Monday, May 9, 2016

More in March

Pretty sunrise:


Katie's big 8th grade research project presentation:



What our family room looked like for a week after the science fair (the girls couldn't help taking apart the electronics even more!):

Sarah's 12th angelversary:


Later that day, I took the girls on a trip to downtown Detroit to see the musical "Matilda."  First, we went to Hard Rock Café for dinner:



It was a really good show, but our nosebleed seats made it hard to see and hard to hear.

A random trip to Knapp's Donuts:


Our first visit to DQ!!!


A normal receipt after a trip the library:


Megan's and Jessica's art were both selected for the district art fair!!  My little artists!!


With their art teacher, Mr. McConnell, who is the greatest!

A trip to DQ to celebrate the artists:


St. Patty's Day dinner, and a celebration b/c Chris came home from Brazil!

Friday, May 6, 2016

Science Fair

For the second year, I was in charge of the elementary school science fair.  Last year, I just went along with the usual plan - have kids display their posters in the cafeteria on the same night as the school's spring open house.  This year, I requested that the science fair be held on its own night - and got it!  We reserved the cafeteria for posters, and the gym for hands-on activities, and it was a jam-packed night of fun!

The extra crazy part to this (other than doing it alone) was that it was postponed due to a snow day, and got moved to Katie's birthday!  And Chris was in Brazil, so I was alone-alone!  But everything went amazingly well, and I've already been asked to organize it again next year!

Katie and her BFF Sarah managed the Oobleck table (cornstarch & water)

The "tinker table" was a huge hit...I got a bunch of electronics that were going to be recycled, and let kids take them apart!  Then all of the parts went into boxes/bags to be recycled afterwards.

More tinker table

Marble run corner - use toilet paper tubes to construct marble runs on the gym wall

Jessica ran her own station - robotics!!  She was a last-minute guest, because our featured guest of the night, the local middle school robotics club, backed out the day before the science fair (due to the coordinator's uncle's death).  Jess set up her robots, Dot and Dash, and let kids take a turn driving them.  Jess is amazing!

The rubber band and straw rocket table.  I had targets on one of the gym walls so kids could test out the rocket(s) they made

Astronomy art - kids got to draw a planet or constellation, or come up with one of their own!

More tinker table fun
 There were more stations I forgot to take pictures of - the Bean-ie baby table (grow a green bean seedling), the Static Electricity game, the popcorn table, etc.

Meg's science fair project!  How many rubber bands does it take to break a watermelon in half?

Jessi's science fair project!  How many drops fit on a penny (of water, juice, milk, etc)

I forgot to take a pic of Meg's planet poster that she did with some classmates at school.  Her planet was Neptune.  But I did get a pic of this project - kids had to change the lyrics of a song to help them learn the phases of the moon.  Meg's group chose "Stitches" and made up these lyrics.  To this day, when we hear that song we start singing her alternate lyrics!
Science Fair was awesome!  I was soooooo nervous beforehand, and soooooo tired after, but it was all worth it!  And now I have even more ideas for next year!

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Katie's 14th Birthday

We held Katie's "friend" party a day early, on a random day off of school.  The theme was Mall Scavenger Hunt!
Table décor and goodie bags = aka purses for shopping!

I took Katie and three friends to Somerset Collection for a mall scavenger hunt.  Katie found about 50 ideas (on Pinterest, of course) and the kids took turns drawing one, doing the activity, and taking a picture.  For example, high five a stranger, hug a palm tree, find something $9.99, try on red high heel shoes, etc.  They were each timed, and the kid with the fastest total time was the winner.

We went up and down the escalators over and over to get to the "right" store for a certain clue


All of the pictures of the activities are on Katie's phone, she'll have to post them.  It was a really fun way to spend a few hours at the mall!  The girls were competitive, yet helped each other out.  Meg & Jess helped as timekeepers.

Back at home, Katie opened presents,

ate cupcakes,

and played Bean Boozled!

Apparently this was a gross flavor

Nice face, Katie!

Meg & Jess made this sign for the party

Later that day, she got to open a ton of presents from family!






Birthday dinner at Sumo!!

Birthday cheesecake!  Then on to basketball practice!!

We did all of this the day before her birthday, because we were a little bit busy ON her birthday...see next post!

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Early March fun

We had another snow day in March, which meant another pajama day!  The girls finished their puzzle:


It was a HUGE snowstorm that shut down the schools!  (not!)

We met friends for sledding at the Bloomer Park hill later on that "snow day"



Here's a progression of Katie making a free throw:


Yay, Katie!  Even if your foot is over the line!

Chris had to leave for Brazil on his birthday, so we spread out the celebration over a few days:
Dinner and dessert at Kruse & Muer the night before

Sumo Sushi for lunch (plus the tempura cheesecake dessert, of course!)

Plus a birthday shake right before he left.  Happy 43rd, Chris!

As part of Sacrament preparations, we had to make a banner for Jessica's first communion.  One quick trip to Michael's, some craft glue, and we made: