Saturday, January 23, 2010
Apples to apples
My sister-in-law, Bethany, gave me this awesome idea for a Family Night. We had an apple tasting event. We put 7 apples on numbered plates and put the little sticker (the one that comes on the apple) underneath the plate. Each person had to eat a piece of the apple and rate it, not knowing what type of apple they were eating. Then they posted their "ratings" on a posterboard. Then we had the boys average the score to see which apples got the highest marks. We then talked about which apples did we THINK we'd like and which ones did we ACTUALLY like. Kevin did an awesome job of relating that to people- sometimes we judge a book by its cover and don't open it up. Sometimes we don't a food because of the way it looks. Sometimes we look at a person and think we wouldn't like them but they have the potential to become our best friends! Thanks, B, for an awesome activity!
Unfortunately...
Unfortunately for Dad, this was sort of the universal reaction at the dinner table!
Chicken
Dad brought home a plastic chicken from a business trip as a surprise. Why would he bring home a plastic chicken you might ask? So that his kids could think of 101 uses for a plastic chicken. Some of them are: to learn "chickenese", to do gravity checks, and to target practice with your Nerf gun.
Decorating
Marissa was feeling a little neglected in school and decided to create her own form of entertainment in the classroom closet. This is the decorative design she decided on. What you can't see are all the pictures she drew and tucked inside the chains.
Icicles
Garett hid a giant icicle in a mini igloo he made. He ran out on a warm day to check to see if it had melted. Warm here means like 30 degrees. No, my dear son, it has not melted!!!
Train
Although we tried to duplicate the train Garett had seen in an ad from Bed, Bath & Beyond, when we made our homemade gingerbread houses we didn't quite get it the way Garett wanted. When we had a few extra minutes last week, we ran to the store to see if they had any clearanced by chance. Miraculously, they had ONE left- reduced to $1.99 (had been 19.99). Can you believe it? So, we had ANOTHER gingerbread train making party at home. Garett was thoroughly 
pleased!
pleased!
Monday, January 11, 2010
Silenced
Garett found out what Tate was getting for his birthday. This is what Dad did to Garett to ensure he didn't tell Tate. 
Sunday, January 03, 2010
Food Service Worker
Marissa has been into wearing a shower cap when she eats or prepares food. I have only caught it on camera a few times, but it is hilarious walking into my kitchen and seeing a"hair net" on my 6 year old!
Cow
Tate got a cow's eye to dissect. It sat in the fridge for a few days until I could actually bring myself to do it with him. It was really not as bad as I thought it would be. I couldn't do any of the carving, but he did and he loved it and he was pretty good at it. It did not bother him a single bit! We learned very basic things- his favorite part was extracting the lens and actually seeing how it magnified words if he ran it over a page of writing. Isn't that cool? Marissa and Garett tried to help- but they could only take a few minutes of it. You can see from their expressions that it did not meet their level of comfort.
Rock
A celebratory lunch the kids whipped up for us with banners and balloons. Our kids made this fabulous lunch of grilled cheese and green beans and water all on their own. Kevin and I were hanging a chandelier so we sort of were watching to make sure they didn't burn themselves- but they did all the cooking and decorating themselves! I am keeping the "M and D rock" picture for when they are 17 and Mom and Dad may be a little less popular.
