Density

We started learning about density back when we were studying rainbows.  (Which you can find here, and was super fun.)

Now we're into the weather cycle.  We're learning that when the clouds become so heavy or dense it begins to rain.  Here's a fun example of density.

Pictures are from the second time through.  We started with clear water.

Fill a cup a little more then half way through with water.  Add oil until you have about a 1/3 of an inch sitting on top of the oil.

Add one drop of food coloring.  It will fall through the oil sitting between the oil and water.

Add a pinch of salt and watch the food coloring fall to the bottom of the cup.  the very first time through it fell in a straight line exploding on the bottom...The salt making the food coloring the heaviest causing it to fall through the water instead of simply mixing into the water.

But when you dump a spoonful of salt onto that drop of food coloring...

It takes not only the food coloring...

But forces the oil down as well.

And then we get to watch the oil float back to the top.

The boys loved it, we did it about four times.  Up next making it rain...We hope.

Day 100

Today we celebrated our 100th day of school.  I think this is the first time we've all four done school together.  It was a day of celebration, starting with a big breakfast and ending with our favorite take out from Angelo's and a lot of counting in between.

The boys each had a large bowl filled with 100 pieces of food for snack, but before they could eat it they had to sort and count it.

Then we decorate tee shirts using 10 colors to fill the gumball machine with 100 pieces of gum.

I think the part of today that we all enjoyed the most was using 100 cups to create with.

First we divided the cups up and we each created our own buildings to make a cup city, and then we connected them all together.

We counted by 5s, 10's and divided them in the stacks of 25.

Then we built a tower taller then Man of the woods.

With the extras we built walls around Laughter....And of course in boy fashion the towers were destroyed.

They're already talking about what kind of things we'll do next year on the 100th day of school.

The first of many.

This 6 almost 7 year old boy lost his first tooth.

About half way through breakfast he noticed that his mouth was bleeding.  He tried and tried to pull that tooth out but it wouldn't come.

Then we had a date just the two of us and when he was eating his snack it began to bleed again.  Just after dinner he asked me to pull it out.  His initial reaction was, "Did you do it? Did it come out?"

A moment that needs to be remembered.

Clouds in a jar.

Since before Strong man and I were married we have agreed we would home school our children.  Way back then we thought that meant from start to finish.  How hard could it really be? Now that we're older and know our kids we've decided to take it year by year.  Last year we sent Man of the woods to school for kindergarten and thought we would do the same for Laughter.  Turns out even that plan changed and both are home being taught by us.  Well, mostly Strong man.

Making the sun out of paper meche, mixing primary colors to paint with.

The plan has always been that we teach together, but I would be the primary teacher.  That is up until last July when I took a full time job, 48 hours of weekly work to be exact.  While I love my job, honestly it's really hard to leave everyday seeing the boys sit around the table doing there school work with Strong man.  For so many reasons it's good that he does the bulk of the teaching.  I've always said he's the better parent.  I think that because he has far more patience then I do.  But still it's very hard to watch life play out differently from my dreams.`

Turning the dining room into a weather system to show the water cycle.  Our pond in the right hand corner, with water evaporating.  Today we made clouds.

Tuesdays are my one day a week that I get to be teacher while Strong man heads off to work.  Since it started off as an art class I don't use any curriculum I take the questions they had last week and turn it into this weeks lesson while throwing in a few things they forget are part of school, such as writing, vocabulary, and spelling.

Today for science we put hot water into a jar with ice sitting on the lid at the top.  We let it sit for a few seconds then we lit a match and threw it in the jar replacing the lid.

We tried this more then once and found that if we added food coloring to darken the water then the contrast made the cloud easier to see.

A cloud began to form moving in a circular direction.  After a minute or so we took the lid off and watched it escape the jar.

Next week we make rain.

Skittle rainbows

Now that work has slowed down some and we're finally getting a rhythm every Tuesday I get to teach the boys. While Strong man puts all the hard work in giving spelling tests, teaching history, and the other day to day kind of school things, I've been able to do some art and science with the boys.  Actually, I'm teaching them science through art.  I love hands on learning.  Its how I learn and how I have always taught others, and now that includes my children.  I have always felt if one knows the "hows" and "whys" of a concept then it will be there's forever.

We started with the color wheel, about primary and secondary colors.

Piece done by Man of the Woods.

Which of course led to rainbows and light waves.

Laughter's master piece.

Rainbows and light waves have lead us to density and the water cycle.

Today we made rainbows out of dissolved skittles.

In each cup we had 2 TBS of water and then added the skittles in this way:
Cup 1 - 10 purple skittles.
Cup 2 - 8 green skittles.
Cup 3 - 6 yellow skittles.
Cup 4 - 4 orange skittles.
Cup 5 - 2 red skittles.

This is not an instant gratification project as it takes about 3 hours for the skittles to dissolve, but the anticipation was half the fun.

Once they dissolved we put the purple in an empty glass first then with a medicine dropper add each color after that, putting the denser colors in first so each color would sit on the other.

And so we got to learn about density through rainbows and skittles.  

For cold winter days.

When life is good, but the cold runs deep, through your bones and straight to your heart.
When there's been plenty of rest to be had, but your eyes still beg for more.
This is choosing to see...

281.  Little boys playing in the snow.  Watching them "swim" through the snow from the kitchen window.
282.  Snow days, when even I don't have to go to work.
283.  Driving through blizzards just Man of the woods and I (shoveling snow together just to get in the store)...
284.  ...And getting stuck in a parking lot together...
285.  ...but while I clean of the windshield little mans prays for help.  We drive safely home.

286.  Power outages that last 5 days.
287.  Reading books by flash light, playing cribbage with friends.

288.  Finding summer time "treasures" hidden away.

289.  The rest a crackling fire brings, and the peace of falling snow.

290.  Family game night while sipping hot tea.
291.  Boys who have finally out grown "Memory" and find joy in games that are a bit more challenging.
292.  Friends over for game nights, full of laughter.

293.  A warm house to live in, a gift we have not forgotten.
294. Reliable cars to drive.

295.  The ideas that come to life when cooped up inside for weeks at a time.

You can't see the giraffe band aid, but it's up on his arm so that the tiger band aid can't eat the giraffe...There were tears and rashes when these little suckers came off...

296.  Hours spent together playing with Legos as a family.  Robots built, tree houses made, and battles had.
297.  Lunch out just to get out of the house, and a little old lady who enjoy watching us so much she paid our bill.
298.  Small boy hands held to keep warm.

299.  Slow days at work to catch up on the small stuff.
300.  Hours spent with my boss learning the fine details.
301.  Asking the same question a hundred ways and answered with lots of patience until I finally get it.
302.  My guys who pop in with a soda to help get me through the long days.
303.  A staff who value the store as much as I do to work beside.
304.  Coffee dates on the phone with housemates who live in the next town over.
305.  The quiet tick of the clock.

306.  Tuesday school with my boys before I head of to work, my only day really.
307.  The science of color.
308.  Sitting on the couch listening to them read books to me.
309.  Babies who are becoming educated boys.
310.  People who ask to babysit my boys, because they are so much fun to be with.
311.  A hubby who teaches them to be good men.
312.  The golden tree tops as the set sun crowns them with its glory.
314.  Full moon traveling home with me.

2014 - A change of seasons

2014 started out looking like it would be the year without change.  I kind of liked that idea.  My husband and I tend to be trail blazers always changing never holding onto anything for too long, but this year that's all I wanted to simply be enjoying my family, my friends, and my happy little job.

5 boys, 1 baby girl, 2 sets of parents.

My youngest was at the best age ever; 4.  Old enough to do pretty much anything, but young enough to live care free.  My oldest was in kindergarten changing right before my eyes.  He was for the first time ever able to correctly pronounce every sound in the English language.  He's a bit tongue tied so it took him longer then most kids, but as we entered 2014 he was doing it.  Our best friends lived with us and I had a job that let me step away from life and serve people just down the road, I called it my happy little world of Broadway.  There I only had to think about refilling drinks and teaching others to do it as well.

Do to what I now understand was a failed communication, I left my job.  Shortly there after side swiped when my grandmother passed.  It's the way of life for Grandparents to go before the grandchildren, but it seemed so quick.  Laughter went to her funeral wearing a sling.  He fell off the bed breaking his collar bone.  Two weeks after his sling came off, his brother broke his arm jumping off of a swing.

Not long after I got a text and then a call wondering if I wanted to run my own store.  If I wanted to take my happy little world of Broadway down the road and run it the way I wanted too.  Strong man and I said yes.  Life began to fly by, I worked insane hours working hard to learn my role as RGM and worked hard at keeping up with one of the busiest months.  I began mourning the loss of what I knew of motherhood, fishing trips, doctors appointments, reading and writing together, holding the boys close when they were sick, doing special projects together on rainy days, even the mundane of the day in and day out constantly going over the same things with the boys.

Days before Strong man's 33rd birthday we sat in the ER wondering just how serious his sickness was.  As we waited we imagined what life would be like without each other, thankful for all that we had.

I'm still not sure what 2014 truly was all about.
Maybe it was simply a reminder that life never stands still that you have to fight to savor it.
Maybe it was a reminder to fight for the relationships close to you.
Maybe it was to show me how fragile life really is, to value what is most important in it.
Maybe it was a warning of the changes to come.
Maybe it's a little of all the above.

This year will stand out above most others,   No matter what it was about I hope that as I enter 2015 I can discern what needs to be a priority and what I should let go of, that I can focus on the most important aspects and move quickly past the insignificant things.

With all my heart I have sought You; 

Do not let me wander from Your commandments.

~ King David