This morning we did another science experiment, and this one was really fun for the kids! It used baking soda and vinegar, which we've done before, but this time we got to see the results of the reaction in a different way.
You'll need:
a small water bottle, empty and rinsed out
a latex balloon (standard size)
a funnel
4 tbsp of vinegar
2 tbsp baking soda
Pour the vinegar into the bottle, and use the funnel to spoon the baking soda into the balloon.
Hold the balloon so that the baking soda doesn't spill into the bottle, and stretch the opening of the balloon to fit over the neck of the bottle.
Slowly straighten out the balloon and tip it upside down so that the baking soda falls into the vinegar in the bottle.
Both Oliver and Buttercup liked this experiment a lot. We'd mixed baking soda and vinegar together before, but this time it was more fun since they got to see the balloon filling up with carbon dioxide from the reaction. I do want to try this one again sometime, after I buy more baking soda (mine is pretty old!). I think it would be more impressive with fresh ingredients. :-)
This morning the kiddos were up super early (thank you, daylight savings time), it was dreary looking outside, and we needed something fun to do, so we took a spur-of-the-moment trip to the children's museum.
The kids did the usual things first . . . light pegs, trains, milking the cow, hanging like bats, pretending to be veterinarians, cooking, etc.
Then we checked out the new dino exhibit. It was pretty fun! Neither of my kids are super into dinosaurs right now (or have ever been), but they enjoyed looking at the kid-height replicas, dressing in dinosaur costumes, sitting in a dinosaur nest, digging for fossils, playing with dinosaurs, tracing, and drawing. I kid you not -- Buttercup had her fingers in the T-rex's nostrils about 0.2 seconds before I took this picture. She does this all the time and I will get evidence of it some day!!
I know her face is saying, "Mom, why did you make me wear this?!!" but honestly she really did this to herself. :-)
Oliver's awesome dinosaur drawing: 
Building a food chain:
We ended our visit with Buttercup's favorite and Oliver's least favorite -- story and music time! I'm with Oliver on this one . . . story time at the museum is usually boring, but this morning the museum hosted Staci Gray, who is one of the best kids' entertainers I've seen. She is animated, lively, engaging and knows how to please a crowd of wily toddlers and preschoolers! 
And then there were bubbles. Lots and lots of bubbles. :-) 
Last week, Oliver got a new Lego magazine in the mail. Each issue has a building challenge, where kids are given a theme to create with Legos, and then they can mail in pictures of their creations. The top 5 winners get Lego gift cards.
Oliver has never wanted to do the building challenge before (too many other fun things to do, I guess!), but when I told him that this issue's theme is "Christmas scene," he said, "Oh, I need to get to work on that right away!" Ha ha ha.
I thought it was going to take him a while to decide what to do, but in typical Oliver fashion he knew exactly what he was going to build, how he was going to build it, and which pieces he would need. About 25 minutes later, this is what he created!
Note: the chimney also has a guard and a control panel, to keep the bad guys away from the tree. :-)
Putting some final touches on the tree:
A cold front blew in on Wednesday night, and it was COLD when we woke up Thursday morning! The kids were so excited that they not only got to wear jeans to school, but also got to wear long-sleeved shirts. I have never seen them so excited about getting dressed, ha ha.
Oliver picked out his FrankenPerry shirt to wear (to match his stuffed Perry that he brought for show-and-tell), and Buttercup picked out her new Thomas the Train shirt. :-)
Hooray that it's not 100 degrees outside!
Today we did another fun science experiment. I really liked this one, and Oliver also thought it was pretty neat even though the principles were way over his head. :-)
To do this one, you'll need:
a few bright, shiny pennies
a cereal bowl
a paper towel
white vinegar (about 1/4 cup)
First, Oliver drew a picture of the clean, shiny pennies.
Then he helped me fold the paper towel into a square and placed it in the bottom of the bowl. Next, he poured vinegar on the paper towel -- just enough to saturate it but not leave a puddle of vinegar. 
Finally we set the pennies on the paper towel and set it aside. I asked Oliver what his prediction was, and he said, "They'll get really big, from osmosis!" Ha ha ha! I love that he still remembers the gummy bear experiment. :-D 
Ten hours later, this is what we found. The pennies were still the same size, but the tops of the pennies were turning green! This is because the copper reacted with the acetic acid in the vinegar to make a blueish green chemical (called carbon acetate, in case you were wondering). 
Because the chemical reaction needs oxygen to work, only the tops changed colors. The underside of the pennies were still pristine. :-) 
Today I was wishfully thinking of cold weather again, and prepared vegetarian chili for dinner. I even used dried beans (instead of canned) and simmered them on low for a couple of hours so the house would smell like fall . . . but alas, it was 80 degrees again today. Still better than 100+ though!
Hopefully we'll have some long-lasting fall weather soon.
A cool front blew in a couple of days ago, and the chilly weather always puts me in the mood for baking and making fun holiday-themed crafts.
But first, here's a cutie with a pumpkin!
I made pumpkin bread (using my recipe for banana bread), and also made pumpkin cookies based on this recipe from Oatmeal Mountain. I bought butterscotch chips to use, but the kids and I were at Walmart yesterday and I found these new M&Ms to use instead:
The M&Ms are good, but they're really, really sweet. Almost too sweet. They also didn't really taste like candy corn, so I'm not sure why they're called candy corn M&Ms?
Anyway, I smashed them up and used them in the cookies, and I really like the way they came out. I'm not a very good cookie-baker, but the cookies came out to be very light and very tasty. 
The kids and I also made some cute crafts. Of course my hubby teases me that I like doing crafts more than the kids do, but I think they really liked these. :-)
The first one is a leaf/tree craft. You'll need leaves, pipe cleaners, and 2 toilet paper tubes (or 1 paper towel tube, cut in half). Poke several holes between the middle and top of the tube. Cut the pipe cleaners into thirds, then poke a pipe cleaner through the bottom of each leaf, then poke the other end through a hole in the tube. 
Our leaves are all dry and brown thanks to the never-ending drought, so I plan to redo this craft if we ever get enough rain for the leaves to change colors!We also made handprint spiders . . . 
. . . and ghosts. Boo!
