A good day to "dye"

So tonight was easter egg dying night! And Oh what a time we had!Get out the PAAS and away we go! I tried different colors this year using food coloring. There are a bunch of "recipes" on the mccormick website on how many drops of each color to use to make a bunch of colors. It worked great!

Here's our finished art work.......My favorites are the brightest ones possible.........

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!

In Christ Alone

HAVE A BLESSED EASTER!

collector

This is what Jordan likes to do with his time.......PAGE CARDS! He's got binders full of these things.......and yet everytime he goes to a store he buys more
Here is the dresser he has in his room that is full of cards not clothes!

Very Scary

No it's not some strange bug that we found in the house......It's our splat monsters! What in the world is a splat monster you ask......Well you take newspaper and tear it into tiny pieces, add some glue and water and mix until it's like a clay....then you splat it onto a table, add a few legs, wait for it to dry (this part took days) and then you pour paint to decorate! Of course since it was messy and you got to use paint, the KIDS LOVED IT!

skate night

Friday was skate night again. Only one more left for the year. Here's Jordan trying out the new roller blades that Aunt Martha got him for his birthday! He had a blast.....

soccer

Cody played indoor soccer at our church this past month or so. Junior high ministry at our church is called fusion. Today was the playoffs......Then his team advanced to the championship game. Blue (Cody's team) against red. The net you see in the foreground is so that us spectators don't lose an eye or something while sitting there watching! Here's Dvaid Beckam himself......Oh it's not, it's just Cody!Unfortunately they lost the championship 20-15 but they all played great. (Some took it way too seriously) Cody actually scored 3 goals today so he was pretty cheesed! Pastor Josh (youth pastor with spiked up hair) told them all what a great job they did.2 Stars! Cody and his friend John.

fun in the snow

Okay so the metorologist (big word WOW) lied........They said on the news it was only going to snow an inch or 2. It started snowing while Tom was home at lunch and didn't stop till about 7pm. We got way more than an inch.

The kids sure didn't mind thoughCody practiced on his new snowboard. (That's Jordan behind him pushing!)

Winter took a long time to come but now that it's here it never wants to stop. Yikes. I think we're going to have a snowy easter!

Birthday part 1

Yesterday was Jordan's birthday. We had a science party for him. It was alot of fun. There is a lady who lives near us who makes cakes. we give her a clipart picture of what we want and she re creates it onto the cake. It was really cute.
We did a bunch of super cool scince fun with the kids.... hold your nose and close your eyes and try and guess what flavor lifesaver was put into your mouth. (try it at home, you know the old tale your Mom used to tell you about yucky vegetables? Just hold your nose. It's true. Try it)
We used a neodymium magnet and saw how many paperclips it could pick up........
We made our own lava lamps using water cooking oil, food coloring and alka selzer...........
we saw what dry ice can do
The kids also made their own tie dye tee shirt using sharpie pens and rubbing alcohol. At the end we made a pop geyser with a 2 liter bottle of coke and mentos candy. It was really fun!
(special thank you to Lisa for all the great pictures!)

Birthday part 2

After all the fun science we had cake
And then opened presents.........

eat n park

After the party my brother Dayne, his wife Lisa and ALexis and Madisyn and my brother Len and all of us went to Eat n Park for dinner.
Dayne will kill me for this but he went up to the salad bar and proceeded to put his chili in his saucer! He came back to the table with Len and they were laughing hysterically!

The car

Saturday is Jordan's birthday. He is so excited to be 8 and not have to use a booster seat anymore in the car. So here's Tom and Jordan discussing the car right after Jordan was bugging him to take him shopping!

Library

We made our weekly trip to the library today. I get alot of books for homeschooling this way, we also get the latest movies. And the best part.......They are free! Our library system is so great. I get online and request any book or movie I want and they find it at one of the many libraries, send it to my library and then I go and pick it up. The kids go and fool around on the computers. The librarian even told me that I can bring the kids in and she will teach them all about the Dewey decimal system (I know a blast from the past for some of you) and all about the library. Although they don't even use that system anymore, everything is on computers.

Best appliance ever

Okay, if your household is without one of these babies then you are missing out......

These things are awesome. It says Rice cooker and it does cook rice, but what it does best is steam veggies. They are so tasty and gorgeous after they are steamed. My kids love them. Even beets which they ate the other night steamed. Some things I steam (that they don't like) and then I puree them and sneak them into other foods. Like when we have mashed potatoes half is actually mashed cauliflower. It's greatJust look at these beautiful vegetables. They take 15-20 minutes tops to cook (carrots took the longest). Just slice them up and fill the bottom with water and put them in. Done. (no I am not getting any endorsement money from the manufacturer!)

Skate night

So we've been going to skate nights again here......

Cody with his friend Mikahla

Go Jordan Go

How smart are you?

Are you Smarter than a fifth grader? Click here to play the online version of the popular TV show........ Good Luck

http://www.fox.com/areyousmarter/features/index.htm

whizzball

Here is a really fun game that I found on the net. Great for any age. You build these puzzles and then a ball goes through. If you built it right the ball will hit the taget. If not you have to ry building the puzzle another way. Give it a try........We are hooked!

http://kids.discovery.com/games/whizzball/whizzball.html

PE

So with the warmer weather we decided to have PE class at the park! (More fun for the kids.......less mud at home for Mom!) okay so I had a slight alterior motive, but it was fun anyway.
Jordan and I played hockey for a little while. Till we shot the ball/puck into the creek!
then Jordan wanted to show me how he can even criss cross his arms jumping rope now.Cody jumped on his skateboard and "tried" to look cool! This is a good place to ride.

Then they both wanted me to push them on this swing......Faster! Faster, Mom! AGHHHHHH

Pirate Fest 2008

The boys of summer are gearing up for another "great" season.....okay so maybe our beloved Pirates aren't so great but we had a good time today at Piratefest anyway. In case you can't make it out in the back there in all the balloons it says "Let's Go Bucs"


Jordan tried his hand at pitching. 25 miles an hour. Not bad

While Cody and his friend John tried batting and then a quick picture with the pierogy. For those of you who don't know, at the seventh ining stretch of every pirate game they have a pierogy race. It's a 'burgh thing what can I say.

Cody and John pictured here with Sauerkraut Sal!



While Dad waited in line for about 2 hours (Jordan in line for about an hour) to get autographs from some past and present players......


Here's Paul Malholm (pitcher), Tom Gorzelanny (pitcher), and Neil Walker (catcher)



Bill Madlock's on the far end in case some of you "remember" back that far.......


So was it worth it? Well to a 7 year old boy........it sure was. He finally got a baseball signed by Xavier Nady (1st base in the foreground), and Richie Hebner (a blast from the past, last one at the table).






Heart attack moment of the day.......

I was standing talking to Tom and I walked a few steps forward to get some of these pictures. When I got back to Tom I said "where is Jordan" He said "I don't know". Okay I admit panic set in. I started looking everywhere. I went to where Cody and John were waiting in line and they said he was looking for Tom. I went back to Tom and you guessed it NO JORDAN! Now the tears are starting to flow. I can't get to Tom to tell him what is going on because he is in a sea of about 5oo people waiting for autographs. Crying harder now.... Have you ever lost a child? In a big convention center? In downtown Pittsburgh? So by now there are some really bad thoughts going through my head. I finally get Tom's attention and he can then get out of line (where he had already made it about halfway up of a 2 hour wait) . We go back over to where Cody is, I am crying and talking and I turn around and Jordan goes "Hello"! OMGosh, Thank you Lord! People are looking at me like I am crazy, but I was trying to explain to him about staying with us and all the while I am crying and talking in that hysterical voice. We just give God praise that he was safe and sound. That was all the excitement I can handle this week. Please God no more!

Homeschool Woodshop

One of the fun things about homeschooling is that we can do "projects" that are actually useful as well as infomative! So Tom took on a new "role" this week........Shop teacher! (Mr. Meyers would be proud) It was a simple shelving project but the kids had a blast none the less, and I can only hope that their future wives will benefit one day and thank us!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

So here's how we spent new years eve.......

Watching the big ball drop in Times Square.....
Ringing our noise makers and then going to bed! Exciting , I know. Happy New Year to all. May it be your best one yet!