What can you make with spaghetti and marshmallows?

Joshua and Brian read a wonderful Usborne book entitled, 100 Science Experiments. They decided do one of the experiments that involved making stuctures out of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows. Joshua made several different stuctures and even tried to build a tower strong enough to hold a toy car. Brian was able to help build one tower, but it was a little challenging for him. Lucas was wanting to be right there in the middle of the action.

This is the structure with a piece of paper on it on which he was going to place the car. Will the building stand?

It could not withstand the weight of the car. So sad. We will try another day....

Christmas Pancakes Anyone?

I decided to make some special pancakes for each of the boys for Christmas Eve.  Each boy had a pancake in the shape of his initial and a Christmas tree pancake.  Find your favorite recipe for pancakes, place in a bottle with a nozzle (kind of like a restaurant ketchup bottle). I found one at WalMart in the cooking section for less than $1.  Warm up the pan and make the shapes that they want.  It's pretty easy and they loved it! Yummy!

If You Build It, They Will ...Eat It

 

 

Here is Joshua starting with the icing.  He was the project supervisor.

 

 

 

  Brian was in charge of the candy and where it should go. 

 

 

    

 

 

                               The finished product! 

  Lucas was not happy until it was time to EAT the gingerbread house. 

How to Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

I found a wonderful post on The Simple Dollar about making your own liquid laundry detergent and thought that I would give it a try.  The cost per load for a front-loading washing machine is only about 1 cent and a little over 2 cents for a top-loading machine.  It turned out wonderfully, but it didn't start off so well.  I started the water boiling on the stove while I helped Joshua shred the soap.  I looked up and out of the corner of my eye I saw flames!  I had caught my hot pads on fire by turning on the wrong burner.  Keith was sick and was soaking in the tub trying to feel better when I yelled out, "I'm on fire!"  I have no idea why I said that, but it came out.  I quickly poured some water on the hot pads, turned off the burner and all was safe.  Joshua told me, "Wow, that's the first fire we had."  I took this as an opportunity to "teach" the kids what to do in case of a fire. :) Ahh, teachable moments...

Update:  I have used this detergent for a little over 2 months and it cleans wonderfully.  The clothes look, smell, and feel clean.  I think I may still be able to use this batch for at least another month (for a family of 5).

Small House Movement?

We live in a 3 bedroom, one bathroom home with 1350 square feet and no garage.  We have 5 people in our family and 4 of us are there almost all of the time, since we home school.

I recently read a blog post on The Simple Dollar about The Small House Movement.  It was what I needed.  I get antsy sometimes and want to try to buy a larger home or build an addition onto our existing home, but I forget the long term benefits of our smaller, more modest home.  We are able to pay off this home much quickly and save thousands of dollars in interest and taxes than in a larger, more expensive home.  We have been able to pay off nearly half of the value of our home, and may be able to pay it off within 7 years!  Yay! 

We are also being green by staying in a smaller home which uses less electricity and gas.  I like that!  I don't know if I agree with Trent that it is easier to clean.  I think it is easier to get cluttered with things, so I have to constantly be evaluating the benefit of having something inside our home.  It does force us to live with less things, which is also a money-saver!  Hooray for our little home!

Science Center Trip

We were in St. Louis for an eye appointment, so we took the opportunity to go to the the St. Louis Science Center for the day. We hadn't been there for a while. It was a beautiful day and we were able to play and learn outside as well as inside. We got to see two science shows. The first was the Science of "Peeps" (the marshmallow candy). They did a lot of different things to the peeps and compared the end result to the control peep. The boys were amazed at what the liquid nitrogen did to the peep and then they got to feel the floor after the instructor poured some on the floor. Dry and cold...very unexpected.

Joshua got to volunteer in the second science demonstration about Carbon Monoxide. He turned the crank to make electricity for light bulbs. They compared different types of light bulbs. Joshua did such a great job ;) that they gave him a compact florescent bulb to take home. He is currently using it in his room. He was disappointed that we had "the wrong kind of light bulb" in his closet. He is going to help us be Green one light at a time! :)

The St. Louis Science Center is free and if you are ever in the area, I would highly recommend it.   Find out what is in your area and have an adventure!

A Couple of Big Turkeys

Joshua and Brian made these beautiful turkeys to decorate our Thanksgiving table out of a Pringles can. Their dad said he made a Pilgrim and Native American out of cans as a child. I looked for a template online and could not find one, but I found this site that offered a cute turkey template. They had a blast doing this!