Building Olympus Mons

Bubby finished up his study of Mars last week with a project. He was anticipating building his Olympus Mons model for DAYS.

A Salt Dough model, some baking soda, dish soap, vinegar and red food coloring and here we have it:

   

 

 

He decided towards the end that the lava wasn't red enough. He added some more food coloring and here is what he got:

 

Quite honestly, it looked a bit like a crime scene by the end. =)

His review: "That was the most funnest thing I ever did in all of my life!" Yep .... off to work on grammar! =)

Bubby and Random Math

Bubby often tells us some random math fact .... like while driving in the car he'll say, "Hey Mom, did you know if you add those 2 signs together you get 42?", or something like that.

Today, it went like this:

"Hey Mom, did you know our family is 93?"

I'm thinking ..... er, how is our family 93? I couldn't figure out where he was coming from. I think he could tell by my speechlessness I wasn't going to get it.

"Yeah Mom,see:
Daddy __
+ Mommy __
+ Fancy 12
+ Me 9

= 93

Yeah .... makes perfect sense.

This boys mind works in the strangest way. =)

A Bit of Paint Can Make it All Better

With Bubby, any amount of writing is just plain TOO MUCH. It is really the only battle we have. He hates to have to pick up a pencil. Period.

Why this never came to me sooner, I don't know, but I have recently started letting him paint some of his assignments. Yep ..... anything. He even has painted his math facts a time or two.

Today, he needed to make the title page for his chapter on Mars in his Science notebook.  After a long morning of copywork, language arts worksheets, and math work, I knew I might be in for a meltdown. I decided to be proactive. I pulled out the paints and the science notebook and he happily worked away.

I wish I would have thought of this A LOT sooner. =)

Random January Happenings

Making "Fossils"

 

 

 

 

Icicles (I use the term loosely .... but they WERE frozen)

Fingers Crossed ..... Hoping I Win This Adorable Tote

Click here for YOUR chance to win: A Flower for You

Summing Up December

December was SO busy for us (as it was for all of you, I'm sure). We had birthdays, a new pet, stomach viruses, the start of a basketball season (for Bubby) and of course, Christmas ..... the list seemed endless.

I am enjoying this weekend of recovering and preparing for a new year.

Here are some pictures summing up our last month.

Bubby turned nine. We celebrated with a small party at the skating rink. His present from us was a basketball goal. It did get set up but I have yet to take a picture of it that way.

He was glad his buddy WHK could be one of the friends who came to help him celebrate with some skating fun. Thanks WHK!

           

Bubby also renewed his love for building forts in my living room. It makes for quite a mess but he has so much fun with a few chairs, a couple of blankets and a flashlight.

   

We loved getting all your precious cards this year. We decided to display them like this:

                               

We kept up our Advent Wreath and Jesse Tree activities quite well although I didn't take any more pictures. Other than the fact that Jenni thought the wreath was supposed to be her bed and the Jesse Tree was supposed to be her play toy, it went really well. Those nightly readings by candlelight were very meaningful to us all. I am looking forward to continuing that tradition.

Well, I guess that brings us up to Christmas. We had all the family over on Christmas Eve for dinner, presents and fun. Here are some pics:

Fancy taught "GaGa" (The Husband's Mom) how to do the Cha Cha Slide:

                       

There were cousin pillow wars .... and at this point, let the record show that my son WAS wearing more than a WHITE T-shirt at ONE point:

Silly cousins:

My houseful enjoying some yummy fajitas:

                              

My Mom and Brother:

                           

My Mom, Sister and Niece:                                                                        

The kids got money from a lot of family. At their age, I guess it is easier to let them pick out gifts themselves. Now I get to take them shopping. Thanks A LOT!! hehe

GaGa thought it would be fun to give the kids a sum of money in ALL ONES. The kids thought it was great to show off their WADS of cash.

At the end of the evening, Bubby decided to have a drum tutorial for the littler kids. It was a BIG HIT (Pun INTENDED).

The next day, we had a nice Christmas morning of breakfast (provided by GaGa - THANK YOU!) and presents with just the four of us IN OUR JAMMIES (as it should be).

Here are a couple of pics of the kids with gifts:

(Fancy's big gift was in the form of a letter telling her of the upgrades to her cell phone usage .... quite a happy girl! .... and for Bubby .... it's all about the Legos people!)

We got them the game "Yahtzee Free For All" and we had TONS of fun playing it. We have played MANY rounds over the last few days. Here is a pic with NO FACES. Not one of us was photo worthy at this point of the morning! =)

                              

There has also been MUCH enjoyment from playing Rock Band on the Playstation. I haven't gotten in on it YET but plan on having a blast with the lead singer role. =)

         

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and I hope the New Year brings many blessings!

BFFs