Engineering a Scout Meeting

One of the requirements for the Webelos Scouts is to build a model of a bridge.  This is what Mark came up with to do with his den:

The problem: The bridge isn't strong enough to keep the car from getting eaten by the dinosaur!

Review some knots: taut line

Suspend the bridge

It works!

Now, the ultimate test.  It survived playtime with Daniel and Fiona, can it survive Mark's Cub Scout den???

Oh yes.  These are the kinds of activities Mark's boys thrive on.  But next time Mark needs to check his boxes before he leave so he knows that Daniel hasn't pilfered through beforehand.  Yes, Mark was short a few materials, but he was able to scrounge up replacements at the church.

February Sun

Days like today cannot be wasted!

Ling Ling wishes she could walk around with us.

Looking at amazing discoveries (snail or slug eggs)!

Jack was hilarious with this paint tray.  He would chomp on the edge and run wildly...and blindly around!

Mark saw us having fun and took a short "coffee break."

Daniel throws "ice ceem" cones into the pond (fir cones).

Checking the trail around the pond.

The bridge to Jungle Pungle Island

Oooo...chilly bare baby feet!

It's almost spring!!!

Puke free for 18 hours!

Mon Petit Chou et Choux de Bruxelles

Climbing barefoot...again!

Poor Baby

Various viruses are making their way through our family.  Daniel seems to be hit the hardest.  As a person who has a hard time relinquishing control, he really struggles with a stomach bug.  His body rebels and there is nothing he can do.  Except scream about things he *thinks* he has control over.  Like whether he should have peanut butter and jelly or oatmeal with raisins for lunch (instead of choosing between a bite of Gerber rice cereal or one saltine cracker).

I love how kids describe their various hurts and illnesses.  Ami used to say her neck hurt when she had a sore throat.  Daniel says his tongue hurts and he "choked" on Daddy's shirt, when he actually barfed.  At least he is learning how to use the bowl!

Blue and Gold

We just had our annual Blue and Gold ceremony for Cub Scouts and there were a few changes this year.

Nice shiner, Shane (trampoline injury).

Instead of potluck on paper plates, we had catered food on glass plates.  The food was good, but I did worry about spills on the table cloth and broken plates-neither of which happened.  Well, we had one little juice spill, but nothing major.

Couldn't listen quietly to the story and had to leave.

Instead of a talent show featuring our scouts, we hired a professional story teller.  I missed watching all the boys do their thing, but there was no stress of keeping the little ones under control.  Because Daniel wanted to run around during the story teller's performance, Mark gave me the look and we had to leave.  So I went out in the lobby area and caught up with my scouting friends and met a few new ones.

Fiona loves our friend who is always all glittery and sparkly.

This fun friend of ours has horses, goats, chickens, and a pot-bellied pig.  We are making plans to go over to her house so the girls can brush her miniature ponies.  She only has boys and loves our girls.  Especially how Fiona oooo's and ahhhhh's over her big sparkly rings!

I've never put flowers or sunglasses on my baby girls, but now that I see how cute they are, I may change my mind!  Each kid got a parting gift (another new thing) when they left the banquet and we got to keep our pretty centerpieces. 

Tag You're It

Fiona (using her most frantic tattle-tale voice): Daniel scribbled all over the bath tub with a marker! It was him, I know it! Because I didn't do it and he is the naughtiest person in the house!
Me: Daniel, did you color on the bathtub with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Fiona: You did so! You did!  You're a LIAR!
Daniel: No, YOU'RE a liar!
Fiona: No I'm not! You're a liar! Because I didn't do it!
Daniel: No, YOU'RE a liar!  I'm not a liar!
(etc, etc, etc)
Me: Daniel, did you color on the refrigerator with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color on the train table with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color on the floor with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color in the school books with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color your toys with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color all over the white board with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color your body with a marker?
Daniel: No!
Me: Did you color your face with a marker?
Daniel: No!

Definitely a Liar

The Park

Friends are nice *smile*

Mammal Experiment

This is our last week learning about animals in biology.  The boys are each picking an animal to write a report about-and it has to be a specific animal, not just a class of animals.  IJ picked ball python.  Shane hasn't decided yet.  In the meantime, we did two experiments.

The experiment demonstrates the importance of fur or blubber for mammals, who need to regulate their blood temperature.  We had two sets of "blood." One set represented an orca and the other represented a hairy mountain goat.  (The experiment calls for plain water, but I added red food coloring to make the experiment more realistic.)

The orca set asked, "What takes more energy to stay warm in, cold air or cold water?" One bottle went into the freezer and the other into cold water with "icebergs."

The hairy mountain goat set asked, "Which goat stays warmer, the hairy goat or the bald goat?" One bottle sat on the counter and the other nestled into a scarf.  The scarf does not contain any goat hair, so we used our imaginations.

We were amazed at the temperature difference between the orca bottles.  The cold water was ten degrees warmer than the air in the freezer, but the "blood" from the ice bath was a good fifty degrees colder than the "blood" from the freezer!  This was a great way to see why marine mammals need so much more blubber than land mammals in the same temperature.  And why we get so cold swimming down at the pond in the summer.  And why hiking scouts shouldn't get wet.

I've incorporated writing into every subject for the boys, especially Shane.  He is facing his first written portion in the annual standardized tests this spring and I want him to be completely comfortable.  I don't expect him to score very high considering he is younger than 99% of the 4th graders (and a large percentage of 4th grade boys are Ian's age).  But I do want him to practice and do well.  I had him write the data for our goat set and write up the conclusions.

But sometimes picture is worth a thousand words:

Of course my silly boys had the most fun toasting each other and drinking the red water with their lunch.  Sigh.