Volcano Part 2---The Eruption!!

On Friday the kids got to finish their volcanoes by adding baking soda, soap, and food coloring. They also got to touch up any "erosion" due to mixing the magma...lol. Mrs. Brown used the K.I.S.S method (Keep it Simple Stupid) to the volcanoes so the core of the volcano was a cup with the dirt and soil surrounding the cup on the outside. The baking Soda mixture was inside the cup and the cup can then be filled with Vinegar and flow out in LARGE volume. The kids were asked to make observations in their science notebooks on how the volcano looked before and after the eruptions. In total we had 5 different volcanoes with over 12 eruptions. The kids favorite was the "Ring of Fire" we did at the end where we placed all 5 in a large circle and poured tons of vinegar in each and let them go till the stopped.

Volcanoes..... Part 1

Kyle's teacher called me today and asked if I could bring in some potting soil for the volcanoes the class was going to make today. So off to Walmart I went to buy soil (I was nice and got the one with no manure) then to the school to drop it off. I decided to stay and help Mrs. Browne with the construction process since I knew it was bound to get messy. Boy was I right! The AZ clay dirt was real messy when it got wet and then they had to top all of the clay dirt with potting soil and rocks. Since Kyle is in pictures with his classmates I had to blot out faces. Tomorrow is the Big Eruption and I will be there to help out the teacher again and snap more picture. Plus it is a triple whammy for me the pictures count for my personal use, my blog picture of the day, and school yearbook.

A Painting Project

If you have been to my house you might have noticed a "test patch" behind the bathroom door downstairs. I had bought a oops paint in green that I thought would look great on the walls with a brown trim. What started out as a great idea looked puke green on my wall. So it stayed that way for about 6 months. While out shopping for the holidays I happened across another oops paint I liked this time in robins egg blue type color (no idea the real name). I figured it would still work with the brown trim so I brought it home and it has sat in the garage for about 1 month now. So today I said today is the day I am going to paint. I broke out all the tools I would need including the diet coke (gotta stay hydrated) and set to work. OK let me be the 1st to say that I DISLIKE white walls, I am TIRED of white walls, I no longer want white walls in my house. What I found out today that I had previously forgot is that I DISLIKE painting. I also picked the bathroom of all places to paint...you know with toliets, showers, towel bars and light fixtures. I got a little bit done (I think it is a lot but then I think of all that really needs to be done) and I pull a muscle in my back. So painting is done for the day...and since Mark will not swoop in to my rescue and finish my job for me, something about a hurt rib, I guess this job will have to wait till I am up to feeling I want to paint again. Unless someone wants to volunteer to finish it for me....hint hint....Anyone? O'well! Here are picures of what I have so far.Here is an idea of what it should look like with the Brown against Blue. When it is all done I get to shop for accesories...wohoo!

Bargain Queen

Since I did not get picture of any of us in the family today I figured I would take a picture of all the things I bought today once Mark and the kids got home. My best deals were at JC Penny's where I picked up -- 2 Gingerbread House kits, 2 water bottles, 2 gift trees, and 4 fuzzy socks. All for the total of $21.88 and a savings of $141.64

At Target I bought a few necessities and a few clothing items for the boys. And Oh My! I even bought a few items that were not on clearance. The boys got a Wii game (cannot open it till valentines day), 2 pairs of Jeans for Bryce, 1 pair of slacks for Kyle, 1 Purple Polo for school, a scetch pad for Kyle for art class, a NICE pair of tweezers for me (the kind that actually work), plus a calendar for me since I have not bought one yet. Grand total of $45.59 (which is a bit pricey but all in all a lot of the things were on clearance for atleast 50 % off.

The Great Robot Build

Mark received this as a gift from his sister and the boys could not wait to build it. So after a few weeks of sitting on our kitchen table I decided tonight was the night (plus I needed pictures for today). So all 3 guys sat around the edge of the table with the tiny screwdriver, all the parts, and 2 AAA batteries.
The end result was a very small brush robot who spun in circles!!! Yep Circles. No matter how hard we tried to follow the directions to get it to go forward or reverse it would go in circles. But the boys love it!!

A Little GUY time.

Mark bought himself an airsoft Pellet gun with a GC he got from his sister for his Birthday. He picked it out right before Christmas so it was easy to figure out what to get him for the holiday. He received a couple of targets, more pellets, a new Pistol, and of course goggles. The boys love to shoot at cans, targets and blocks of wood right in our own backyard. With the holidays we have not had much time to go outside and play with all the new things so when the boys asked we said Sure. Here are shots of all the boys outside having GUY TIME.



P.S. Here is a picture of one of our dogs (Chewbacca) sitting atop our 5 1/2 ft wall. He would sit atop the 6 ft wall also if he was not chained. He really just sits on top of the bricks

Just a typical Saturday.

We went to visit my mom this afternoon to go install a new garbage disposal. Since Mark hurt his rib we made sure Jerry was around to help him do the twisting and climbing under the sink things. After only 1 trip to the hardware store for a new pipe they had the disposal installed pretty quickly. The boys played games while the men worked and I took photos and played on my FB page. We all hung out for a bit till it was time to run errands and then we went out to eat. We had dinner at Bostons and the kids got to enjoy a nice cheesecake eggroll type thing. Very MMMMMMM according to the boys. I know that all these pictures and descriptions of our typical Saturday may seem a bit strang, but really a day with the family shopping, playing, eating and hanging out really cannot get more typical.

p.s. Kyle took the picture of Mark and I in the restraunt. Bryce took one too but Mark was talking at the time and he had this strange look on his face so we deleted that picture...lol