The Balloon Project

So, Derek and Amelia worked very diligently on her science project. They both did an amazing job, and I must say that I was proud of myself for stepping back (almost) the whole time. Derek helped Amelia look at ideas for projects on the Internet, and they decided to build a hovercraft. Yep, a hovercraft. At least it didn't set the yard on fire (do some of you remember that story?).

Derek did the safety things, like using the hot glue gun. If you can't tell from the picture, he attached the pull-top from a syrup bottle to the center of an extra CD.

Then, they blew up a balloon and attached it to the pull top while it was closed. They measured the size of the balloon's circumference (the independent variable), and then pulled the top open. The force of the air lifted the CD off of the table, and then they recorded the distance it traveled (the dependent variable).

I'm honestly not sure who had more fun during the experimenting part, although Amelia said that her least favorite part was the measuring. What I was impressed with, was that Amelia wrote every word on her display board, other than the titles (which were the only things I was allowed to do). She talked with Derek about what to write, and he helped her spell everything correctly.

When her project was on display at the fair, we realized that although she was one of three children in her class to participate, only five kindergartners entered the fair. All five received second-place ribbons (apparently, there were no first place ribbons awarded to kinder). I think that Derek was more frustrated than Amelia was about the competition aspect. When he asked her what she got when she went up on stage, she held up the ribbon and exclaimed, "A bookmark!"

A Little Behind

Well, I'm behind, but we've had a busy couple of weeks. The first excuse/story to tell is that a stomach virus made the rounds (Derek was the only one to escape its path), and my turn was during the break for Thanksgiving and my birthday. Woo-hoo! We weren't sure at first if Evelyn was actually sick, or if she was still reacting to the super-strong sixth round of anitbiotics. The ear infections sometimes switched sides, sometimes lessened, but never really went away. The Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Evie went in for ear tube surgery. She was a little trooper, and recovered quickly. All of the nurses kept saying how sweet and adorable she is. Yeah, true, but she still somehow resembles Derek. How does she do both?

Daisy Days

So, Amelia is now officially a Daisy Girl Scout. The Troop (#2040) met in my classroom for the first time on Tuesday. The girls didn't really know each other (even though they all go to the same school, there are about 140 kids in seven different classrooms), the moms certainly didn't know each other . . . it was a bit awkward at first. Good thing that our Troop Leader, Christine, has got it together. She had an activity set up before the girls even walked into the room, assigned the girls tasks, and had everyone generally "hopping to" within seconds. We had our parent meeting on Thursday and voted up a few details. We opted out of cookie sales this year (yay), assigned volunteer jobs, and planned out a few excursions as well as our Spring Camping Trip! The family headed to the Girl Scouts Lone Star Council today and picked up her uniform. I'm uber-excited. My volunteer job? Historian/ scrapbooker. I'm certain this shocks everyone. I've got the Troop's blog set up, and today I designed my own background using Photoshop. The link is on the right. Hooray for girls!

It's Not Easy Being Green

Some of you are already aware of my son's love of Kermit (I don't know where he gets that). He had originally wanted a Kermit-themed birthday this summer, and ultimately changed his mind to Spiderman. So, when he said that he wanted to be Kermit for Halloween, I was a bit nervous. After all, I remembered from my search in July that there really isn't much out there to be purchased by Henson-heads everywhere. I knew that if he was going to get his wish, I would have to make the costume -- and I'm no seamstress.

I dived in last weekend, and chipped away at it every night. The music teacher at my school teaches sewing lessons, and she was kind enough to give me lots of tips and advice. Every day, I brought the machine and all of the supplies up to work, and she stopped in after school to check on my progress. I elected not to make the spats, but I machine basted to set the zipper, put a dart in the hood, ran double-fold bias tape on the neckline (which was way harder than the zipper, btw) added elastic cuffs to the legs and raglan sleeves and learned all sorts of new vocabulary. :)

The finishing touches (collar and eyes) were actually finished on Friday morning, with only hours to go. The syrofoam ball cut in half took consideration. I worried that a hot-glue gun might melt it, but most other adhesive wouldn't stay. The answer came from yet another friend and co-worker, who owned a "cold" hot-glue gun. Not hot enough to melt the styrofoam, just a bit of my thumb.

After school Halloween afternoon, I waited in line for early voting for nearly an hour and a half. While I was busy doing that, Derek called and asked if I need the remaining green fleece. He used it to make little green flippers that he attached to Luke's Crocs, and the effect was perfect.

Derek got the girls dressed (Aurora - aka Sleeping Beauty - and a fuzzy pink bunny Derek nicknamed "the pink nightmare," both costumes he helped them choose), but waited for me to get our son into his costume. Luke was beside himself, and it was honestly one of the best moments of my life.

We had an absolutely perfect family fun filled evening. They all had incredible endurance. Trick-or-treating included a stop at Amelia's kindergarten teacher's home, just one street up from ours ("He has six kitties and one wife," she said). After that, we played at a Fall Carnival with inflatables and train rides and chili dogs. We tucked them in bed and even got to watch a movie.

Life is good.

Family Farming Fun

We went to the Austin Farmer's Market last weekend. The weather was just right, the whole family was there, and it was great! Luke chased birds and ran away from



dogs (who absolutely did not chase him; they probably didn't even notice him). Everyone enjoyed the banjos (the local banjo club provided the entertainment). Derek and I loaded up on organic coffee and freshly squeezed and frozen



italian ices, gathered up "sustainable" produce (which apparently means that it is organic, but unofficially) and called it a day.

Going, Going, Gone

Talk about a girl in motion . . .

Riding On Bikes With Boys

We got out today in the lovely autumn weather. The ability to pedal forward has now replaced the previous confusion regarding the "forward=go /backward=stop" methodology. Amelia was quite proud of her new ability. She is already asking to go out again. If her skills improve as the weather holds, we might even bike to school.
Luke is doing well, but is less inclined to over-brake and more inclined to crash. His first crash today landed him in an ant bed. He cried a bit, not due to the ants, but the barking weiner dog. The second crash got a dimpled grin and, "I went fast!" shared observation.
Evie was a bit frustrated at being forced to sit in a stroller (a girl's gotta crawl when a girls' gotta crawl, after all), but the 20 minutes of stillness apparently wore her out -- she was snoozing when we returned home.

First Day of Kindergarten

Well, this little girl was more than ready for her first day of school. She grabbed her shiny new princess backpack with matching lunchbox and headed for the door, barely allowing her photo-happy mom a moment's thought. Her report at the end of the day declared that she made a new friend and, "Mr. Whitfield rocks the alphabet!"

Ready, Set, Play

Amelia's party was a blast, and if the images look blurry, it is because the kids were in constant motion. They were surrounded by inflatables, and bounced even when they weren't on them. They did sleep well that night. *sigh*

The Teeth!

The much anticipated shot of the twins.

Remind Me Not To Have Six 3-Year-Old Boys and Girls Over Again

Luke's water splashin' backyard birthday party was actually quite fun, despite the fact that his parents are completely insane.
Originally, he wanted a Muppet-themed party. As Muppet supplies cannot be found ANYWHERE, I resigned myself to hand-made invitations and so forth.
Once I had these all planned out, Luke declared his true devotion to Spiderman (insisting on the "nice" one, not the "mean" gray one).
Notice the ratio in size of pinata and pinata-hitter. Did I mention that we are insane?

The Adventure of the Pierced Ears

Amelia was pleased to reach her fifth birthday, since it was a milestone marked as when she would be allowed pierced ears. She knew it would hurt, but I think she still wasn't quite prepared. She recovered well, though, as you can see. Evelyn entertained herself (and us) trying on hats, and Luke was too busy to snap. Sadly, Luke was escorted out by Derek while Amelia finished her jewelry shopping spree.