The Travel Game

We checked out The Travel Game from the library before our big trip and read through it in the car (actually we were reading it about the same time we drove by Buffalo where the story takes place. In the book, the kid plays a game with his aunt that involves spinning the globe and then making up stories about where they land using a big book about the world. So on our last library trip we got a big book on the world (called acutally The Travel Book) and gave it a try tonight. We actually don't have a globe so we spun the virtual globe of Google Earth. We landed in Minsk and all learned a bit about Belarus. Actually Google Maps is linked to pictures from Flickr and it was great to see pictures people had taken. This actually led to a discussion on communism as the town center has a building with a hammer and sickle. We also learned that mushrooms are a favorite food and listened to a Belarus folksong via youtube. I love technology! I wonder where we'll land next time.

 
 

Master 0 wasn't quite as interested and quickly crawled off to investigate the kitchen cabinets without any of those pesky interferences his parents are always providing. If only the dishwasher had been open - that's why we call him the danger mouse!
 
 

Party for Mr. 4

Although Mr. 6's birthday comes first, this year we celebrated Mr. 4's first. It's good to take turns so everyone feels extra special. And Mr. 4 has needed to feel a bit extra special recently (4 turns out to be a hard age for our boys). So today was his special day and he was thrilled. When guests started arriving he told everyone "the party will start in one minute - when the birthday boy is ready".

We built gooball structures with toothpicks and gumballs, played a wonderful game of Isaac Jeopardy (Isaac chose the categories - Sea Animals, Books, Robots, Isaac, and Cells), ate pizza and cupcakes, had a book swap, and generally enjoyed spending time with good friends.


The structure actually started to collapse soon after the party started - the 4th layer was a bit of a mistake. We repaired and quickly sang before it fully collapsed. BBQ skewers and cupcakes are a tricky combination.


Babies love parties too!





Building structures


Isaac Jeoparday - Mr. 4 did a great job as host - everyone got a turn to guess. In the end we scored 5800 points. Good job everyone!



We are lucky to have such wonderful friends to travel life with - it's a tricky thing raising kids. These friends have been here for us more times than I can count - watching kids, lending a hand (or eggs or oatmeal), lending clothes, listening sympathetically, giving advice, and always ready to spend an evening together enjoying the company where the kids outnumber the grown-ups. Thanks to these people we've made it through another year - thankful that we're not traveling alone.

Around the house

Reading books together


Wrestling with the daddy


Always ready for a baby kiss - slobbery goodness!

Got paper...

Then Mr. 7 needs to draw something - notes for a symphony he's writing, a sign for his store, math problems, a graph, cells, programming plans. He always has something on his mind. The question is - what do you do with all these masterpieces because he generates a rather impressive collection.

The Climbing Wall

 
 
 
 

For their birthdays, Mr. 4 and Mr. 6 got a trampoline (a mini one for getting winter energy out - so far they just end up more wound up) and a climbing wall. The Dad was very excited about building the climbing wall and did so on Friday and Saturday with intermittent help from the boys. Master 0 really wanted to help but I think walking is a key skill before you get to use tools. It was a great hit at Mr. 4's party today!

Happy Birthday Mr. 7

On Friday, Mr. 6 became Mr. 7. He was up at 5:30am - too excited to sleep anymore. He had been praying all week that he would get to be second-in-command on his birthday - a distinction of honor in his first grade class. What was most exciting is that he didn't just pray that he would get it - he prayed that he would be honor-worthy and that he would do the things he knows he has trouble with - raising his hand to be called on, following directions quickly the first time, not joking too much with his good friend O when he should be listening. It was wonerful to hear him really thinking about what he needed to do and praying for those things.

When I picked up Mr. 6 on Thursday, Mrs. T came to tell me what a great day he'd had. Especially noteworthy was that his friend N had tried to help him but really just came and talked to him, telling him what to do while Mr. 6 was trying to get ready. Afterwards he went to N and told him that he knew he was trying to help but it's very hard for him to concentrate when someone is just talking to him. He told N that the best way to help him was by using actions not just talking at him. Insightful and reflective from a kid who has the tendency to get impulsive and angry when he gets frustrated.

So he woke up at 5:30 to start his day as Mr. 7. And not only was he second-in-command but his class had filled their bead jar and so got to have a party. Through democratic vote they had chosen a movie (Ice Age), a snack (chips - 3 kinds), and a drink (hot chocolate). And since it was a party day they could wear their pajamas to school rather than their uniforms. And Dad was going to come with cupcakes and to read a special book (The Phantom Tollbooth - the chapter about Dr. Dischord and the awful DYNNE). A rather impressive collection of fun things to help him celebrate. And we're told that even with all this specialness he had a great listening day. He really has grown up so much!





It's hard to believe we have a 7 year old - Happy Birthday Mr. 7!

Snap Circuits

 

We have probably mentioned our love of snap circuits but if not, they are wonderful. Build your own circuits with sturdy plastic snap together pieces. Mr. 6 got his first set for his 5th birthday and added on at birthdays and Christmas and now has most of the sets. When he got the first set, Mr. 4 was only just barely Mr. 3 and a bit young so we told him that these were 5 year old toys and it just stuck. Now that he's older he can play with them but we ask that he do it with Mr. 6's help or other grown-up or just play with the blue connecting pieces. Therefore he is thrilled that at his upcoming birthday he'll get his own snap circuits. We weren't actually planning on buying more (they actually very well-made and we've only broken one or two despite the occasional building of spaceships out of them (a use I try to discourage - we do own 3 billion legos as well as a bin of parts to build your own spaceship) but Mr. 4 believes this is a rite of passage. And you can never have too many resistors and switches.

Baby food

 

Master 0 hates to be fed - he prefers to do it himself so we typically let him eat whatever we're having. Today's pasta with bolognese sauce was definitely a hit although I can't say he's too picky. As long as he can do it, he'll eat it!

Godzilla baby

No tower is safe.

Experiments

Today I judged at a middle school science fair - all the 8th graders are required to put together a science fair project using the scientific method and I was most struck by the incredible difference between the best and the worst presenters I judged. Some of the kids had obviously put thought and effort into their projects and some kids just barely showed up. Note it is not okay to tell the judge that you had forgotten about it until Saturday. And if your teacher spends the time to edit our research report, please make the changes and print out a new copy. In the middle of the pack were the students who had tried but I'm not sure really understand what it means to make a hypothesis and test it. For example, one of the girls wanted to test which candy dissolved the fastest - skittles, M&Ms, or lifesavers. A good start. So she put the skittles in sprite, the M&Ms in gatorade, and the lifesavers in water. She recorded the times and carefully graphed the results. I tried to gently explain the concept of a control and that really it's best only to change one variable at a time but it didn't seem to be sinking in. A select group of kids actually get matched up with a mentor at MGH and are able to do their experiment in a lab there. These kids had experiements like "How does acid range change soil?" and "How do you determine the density of carbon dioxide?" Really a different league. One of the girls looked me straight in the, introduced herself, shook my hand and launched in to a detailed explanation of her project. I was impressed. One of the boys forgot to bring his results so his poster was blank in the middle and he couldn't remember the specifics enough to tell me what the final conclusion was. I was not so impressed.

In the car on the way home I started explaining to the boys the basics of the scientific method. Start by asking a question, then make a hypothesis. "What's a hypothesis?" asked Mr. 4. "It's a guess." Mr. 6 jumped in before I could answer. I guess they'd already talked a bit about it in science - have I mentioned how much I love our school? We talked a bit about controls (I am determined that my kids will not undertake about candy experiment) and then the boys excitedly planned their own experiment. Mr. 4 wanted to see if salt made ice dissolve faster - seriously, I did not suggest this. Mr. 6 decided they should try other things to so the experiement became which of salt, sugar, and soap makes ice dissolve faster. They decided to use plain ice as a control (hurray, I'm not talking to myself after all). Their hypothesis was that salt would be the fastest. We came how and set it up.

It took a while but sure enough salt was the clear winner. Adding soap actually means the ice dissolves slower than plain ice which was a bit surprising to me but makes sense. How can you not love science?

Sleeping baby