Avi - 03/05/2021

Avilene ate oatmeal and three servings of baked cinnamon apples for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of hamburger stew with meat, tomatoes, green beans, and carrots. She ate whole wheat dinner roll and most of fruit cocktail. 

First picture: Awww...she looks angelic. Avi asked to snuggle and I try to take time whenever the kids want/need some snuggle time. So I was doing a selfie and she closed her eyes to "trick" whoever was looking at this picture. :)

Today was "Science with Lauralea" and the general theme was to "Make Stuff Disappear." Ha. We did 5 different experiments so I'll just touch on them briefly. First picture here is making a penny disappear. The penny is laying on the table with the glass on top of it. We filled the glass with water and put a lid on it. Goodbye penny. :) Second experiment we made a bottle disappear in a glass using baby oil. Think light refraction! Ha.

These next two pictures represent my favorite experiment today; "Disappearing Water!!" We opened up a diaper and shook out the "powder chemical" inside and you can see the amount in the jar. Then we started pouring water into the glass and tipping the glass over as you see in the second picture. We eventually had the glass full of water and NOT one drop ever came out!! Crazy. As all of you know these modern diapers work amazingly well. Last picture: Disappearing color using bleach. And the fifth experiment was disappearing message written on paper using lemon juice. You rock Lauralea! Thank you SO much!

Avi - 03/04/2021

Avilene chose not to eat any French toast or dried plums for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of cooked and uncured 100% grass fed beef polish sausage (smiley face), ate whole wheat toast, peas, and three servings of strawberries.   

This first picture is left over from yesterday and Avi had asked if she could clean up the table for snack. I've been giving the three older girls little chores every day and they love helping!! And they're learning to do a good job. Thank you Avilene!!

This picture is also left over from yesterday. We're all so happy to be going outside. Hang on Miles!! Avi is a pretty fierce driver and she loves to speed!! :)

Last picture; The three big girls were having a discussion about what Avilene was drawing. I guess she was making it for Atley so it was kind of a collaborative piece. It was Ariel the Mermaid and then some fish in the picture. You can see Svea's head in the picture too as she's working on her own paper.

Avi - 03/02/2021

Avilene ate blueberry bagel and two servings of grapes for breakfast. For lunch she ate two servings of shrimp, no brown rice, ate broccoli, and raspberries.  

First picture: We did an experiment with some raw eggs that have been soaking in vinegar since Science on Thursday. We rubbed the shell (more like skin now) off and you could see the yolk moving around inside. The experiment: They feel rubbery, but will they bounce? Yes, if you hold them about 6 - 8 inches above the table like Lauralea is doing in the picture. Haha. It's funny because the membrane around the outside is very thin. Full disclosure; If you hold it twice that high it will break! Haha. 

Next picture: Atley and Avi are cleaning the table after doing some art. There were lots of colors on the table from the washable markers. However the cool part about this; I never asked them to clean it. Avi went into the bathroom and came back with a wet paper towel and got right to work and Atley joined her. Then Atley also took the Preschool garbage can and emptied it into the kitchen garbage. So proud of how they did this on their own initiative! 

Last picture: Avi and Atley were looking at some pictures I have and they wanted to try to copy them. This was Avi's attempt at the mountain with the cherry on top. There are lots of sprinkles on the mountain under the cherry and Avi nailed those sprinkles!! The artist is Jason Kotecki and he does some pretty funny stuff if you're interested. 

Avi - 02/26/2021

Avilene ate two large servings of cream of wheat cereal (The girl loves that kind of cereal - probably because I always add brown sugar to it!) and ate 1 dried plum for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of her chicken, ate whole wheat dinner roll, bite of broccoli, and ate pineapple. 

I'm trying to finish this Blog and Avi is vying for my attention! Haha. She's saying, "Gary, I wanna snuggle!" Ok, but you gotta wait until I'm done with these. Hey, yesterday I was messing with her and said, "You Mom Loves Donald Trump." Avi totally went with it and without cracking a smile she said, "Yes she does not like Joe Biden." Hahaha. Isn't that funny? Cracked me up. 

First two pictures; When Avi came this morning she said, "Can you put your leg up again?" Haha. And this is what she meant; I was putting my leg on the igloo and she was taking advantage of it and using it for her own personal place to play and hang like a monkey. :)

Last picture: All three girls wanted some "big" paper to make snowmen. And they worked hard on their projects. As always it's about the process, BUT that's a pretty nice snowman you're working on Avi. When they use big paper we have to get creative with places for them to work and Avi liked this choice where she could create without any interruption.

Avi - 02/25/2021

Avilene ate blueberry waffle and three servings of fruit salad for breakfast. For Lunch she ate two servings of ground turkey, ate whole wheat tortillas, sweet potatoes, and three servings of cherries. 

Today was "Science with Lauralea" and the theme was "Eggs." There are lots of great experiments you can do with eggs!! Eggs seem to break quite easily, but in our first experiment we passed the egg around (in a baggie in case it did break - ha) and placed it in the palm of their hands and told them to squeeze and no one (including Lauralea or I could break it just by squeezing! (Not fair to dig your fingernails or finger tips into the egg.) Svea said, "This is the best science ever." We did a lot of stuff, so I'm just gonna briefly describe each picture: 

1. You can tell if an egg is raw or hardboiled by how it spins. :) Then we got the two eggs mixed up and 

     Avilene said, "Why don't you spin them to see which one is hard boiled? Solid suggestion Avi. :)

2. You can peel a boiled egg by shaking it in a jar. :)

3. Can Lauralea make an egg turn silver!?! Hold it over a flaming candle until it's black everywhere and 

    then place it in a jar of water. Yup, Lauralea's a magician. 

4. Can Lauralea make an egg float? Yes she can; if you add enough salt that will make it float.

5. This last picture/experiment was a lot of fun and they had a blast guessing if the egg would break! We 

     had 6 baggies and surrounded an egg in each bag with a different material and guessed if it would 

     break when rolled off the freezer. And we had to sing "Humpty Dumpty" all 6 times too!! Materials; 

     bubblewrap, cotton balls, flour, oobleck, salt, and paper towels. Not one egg broke. So what if we hold 

     high above our head? The eggs in the flour and salt were the only ones that did NOT break. 

Avi - 02/24/2021

First thing when Avi arrived she said,"Hey Gary! What are we having for breakfast.!?!" I said, "You're favorite breakfast!" She said, "I don't want any French toast!" LOL. Yup, she knows her Gary!! So cute. Avilene ate two big servings of strawberries and no French toast for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two large servings of Whole 30 Chili ("can I have more home 30 chili?") with meat, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers, and tomato sauce with lots of spices. She also ate crackers and tropical fruit. 

This first picture is left over from yesterday afternoon. It's been awhile since we've been able to be outside and the kids were loving it. The ground is quite wet from all the rain we've had AND one of Miles' came off so he was strolling around and got his sock soaked!! He could not have cared any less! "I'm just glad to be out here!!" I think he's feeling pretty smug and satisfied with Avi giving him a ride - judging by his expression! 

I tried to get this next picture without them noticing me; but they stopped and were looking at me, so I asked them to look forward and it's pretty obvious this is staged!  Haha. What are you guys doing? Atley said, "We're doing back scratches!" :) In the following picture Avi said this is a picture "of a knight on a horse trying to kill the fire-breathing dragon!"

Last picture: The 4 girls were done with breakfast first and they were all anxiously "hiding" and waiting for the boys to come look for them. (The boys really didn't have a clue what the girls were doing. And that seems to be a common life-long theme for us in the male Gender group!! Haha.) Avi was hiding under this cozy corner rug and Cal never did locate her until Svea led him over there. Avi said, "That was hard; to lay still and be quiet!" And she did for a long long time.

Avi - 02/23/2021

Avilene ate cinnamon raisin English muffin and ate half of her grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork roast, whole wheat toast, beets, and applesauce. 

This first note is not from this morning, but one I've not posted yet either. Avi asked, "Hey Gary! Does the numbers on the airplane's tail tell how many fires it's fighted!??" Haha. (I'm giggling at the terminology.) Hmmm; who told you that? "Well that's what Atley told me." Well I thought the numbers were just for identification, but I bet I can check with Atley's source for her airplane information. :) 

First picture; Well the girl may not be into "pretty" things, but the mirror is still her friend. You're 'pretty' cute Avilene!! She was listening to some Alexa music she chose and doing some dancing and head bobbing. :) 

Next picture; Avi had on the wolf mask and was playing with Miles and Cal and you can see the boys were having a blast. Cal was extending his arm and the wolf was pretending to bite it. :) Miles was pretty much just trying to grab the mask. Ha. Last picture; Avi made another "Rainbow Picture" and this is for Momma with some roses attached. :)