100 Daze

If December is hands-down the busiest month of the year, I would like to nominate February for a close second place.  It seems we jammed so many "holidays" in that we had a hodge podge of decor and directions. First there was the holiday that mainly parents with a newish mortgage and mulitple children can really celebrate-- Tax Day.   As a change of pace this year, I tried to pace myself and wait a little longer than usual.  Well, I couldn't help myself  and parked on the computer to "just get started and gather the paperwork."  By 12:30am, I was doing my "let's go on a vacation" dance, which is only because it was dark outside and I couldn't see the dreary wasteland that is our backyard.  Oh well, maybe if we start early, we can camp back there this summer.
With the taxes done, I was ready for some old-fashioned parent involvement.  We started with Noah's Animal Report.  He chose the African Elephant.  The teachers have the kids do all the research and writing of the report during class, we only had to build an habitat box displaying his animal.  He made his own elephant from clay and this is the finished project:

Yes, that is the sun setting over the Savannah and the elephant is stripping bark from that Acadia Tree. 

As you can see it was truly a work of art, perfect for adorning the school library.

Next holiday up.... THE 100TH DAY OF SCHOOL.  I think a party is in order.  Each K-2 kid was supposed to make a poster with 100 things.  Our family's favorite was Mrs. Willcocks-- she posted 100 identical pictures of Mr. Brad (her husband).  Caitlyn and I worked feverishly to cut 100 ladybugs for her poster.  Here is her finished product.  I got to go to class for the big party and there were hundreds of things to do.  Luckily for me, I landed a spot at the treat sorting station for a while.

Whew... yes friends, we did all that on a Thursday afternoon.  While I was basking in the Kool-Aid mommyness of it all, there was a very mediocre dinner and a giant headache, but I did sleep very well that night.

You might suspect the usual holidays loomed.  By Friday, we were all on to Valentines and more parties-- and sugar.  We made tons of cookies and treats to add to all the tasty classroom sugar  we were anticipating.  By the time Valentines rolled around, we were sick of cookies-- we'll try again for St. Patrick's Day.

After Valentine's, it was the school science fair.  Suspecting that this was not required by Ben's teacher, his mother encouraged him to participate-- STRONGLY.  He decided to study gum.  Yes, what is better than combining science with something a kid can really love.  We tested different brands of fruity gum to see which flavor lasted the longest.  We chewed and chewed and chewed until our jaws were sore.  Well more me than the kiddies, I am out of shape in that respect.  It was really fun to see the results that we came up with(If you are into fruity gum, go for the Trident Layers-- it lasted a full hour longer than regular Trident and a bunch of other brands).  I had to really hold back from suggesting we do a cost & weight analysis, talk to a food chemist and a bunch of over the top extras-- who knew that moms want to do science too?  I will put a mom science fair on my list (with scout requirements) of things moms would have fun with. There were a lot of amazing projects at the fair and Ben was selected to go to district competition.


District was held at the high school and let's be honest there is something about being at the high school when you are a kids that makes you feel-- BIG.  I really can't believe some of the science -- real science-- that we saw at the fair.  There were calorimetry experiments and genetics-- by the 5th and 6th graders, WOW.   Ben's poster looked good and he must have interviewed well because he was chosen to go the Regional Science fair.  Viva GUM!   We all enjoyed the fair and went to get ice cream with Gma & Gpa afterwards.  It was fun and exhausting--Cait fell asleep on Gma's lap, at the ice cream shop.

There was President's Day , when we talked about airplanes and our cousins going to Chile more than presidents. With no school, our grandma came and played for the afternoon to keep her mind off planes and and airports and such.

Last, but not least was the ramping up for the elementary school favorite.... Dr. Seuss's birthday.  We have read every Dr. Seuss that we own several times and celebrated heartily when we found the lost copy we just paid for at the library.  Should be enough there for a couple months of overdue books.  I love benefiting the community with my forgetful brain.  Happy February!