Science and Ships

A couple days ago, Levi and I did a science experiment for school, to see how atoms are dispersed in different liquids and to see different items' densities. We put oil into a glass, then added water, which went through the oil to the bottom of the glass. Then we added some maple syrup, which went through the oil and water both, straight to the bottom of the glass. It created a three-layered effect of separated liquids. It was pretty cool. After we could see that separation well, we added some items to see their density and how they would end up in this glass. First, we added a rock, which went straight to the bottom. Next we added a grape,which was denser than the water and oil, so it ended up right on top of the maple syrup, sitting in the water. The third item we added was an ice cube. The ice cube was denser than the oil, but not the water, so it ended up sitting on top of the water, in the oil. And, the last item we added was a little cork. The cork wasn't denser than anything, so it ended up sitting right on top of the oil. It was a very basic experiment, but it was fun to do and Levi was amazed by it. Science can be so much fun! Here's a picture of our finished experiment.

On that same day, I got to watch something amazing. Well, amazing to me anyway. I'm easily entertained. :-)  There's this author I read often. She's an older lady, close to my own mom's age, but I really enjoy her blog and books on homemaking and her travels. And, she does fabulous drawings and watercolor paintings. Actually, I think her artwork is half her charm. Anyway, she and her husband are taking a two-month tour all over England and Scotland and she's planning to blog about it all, which is going to be so much fun to follow, but they didn't fly over there because she doesn't like flying. They took the Queen Mary 2 and are taking a transAtlantic 8-day crossing to get there, which is really cool in itself, but the day they left, she had posted a link to the New York Harbor cam so we could watch the ship leave. So at 5pm on Thursday, while I was making dinner, I set up my tablet in the kitchen to watch her ship leave. Now, personally, I thought that was really cool, but even more cool than that, was that as the ship was beginning to pull out of the harbor, it went right past the Statue of Liberty! I got to see the Statue of Liberty in real time in New York Harbor! I was mesmerized!! (See? I told  you I'm easily entertained!) So, of course, I had to take a picture of it.

                                                             How cool is THAT?!?

Trying Delicata Squash

     Last week I got some vegetables from a veggie co-op I'm part of and one of the things I got was a delicata squash. I've gotten them before, but frankly, I usually just use them for decorations, rather than actually cook them. So this time I decided to try to cook it and see how we liked it. Of course, the first place I searched for recipes was Pinterest, my favorite go-to for new ideas. The recipe I found was pretty easy and it ended up being tasty, too. I think we still like summer squash better, but it was something different and now I know what I can do with these when I get them!

Here's what I did:

I took a raw delicata squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Winter squash is usually pretty tough to cut, but this one was not difficult at all.

 Then I scooped out the seeds and "guts" of the squash.

 After that, I cut the halfs into 1/2" - 3/4" slices.

 I forgot to take this picture, but I put the squash slices into a bowl with some olive oil, 1-2 Tbsp, I think, and some salt, pepper, and fresh rosemary and then mixed it all up to coat the squash really well.

Tip: Put the baking sheet into the oven while the oven preheats to 425 degrees. The squash will brown better on a hot pan.

I put the coated squash onto the heated pan and baked in the oven for 10 minutes, then flip them over and baked for an additional 6-8 minutes. You can add a little more salt and/or pepper when they're done for added taste, if desired.

Not only did they taste good, but they looked pretty, too!

So, if you're looking for something new to try, cook up some of these yummy winter squash to add to your veggie repertoire. Bon appetite!

Welcome, 2012!

     So once again, I'm going to try to do some blogging regularly.  We'll see.  That's NOT one of my resolutions! However, I do really enjoy reading my old blog posts and seeing the everyday events of our lives. 
     Today was a good day.  I got to sleep in til around 10am and then Nicky wanted me and the boys to go with him to Home Depot to see how he could spend the gift card he got for his birthday from his parents.  He ended up buying a tape measure.  Go figure.  By then it was nearly lunch time so the boys asked him if we could go to Burger King for lunch and we did.  Ugh.  The first "official" meal for 2012 and it's BK.  Yuck.  Oh well, at least it was with the family and I'm pretty sure family time will be in high commodity this year since Nicky will be working a lot of overtime this year.  So, I guess it was ok after all. :-)
     Once I got home, I started taking down the Christmas decorations and spent the rest of the day doing that.  Thankfully they seem to come down faster than they go up.  I was sad to see them go, but boy, the house looks so much roomier now with the tree gone!  Tomorrow I'll finish putting away the lights and getting things back to where they belong.  I love to put the decorations up, but I like when they're gone, too.  It's nice to have them to enjoy, but it's nice to get things back to normal.  So, I'm feeling pretty good tonight.  Nicky was in a good mood all day and hung around the house doing stuff here and there and generally puttering, which is good for him to have some time to relax.  He's off tomorrow, too, which means we'll be doing minimal of the regular activities tomorrow.
      Ok, so about my "resolutions".  One thing I got for Christmas was an iTouch iPod, which I've been wanting forever!  I put a Bible app on it and now I can read the Bible anytime I'm where there's a WiFi connection.  I'm very excited about that, though I wish it didn't have to wait for WiFi.  Argh.  On the Bible app, they have reading plans, so I picked one and every day it will take me to my scheduled passage/chapter.  I'm very excited about that!  That will make my resolution of reading my Bible everyday easier.  Yay! :-)  I also set my ipod up to give me reminders to 1-read my Bible, 2-take my vitamins, 3-walk/exercise, 4 -eat at least 1 fruit per day, and 5 -blog.  Those are pretty much my main "resolutions".  Not too much to it, right?  I think I've come to realize that it's easy to make resolutions and not so easy to keep them, so I try to make resolutions of things I really, really want to work on.  I have some other more personal ones, which I will also work on and the final one is that I'd really like to finish reading the many, many books I have started over the years and never finished.  It galls me to no end when I see books sitting around that I've started, but then forgotten about and never finished.  So, I'm determined to finish these books this year.  I will make a stack of them and present them to you at a later date and then as I finish them, hopefully, I will add them to the list on the sidebar of this blog (if I can get it to work properly!). 
    So, here's the run-down of my list....
1 - Read my Bible daily
2 - Walk or exercise regularly
3 - Eat at least one piece of fruit daily
4 - Take vitamins regularly
5 - Blog as often as possible
6 - Personal item
7 - Be more kind and gentle & smile and laugh more often, especially with my boys
8 - Finish reading the many books I've started.
I guess that's it.  At least for now.  I'm sure I'll think of more, which makes me really glad that the Lord gives me a fresh start and a new beginning every day! 

Tree Plantings

Today we had to take a 30 minute break from "regular" school so we could go outside and watch the city workers plant two new trees in our front yard median strip. It was actually pretty cool. There was a bunch of Mexican guys out there working hard at digging the holes (with a backhoe) planting the tree straight, filling the holes back in, watering, and finally tying the trees to 2x4's.  They didn't look too impressed when we broke out the camera, but once they realized we were just curious and not "observing" them, they relaxed and even smiled at the camera a couple times.  Once the workers were all done and gone, the boys each "claimed" a tree.  They asked if the could climb them and of course, I told them "No, but maybe your kids can."  They weren't happy.  :-)

Watching the planting of "Levi's" tree.

Levi supervising the planting of "Indy's" tree.

Checking out his new tree. 

Isn't homeschooling wonderful???  :-)

Recently Overheard...

The competition between boys, mine specifically, is just amazing....and non-stop!! lol  Today we were in the car and I heard them talking kinda like the teacher in Charlie Brown, "Wa-wa-wa", but then it finally penetrated my brain and this is what I hear:

"A motorcyle beats you."
"A police car beats you."
"Well, a fire truck beats you."
"A monster truck beats you."
"God beats you."
No response.

LOL!  It was so funny.  When we were in Joann Fabrics today, the cashier told me that according to statistics, one boy is like 4 girls, meaning I had the equivalent to 8 girls with me!  That sounds about right!  They are certainly busy and noisy and rough and messy, but boy are they a joy!  So grateful for my rambunctious boys!! :-)

Recently Overheard...

So Levi puts a cotton ball in his belly button this morning and says, "Hey Mom, I've got the hairiest belly button in the world!" LOL Ahhh, such is my life with boys! :-)

Summer, 2011

We've had a VERY busy summer this year! First, in June, Savannah graduated high school....Whoo hoo!! Also in June, we had Vacation Bible School at our new church. What a blessing and sooo much fun getting to know people better. In July, Ashton went on mission trip to Jax with the youth group and had a wonderful time. She got to really know some of the kids better and develop some real friendships. She also got to see the world from an entirely different perspective. They worked with inner city kids doing block parties, Bible camps, and even street prayer walks. She was so blessed and grew so much spiritually. Later in July, we went on vacation to Charleston to see the Yorktown, which is a WWII-era aircraft carrier and Indy LOVED it! It was fascinating! We walked through the whole thing and were pooped when we finished! We also got to see Ft. Sumpter and downtown Charleston, rode a ferry, and visited a plantation. It was a lot of fun and very educational. After that, we went to NC to stay with mom and Richard and Leslie were there, too. We had a great week with family.

Unfortunately, Mom got sick and ended up in the hospital for a week or so. Thankfully, Richard and Leslie were able to stay with her for some extra time and when they had to go, I went back up with Savannah and the boys. We stayed for two weeks to help her recover. Speaking of Savannah, she moved up there with mom. Wow. One kid gone. Seems weird around here without her. Too quiet....yes, even with 3 others still here. So, now I'm home and we're back to school and regular routines. We start golf, football, and scouts soon. Savannah is up in NC looking for a job, which she will hopefully find soon, and helping mom do stuff around the house and driving her to dr. appts. She's my eyes and ears while I'm down here, so that's a huge help.

Well, that's a run-down of our summer. Sorry I've not put up pictures, but right now I'm just too busy. I'll try for next time. :-)