Parts of a Bean

We did several experiments from Janice VanCleave’s  Biology for Every Kid.  One of them, taught the boys about the parts of a bean.  We soaked beans overnight then dissected them to find all of the different parts of a bean. 

Osmosis Jones?

Joshua and Brian learned about osmosis through an experiment with raisins and water.  They both put a few raisins in a cup of water and let them sit for a day.  Today they looked at them and found them to be a lot larger and more plump.  They found that through the process of osmosis, the water had crossed through the raisins’ cell membranes and entered into the raisin, because water travels from greater concentration to an area of lesser concentration.  We found this experiment in Janice VanCleave’s Biology for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments that Really Work.   

                        Before                                                          After

Chore Chart

I found an idea for a chore/job chart on Martha Stewart’s website that was both interactive for the kids and myself.  The kids really have enjoyed it so far and I like the flexibility of changing their jobs based on what needs to be done in that particular day. 

I put all of the extra jobs on the top of the fridge and made labels for “morning,” “noon,” “evening,” and “complete.”  The boys love moving their jobs to complete and seeing what they “get to do” for the day:-)

I found the best price for 8.5 x 11 inch magnetic sheets at Michaels (3 for under $6.)  I only needed 2 sheets.  I made the background out of a piece of scrapbook paper that I glued onto the magnetic sheet.  I printed the jobs using a spreadsheet and printing them directly onto the magnetic sheet. 

What can $.90, plus tax, buy 3 boys?

An hour of fun!

Thank you, Michaels clearance rack!

Laptop Deconstruction and Bristle Blocks Construction

Sports Car Cake

Lucas turned 2 a few weeks ago.  When asked what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "Car!"   His favorite color is yellow. 

 

I decided to look up ideas on the internet and found a great post on how to make a Lightning McQueen Cake.  I took the principles and scaled it down to spending less than an hour carving and decorating the cake:-)  I also used the recipes (chocolate birthday cake and butter cake) found there and found the cakes were great to carve.  They were very dense, but still moist.  We learned that small pieces go a long way.  It was a very heavy cake, but had a good flavor.    

Here is the cake cut for serving.  I would highly recommend anyone giving this a try for your own racer’s birthday or special event!

Google Voice

I heard about Google Voice from a news report a few weeks before we were moving.  We had decided to drop our landline phone and try to use a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) instead.  This would potentially save us some money.  We were looking into using the magic jack for $20 a year.  After hearing about Google Voice, which is a free service, I signed up to be invited to be a part of it.  (Currently it is being used by invite only, but I was invited within a 3 weeks of requesting an invitation.)

Google voice also enables you to make a call from the Google voice website and it rings the phone of your choice.  Since I have US Cellular as my provider, I receive free incoming calls.  Therefore, I can make outgoing calls through Google voice and my cell phone is actually receiving them for FREE!  Yay!  I have not found any problems so far with using Google voice.  I would highly recommend this service. 

Here’s a review of Google voice:

Cool Universal Grocery List

I found a universal grocery list on Google docs that you can edit to what you buy at the store(s).  It’s easy to edit and print out…and best of all…free!   We are trying it out over the next few weeks and will report back as to the helpfulness of such a list.  I’d like to hear how you create your grocery list.  Let me know what works for you!