Random Things

I love finding little doodles around the house. New Fish has become more interested in art than ever.
Anytime I catch these two quietly playing together in their own little world, it makes me happy.

Trampoline time with Nixie. These two crack me up. They are pretty much the exact same size.

We went on an outing to a local farm with friends. The giant lop bunny was stolen from the farm later that day and it totally scandalized my kids. The bunny was very pregnant and was returned the next day but my kids have many conspiracy theories on where the bunny was.

Red Fish went to the baptism of one of her Best friends H.

Messy bird feeder project in the front yard

These jammies are affectionately known as "the sparkle pups". New Fish has been wearing them since she was two and a half. They are a size three and I'm pretty sure she intends to stretch them and make them fit for the next decade. She will not hear anything about them being too small.

Squishy

Red Fish is very interested in science. She loves to read National Geographic readers and she is always asking to do experiments. We have been on a streak lately of doing a ton of experiments including soaking the shell off a raw egg with vinegar and making the egg squishy. Gross but fun.

Giant Bubbles

 We have become totally obsessed with creating giant bubbles. We have been testing recipes for bubbles and methods of blowing them and we are having an insane amount of fun. It is so cool!

Rainbow Science Experiments & Art Projects Of Late

 Figure drawing

 Scrape paintings with neighborhood friends

 science experiments

 Building their annual leprechaun trap

 Rainbow cupcakes

Our family home evening director teaching us about fire safety in her swimming suit.

Dry Ice Bubbles

 I woke up this morning and wanted to make dry ice bubbles.  It seemed like the only thing to do today. Sometimes I just get an idea and can't give it up until the task is accomplished.  I am a fun chaser. This experiment was much easier than I thought it was going to be and the effect was magical. We spent a solid hour blowing bubbles and juggling them around.

Gross

I owe my neighbors an apology after all of the screaming it required for me to catch this giant beetle for my girls.  Bug collecting is yet another thing I thought I would not have to do again after ninth grade biology.  The girls are planning a bug collection complete with pins and foam.  Gross.  This mammoth insect is currently under the microscope being examined.  He is half dead already, which is the only reason I was able to capture him.

Marbling With Milk

Stringing beads for Valentines themed jewelry while Daddy reads Harry Potter them.

The girls have been busy reading and creating lately. Two Fish has been reading Harry Potter to them (they are on book 3) and I've been reading a bunch of different books to them. Winter is starting to give us all a little bit of cabin fever and everytime we have friends over they all go crazy because they are so tired of being inside under close supervision without enough room to move their bodies. Thank heavens for their gymnastics class where they can get a little bit of their energy out.  They are so desperate for room to move that every time the sun peaks out they dash outside to run and ride bikes.  Inside they are bouncing off the furniture with cartwheels and handstands and the usual antics.

 We tried marbling with milk for the first time. I've seen a bunch of different ways of doing this but we just went with what we had on hand.  The girls filled baking sheets with milk and then used eye droppers to put liquid watercolors in the trays.  Then they added hand soap to the tray and put a watercolor paper in to soak.  The effect was pretty cool.  After the papers dried they cut them into heart shapes to make more Valentines.  Hopefully our papers don't stink later.

The tray with the watercolors suspended in milk and soap

One of their papers after it had been dipped in the tray.

Winter Break

 We have been playing hard during our Winter break but we have also spent a lot of time at home. It has been too cold to go anywhere. There has been a lot of baking, playing games, science experiments and hours upon hours of reading.

 We have been doing a lot of water experiments lately and the girls really loved figuring out what materials, weights and shapes would float in water.

 We started making some Valentines Day decorations because we don't really have many and the girls love holiday decor.  It helped take some of the sting out of packing up the Christmas stuff.

 There have been a lot of art supplies scattered around the house.

 A box of math manipulatives has somehow become some of their favorite toys (didn't they just get a ton of toys for Christmas?) We have had so much fun together I will be sad to see them go back to school.

The girls have been coloring mittens with oil pastels and stitching them together with yarn and drawing dozens of pictures of horses.

By Red Fish

Red Fish

by New Fish

Rainbow Toucan & Other Random Projects

 

By Red Fish

 Piles of foam shapes are being decorated every day with stickers, markers and colored tape.

 The girls have reading about archeology and paleontology and they tried their hand at excavating some fossils.

They have also been using a metal tapping kit (I think one of my brothers used it for a school project a long time ago?) to tap out pictures in sheets of colored foil.

Because I ThinkJust About Everything They Do Is Cute

Building an electromagnet

 I've been reading articles about raising kids that have blown my mind a little bit.  The first was about the importance of teaching children about the possibility of becoming an entrepreneur.  The author posited that most children don't even grow up knowing that they can market their own ideas or start their own company or that working for themselves is even an option.  I guess I had never thought about that because my parents are entrepreneurs and I took it for granted.  It made me think quite a bit about teaching my kids the power of their own ideas and potential.

 I also read an article about the lack of scientific learning and play in most young girls' lives.  The article was in response to a really awesome Goldiblox commercial.  If you watch it and are inspired to build giant mousetraps please come over so we can do it with you.  I will paint with your kids in return.  I am not very mechanically minded so I'm not sure my girls will have a lot of engineering opportunities but I have really enjoyed doing science projects with them the last couple of years.

A carousel horse picture drawn by Red Fish.  When she slows down and takes her time she draws really well. 

Making Ice Cream

 We tried our hand at making ice cream for Red Fish's sixth birthday.  Red Fish isn't a big fan of cake.  We made vanilla (her favorite flavor) and dyed it pink so it would be exciting.  Both girls loved the process.

 

 I think we will probably be making a lot of ice cream from now on.  Our little ice cream lover, Red Fish has already been dreaming of different flavors we can test out.