Back in the Old Days

Our house has been busy with school projects, and I don't really mind...it is fun for me too, it brings back the memories and gives me and the boys some fun time together. I like it when I am able to help them with homework and we can enjoy time together.
Lately it seems that as our kids get older they bring up a lot of the "when you were a kid" or "is that how they did it when you were younger?"... I find it humorous because we did the same thing to our parents... you know "back in the old days".

So kace has been learning about the Colonies and the Revolutionary War. For a project they had to write articles as if they were writing the headlines for that time period and to obviously show what they learned. So a trick to making the papers look like they are older than dirt, or as kace put it 'these look like the real Declaration of Independence- did they have this kind of paper when you were growing up'....uhhh no, my child, but thanks for making me feel old... yet again:)
I was given a ginormous box of Lipton tea. I am not a fan of the regular stuff, but didn't feel like being rude so I accepted it, little did I know how handy it would be... I made a big cup of the worlds strongest tea(10 tea bags to be exact). I let the tea sit for a bit then we proceeded to yellow our paper.






Of course there was strict parent supervision in adding the finishing touch of the burnt edges... (it was I who played with the lighter the entire time, and even burnt myself a time or two, inhaled a few paper ashes and had a burnt smell in my house for 2 days.) Totally fun...just don't tell the boys;)

Growing a Poor Man's Garden

The boys had a Science fair a few weeks back. Entering the Science Fair was mandatory for Kace at his grade level, but Cris had a choice and he chose to do it, because he was offered to skip 2 weeks of homework if he entered. Little did he know that still meant some sort of work needed to be done. I saw this really cool activity come across my email a while back so I proposed the idea to Cris... he loved it and wa la we were off to making a mess, mixing chemicals and growing what I like to call a poor mans garden. It is actually called a 'Crystal Garden' I call it the poor mans garden because this fun experiment became popular during the depression... how appropriate considering we are sitting in the middle of a recession... wow, its like a history lesson too! A lesson on how history repeats itself. okay getting off track.
We started off mixing salt, water, ammonia and laundry bluing... we found some porous objects... a Sponge, cork and charcoal briquette. Oh and the colors are from food coloring to try and make it cooler.

Day 1... the beginning... please grow, please grow!

Day 2- the sponge and cork taking off like wild flowers


day 5- The Charcoal had awoken and started to bloom prettier than the others... proof something so dark and dirty can be beautiful. Also notice how it is growing on the wall of our container... its plastic, I guess it too was porous enough to grow on.


Cris at the Science Fair... he had his photo taken for the District newsletter, the school newspaper and is going on to the District fair. He had a lot of good responses, over 200 other experiments and one parent came back up to him after looking at them all and said "if there was a prize tonight you should get it, because yours is the best here"... that makes a mom proud.


And I was lucky enough to be doubly proud that night... Kace did an experiment on if age affects how a person sees in the dark. He wrote it wonderfully and we made this dark box to simulate a person walking into a dark room to see how long it would take a persons eyes to adjust and if they could see any of the objects on the back wall in the box. The hypothesis was that it takes an older person longer because just like the rest of our bodies, we are getting worn out. This amazing kid got an A...rightfully so.

tag your it! What?

So okay I am not the up to date queen of Internet, I am sure I have a windows media player that is outdated 3 times over, I don't own a digital camera and I cant figure out how to put a play list on my computer let alone on my blog page... which brings me back to this... I blog...occasionally. I am not fully addicted to it, but do wish I did it more, I just need a little more time and just a little bit more excitement in my life so I dint snooze the living hell out of everyone. I recently joined FB and it just put me back that much more on keeping up with my blog. Facebook moves at the speed of light and if you miss an hour, you can miss like 20 updates, who has all this time? I only got 24 hours in the day and I like my sleep, so that leaves..well you get the idea.
But thankfully my twin has an amazing knack for blogging like it was coke up an addicts nose (I know probably not the best analogy, but gotta be me.) So I got a notice on FB from the good 'ol sister and it said she tagged me from her blog to mine... I will be honest, I didn't get it, then I went to her blog and read it...ah, I got it now... kinda. So here it is and I don't know if I am suppose to pass the tag on after I do this, but since she tagged pretty much everyone I know, I am going to leave it to this, and I guess try and blog more in the future :)

6 things I am thankful for:

1.) My Family: I know, how original right? but truly who else can love you when you mess up so many times, who can shrug off the cuss words that fly out of my mouth, or the gazillion times I end up at someones door step to borrow or use something or have them listen to me. They include me, maybe a little because they feel bad for me, but they make me feel welcome and loved.... NO MATTER WHAT. Yeah a big family is awesome.

2.) Agustin- My Ex-Husband: we get along delightfully, talk more than we did in our marriage and most of all... love and support each other for every step in the boys lives. Even if it doesn't necessarily concern them he listens, supports and provides. I know what a great guy he is and what a great dad he is... we are still learning and taking care of each other, even if it isn't on the marriage level, He is one amazing guy.

3.) My Boys: They are the most patient, loving children, they truly are something amazing. They understand our schedule, they help out immensely around the house and are great with the routines we have in place to make things simpler on us all. They understand that money cant buy the love we have and no matter what, we will always have each other and stick together. They are respectful of each other, and amaze me every day as they remind me that they love me, as they compliment me telling me I am a good mom and I am doing a great job... wow, how humbling and what a great support.

4.) My Father in Heaven: Who has helped my parents raise us in the light of the lord and given me the knowledge of the church, faith, family and love. Who loves me no matter how many times I am on my knees with mercy, who listens, comforts and supports me. I don't even have a word for that.

5.) Humor: What a great ability to have humor in your life, to laugh at yourself and join others in such a contagious and fun mood changing thing. Its hard to be upset or depressed when a laugh is creeping up on you. Best enjoyed with others.

6.) My own space: no matter where I make it, or when I take it... me time is something I will never take for granted. Everyone needs company, everyone needs someone in their life, but to have that all important ME time is something I truly have to be thankful for.