Sarah is 12!!

    For Sarah's 12th Birthday party she did a lot!! During the day of her party, Tom took just her to Six Flags early in the morning where they went on all the rides they could before they had to come home for the party planned at 8 pm.

    For the party, we had bonfire and a s'more's buffet. It was a fun easy birthday for a 12 year old girl who loves chocolate.

Here's Tom "toasting" the marshmallow on the s'more's cake. (This was super easy to make by the way, I'll have to make a post on our family recipe blog later on how to make it)

 Here's the cake on display outside:

Here's the buffet  table. We also hung little lanterns lights on the fence behind the table.

 Another view of the cake on the table:

 We had glow sticks and glow bracelets that the kids absolutely loved. Here's Kaitlyn preparing to get her "glow" on.

 Almost ready to blow out the candles. We had to use the "brownie" marshmallows to stick the candles in because they wouldn't go through the graham cracker on the top of the cake.

Blowing out the candles.

 And the next few pictures are terrible because we have an old camera and it was very dark, but you can see the lanterns on the fence, and the tiki torches, and various glowing things around the yard. The fire is in the middle, not really at "bonfire" state at the moment.

 The fire's a bit bigger here:

 The crowd of kids is around Sarah as she opens her presents.

 Again, you can't really tell, but you get the idea...

 And some of the glow adorned guests here...

 Sarah had a great time, and I think her friends did too.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!

Alan's 7th grade project

For Alan's 7th grade project he had to do a science project and create a powerpoint presentation for it. He had to demonstrate that he understood the Scientific Method. He did a lot of research, and was going to do something with an egg rotting.... not really sure what he had in mind there.... but anyway, ....he finally decided to make a fruit battery.  He's always been intrigued with robotics and electronics and things like that. (I'm not surprised, my Grandpa was an electrician, and maybe Alan will follow in his footsteps. I would love that.)
Here's a few pics from the project:

 

Here are the supplies; fruit, copper pennies, zinc washers (you can also use nails), alligator clips, wire, wire cutters, wire connectors (male only)and a multimeter to read the voltage produced

 Here he is preparing the wires.

 Now preparing the lemon to get the juices flowing.

 This is a single cell battery, or a voltaic battery, it produces about .9 volts of electricity.

 Here he is attaching multiple "batteries" and checking how much electricity they produce.

 And here is a tiny 3 volt LED light that he powered with fruit!!

 Here he is sharing his project:

Mother's Day!!

Tom was coaching the Army Paralympic team at the Wounded Warrior Games during the first two weeks of May, so he wasn't able to be here for Mother's Day. Knowing how much I love chocolate, he  sent me a box of Shari's Berries!! They were delicious!! And they were huge!! The picture really doesn't do them justice.

 

After church, the kids and I worked together on making a Mother's Day meal. I looked up some recipes that I thought they could make, and then we all got to work.  Alan made a cheesy potato casserole (because I love potatoes and cheese ),  William and Kaitlyn worked on the sides of vegetables and salad,  while Sarah made a triple berry crisp for dessert. It was all delicious!!

I loved the time working with my kids in the kitchen. They were all happy and we were all working together. With 4 kids it's a rare thing to have them all happy and working together.  Despite Tom being gone, it was one of the best Mother's Day's I've ever had. 

Sarah's mustache

Using some of the craft supplies in our classroom, Sarah was inspired to make this: