Remember these?

We had these same clips when I was a little girl. I have been looking for these for awhile. And finally, after 3 walmarts, 2 HEB's, and 2 Tagets, I found them at Super Target. I wanted something that would stay in Hazel's hair and didn't involve a ribbon. Anyway, I bought both sets that they had and she wanted every single one in her hair last night. Then she promptly pulled them all out after 2 minutes and pretended they were food in her play kitchen. At least she is using them for something, if not for her hair. We'll try again tomorrow.

The Consecutive Club

Our primary started a new program this year called the Consecutive Club. The kids have been asked to help their families hold daily scripture reading, family prayer and weekly family night. For every week they do this, they get their card punched. So we have renewed our efforts and begun again. Even Hazel reads something. Why don't you join us? I am not sure what the primary is offering as a reward, but I know that you'll enjoy a more peaceful home and more obedient children in the meantime (I read that as a promise from Boyd K. Packer somewhere).

Mystery Solved

During the winter in Texas, all the grass goes dormant and brown. However the greens on the golf course are always green. I wondered if they just overseeded with a winter grass (like rye, which is common), or if they just fertilize and water a lot;
but no... they paint them green.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008

Amy and I started the new year with the 5K Resolution Run. Hope you all had a great celebration last night and a great day to start a new year!

Happy New Year!

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.