Yard Work!

Seeing it's fall and we are having warm weather today, warmer then what is normal for this time of year, the kids and hubby did some yard work. It's 65 outside! Hubby let the kids take control of the leaf blower and needless to say they had a little bit to much fun with it this afternoon. I don't think any real 'work' was accomplished.

Their goal was to get the leafs to the backyard near the burn pit. However the leafs really didn't get any where. At first they were just blowing the leafs with the leaf blower....towards the back yard, but seeing there is only one blower and two children they decided to come up with this lovely but not every practical way to work together.

Web-Princess blowing leaves into the wheelbarrow. 

Yep, that's right they decided to blow the leafs into the wheelbarrow. Web-princess was able to get some leafs up into the wheelbarrow.

However after getting a few in she would try to blow more and end up blowing the leafs out of the wheelbarrow. Hubby decided to let them be and after an hour of doing this and getting nowhere they put away all the tools and told hubby they were done for today! HA-HA.

Hubby in his wisdom told the kids that was fine and thanked them for their help.  While the kids were playing working I told hubby that in a few minutes you should have them do the work for real. He said no, I'll just let them be today. Sometimes it's just better to see them have fun then worrying about if it's done "correctly".  We'll get the yard later. Besides I told Superstar I would play some yu-gi-oh with him and he's already been waiting long enough today for that. I rather do that with him then worry about the yard right now.

Homeschooling is SO disappointing!!!!

In the car on the way home from having dinner at my grandparent's house.

Superstar: It's so disappointing.
Me: What's disappointing?
Superstar: Homeschooling!
Me: Why is homeschooling disappointing?
Superstar: There are NO snow days! There is NO reason to watch the news. I remember watching the news waiting for the Rs. My heart would start to race, the thrill of hearing there was no school. It's all gone now!

Yes, we are approaching the summer months and my son is reflecting on the absence of snow days thanks to homeschooling!! LOL

Snow, Blizzards, and Bunk Bed.

Tuesday Night we had a huge snow storm in our area. We awoke Wednesday morning with nearly a foot (or more) of snow and snow drifts that caused mini snow walls. Hubby stayed home from work so the kids and I took a snow day. We told the kids if Daddy stay home there will be no school, but if Daddy goes to work then we'll have school. Hubby did up working FROM home, but the kids still got to have a snow day. For the most part it was just a relaxing day, but a few times hubby dear had to tell us to quiet down seeing he was trying to work (he was making business calls here at home). I'm glad that hubby was able to work from home Wednesday seeing it was awful to go out, but I'm also glad that he GOES to work normally. It was hard to stay quiet all day for him. I'm thankful that is something that doesn't need to be done everyday. 

That's the mini snow wall that we awoke to in our back yard Wednesday morning. That metal box thing down at the end is the AC unit. As you can see the snow and mini wall goes all the way up to the top of the ac unit. Our back door is just a one step up. The step as you can see was completely cover the the snow was even higher then the foot of the door.

Besides having no school work the kids and I made snow cream and Hubby and I put together the bunk bed. The replacement piece arrived Monday Night we were going to finish the bed this coming Saturday, but took advantage of hubby being home on Wednesday and finished putting the bunk bed together in between business calls. :)

After we finish putting the bed together WP and SS spent the rest of the day from about 2:00 pm till bedtime really in the beds. NOT because I made them, but because they enjoyed them that much! We even let WP sleep on the bottom bunk Wednesday Night. Now the bed is ready for my nephew. Currently he is at my mom's house. However come the end of THIS month he'll be here full time until the end of March, then he goes back to my Mom's house full time. My sister for THIS deployment set it up so that my nephew is on a 2 month rotation between both homes until she returns about 12 months from now. My nephew has been here since before Christmas. My sister was here too, but return to Ft. Hood early Jan. She had to report back to duty then; she left her son here seeing deployment was just around the corner. She actually left for Iraq Feb 1st....

Here I thought a Picture was worth a thousands words....

I can't believe I got slammed by an anonymous poster for my last post "I'm a Mistress". If they would have taken to the time to LOOK at the picture and READ the caption they would have SEEN I was pointing out the fact that Mrs. is a contracted form of Mistress!!!  As I said in that post, don't believe me look it up in the dictionary! So yes I'm a Mistress (i.e. Mrs.) and I'm PROUD of it!!!!!!!


EDIT ADD: So after all of this I went to Hubby and told him I can't believe I got slammed, and before I could really tell him what anonymous said he told me. Hubby did it to raze me some as a joke. He knows I moderate comments and THOUGHT I would tell him about anonymous posting before I actually publish it. So he THOUGHT he was going to be able to tell me, "Hey Nikki that's just me giving you a hard time!"

He wanted me to share with readers cause it was NEVER his intent to cause drama on my blog. He sincerely thought I would tell him about the post before posting it and that it really would have never been published. He just was looking to give me a bit of a hard time over it and never meant to hurt my feeling or anything like that.

I told him if he would have posted as himself I would have realized it was him just trying to give me a bit of a hard time. :) I do LOVE my hubby and he does LOVE me! This was a just a joke that went wrong.

I'm a Mistress and proud of it!

Mrs. (mi'iz) n. A title prefixed to the name of a married woman: a contracted form of Mistress.

Don't believe it! Look it up in a dictionary like I did!

T/H: Bedlam

Watching A Science Video

What?!? You didn't say HOW we had to watch it!

Shaving Cream Gone Wild

I know I've mention before we do lot of writing in shaving cream. Well this is what happens when it gets a little wild! Yes, even at 8 and 9 they have their moments were they are a bit like toddlers with the shaving cream! This isn't how it is normally here, because I normally stop it before it goes out of hand.

STEMfest 2010 - Saturday October 23, 2010

Are you in driving distance to NIU? If so then you may enjoy going to STEMfest 2010 on Saturday, October 23, 2010!

STEMfest seeks to increase public awareness of STEM initiatives, activities, careers, and education for people around northern Illinois. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. This a FREE whole family event! There will be 100s of hand on activities in an carnival like atmosphere.

Even though the event is FREE there is $5 parking fee! Please see STEMfest 2010 Site for more details.

It truly looks like it's going to be fun for the whole family!

Art: Leaf Rubbing

It's a nice fall day! So we decided to do some leaf rubbing. I told the kids to go out into the yard to get some leafs. I suggested that they get some off the trees seeing they won't be as dried out as the ones laying on the ground. Our whole fence line is lined with trees, bushes, etc. A toddler could easily walk up to our fence and pull leaves of the "trees". So I assumed that is what the kids would do.

A few minutes later I looked out the window and this is what I seen:

Web-Princess is pulling on the leafs and branches that Superstar was able to snag with the rake! Leaf (pun) it to the kids!

Making Bio-Plastics AT Home!

Yesterday we went with our homeschooling group to a local pumpkin festival. It was fun! The kids do crafts, play on the playground, and participate in the scavenger hunt. The best part was that the things we did were FREE! There were ride and other games to do that cost money, but we decided that we weren't buying tickets and that we would only participate in the free activities.

One of the crafts the kids did was make this biodegradable plastic "stuff".  They call it bio-plastic. When it's done it is kind of this rubbery stuff. We weren't able to mold it, shape it into a ball, while it was still warm. We didn't even realized that once cooled it would pretty much be this hard, rubber, plastic stuff. So if you want to try to shape or mold it you have to do that while it's still WARM!

To make this bio-plastic you need water, corn oil, corn starch. Food coloring is optional, although it nice to make things in color!

1. Place a tablespoon of cornstarch in a plastic ziploc bag
2. Add two drops of corn oil to the cornstarch
3. Add one tablespoon of water to the oil and cornstarch.
4. Mix the cornstarch, corn oil, and water in the plastic bag by rubbing the outside of the bag with your fingers
5. Add two drops of your favorite food coloring and mix again
6. Place the bag in a microwave oven on high for 20-25 seconds. DO NOT completely seal the bag. Careful, it's hot!

It is very warm-hot when it comes out of the microwave so be careful with it. However keep in mind that if you want to mold and shape it you have to do that while it's still warm-hot. 

This is something the kids can very easily do, but because it does get hot I would advise that it is done with adult supervision. Just because of the risk of getting hurt with the stuff as it comes out of the microwave.  Once it's cool it's fine!

Edit Add: We just discovered that you can use vegetable oil instead of corn oil. 

Food Coloring Fun!

It's interesting what the kids find "fun". Today they on their own asked for the food coloring. When I inquired why? I got told "We want to use our science kits (the droppers) to move colors around".

So I placed a few drops of each color on some paper plates. The kids then used the eye droppers and a measuring cup (also from their kits) to add or remove water/food coloring from the paper plates.  Clean up isn't horrible, other then the dye has stain my table some. Of course that could have been avoided if I places a table cloth down on the table before hand!

This kept them busy for a whole hour!!!

Freaky Fun: Summer Reading

Today was "Freaky Fun" day at our local library. We are participating in our library's summer reading program and on Thursdays they are having special activities to do in conjunction with the summer reading program. Todays activities were sponsor by our local children's museum.

The kids got to make slim, make a pig's lung inflate and deflate. They got to make rattle snake eggs, witness  some optical illusions, play with bugs, and watch a chemical reaction between ammonia and PH paper.  It was a good hour at the library. In addition to the fun, seeing that it is Dairy Month, a local 4-H group was there raffling off a cooler of dairy items. To enter I just had to write my name on a piece of paper and be at the library at the time of the raffle.

The kids and I were in the back room making slim. We just finished up and decided to go see who won the raffle. As we were leaving the back room, Maryanne our children's librarian, said. "Nikki, Nikki _________."  To which I replied "Yes?". (It's a good thing I have a good relationship with the children's librarian).  Maryanne "You won the cooler of dairy!, I'll let them know you are still in the building!"

Maryanne was a few steps in front of us, but got there to tell them I was still in the building. They then presented me with the cooler and took our pictures for the local newspaper. They took Superstar's and Web-princess's name as well seeing they were in the picture with me.

So we won the dairy cooler which contained:

1. 6- 6oz of Yoplait Yogurt
2. 6- 3oz of Danimal Smoothies (Strawberry-Kiwi)
3. 8oz of strawberry cream cheese (Philadelphia Cream Cheese)
4. 1 lb container of Sour Cream
5. 1 lb container of  Cottage Cheese
6. 8oz container of land-o-lakes light butter spread
7. 7oz package of Kraft shredded "Mexican" cheese
8. 7oz package of Kraft shredded mozzarella cheese

The kids were thrilled to have won! They especially love the danimal smoothies. We don't get them often, but the kids do enjoy it when I'm able to "treat" them with some danimal smoothies. Web-princess was over the moon with being able to win some cottage cheese! Cottage Cheese is her favorite food and it's already gone! The kids (and I) ate it up for snack when we got home.

I have to run to the store either tonight or tomorrow. I can use the sour cream and Mexican cheese for tacos. If I get some bagels we can use up the cream cheese. (Not much else I can do with  strawberry cream cheese). Not exactly sure what to do with the shredded mozzarella cheese? Do you have any suggestions?

Morning Brain Storm

The following riddles were on the box of cereal this morning. I'm sharing because I thought they were one of the more "clever" ones. I'll share the answer later.

1) What belongs to you but others use it more then you do?
     hint: Everyone has one including pets.

2)When one does not know what it is, then it's something; but when one knows what it is, then it's nothing. What am I?

I hope you enjoy these little brain teases. Feel free to comment with your answers or guesses.  I'll confirm correct answers later when I post the answers.

What Is A Twinkie? Did we learn that in school?

"What is a twinkie?" That is what Superstar asked today! We were at the bank and DH asked the kids, "Do you want to go in the bank with me today? They have free twinkies"

So that's what caused Superstar to ask what's a twinkie. In response to Superstar question DH said "Well come in [the bank] with me and find out". He then turned to Web-Princess and said "Come on Honey, you too." So Web-princess climbed out and as she did I could hear her say "Yeah, Daddy what's a twinkie?"

As they all went in I sat there in the car and thought to myself. "Wow, We (my husband and I) are terrible parents. My 9 and 8 year olds don't know what a twinkie is!! OUCH!

After the bank we went to walmart so the kids could buy some things they have been "saving" up for. At the register the cashier asked Web-princess how old are you, because she did a really good job of counting out the money.

I told Web-princess it's okay you can tell her how old you are. So web-princess told her she was 8. Then the cashier asked her if she learned that [counting money] in school. 

Web-princess then put her hand to her chin, and started to rub it. She's thinking and all of the sudden she turns to me and ask "Well did we learn that in school?" "Yes we learned that.", I replied.   All the while I'm THINKING "Duh!" LOL So I guess that means I'm failing on the homeschool front too! LOL

Ripped Pants!

Yesterday was a bit stressful, but thankfully we had some comic relief when I ripped my pants! I bent over to pick up something of the floor and my pants went R--I--P! LOL! It was hilarious. I just started to crack-up!

No one else realized what happened, because they were in the other room. They came to see what I felt was so funny. I told that I bent over and ripped my pants. I even bent over to show them and the pants went R---I---P some more!

Now Web-princess is stitches and running down the hall to tell Superstar what had happen. Superstar was in the bedroom. DH is just rolling his eyes. I can hear Web-princess "Momma just RIP her pants like SpongeBob."

Of course Superstar comes to see now and I showed him and they RIP some more! Of course I changed my pants after that and I had throw them away. There was just no saving them. LOL Say what you want it was just funny!

Here's SpongeBob's Rip Pants Song:

Playing in The Rain and other silly moments!

I love my children and it's moments like this that makes me glad they are here! WP yesterday afternoon played in the rain and today she and SS are making movies! WP is a superhero! It's funny and I would included pictures but somethings are just left better to the imagination!

Let's just say she has a superhero's cape, (ie. her favorite fleece blanket) and a nice little hat (i.e. an undergarment). She's "........... Girl"!!! LOL it's hilarious to watch them make this movie! I must now address her as ........... Girl! I'm in stitches!! It's just simply hilarious! Her special signature phrase is "..........-rific"

Making the movie counts as "school" right? LOL We still have to do book work, but I don't want to drag them away from their creative process right now. So we'll just do some book work later today, perhaps after lunch! In the mean time they'll make their little move of superheros!

I'm sure books like Captain Underpants are some what to blame for this movie!

It's Monday! And we all of have one of those days!

If you are anything like me then you will enjoy this! Happy Monday!

Tip Of The Hat: Why Homeschool

Let's Have A Laugh!

The kids and I just got done watching the above video. They are now in the living room making their own sticky notes! LOL Web-princess told me she (the young lady in the above video) is a GENIUS!!! Which just made me laugh more! LOL


Update: Meet the new Superstar!

Update: Meet the new Web-princess!

Monkey See Monkey Do! LOL

Computer Programmer?

Do we have a computer programmer in the house? Superstar (who is not in the picture) is playing PS2. Web-Princess has made characters with paper, crayons, tape and pencils to "add" to the game.

Web-Princess is very proud of her "invention". When I went to take close up pictures of all 3 of her characters I got told "Take the picture of me. It's my invention".  So here is Web-Princess smiling face with one of her little characters!

I  instant message my husband this morning to tell him what the kids, especially Web-Princess, were up too! He told me I bet we could find a computer/game-programming class or program for them! I'm sure there is something in their age range out there.

Dear Readers,

Do any of you know of a programming program, book, how to, etc. that is geared to 7-10 year old?  If so I would greatly appreciate any input, recommendations, or suggestions. As you can see my daughter needs out of the stone age!!! She need the ability to make "real" programs. LOL

Actually, I'm impress with my daughters creativity and imagination. I really don't want to squash that!!! If you have suggestions on programming programs, classes, books, etc, PLEASE send them my way. In the mean time we will continue to use paper, crayons, boxes, and pencils.

Actually, knowing my kids they would still continue to do those things even if we did have something to teach them programming.

It's Lefty Day!

I saw this little tid-bit on Hilltop Farms and I just HAD to share! I HAD to share because I AM Lefty!!!

It's International Lefty Day!

Why is there International Lefty Day? Well Here are just a few of the reasons:

• To raise awareness of left-handedness and the challenges caused by living in such a right-handed world.
• Educate designers and manufacturers to accommodate left-handers’ comfort and safety in new product and building design
• and well just so we can unite! We must stand together!!! (cheesy smile)
  

There is so much I can do now without even thinking about it! However, I know many things like learning to write was a huge challenge and forget about trying to sharped a pencil at school. I remember being in 1st grade an loathing, hating needing to sharpen my pencil because well I couldn't get that darn pencil sharpener to work right!!