Another week and more fun. We've got a lot planned this week but so far for Monday it's been a pretty chill day. We ate breakfast and did some schoolwork my schedule was done a bit our of order I will blame it on my husband being home.

We spent about 2 hours at the beach but later than normal grabbed a pizza for lunch and then some chill time. The boys played in the pool while I cooked dinner (We got one at Toys R Us on sale). Then it was time for bath and then we made lava lamps at the end of the day.

Materials:
Water Bottles (We already had some)
Cooking Oil ($1.50)
Food Coloring (Left over from bouncy balls)
Water (free)
Alka Seltzer Tabs (I got generic ones from Walmart for ($2.57) 

Step 1: Fill the water bottle 2/3 full with cooking oil
Step 2: Fill it up the rest of the way with water
Step 3: Add desired food coloring
Step 4: Add Alka Seltzer

Make sure that you do not put the lid back on the water bottle the pressure needs to escape. Putting the lid on will cause the pressure to be too much.

The best part about this is that you can always just add the tabs again as you want to add it to your daily craft schedule but might not have the time to do a full craft.

Here are the results of our lava lamps.

This is right before we added another tab. Aiyden is giving a thumbs up!

Scotty giving a thumbs up for his to go again!!

Watch them bubble up

Bubbling with the Alka Seltzer Tabs

We started asking them questions about oil and water and making this a real experiment and learning opportunity. Some of these are questions you ask during the experiment and others you can ask during or after. Make it a real lesson but fun....or just make it because it's cool

1. Why don't oil and water mix? 
2. Let's talk about density.
3. What happens when you add water to the plastic bottle? Why do you think this occurs? 
4. What happens when you add the food coloring to the bottle? Why do you think this occurs? 
5. What happens when you add the Alka-Seltzer to the bottle? Why do you think this occurs? 
6. What experiments did you perform on the closed soda bottle (twisting, shaking, etc.)? What did you notice during each trial?
7. Does the temperature of the water affect the reaction? 
8. Does the size of the bottle affect how many blobs are produced?
9. Does the effect still work if the cap is put on the bottle?
   Does the size of the tablet pieces affect the number of blobs created?

1.

We had a really good day. A great way to start the week. Tomorrow is full of more fun including $1 movies, free bowling, moon sand and night bowling. Until Next Time!!!

Friday is SCIENCE DAY!!!

Hello all this is science day and my kids are really excited. On the agenda will be the library and a geocache of course. My oldest has to make up his piano lesson tomorrow.I totally forgot it was Thursday thank goodness the piano teacher is going to make it up for him. We have a little school works and some pool time too!!!

So we are going to do a few things today and I will of course include pictures: 

1. Watch soap expand, 
2. Explode some plastic bags, 
3. Watch the progress of our eggs sitting in vinegar (that will be done sometime next week)  
4. Update on our potato heads. I am amazed that they are growing hair/grass already. (with pictures of course) 

AMAZING SOAP EXPANSION!!! So we are have watched our soap expand in the microwave and the kids loved it!!!! It's really cool  how the soap expands and when you rip it open the soap was soft on the inside according to the kids. I thought that it was going to overtake the microwave but it was okay. 

The first bar or soap we cut up

It looks really cool when it's done

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is up close to see the texture, we took some off of the plate as you can see

Now tip remember this only works with Ivory. I tried to find why it does this but I could not find a scientific reason although my son kept asking, he's very inquisitive and is actually going to science camp in July. If you know a reason please leave a note in the comment section. Clearly I am not a science teacher.

Exploding Plastic Bags!!! This was a fun one. The kids loved it. What you will need: 

1. Zip lock Bags (Sandwich size) 
2. Vinegar (1/2 cup)
3. Water (1/4 cup) 
4. Baking soda (1 tablespoon)
5. Toilet Paper or Paper towels

Now the original instructions were okay but we wanted the bags to blow up faster in the end. Add water and vinegar to bag. Put baking soda into the paper towel and wrap up. We held it in the corner and then when we went outside we laid them on the ground and waiting for the reaction. The faster that the baking soda combines with the vinegar and water the quicker the bag will explode. 

My husband and kids were having a contest so they shook the bag quickly and sat it down and then bang, the bag burst.  I plan on doing this one again on Sunday so I will add pictures then.

Vinegar and Eggs!!! they are progressing nicely we are watching the egg shell little by little disintegrate. The kids check this at least a few times today. 

Potato Grass Heads are growing quite quickly  

This is 4 days after

This is 5 days after

We have had a lot of fun this week! Enjoy some of the fun activities. 

Sometimes It's the Little things

My son asked me if we could go watch the sunrise on the beach. Interesting for an 8 year old but of course I said yes. So we woke up early and took a nice 30 minute walk on the beach. Then the three of us sat and chatted about what else we were going to do and other silly things that 8 and 5 year old come up with. It was a beautiful morning with my boys.

I was on Yelp and found a cute little diner with all kinds of good reviews. We had pancakes and OJ and under $15 with the tip. Sometimes it's the little things that the kids love to do most. Walks on the beach running from waves, pancakes (which were HUGE) and a drive 10 minutes back home. These little guys know to melt my heart.

Starting my new blog...a little about me

I have been wanting to start a blog for a long time now but I can never find the time. But then I thought well I'm gonna find the time because there are other busy "super moms" out there that might want to hear what I have to say or not...its for me.

I am a working mother of two amazing little boys ages 8 and 5 and a wife to an amazing, supportive husband (and  my best friend). I am a high school math teacher, a varsity volleyball coach, and are becoming more involved with our church each week. My kids are involved in piano, soccer, basketball, run club and church. We live in North Central Florida (confusing I know) but we are relocated from Southern California. The past two years have been full of moving and change but now that we are settled I feel like now is the time for me to start my blog. 
 

I am also a transitioning natralista (that would be my hair for those of you who are not sure what that is) so that is a journey within itself. #teamnatural I love my kids, I love my new church, crafting is relieving and of course finding different things on pinterest of course.  
The past year has been full of growth, and many many blessings. The confidence that I have now I did not have as a mom in my twenties. As I am confident and truly happy I am excited to share my experiences, and journey. 

How to make your own Bouncy Balls

Science and Fun was the goal of this project. We watched the materials react and got some nice new bouncy balls. I have enough ingredients to make 20 more too!!!

So the ingredients are:

• ½ Cup Warm Water
• 1 Tb Borax
• 1 Tb of Cornstarch
• 2 Tb White Liquid Glue
• Food coloring
• Optional: Disposable rubber gloves (we just got messy instead) 

1. In a cup mix the warm water and the borax.
2. In another cup mix the glue, cornstarch, and food coloring.
3. Pour the glue mixture into the water-borax cup.
4. The glue mixture will harden after 10 seconds; use a fork to take it out of the water. If the glue mixture is still sticky, squish it with your hands and dip it back in the water.
5. Roll the mixture in your hands to make a ball. The more you handle the mixture the firmer it will become.
6. You are done!

The boys had a blast making this one!!!

Ingredients!!! 

Water and Borax Done

We mixed the Glue Cornstarch and Dye Together and then added liquid mixture

 

Now we have bouncy balls!!! 

 I hope that you use this fun inexpensive activity the kids had a blast!!!

Potato Grass Heads

Well Lets talk about some of the projects we have done this week. We made our potato heads on Monday and we are waiting for the grass to start growing through the pantyhose. that was a great find. Little boys playing in dirt and grass seeds was a total winner.








So to make this work we had potting soil and grass seeds into panty hose then you tie the ends. I do not have pictures of the faces but I will do that when I write my update. I found this one on Pinterest and though that it was so cute http://www.redtedart.com/2012/04/04/kids-crafts-grass-heads/  This link will show you how to do it!!!

 This is how they looked all finished the boys had a blast doing these. One key is to make sure they are really sheer. The ones I had seem to be practically water proof. I got knee high from Walmart for $0.57 the seeds were $5 and I had the soil from and earlier project.

Potato Grass Heads Complete

I am sure I will be able to find a way to use the extras later on this summer.

Week 1 Day 1

Here is our list:

Having a list is turning out to work better so that the kids know what we are doing and hold us to do something productive. 

First we went on our geocache journey. This is really cool Geocaching (www.geocaching.com) is a really cool site that has cool places right in your backyard. We did not find the geocache but we had lots of fun on our walk 

So you find a place in the list and use your GPS/compass on the phone to see if you can find it. There are boxes or containers of some sort and you sign the log and you can leave something or trade something for the box. We decided on stickers for our journeys this summer. Like I said before we didn't find it but it sure was fun looking. The boys had a blast looking for it. 












And it is summer but we do have to keep our minds working. So we had to do our summer work and reading. 

My kids will be entering 3rd grade and kindergarten in the fall and I need to make sure we do not slack in the summer. 

Now all we have left to do is our craft project of the day.

Lego Decor

This is the lego wall all finished the kids like posing for pictures in front of it.

Table cloths and plastic plates (It cost me $6 to make this) 

After the kids made their race cars they were given a pit pass. I made these myself and everything is editable.

Up close picture of #8 on the lego plate. 

Goody Bags with paper dots.  I used a large

I made these and pronted them on card stock. I hung them up all around the food table.

Love the water bottle labels. The easy part was that I discovered "glue dots" this made this very easy to do.

My food tents were also super cute I printed them on card stock.

We sorted all of the car parts into zip lock bags and placed them inside the lego bags.

                                Happy Lego faces. I am no artist so I googled lego faces and looked at the inages and copied some of the faces

These are two of the activity sheets that I gave the kids to do. There are many lego coloring pages. Just google and look for the one you want and print it out. 

This Lego guy is large but that is because we played "pin he head on the lego.







This is where the head was supposed to be we played this like and other game. Blindfold spin and let them go. I found the lego head and it also became another activity. The kids had so much fun decorating their faces. 

One thing that I realize about my new blog is that you cannot upload documents to this website. BUT I have copies of everything. Just shoot me and email and I have no problem sending it to you. 

Thank and I hope you enjoyed out Lego Movie Birthday Party. 

Lego Movie Birthday and Sleepover

So it's time again for another birthday party. When I lived in California John's Incredible Pizza was our place to go. I pay them and they take care of everything. Last year was our first year in Florida and my son had a questionable teacher (as an educator I was appalled by her behavior) but the fact the she "FORGOT" to give out his invitations was not only disappointing but devastating for a kid 3000 miles away from all of his family. So this year we are trying to make up for that and have a small sleepover here at the house. 

My husband keeps calling me a nerd for all of the things that I am coming up with to do and set everything up. Let me not take all the credit. Many ideas came from Pinterest and a few other mommy blogs but I will have links, pictures and downloads from things that I created. Let me first say that all that you see was done for about $150 for EVERYTHING....mommy's on a budget can still have an amazing party. So let's see how we celebrate Eight 8!! 


Let's start........

I got the lego plate at the lego store added clips and yard to hang and welcome our guests!!! 

Once our guests arrived they were able to take a picture at a in front of our lego wall. The lego wall was made from table cloths and plastic colored plates. 

The Birthday Boy being a little goofy before everybody arrives.

 Decor can also be games too. Our first game was located as our friends came in. We had "How many legos are in the jar?" 

I used different sized legos and used a food tent for the the questions.

 
 The boys all had a blast writing and guessing how many were in the jar. The kid who was closest got a prize from the prize jar.

 

 

 

 

 

Food Table

 It was a Lego Movie Party so we ended up watching the movie to close out the the night so we had different kinds of popcorn and goodies for the whole party.

Pop corn containers for each kid and juice of course.

Gotta have movie candy

Cupcakes with "lego blocks" on top Homemade

I usually order and amazing cake from Kay Lady Cakes (Check them out on Facebook if you live in California) but we moved to Florida so I had to DIY on my own. 

These guys were pretty simple and a huge hit. I had never worked with candy melts before but it was super simple. I used a food marker to add the faces!

Pretzels are always loved by kids add candy melts and sprinkles and you are good to go. They have every color imaginable. Again a huge hit and my first time working with candy melts. 

Rainbow Jello!!!! Not the best picture but it's layered red, blue and orange (I didn't want any yucky flavors) Leave time for them to fully set before adding next layer would be my only advice. 

The kids loved the veggies and fruit. They ate it with their pizza. I let them each make their own pizza slices.

The goody bag had large dots to make them look like legos. The large number 8 I had from when I took my son to take his birthday pictures. The large blue box was out prize box. 

I should have gotten a better picture of the lego decor on the wall. I made them myself and printed them on different color card stock.













The kids had a blast. We did the lego guessing game. Then the colored a lego man. i got to be the judge of who was the best, the did a lego birthday maze and and then the decorated lego heads and played pin the head on the lego man....that was lots of fun. 

They loved the coloring and the mazes. I had them inside of their lego bags. 

They decorated their own lego heads and we took a picture in front of the lego wall before "pinning" the heads on the lego man. 

Each one of the kids had a baggy of legos and had to "construct" their own cars. 

Getting a tub of parts at the lego store was way cheaper then buying the cars at a store. And the boys had fun picking out the different parts. 





They raced them down a track I made of poster board and duck tape (checkered and red) 

After all of the games they made their pizza, fruit and veggies. We sang happy birthday and then it was movie time. We had three different kinds of popcorn: Caramel, Butter and Cheddar. Each kid had their own popcorn bucket and filled it up. I moved some of the goodies near the TV and the kids really enjoyed the movie. 

My son says it was his best birthday ever. I consider it a SUPER success and an AWESOME party. 


All of the printables that I used are going to be in my next post!!