Sunrise Christmas Morning

Construction

I have been lazy about blogging. Sorry. We've been a little busy and I've been falling asleep as soon as the kids get to bed and I finally sit down for a second. But here's a picture of one of our Christmas traditions: Gingerbread house making. THis year I found pre-cut kits at IKEA for everyone to put together. Erika also tipped me off to the benefits of hot glueing the houses together. (No one ever eats the houses, only the candy. So this was awesome!!) THe kids had a great time. Then Nate and Jake used them for their project later (we believe in recycling:)). Anyway, hopefully I'll get around to blogging the rest of our holiday. Right now I need to go frost some yummy sugar cookies!

Science Projects for Big Kids

So, Jake and I have spent the last few days messing around building air cannons. PVC, automatic sprinkler valves, a handful of parts from Radio Shack, and next thing you know, we are shooting golf balls 250' into the water hazard out back.

Then, we saw this link, and got some even better ideas. A little poking around on Craig's List, and the next thing you know, we have hooked up a vacuum pump, and sealed off the end of the firing tube.

We needed a target to test out our new contraption, so we lined up the gingerbread houses (all the candy had been picked clean). We placed a bag of rocks behind the targets to stop the ball, and then propped up a flat cardboard box with plywood inside, just for good measure--don't want to hit the neighbors' house. Here is the "before" photo.

We put in 4 golf balls, just for fun. Turned on the vacuum pump, charged the pressure tank to 130psi, made sure there are no cars or joggers . . . FIRE!

It fired through all the gingerbread houses, embedded one of the golf balls in the middle of the bag of rocks, and blew the bag of rocks clean off the table.

Maximum theoretical speed = 760mph
Force: F = PA = P(pi)r2 = (634,407 Pa)(3.14)(0.019 m)2 = 719.5 N = 161 lb

Acceleration: a = F/m = (719.5 N)/(0.038 kg) = 18,933 m/s2
Velocity: v2 = 2ax = 2(18,933 m/s2)(3.3 m) or v = 339.7 m/s = 760 mph or 1,115 ft/s

Our estimate, around 450mph.

Seeing Green

I have been looking for a large capiz chandelier for a while. I saw one on ebay a couple years ago and have been kicking myself ever since because I hadn't been able to find that one again. But....I saw this one at a local antique store and snapped it up. Nate hung it for me yesterday. It involved some jerry-rigged homemade scaffolding and some other make do-with-what-we-have situations.

The chandelier is about 5 feet tall and we hung it in our entry way which is two stories. It's made out of thin pieces of shells. And it is like a wind chime, moving with any breeze. But it gives a cool green tinted light. And I love it at night.

Trail of Lights

Tonight we went to see the lights downtown. Called the Trail of Lights, there are 40 displays set up around a 1 1/4 mile trail in Zilker Park. Some parts are really cool. But it doesn't really compare to the displays at Temple Square. But we make do with what we have.

In the display below the lighted trees were synchronized with Christmas songs. Pretty cool to watch. The sky looks pretty cool because of the long exposure to get all the trees lit.

If you click on this one you'll see Toby making an elfish face. He's a 12 year old boy who hates to have his picture taken, what can I say? or do? This tree is the oldest tree in Austin. I think that it is over 200 years old. But I might be off a little, my memory isn't so great lately.
At least the weather cooperated: it was a lot warmer (5o degrees) than the last couple days (40 degrees) and not raining or windy:) Then we went and got hot chocolates at the coffee shop. The kids loved the chocolate shavings, whip cream, and chocloate stirring stick they were given in their chocolates. (Hazel had to settle for soymilk cocoa and no toppings. But she was good with that). All in all it was a fun night.

Irresistable

It's a good thing that Toby is no where near interested in girls, because, really, who could resist someone so cute?!

Update

Well, the season is in full swing. It seems that there is something every night and tons of things to take up my days.

• I have finished my christmas shopping (Yayyyy!!!!)
• and I've even got most of it wrapped.
• I put up all the outdoor christmas lights.
• Nate and I attended a small get together last week hosted by his boss and
• we enjoyed a casino night themed work party tonight;
• Toby performed in his band's christmas concert last week (he looks so cute in his tuxedo shirt, tie and cumberbund),
• We attended the ASO's performance of the Messiah with the 3 oldest kids
• We had a friends over to sing carols and eat cookies
• we are going to see the Trail of Lights in Zilker park tomorrow;
• We are reading Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in the original (I didn't realize it was so wordy...I have to stop and summarize/explain pretty often.)
• We tivoed the first presidency's christmas message and watched part of it for FHE,
• we made lots of snowflakes (I am planning on sewing them together like in the anthropologie store display.)
• the ward Christmas party is on Friday where I will be a photographer and Santa will make an appearance (I'm interested to see how Hazel will react with this);
• Saturday is the high school's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,
• We had a breakfast for the people we visit teach and our visiting teachers (a great way to get all the visiting done for the month at once).
• The activity Day girls are going caroling,
• I think i will take the scouts to do something similar;
• I am going to take the kids to the children's museum to make gingerbread houses,
• we still need to put up the tree
• (but we do have our stockings up:).
• I finally made it to the post office to mail all my packages.
• I started baking for Christmas (But then stopped when I realized that we were just eating it all instead of saving some for later). I managed to lose 5 pounds right after Thanksgiving and I don't want to gain them back.
• I decided that the black dresses the girls already have will work for this christmas and passed on sewing new ones ( I'll do them for easter instead)
• (I have finally learned how to not overdo it to myself.)
• I bought the newest installment in the Uglies series of books called The Extras and am enjoying that in small doses (I really just want to sit down and read the whole thing at once, but I'm having a difficult time finding time to indulge)
• I am almost ready for christmas!
• Next on my list to tackle: Christmas photos and cards, the tree, collecting prizes for the Candy Game (I received a request to play it for Christmas as the requestor missed it at Thanksgiving) and cleaning and rearranging the house to fit all the guests coming for Christmas, and planning for The New Year's Eve Soiree we are planning.

I think we might actually make it through the holidays without too much stress!!!! Hope that you all are having similar good luck and enjoying the Spirit of the Christmas season!!! I'm going to go read my book for a minute or 20.

Halleluia!!

Last night we observed one of my favorite holiday family traditions. We went to hear Handel's Messiah performed by the Austin Symphony Orchestra. We took Toby, Aspen, and Isaac with us this year. The first notes played by the orchestra reminded me why I love to hear good music live. Instantly I felt calmed and uplifted. Handel's Messiah is such a beautiful piece both musically as well as it's text. Listening to this kind of music helps me to forget the world around me. It doesn't work with recorded music. It only happens when I hear it in person. I need to attend concerts more often I guess. The kids really enjoyed it too.

Homework

Aspen came home from school last week with an unusual assignment: she was supposed to make a flashlight from scratch. Luckily we had all the parts already...Toby had an electronics kit from a couple years ago. Even though the due date was a week away, Aspen had hers done the first night! She did a great job...got a 95/100. She had to present her project first and explain her circuit and how the light worked (so she was docked a bit for the nervousness). I'm glad when she gets excited about her education.

Lights...

I got the lights up the other day. I love my house lights!! I've decided to go slow on the decorating this year. I got out the important things: the Little People Nativity, the nativity candle windmill, the Christmas dishes that we only use during December, and the stockings. And of course the music. We'll get the tree in a couple weekends. Maybe some lighted garlands for the banister (I love the effect, but it is time consuming to straighten out all those pine branches after being stuffed in a box for the year. ) We are going a little low key this year.

Red sky at night...

There have been some glorious sunsets here lately. This one was particularly beautiful. It seemed that the whole sky was burning.

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving Day. Mike and Mindy and their family came up from San Antonio and our friends (the Lusks) joined us too. We had way too much pie. But managed to eat it all by Saturday night. Nate brined a turkey this year (it seems a popular option this year) and it was delicious!! We played the candy game. Not much candy, but lots of other prizes. I ran the Turkey Trot in Austin. It was very cold (39 degrees) but fun nonetheless. I'd never run a 5 mile race and really enjoyed it. But it took 3 miles to get warmed up! We saw Enchanted on Saturday. Everyone liked it. Very well done. Nate and Mike got up early on Black Friday for a trip to Best Buy. (Let's just say that I got my Christmas present early as it was too big a box to hide) and the kids have been playing in the box ever since. (I tell you, all you need to give kids for Christmas is sticks, rocks, and a giant cardboard box! Who needs ToysRUs when you can get a box for free!) Hope everyone else had a great holiday as well. We are now gearing up for Christmas...I got out my Christmas dishes! And the candle windmill and song and story books. We are good for the next week or so. Maybe some lights will get up if it warms up some. It's supposed to freeze tonight but be back in the 60's tomorrow afternoon, so maybe...)Happy Holidays everyone!

Remade

I found two tops on clearance at old navy and decided that they would make cute skirts for my girls. So I cut off the straps and added elastic for Aspen's and then made a top to sew onto Hazel's. It was pretty fun!

Enchanted Rock

We went camping with friends a couple saturdays ago out to Enchanted Rock. We love going out there and it was a perfect weekend for camping. not too hot, not too cold (it could have been colder) and we had a great time. The kids played on all the big boulders near our campsite and in the fire (of course) and we ate lots of s'mores. On Saturday we hiked to the top of the Rock. Even Hazel made the climb to the top all by herself (and most of the way down too). She slept so well on the way home!!! They call it Enchanted Rock because of the noises the rock makes as it warms up in the day and cools off in the night. We need to do this more often.

More Random Questions

So the other night at dinner, Isaac posed a burning question--how long would it take a sloth to walk around the earth? He really wanted to know. So we did a little research, made some assumptions (same speed over oceans, sloth does not die, sloth does not sleep, does not stop to eat, etc. . . .

And the answer is . . . 25 years.

America the Beautiful

Today Aspen and Isaac participated in the Veterans Day celebration program at their school. Isaac wore his cub scout uniform and was part of the honor guard escorting in the veterans that were attending. Aspen performed a musical number with sign language with her class. It was a very moving program.
I am so thankful for the many men and women who have served and who serve our country today. They make it possible for me to enjoy so many freedoms. They perform a priceless duty for me and all of us. We pray daily for those serving our country all over the world. Thank you.

The color guard fom the VFW.
Aspen is in the white shirt behind the boy in green. Bad pic I know, but the only one I could get.
Isaac in uniform!

Trashification

I watched this the other day and just died laughing. It really resonates with me.


“It is my personal opinion that all things, all objects, everything you own really only exists as part of a parade of garbage to the dumpster. Everything you own is pre-garbage. Your home is a garbage processing center where new things are purchased and slowly demoted through various stages of trashification until you’re done. It starts out you’re excited. You bring it home you put it on the kitchen table. You read the instructions. You tell all the people in the house all about it. And then some time goes by, you realize maybe you’re not going to be quite as keen on drying out fruit and storing it in your basement as you thought you were going to be. And so the object is demoted to the closet. It’s there for awhile. Eventually it lands on the floor, you start stepping on it to reach newer things that are just beginning on their journey to junk. Then the garage. The garage can be one of the longest phases for the object. But it is the most definite. No object in human history has ever successfully made it from the garage back into the house. Even the word garage seems to be a form of the word garbage (prounounced garbajjj). When you’re living in the same room as the garbage cans, well, it won’t be much longer now. Really, eBay is the only thing that can save the object at this point. Ebay, of course, another great step forward in human culture. Hey, why don’t we mail our garbage back and forth to each other. It’s all gotta go, my friends. Everything is thrown out in the end. Even we are thrown out, in the end, my friends. And when I hear about someone that died and wanted certain important personal possessions put in with them when they’re buried, I’m all for that. Take your crap with you."

-------------------------Jerry Seinfeld on Late night with Conan O'Brian Friday, November 2, 2007

PS I was going to link to the actually episode so you could watch it in person. But NBC's website is having difficulties. I think they're changing stuff around. anyway, i'll fix it later. It is hilarious to watch the words come from him.

PPS They removed this episode from the website. So you'll just have to take my word for it that he was hilarious.

Life's Important Questions

Over dinner tonight we were discussing this important question:

What would be the worst thing to step into?

Yes, I know, it is a most pressing question to ponder.

Here's some of what we came up with:

• A bottomless pit


• A pool of elephant diarrhea (these kind of answers are common with boys in the house)


• A helicopter rotor


• A pit filled with razor blades covered in lemon juice


• A room where they make glass panes (contains a pool of molten tin on which to float the glass panes. I didn't get this at first either. This kind of answer common with smart guys in the house)


• A bunch of angry skunks and porcupines


• A vat a whale vomit (again, a boy answer)


• An avalanche of rabid boars and porcupine


• An active volcano

What do you think would be the worst thing to step into?

Playing Beauty Parlor Again

Aspen has been begging to get her hair cut for months...well planning to cut it for months and begging to actually do it for the last 2 weeks. So rather to setting up an appointment, taking her 45 minutes away, and paying $$$$ for Scott to do it, I decided I would give it a shot. I figured that I would only be out a half an hour of my time if it didn't turn out and I could then turn to Scott to fix it. I think it turned out decent. Obviously, Scott would have done it better, but hey, she's 10 and not so picky, and I saved $$$$ and 3 hours of my life. It's been a win-win day.

Before:
90 seconds later:
The end result: side view
back view:

It's over...for now

Isaac had a great season. His team made it to the semi finals for the season. He didn't play in the last 2 games because they were played on Sunday, but they got 3rd place. Isaac is a really good ball player and we'll be playing again with the same team in the spring. Yippee:]

Texas Maize Maze

The kids didn't have school last Monday so we went on a little outing to the Sweet Berry Farms. In the fall they sell pumpkins. There are also hayrides, pumpkin painting, horses, and this really cool Maze. It is planted in the shape of the state of Texas and grown out of maize (corn). While in the maze, the goal is to find 12 stations and get your card punched. Then the card gets you a soda (not that terrific a prize, but motivating for kids all the same.) Anyway, I thought the maze would be really easy. Not! It took us almost 2 hours to find all the spots to punch our cards. The older three had a lot of fun. Hazel was a little scared. I thought it was pretty cool.

Then we went on a hayride.

Run towards the light children!!!

Hazel came home with her very own pumpkin!

Hazel's Nail Salon

I went to change the laundry from the washer to the dryer. It took about 2 minutes. Hazel was around the corner from me about 5 feet away. She had found the black nail polish, sat down on the carpet and opened it. The proceeded to paint her own nails. Luckily, she did a fairly good job and none got on her white shirt or the floor. So we finished the job. I guess out of sight is truly out of mind with a two year old.

Happy Halloween

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post, but Nate, who is sitting right next to me, keeps checking our blog, waiting for me to update our blog. So I guess here goes...

Here's our jack-o-lanterns, carved for FHE last Monday (a tradition).


Here's the front porch all decked out for the trick or treaters. I got lots of compliments, which is always nice. But I can't take all the credit, most of the ideas came from Martha Stewart (who does a great Halloween). It's kind of a bad picture, but there are bats hanging from the ceiling and one battery operated one flying in circles, the white balls are spider egg sacks and there are lots of spiders in the webs on the wals. Then the black lights around the door and the jack-o-lanterns. There was also music playing and some of those paper luminarias lining the side walk in front. Maybe I'll take a better picture tomorrow in the daylight.

Hazel and Isaac trick or treated in our neighborhood.
Here's a video of Hazel practicing her door approach. (forgive the sideways angle...I always forget that I can't turn the camera sideways when I shoot video with it:)





Aspen dressed up as Red Riding Hood. (I love making capes - they are the ultimate dress up item! and easy to sew.) She trick or treated with her friend, and scored a ton of candy.

Hazel was Snow White. Originally she wanted to be a yellow princess, but I didn't finish her costume before the ward party last week. So I bought her this one. I finished the Belle costume today and she wants nothing to do with it. Snow White's dress had enough yellow for her. She also really got into the trick or treating. Also liked handing out candy. As long as the kids stood there with open bags she would put candy in them.


Toby went to the ward party as a lawn. Green hair with bugs in it. I forgot to buy Aquanet so it didn't stand up too long. But it was fun anyway.

Tonight Toby was some kind of combination of things. But he put it all together, I just did his hair. And he went trick or treating with his friend. came home with way too much candy.

Isaac was an archer. Or a ninja archer (reason for wearing all black). He was a good sport to trick or treat just on our little street with Hazel. He was going to go out with Aspen later, but she came home too late and everyone had turned out their lights.

All in all, it was a fun evening.