As if it ain't cold enough!

Earlier this week we did a lesson on ice!

Messy

I put bowls of water outside the night before and brought them inside in the morning.  The were partially frozen.  When we turned them upside down and popped the ice bowls out, they all sprang a leak and a tiny fountain of water flowed from each of them - actually, one had two holes.  The kids got a huge kick out of watching through the ice as the water level inside decreased while the water leaked out.  We talked about the different states of matter.

Messier

Next, the kids used water and food coloring to make different colored ice blocks.  We put the color combinations in ice cube trays and froze them. 

Messiest of all!

Finally, the kids painted a picture on freezer paper and then used "ice cube paint brushes" to draw designs in the painting.  I froze popsicle sticks in blocks of ice the night before and popped them out in the morning for the kids to use.  They loved this.  After they were done, we put them out in the freezing cold to dry.  The finished products are cool - they still look wet but are completely dry!

Treats for All

I love it when a lesson is easy enough for my two and four year old to complete and actually understand, but engaging enough for older kids as well. The homeschool co-op we participate in (for ages 2 to about 7) had just such an activity for our get together yesterday. It was pajama day, since the kids hadn't seen each other for a while over the holiday break. So they were already in happy, cozy moods being able to run around in their pjs with all of the other kids. After some coloring time, a story telling and two books we had snacks. I was scheduled to provide snack yesterday and I baked dairy free pumpkin muffins (not from the can but from an actual sugar pumpkin) - they were a big hit! The kids all settled down for their activity. Each kid got a large blunt needle with embroidery floss, and the table was filled with several bowls of popcorn, grapes, raisins, dried cranberries, peanuts and cheerios. The kids strung the embroidery floss with the snacks to make a nice little treat to hang from a bush or a tree for the birds and squirrels! My kids had such a great time doing this, they actually sat long enough to almost fill about two feet of embroidery floss. Of course, I ended up finishing the rest while they ran around playing with their buddies. We brought them home and hung them in the front yard in hopes of being able to watch the animals enjoy the treats. However, it either must be too cold outside or too strange looking for them to eat because they haven't touched them yet! I think if I were a squirrel or a bird, I'd love to have some - I was almost ready to eat them while the kids were making them! Well, here are their little gifts to the animals, still hanging from the tree.

I suppose if they haven't been touched by the end of this weekend, we'll move them to another location. The woman leading the activity did say that she noticed the squirrels were the fattest she'd ever seen them at winter time which could mean that we are going to get a lot of snow. Maybe they have already stuffed themselves and are too full to eat our creations!!!

Iced In

We got a huge ice storm today. Schools were closed, Lil' Miss' violin lesson was cancelled and according to the news, the roads were dangerous to travel on. Soooo...we stayed in. I don't think I've mentioned this before, but I get stir crazy when I have to stay in the house all day. Our schedule is set up so that we get out at least once a day. However, I had a feeling we might be stuck in today, so I already had a plan as to how we were going to fill the day so that I wouldn't go too nuts!

I found a great activity on a fantastic blog I follow, Permission to Unwind. We used empty cardboard boxes to make thank you cards for the Christmas gifts the kids received. I cut the cardboard down to small note sizes (smaller than the instructions suggested) and let the kids cut pictures out of magazines to cover one side. The cardboard side is left blank for them to write their thank you notes. I wasn't sure how well this would go over with them, but they sat for over an hour working on the project! The hardest part for me was not "micro-managing" their work. They kept cutting out pictures that were too small to cover the entire box front and wanting to make a more collage type cover. That's okay, except that Lil' Miss' pictures were mostly ads - for cameras, sanitary napkins, detergent - you name it. I couldn't get her to cut out other things. When she would finally find something cute to cover the entire card, she'd decide that she only wanted ONE part of it - like a beautiful image of a group of penguins, and she only wanted the "daddy" penguin. Don't ask how she knew which one was the daddy, but one penguin did NOT cover her card. I finally had to just let it go and let her do her thing.

The Little Guy, on the other hand, was happy to just glue and cut. So he'd cut out a big image, and I'd cut it down to the size of his cards and then let him glue them on. The activity as a whole was great though because it reinforced the idea of recycling (which we discuss a lot in our schooling) and the Little Guy got a chance to practice his cutting and gluing skills.

After that, we made chocolate chip cookies and had lunch with cookies for dessert. Then while the Little Guy took his nap, Lil' Miss and I practiced violin and then got on the computer. Lil' Miss loves Starfall and will practice her letters and beginning reading for as long as I let her, which allows me to catch up on work for my part time job.

Okay, these obviously aren't chocolate chip cookies! The kids made these gingerbread folks a few weeks ago. There was NO WAY I was going to let them eat them with all that candy on them, so they've been sitting around individually wrapped. I finally explained to them that the candy would make holes in their teeth, unwrapped them and arranged them on the counter to take a nice little picture and then threw them all out!

Toward the end of the day though, I began to get anxious about Hubby coming home. I thought maybe I should go out and put some salt down because our driveway was a sheet of ice, but I was worried 1) about falling on the ice, especially with my balance being off with this big belly and 2) having the kids out there falling on the ice since I certainly couldn't leave them inside alone. So poor Hubby had to shovel all of this when he got home, after working all day.

Now, normally after being in the house all day, I would have been cranky by the time Hubby arrived, but I was pleasant and had dinner ready - baked ziti with ground turkey, veggies and extra, extra cheese, and hard dough bread with butter. He went out to finish shoveling (ice is pretty heavy so it took a while) after dinner, so I had the kids clean up the playroom and got them bathed. By the time he came back in they were ready to read bedtime books while I sorted out baby clothes, then we had Bible time and prayer!

All in all, I feel very proud about how I handled the day being trapped in the house! Praise God for giving me patience today! Maybe I can learn to stay in more often - it would certainly save on gas money!

Busy Little Elf

I've been working away, though it seems as if everything that could happen to keep me away from my tasks has happened! My cold has lingered on, making me really exhausted by the time the kiddos go to bed (and it's hard for me to make gifts while I'm sleeping). Friday I was determined to at least get the things that needed to be mailed finished. A big storm was supposed to start Friday around noon, and I was furiously sewing and cooking away while keeping one eye on the skies (looking for snow) and one eye on the kids. Yes, your math is correct, that didn't leave enough eyes to have one on my sewing machine. As I was rushing, I sewed one of my reverse applique letters right to the collar of the t-shirt! It was a nightmare to take out because I used a really close stitch. It was also my first time doing reverse applique, so it took me quite a while to complete the project. I hope the boys like the finished product - I wanted it to have a rough, boyish look and I think I acheived that, though their parents might just think it looks messy. Oh well, messy sure was a lot of work!A bit after 12:30, Lil' Miss announced, "The snow is coming down Mommy!" It came down fast and hard and by the time I finished the shirts, there were several inches on the ground. I ended up waiting for Hubby to get home and he drove us to the post office. So I am happy that I got the t-shirts finished and six bags of chocolate covered roasted pecans made AND they all got in the mail on Friday.

I thought that Saturday I'd be able to get some more things done, but since we got 12 inches of snow on Friday, hubby spent most of the day cleaning up - which meant the kids were with me (they went out for a little bit, but are too small to really stay out very long). Sewing with the Little Guy around just does not work. However, I did go to my neighbor's house for a cake baking lesson. I already know how to bake cakes, but she makes those professional cakes that you pay tons of money for birthday parties and other events. It was great, I learned how to make the cake AND the icing and it was delicious! This is a 12 inch, 3 inch high cake and 24 hours later there is only about a fourth of it left!

Today, church was canceled because it was still snowing - it snowed straight through from Friday until Sunday evening. Though I was looking forward to going to church, not only to worship and fellowship, but I had a few bags of pecans I wanted to give to some folks, I was also happy to have the time to work on some projects. Well, we drove out in the snow to get a few things and wouldn't you know that when we returned, our CO detector was going off again?!! Hubby went down to check out the furnace and the one near the bedrooms began to go off too. We decided that it would be best for the children and I to leave the house, while Hubby tried to figure out the problem. I woke the Little Guy from his nap and bundled everyone up and went to a neighbor's. While it was nice to visit, all I could think of was my sewing! It felt like someone really didn't want me to make any gifts.

When we finally came back home to a soot covered Hubby, I let the kids decorate gingerbread cookies while I started on one project. By the end of the night, I was able to finish it and a little something to go with it. It's a tissue pouch holder and a keychain! Hopefully the next few nights will be much more productive!

The Silent Killer

Early Tuesday morning Hubby and I awoke to a loud alarm. It wasn't the smoke alarm, but our Carbon Monoxide detector. We were not sure what to do as it was 4am, we felt fine, the kids looked okay and we really just wanted to go back to sleep. We concluded that it was probably faulty and went to bed for a couple more hours.

Later that day, Hubby checked out the alarm to make sure it was working properly (it was) and went around the house checking our CO levels. They were quite high in the basement and bouncing up and down in the other areas of the house. That night we called a good friend, my dad, who works in the heating and cooling field. After answering several questions and having Hubby try a few things, he determined that he needed to come over immediately. Together they pulled the entire boiler apart and discovered that it was extremely blocked up. Apparently it was only ventilating at about 25% of what it should be - which means the rest was going you know where - INTO THE HOUSE!

Hubby and my dad stayed up until about midnight cleaning it out and making sure all was running smoothly. Praise the Lord for my dad who knows about this kind of stuff and was able and willing to come out in the middle of the night like that. The bad thing is, I had no clue that the boiler could even get blocked that way and cause those sort of problems. I thought CO problems were issues for older homes. Our house is only 11 years old. I figured we had several years before we had to worry about such things.

This is very scary because you can’t see or smell carbon monoxide, but at high levels it can kill a person in minutes. Carbon monoxide (CO) is produced whenever any fuel such as gas, oil, kerosene, wood, or charcoal is burned. If appliances that burn fuel are not working properly or are used incorrectly, dangerous levels of CO can result. Hundreds of people die accidentally every year from CO poisoning caused by malfunctioning or improperly used fuel-burning appliances. Even more die from CO produced by idling cars. Fetuses, infants, elderly people, and people with anemia or with a history of heart or respiratory disease can be especially susceptible.

Here are some tips for making sure you stay safe this winter heating season...

• Have your fuel-burning appliances -- including oil and gas furnaces, gas water heaters, gas ranges and ovens, gas dryers, gas or kerosene space heaters, fireplaces, and wood stoves -- inspected by a trained professional at the beginning of every heating season.
• Make certain that the flues and chimneys are connected, in good condition, and not blocked.
• Choose appliances that vent their fumes to the outside whenever possible, have them properly installed, and maintain them according to manufacturers’ instructions.
• Read and follow all of the instructions that accompany any fuel-burning device. If you cannot avoid using an unvented gas or kerosene space heater, carefully follow the cautions that come with the device. Use the proper fuel and keep doors to the rest of the house open. Crack a window to ensure enough air for ventilation and proper fuel-burning.
• Call the Consumer Product Safety Commission (1-800-638-2772) at http://www.cpsc.gov/ for more information on how to reduce your risks from CO and other combustion gases and particles.
• Never idle the car in a garage -- even if the garage door to the outside is open. Fumes can build up very quickly in the garage and living area of your home.
• Do not use a gas oven to heat your home, even for a short time.
• Never use a charcoal grill indoors -- even in a fireplace.
• Do not sleep in any room with an unvented gas or kerosene space heater.
• Never use any gasoline-powered engines (mowers, weed trimmers, snow blowers, chain saws, small engines or generators) in enclosed spaces.
• Do not ignore symptoms, particularly if more than one person is feeling them. You could lose consciousness and die if you do nothing.

If the CO detector alarm does go off:

• Make sure it is your CO detector and not your smoke detector.
• Check to see if any member of the household is experiencing symptoms of poisoning.
• If they are, get them out of the house immediately and seek medical attention. Tell the doctor that you suspect CO poisoning.
• If no one is feeling symptoms, ventilate the home with fresh air, turn off all potential sources of CO -- your oil or gas furnace, gas water heater, gas range and oven, gas dryer, gas or kerosene space heater and any vehicle or small engine.
• Have a qualified technician inspect your fuel-burning appliances and chimneys to make sure they are operating correctly and that there is nothing blocking the fumes from being vented out of the house.

Right now I am praising God for keeping us safe through this little scare and for blessing us with family who could help us out in a pinch and I am praying that you have a safe winter!!!