Syd the science kid

I love my daughter and I am glad she loves science, but I am a little tired of her experiments all over the house. I thought we were going to have to declare her room a bio hazard there were so many things growing in there.

I don't often make it to the kitchen anymore, but I would love a few less surprise experiments on the shelves and in the cupboards. The other day it was a vase with vinegar and god knows what and blue food coloring with an egg in it (this eventually dissolves the egg shell and make the egg itself basically a bouncy ball). Then there is the ink pigmentation separation that had layers of coffee filters stacked everywhere.

Tonight's edition of what is Syd the science kid up to involves pulling open my freezer and seeing a carton of eggs, before I could help myself out of my mouth came "Why are there eggs in the freezer?" To which Sydney replied "Oh they aren't really eggs just the shells, by freezing them with......" after that I looked at Travis and shook my head to which he just smiled, apparently he had the same conversation earlier.

You think we would learn! :-)

Last Year - 2/23/2012

Nothing is better than a cookie with frosting for aking 2 year olds happy and picture perfect. ;-)

Last Year - 02/19/2012

There is a determination that runs in our family (mostly on my side - okay mostly from me) that Sydney has inherited. What 10 year old little girl gets it into her head that she is going to help daddy with his bow making work by splitting an over 6 foot long fairly round yew wood stave. She had watched daddy do it enough times she knew what she was supposed to do. To be honest I didn't think she would last very long. What she was doing was hard work and even tires out in shape adults. This would be where that stubborn determination comes in. She was out there for hours, at times it looked like she wasn't going to be able to pick up the hammer her little arms were so tired, but she persevered and split that dumb thing.  Way to go girl!!!!! (Of course I wish she hadn't done it in her school cloths, but oh well.) And for you doubters, here is your photographic evidence.

What we are reading today- The underpants Zoo

The scholastic school fair was this week. I got a book for Aric that I am regretting terribly. I thought it would be funny, but the humor has gone from it now the umpteenth time I have heard "UNDERPANTS!!!" yelled at me as another weird picture is shoved in my face.  It is a cute book for the boys age though, but I am terribly afraid I may see a bunch of underpants in my dreams tonight.

Last Year - 2/17/12

"I never saw blue like that before, across the sky, around the world. You've given me all you have and more, and no-one else has ever shown me how, to see the world the way I see it now. Oh I, I never saw blue like that before. And it feels likes now, and it feels always, and it feels like coming home." Never saw blue like that by Shawn Colvin.

This has always been a favorite song of mine. I thought I knew exactly what it meant the first time I really looked into Travis' eyes. Such a different shade of blue and such a brighter better outlook on life.

Three children later and a quick snap of to cold little boys wrapped up in a blue blanket after crawling out of their bath and my heart and mind went right back to that Shawn Colvin song. Their eye's haven't been enhanced with photo shop, the blue black just happens to be just the right shade to make them pop and everything that song meant to me changed. Seeing life through Travis' eyes was amazing, and I had never seen blue like it, but seeing their blue eyes looking up at me in this picture I can honestly say I never saw blue like that before...and it absolutely feels like home.

Last Year - 2/15/12

Growing up living in Joseph, Oregon February meant a few things mostly cold walks to school and alot of snow and all things that come with it. And I am not talking about a skiff of snow here or there but SNOW, the kind you had to take turns being the lead person because they were the trail breaker and therefore got worn out, that snowball fights never ran out of ammunition, you could invent entire families of snowmen, and sledding/snowmobiling was a part of every weekend.

I have adjusted to many things living in Walla Walla, but the lack of snow is the hardest for me. Apparently February here means spring has begun, 50 degree days aren't unheard of, and everything is starting to grow. It might seems silly to those of you who didn't grow up with a love of snow, but I miss it terribly. My kids however think it's awesome, these were taken last year on a very warm February day (those 4 words together still blow my mind) but nevertheless you can see the lack of snow isn't bothering them at all as they race around our back yard playing with Jake (my mother and father-in-laws dog). Hope you enjoy.

Syd the science kid/Realy?

Okay this happened today, and I couldn't pass up sharing.  A few days ago I saw this beautiful geode and saved the picture to show Sydney as she is a geode freak. I find eggshells everywhere as she is experimenting on growing her own. So today I showed her the picture.

Okay in the picture I showed her it still had the label right below the picture that read "Ethiopian opal geode", I even pointed it out to her as I read it aloud. She was in awe, oh my gosh, that is awesome etc. then came the question that made me stop and look at her and say REALLY?!?! I mean she is so smart and very rarely shows her blonde side, but here it came when so excited she asked "Where can you find those?"
Wow, really?

Last Year - April 2, 2012 The treasure hunt

Okay this is one of my favorites from last year. The pictures are not all that great but the story is to good to pass up. Last April my parents went to the coast, in the spirit of the piratitude that my family adores (my daughter has a pirate flag on her wall and several pirate chests she hides things in in her room) they bought some Spanish doubloons (tourist fake ones obviously not that the kids care or know) for them. However, in the dramatic flare that follows our family through life, instead of just giving the kids each their doubloons, dad bought a small treasure chest as well and filled it with the "treasure".

My mom and I distracted the kids when my parents came home and dad made the pass off to Travis who promptly took it out side to our unplanted garden and buried it in what was supposed to be a shallow hole (more on that later) placing to large wooden staves from his bow making supply in a large X on top of the buried treasure. After discovering the X the hunt began.

After they moved the X, they used their hands to clear away the debris that was on top of the dirt.

Next came the shovels, each of the boys took turns using the shovels to dig on their expedition. (Sydney was playing the big sister and letting the boys have fun as she video taped the whole thing.) 

 

Suddenly realizing that something is wrong and this is taking forever Travis decides he better help out in the digging before everyone freezes. (Notice the hole isn't just getting deeper but wider as well.)

 

Alright now Sydney, the expert in piratitude, is called in and the little hole has grown substantially. It has now become a full scale operation.

 

Last come my favorite picture, it's the moment when Travis realizes he has no freaking idea where he buried the treasure that was supposed to have been found in a matter of minutes and is now running on an hour. Some time later the boys got bored and cold and soon Travis and my dad were digging large wholes all over our garden looking for the stupid thing. It took sometime and a few beers, but eventually it was found. Of course by then it had become a mission for fun, but it did help get a huge section of my garden tilled up and makes for a good laugh now.

Last Year - January 28, 2012

Travis was manning the camera when he captured one of our favorite pictures of the boys.  You can't see their little faces, but you can see the bond they share just by looking at them. I really can't explain it any better than that. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and Travis and I think this one is worth so much more.

The last year

So I haven't been here in a while because I have been crocheting my fingers off (okay I still have my fingers but I have been crocheting alot!!!) and that has left little to know time for anything else. I have been looking through pictures from the last year in my spare time.  Since we have been leading a pretty solitary life I thought as I go through them I would post some of the pictures of the kids up here so you can watch them play there way through the year.

Last January we went on an adventure up Mill Creek with our kids and my nephew Ezra, had a fire, roasted hot dogs and marshmellows over a fire, threw rocks in the river, and in general just had fun as we froze our butts off.

Hope you all enjoyed these, and could see how much fun the kids had, even though all of their noses are red.