Rocks and Minerals

I was happy to chaperone Maddie's field trip the Harvard Peabody Museum. They have an amazing collection of rocks and minerals (which her class had been studying). It was a fun trip though a bit stressful as I had to cobble care together for Gabriel and the bus was late arriving back to Newton. Oh well...

Junior Girl Scout Cooking

Working on the Simple Meal badge brought us to the Windsor Club to cook. The girls had "the best meeting ever" where we cooked breakfast burritos and gluten free peanut butter cookies. Yum!

Air and Space Museum

Maddie's class completed a big Washington DC project. One of the elements was to create a model of a building. She drew the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Initially, she wasn't thrilled about it. But as we learned about the building, she became excited about the architectural beauty of it. I was very proud of her as this building was designed and completed 100% by her. It's a beauty!

Crazy boys

Inspired by "Cut in Half"

Cut in Half

Maddie made these videos to send to Nathan while he was away on one of his longer trips to Canada and California. We really laughed over them!

She also emailed him after the videos:  

Like the videos I sent? When MOM WAS FILMING MY TOP AND BOTTOM HALF DANCING THEY WERE LAUGHING! [even the captain] I thought it was mean that they were laughing just because Gabs cut me in half with a lightsaber. It sort of hurt but not to bad.

         Top Half 



HI    iT IS     aLITTlE haRd TO     TypE wiTH      YOur TOeS    wHOOps!!!!!! DiD i      did    i    S PE L  L EVERytihn   g  Writ? cAN    YOU       123456**&^  reAd THiS ?????????????????? soory But   YOU do    knOw I CANt sEE      sooooooooo    ITB  maKes IT HARD         to WRite
botttumm hhhhalf

Concoctions

The kids have taken to creating concoctions - a glass filled with whatever, normally the grosser the better. They like to see how the concoction changes over a few days. Eeek!

Lounging

The age gap with the kids is noticeable when they watch a show. Inevitably Gabriel, will come up the stairs and ask to watch something different on my computer, almost 100% of the time Curious George. We have nicknamed him Curious Gabriel. He tends to request George, a snack and gets comfortable!

Crop Circles

A small snow storm and then wintery mix met us today. We had Josh and Rachel over to play and spent some time on the field after school. It was a very eerie scene. I don't think the pictures capture it. A bleak sky and gigantic dirty snowballs spread throughout the field with their rolled out paths visible. I felt like it was something out of a horror movie. 

This was all before Theo flipped his snowboot over the fence toward the train tracks. Luckily, Rachel was able to scoot it close enough to the fence then I was able to slowly pull it up over the fence. I think someone learned his lesson. 

Snow Tubing

It's been a strange winter so far. Super cold then warm. We had a 60 degree day this week! The Cub Scouts had planned a snow tubing day. Nathan decided to stay home with Gabriel as we thought he was too small to attend. What fun! You are towed up to the top of a hill and the whisked down on a comfy tube. We had a great time! 

Fried dough - yum!

Happy 4 1/2!

We celebrate 1/2 birthdays in our house. Usually a small treat and a candle, no big deal. Since Gabriel is a summer boy, he also celebrates his half birthday at school. Well, this was a very difficult concept for him. He kept telling everyone it was his half birthday, wondered if he'd get presents, what we would do to celebrate, etc., etc. Maddie and Theo were very frustrated with him. I heard one of them yell "It's just your half birthday. Nothing is going to happen." Questions were posed to me by Maddie and Theo: Why do you get to celebrate his half birthday at school? Why are you making cupcakes? Theo pulled out the "Maddie and Gabriel had time alone with you and I always had to share." There were some green eyed monsters at our house. Gabriel loved the attention. 

And he had the showtime bag. He brought in his favorite game, Sorry, and presented it to the class in a big loud voice. He did great! I love this picture of him waiting to begin his presentation. Sitting next to Margie, legs crossed, a bit nervous.

Simple Meals

Whole Foods is such a good neighbor. They put together a great program for our troop who is working on the Simple Meals badge.  Did you know each store has on staff artists? Look around the store and you'll see some pretty neat art. We were tickled to have our own Girl Scout art displayed in the cafe. I had the boys along and they did great though I had to carry Gabriel the whole time. My aching back...

The girls are already fairly savvy with their knowledge of food. It's interesting that it's been pushed on them from their families and school from a young age. 

They made a yummy snack roll up. I was surprised that they didn't have an option for our member with Celiac (I'd notified them before). When I asked if they could find a gluten-free option, they suggested she eat the peanut butter with bananas! Strange since we were at Whole Foods...