The "Duck and Cover Technique" will be needed again......

Wanna know why I've been MIA? Do ya? Huh?

Some of you may already know but for the rest of you......

I am officially 19 1/2 weeks pregnant with a little peanut of the male variety #4..... right up my alley ... I know how to "Duck and Cover" when changing a diaper :)

It's been a long, hard 19 weeks and it's not over yet but I hope to get online more now that my mood has lightened and I am allowing myself to "feel" pregnant.

Thank you to all of you who prayed and kept your fingers, toes and everything else crossed..... only 20 more weeks to go.

Boomtown Bonanza

Head on over to an awesome new blog that I found.... The Bookworm's Booklist

You could win a SIGNED copy of BoomTown Bonanza and a SIGNED BoomTown Map.... how cool is that?
I have never read the book but I definitely have it on my shopping list now. It looks positively amazing!

Leave a comment on the Bookworm's Booklist Blog to enter.

A little Dragon's Breath will heat things up.....

The weather has been unusually cold here. Ok, not so unusual but I still don't like it. It's the kind of cold that prevents me from requesting that the boys hang outside all afternoon to play.

So in lieu of continuously thawing frozen body parts I gathered a whole bunch of Dragon things and laid them out on our kitchen table and let the boys go nuts.









The boys had lots of dragon math and dragon reading and dragon language arts to keep them busy in between dragon colouring and other hands of activities.

Speaking of hands on activities.....

Gather the following....


Corn Starch, Water and Food Colouring and make Dragon Drool.

Cover your tabletop and back away...... it's gonna get messy......



















Dragon Drool is MESSY.... I cannot tell a lie.... but the boys did clean up afterwards.... for the next three days.....
Honestly, that corn starch leaves a film.... wipe after wipe..... sheesh. The boys did have fun so it was all worth it.


Daxter demonstrating how to hold a sword correctly to slay a dragon.....





We made Dragon Eggs..... two eggs and vinegar..... simple, but F.U.N....





The vinegar (an acid) dissolves the egg shell leaving the membrane intact.... COOL!
We did this project a couple of years ago, but it was just called 'put an egg in vinegar and see what heppens...'
Call them Dragon Eggs and you have a whole new interest!

We took the eggs out of the vinegar each day to feel them....

Here they are after one week.






Compared to a fresh egg.... this one was from the same dozen.. look how much the the Dragon Eggs swelled without their shell.

The boys also painted their own dragon figurines.....







I love the attention to detail :)





The boys have not yet finished their figurines yet as they wanted to add some details after the first coat.... will post pics of the their finished creations later.......

of good intentions......

We have been plugging away with our Human Body Project..... we've been working on bones and touched on joints (to continue next week). We have completed many mini models and booklets and had a lot of fun.
I love blogging about our successes.... you know bragging for educational purposes.... but this post is not a brag... read on.....

We made, or at least tried to make a model of the arm. The point of the model was to show how the muscles re-act when the arm is extended or bent at the elbow.

We rolled up our tubes of newspaper (3 of them).....

Then proceeded to punch (push, pull, tug and more) holes into the ends of the tubes of newspaper...






Then there was a whole bunch if finagling .... we were supposed to attach one tube to two others with a giant paper clip (I used 22 gauge wire).. then, attach two balloons, slightly inflated, to the top of the single tube. Then, stretch the balloons just past the hinge, add a hand and voila!



No Voila.......

The darn balloons, inflated or not (we tried both ways) would not for the life of me stretch across the newspaper tube without bending it in half. We tried a few different ways and got frustrated so I just held on to the balloons and showed the boys what was SUPPOSED to happen and they did get the jist of it all, but phew! how hard was that?

I guess we could redo the whole thing and use stronger tubes of some sort...but do we really want to?

OMG!!! It's been so long!!!

Well, there are no apologies or excuses.... I honestly just took a really long holiday break.... some health issues came up but we are dealing with them.

The boys have had a blast making crystals (jade and diamond).... doing lots of creative art work.... and tonnes of outdoor time. We've had sleepovers and play dates and dad was home for more than two weeks.... that was a real treat for us all.

We are finishing up the Senses part of our Human Body Project. Kind of a mish mash of different projects that I have been meaning to get to.



A lift the flap model.....



Each flap lifts to show the particular sense, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, skin... I still think it is a freaky looking model, but the boys get a kick out of it....

They also did some work on the skin and how hair grows.



Yes, that is a picture of the tongue and tastebuds.... told you it was a mish mash



This is a neat one... it was a bugger to fold and tape but worth it in the end.... it shows how hair (yarn) grows out of the follicles.



Mini slide book.. the boys love these for some reason.... nice and easy I guess. This one covers hair growth, pimples and sweat glands.

I hope to get back in the swing of blogging again.......

Keep giggling.

It's a Green Giveaway!

Let's help make this world a little greener during the holidays.....
Click here to redeem your gift....... Brighter Planet will donate 136 pounds of offsets in your name!

The Human Body Project Gets Tasty!

Smile for the Camera...



Now, open wide......

See all of the taste buds? Each section senses a different type of taste.....
Sweet, Sour, Bitter, Salty



All of it .... on our tongue...



We even learned about the bumps on our tongue called papillae.... some large ones are right at the very back of our tongue.

More taste testing to come tomorrow!

Look What Santa Sent!!!!!!!

Ratchet found it in our mailbox this afternoon..... it was wrapped in a beautiful dark red ribbon...... and inside was a letter from... Santa!



Apparently, the elves have figured out some new technology for Santa to be able to get into the homes that do not have chimneys..... it's a good thing too because Ratchet and Halo were beginning to wonder just how he did it!

What else could it be but a Magic Key?







I am not sure where the elves found it or how they made it, but it is a wonderful antique skeleton key. Hung by the same gorgeous red ribbon with an embroidered tag with the words "Santa's Key" magically engraved on it.

Ratchet was ecstatic and actually squealed at the sight of the key. The instructions were to hang the key on the inside of the front door and Santa's Magic would do the rest.

We've followed the instructions to a tee in hopes that Santa soon will be here.

Come By For A Visit....

I have started a new blog for my more crafty side.... Homespun Chic

I am no crafting expert, but I love to try new things and I also like keeping my hands busy (I quit smoking 12 years ago and still can't keep my hands still to this day!)
So come on by for a quick peek.... there's not too much there right now but I have loads of pics waiting to be put up and I am making new things every day. Links to my favorite crafty blogs are there on the side bar and I am always browsing for goodies so I will add them as I find them.

Keep Giggling!

Ears, Noses, Skin & Touch....Back to the Human Body... Finally!

We have been continuing with our Human Body Project bit by bit... I just have not posted any pictures as of late due to poor time managment, kid distractions and yucky housework.

Look.... their binders are getting full....honest!


I know we left off with the Human Ear.....
We have done a few more models.... they are too fun to skip.



some double sided flash cards with the parts of the ear



a stand up model of the outer and inner ear.... this one is very simple and very easy to use - even for Halo

We also worked on the Nose.....



a lift the flap model



we talked about odors (good and bad) moving through the air.... you breath them in and reach the "smell cells"... the smell cells then send the messages to the brain



stand up model of the nose, inside and out

We did some projects on the skin and touch.



This is a neat moveable model



The magnified image lifts



the finger lifts and drops to press the key on the keyboard

This is by far one of my favorite models so far!



There are several layers that lift and then there are flaps with info underneath





There are even hair follicles and hairs!

We learned about the different nerves, touch, light touch, pressure pain, heat and cold. We alo learned where they are located amongst the skin cells... touch, pain and light touch are very close to the epidermis while pressure, heat and cold are in the lower dermis.

The boys love doing the hands on models... I am so glad I started this project with them!

Will post more as we go!