Out of the doldrums....Day 1

 Last fall I gave a bunch of bulbs to the kids to plant so we would have springtime surprises popping up around the yard.  

So far we have had daffodils and crocuses show themselves.

There are tulips that haven't blossomed yet...but hopefully soon. 

But it is April 1st....and the weatherman is predicting 6 inches of snow on Sunday...so we will wait and see what happens. 

The Naked Egg Experiment

 This is an oldie but a goodie.  But, with so many kids, and so many science experiments, I didn't realize that these two hadn't done the "naked egg" experiment. 

All you need is a jar, a raw egg and white vinegar.

Put the egg in the jar and cover with white vinegar.

 Bubbles immediately begin to form on the egg....the white vinegar has begun to dissolve the eggshell.

 After about an hour, the egg began to float.

 The next day, and the next day....change out the vinegar with fresh white vinegar.

After only one day, the shell is mostly dissolved and the egg is squishy.

 After 7 days this is what our egg on the left looks like compared to a x-large egg on the right. (we started with a medium egg)  This is also a lesson about osmosis.  

"naked eggs", raw eggs and a plastic Easter Egg

If you look carefully in the sunshine, you can see the yolk sloshing around inside the egg.  The outer membrane is quite rubbery at this point, 

 but not so rubbery that is can't break with you drop it on the counter...poor Luke!

Kim's egg made is outside and

it can bounce...a few times.

 Luke dissecting his egg goo.

Kim's splatter....the yolk was almost like playdough.

You can see our "naked egg" posts of the past here. 

The Doldrums......

I am bound and determined to get over the doldrums...

(Doldrums...defined as...a state or period of sadness or depression)

I see I haven't posted since Mark's birthday in January.  So I have decided that I will post one happy photo a day, everyday, 

To start off I give you a photo of my beautiful daughter and her brand new husband.

Photo #1

 And as a bonus photo....Kimberly and Luke

Mark is 16 Years Old

 My Irish boy and his new Newsboy hat.

 The duck call candle blow-out

 Mark and Luke with an Oreo cake

 Becky serenading us all. 

 The "final four"  Grace-14, Mark-16, Luke-10 and Kim-9

 Partners in crime

 Kimberly, Becky and Dan

 My Irish  boys and a few photo bombers

 Right before Dan almost killed Mark with a Poi ball

 These are very cool...

Grace-14

Borax Snowflakes

 We've started a unit about winter and snow...and hoping for some significant snow ourselves.  

I decided to help the kids make borax snowflakes.  

First you need to cut a pipe cleaner into three equal parts.  Bend into a 6 sided "snowflake".  Tie a string to the pipecleaners and the other side of the string to a pencil. 

 Make sure the edges of the pipecleaners don't touch the bottom or sides of the jar.

 You now need Borax and boiling water. 

 Add 2 cups of boiling water to the jar...stir in 6 tbls of borax.

 Stir....not all the borax will dissolve--it is a super saturated solution.

 Put your "snowflakes" into the jars...wait 24 hours.

 The next day we had crystals everywhere.

We were careful not to shake the jar as we carried them to the table. 

The big reveal!

 Amazing crystal snowflakes.

 Ta Da!!!!

These are very, very hard...and last a long time!

The Miracles of Jesus & Crafts

 "Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men." Matthew 4;19

 We are enjoying this Tomie dePaola book;The Miracles of Jesus, and I'm trying to come up with a craft for every story.  

 Today's story was the Catch of Fishes. 

 I printed out two copies of each picture of St. Simon Peter, St. James and St. John. We glued these pictures together for the project is as nice from the  back as from the front. 

We taped the picutres to the middle of a double layer of tulle, and then glued two  Popsicle sticks to the top and bottom of the tulle. We used clips until the glue was set.

 Luke working hard.

 Making the fishes.

 Almost finished..just hot gluing a ribbon to hang out crafts.

 All done!!