to get daddy's genes in your tummy for the baby."

Yikes! Did she really figure that out so fast.

Then, to add to the hilarity of the moment at precisely the height of the conversation, Natalie pipes in with the most random comment.

Natalie: "Well, whoever smelt it, dealt it!"

Obviously, her thoughts were on a different plain.

Sarah said grandma was laughing so hard, she thought she would have a heart attack and I think I almost peed my pants.

Then Sarah guessed, "I know! Daddy's genes go from his brain (ha ha) to his mouth and go in your mouth when you kiss him."

Yep - we left it at that for now. I actually confessed that it was a brilliant thought - but that we would have to discuss the details at a later time when my littler girls who were only thinking of gassy jokes weren't listening.

Oh my baby - I just want her to stay innocent. I'm not ready, but I guess she is - and who knows what she'll come up with if I don't help her out.

Here's some more pictures of the fingerprinting fun.

Angela tried on the microscope cover. Isn't it stunning?

Angela was hilarious trying to look in the microscope. It's a tricky skill when you're 4.

Sarah looks like she's still thinking hard - "So how do those genes get in mommy's tummy?"

Say it Ain't So!

All good things must come to an end. Grandma and grandpa had to go home on Monday. Luckily, the kids had school off so we got to enjoy a nice breakfast together and enjoy the whole morning before they had to leave. Grandpa and daddy even got to go hit a bucket of balls before the fun was over.

Staring contests are a favorite past time at restaurants for our kids. Nat is pretty good as you can see! Lookout grandpa!

This was so cute. The girls would not let grandpa and grandma out. They seriously wouldn't move. It was cute until it was annoying, but it was cute that they really tried to thwart our efforts to help grandma and grandpa make their flight home.

Thanks for coming! We love you!

This pretty much sums up how we feel when our family leaves after a wonderful visit. )o:

Sarah was crying. We are all depressed for about a day or two.

Natalie wrote in her journal at school that grandma and grandpa went home and now we don't have any fun.

Valentine's!

The evening before Valentine's Day, we went for a special treat with grandma and grandpa to Moonstruck Chocolate for their amazing chocolate shakes. Mmmmm. They were very busy with people buying valentine's!
Daddy always gives his girls a flower for Valentine's - what a sweet dad.

Natalie made this adorable mobile for daddy. Isn't it cute? She comes up with this stuff on her own. Actually I think she found the idea in one of our art books, but she does it all on her own. What a cutie.

Hanging out with grandma and grandpa is our favorite. We love just hanging out, playing games, watching movies and laughing with grandma and grandpa. We even had them try out Rock Band on the Wii! It was lots of fun and lots of laughs!

Valentine's day was on Sunday, so the girls had just a few minutes to see their valentine's before we headed off to church.

Sarah loves those Magic 8 balls that tell you the "future" or answer your yes/no questions.

I found this idea in Family Fun - to make one using Magic clay wrapped around a liquid-filled baby food jar. Inside you put a small cube of Styrofoam with foam glued to each side and a prediction written on it like, "In your dreams" or "definitely". It really turned out cute, if I do say so myself and Sarah LOVED it. She took it to school for show and tell the next week and all her friends were enthralled. She said everyone wanted to play with it and ask it questions.

Small and simple things . . . it doesn't take much to make kids happy. (usually!)

Natalie loves teeny tiny things, so she got this teeny tiny pool table. She has it in the Barbie house now so the Barbies can play!

My Valentine from my valentine. (o: Aren't they pretty?

We made melty chocolate lips for dessert that night and served them with homemade pink ice-cream.

This heart puzzle was Angela's Valentine. She's my puzzle girl.

I love Valentine's day and it was so much more fun celebrating with grandma and grandpa! We had a wonderful day together!

Random February

Snowflake fun - we have to enjoy the artificial kind. (o:
Playing with my new photography toy - a softbox.

New Beginnings for the young women .

The girls all shared a hero they look up to. Two of the girls mentioned younger siblings, some mentioned parents, teachers . . . I was impressed. These are girls with substance. (o:

Angela getting her Valentines ready for preschool.

My sweet little Valentine. (o:

OMSI

We've been to OMSI so many times and this exhibit has been at OMSI ever since I can remember. I remember looking at it when I was pregnant with either Sarah or Natalie. On this visit the girls were fascinated with it. These are actual fetus' through the each stage of a baby's development. Starting at the teeny tiniest little tissue sample. They looked at each one with grandma. It's amazing to look at and sad because these were actual babies who obviously didn't survive. It is amazing to look through.
We love OMSI! The girls are holding up their souvenirs - some cool rocks from the special rock exhibit that day. Could there have been better timing? We didn't know about the rock and gem show until we got there. Grandma and Sarah are CRAZY about rocks!

The kids liked playing these mind benders with grandma and grnadpa - this was one where you get stuck together with rope and have to untangle yourselves. We figured it out once, but forgot this day!

Rock girls!

I think that ear could use a Q-tip! My kids ALWAYS have to climb up in the ear. They can't resist.

This was part of a very clever rock display that I loved. There was a whole table set up with fancy dishes and everything. The whole table was set with "rock" food. Every rock looked like some sort of food! There was bacon, ham, eggs, fruit and these cute "cookies". It was very creative and fun to look at!

We really lucked out! There were some rocks for sale at the show, but two of my girls lucked out and some of the nice collectors gave them a rock just to be nice. Maybe they were excited about how much my girls loved their rocks? Whatever the reason, we felt very spoiled. Natalie showed her rock to another rock collector and he estimated it's value (the one above) at over $25 because of the colors in it. It has a place of honor on her dresser now. (o: Rocks rock! We came home with some really neat ones!

Lunch Downtown

Our first day with grandma and grandpa, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Rock Bottom Brewery. Sounds funny for a group of people who don't drink. I've heard their beer is fantastic, but obviously, we don't go for that. Although I'm sure it's great. We love the food there! It is really yummy. And it's in a fun part of town.
Sarah must have one of her brilliant ideas! Funny pose...

Riding the elevator with a window in the parking garage.

Everything is more fun with grandpa and grandma!