March recap

What a crazy month. I'm still recovering...hence my post about March halfway through April.

There are a gazillion pictures in this post, so just scroll to the bottom if you wanna know where we're headed after Brandon graduates...yup. The Air Force finally made a decision.

Moving on. We spent a large portion of our homeschooling on Jemma's science fair project. (I don't think I EVER participated in a science fair, let alone as a kindergartner! Lucky bum.) She helped plant and tend a winter garden at my parents' home, so we used that experience as our platform. From there we talked about what seeds need in order to germinate and what plants need to grow and produce "fruit". We planted seeds in a glove (google "garden in a glove" if you wanna do this with your kids. Very cool.) to demonstrate what is needed for germination and also seeds in little cups to show the extra stuff seeds need to continue growing after germination. Putting her tri-fold together was probably the funnest part and Jemma was super proud of the finished product. :)

Here she is with her board and starters in the cups.

The Hickman Science Fair was very cool. TONS of different displays. We could have spent hours there if we'd had the energy to do it all!

Chinchilla. Did you know they can't get wet? Neither did I. They clean themselves by rolling in volcanic ash. Hmm.

Rooster and chicken. The kids dropped to the floor as soon as they spotted what was in the cage. You can't see it in the picture, but Gavin is lying on the floor on his tummy with his hands propped under his chin. Too cute.

Jemma in front of her project. She told me that she wanted to stay there a while in case anyone else wanted to take her picture with it. Funny girl.

There was a brother and sister there who did their project on the development of frogs. They must live out in the country cuz they had a gazillion tadpoles...HUGE tadpoles...and frogs...maybe they were toads...dunno for sure. Anyway, it was AWESOME. They were letting you stick your hand in a bucket to see if you could catch a tadpole, and then after catching it, they helped you identify which stage of development it was currently in. None of my kids wanted to stick their hand in the bucket, so we just watched other people do it. They also had several GINORMOUS frogs that we they were showing the kids.

Look at that guy! He is a MONSTER of a frog.

Tadpole and frog.

Jemma wanted to see the big frog again, so these boys pulled it out. She backed up as soon as it was in sight and then the boys offered to let her hold it. She instantly backed up further and said, "Oh, no no no. I just wanted to see it." Cute little farm boys probably couldn't understand WHY this girl didn't want to get her hands on that slimy frog! I took the bottom right picture while she was telling the boys she didn't want to hold the frog. Cracked me up.

We also had a picnic that night on the school grounds. Too bad it was so darn COLD! We brought a blanket to sit on and ended up covering up with it instead!

Picnic menu: 7 layer bean dip, fruit salad, capri suns and chocolate chip cookies. It was yummy. :) PS. My mom came with us. Thanks Mom for comin' along and helping me keep track of the kiddos. (Especially Gavin.) It was a fun evening.

I had to throw this picture in here...no Jemma doesn't wear glasses. She went to a 3D movie with her Nina, popped out the lenses when she got home and has been wearing them around saying they help her see better.

One day we decided we tired of all the book curriculum and we were just gonna do a bunch of science experiments. This one was called "raining color". You put water in a glass, top with a layer of oil and then drop food coloring on top. The food coloring remains in drop form on the oil, but when you push it through the oil into the water with a toothpick, it instantly bursts and disperses through the water. It was a good way to introduce the idea of water soluble vs. lipid soluble.

I remember doing this experiment in grade school - you fill a cup of water to the "brim", place a piece of paper/3x5 card on top and carefully flip upside-down.

The pressure from the air is pushing harder on the paper than the pressure from the water...and there you go.

We found this one on pinterest.

Vinegar+baking soda= exploding zip lock bags.

My kids loved it!

My sister Sharee found a pattern for a "Celtic Twist" and my mom spent an evening with me laying out the blocks, pressing them for me, etc. so that I would get it done and be able to enjoy them put together as a runner during March. I LOVE YOU MOM! And thanks Sharee for sharing this pattern! It would make a really cool quilt. LOVE mostly white quilts.

We also got to see the Gariety's for a couple days just before St. Patty's, so we made (and devoured) some rainbow cupcakes. Jemma and Carter are not pictured because Jemma couldn't wait long enough for me to get the camera before finishing hers off, and Carter refused to try his...so I ate two. :)

Yum.

I feel a little silly putting a picture of this banner up, but it was my one St. Patty's day decoration, aside from my Celtic table runner. :)

Jemma doin' rainbow math.

And....now that we're through all the pictures I had for March...

We are moving to Warner Robins, GEORGIA. It was ranked 5th on our list, so it came as a bit of shock initially. We are (mostly) over the shock now and busy making plans and researching the area. We requested a family friendly location, and apparently Warner Robins is ranked the #1 city to raise a family in Georgia, so I think we're off to a good start! Plus I love peaches. ;)