february 2013 photo dump

Happy Spring, Happy Easter, Happy Weekend!

Alison

january 2013 photo dump

Well, I really enjoyed doing the "friday photo dumps" but it was a little to demanding for me some weeks so I decided to quit doing it.  I think the monthly photo dumps should work fine for me this year so here is January's (in March).  Except I had to do two of them because I had too many pictures...

What a BEAUTIFUL day here today!  The kids are playing outside after school in light jackets!  Needless to say, we are HAPPY about it!

Here's what else is going on...
      ...potty training, company, school work, baseboards and door trim, painting, garden planning, recital practice, bike-bike riding, yoga stretches, more work and more play (in no particular order).

Except, of course, work comes BEFORE play, most of the time, except when it doesn't.

As always and ever,
Alison

Sunday Evening...

We have started a new Sunday evening tradition around here!  Along with Daddy's kettle corn, the kids have been taking turns helping me make juice.  Tonight was Maya's turn to help.  This juice consists of beets, carrots, kale, cilantro, apples and lemons.  Then we add a little club soda to give it some zip!  IT IS SO GOOD!  Beets are excellent for blood purifying and building.  It's a good way to start a new week!

A few years ago, Randy planted 2 rows of beets in the garden and I was beside myself trying to figure out what to do with all those beets.  I'd had enough so we didn't plant any the next few years.  Now we are already planning on planting (yes) 2 rows of beets this year.  Can't get much better than eating them fresh out of the garden and raw in our juice.  Yum!

And, speaking of "Yum", be sure to stop by our friend Kari's new site at gi365.info.  She has some wonderful, healthy recipes to share.  I will be enjoying these recipes because I've always wanted to be able to cook/bake like Kari. :)  Check out her blog Gourmet Innovations: A food, adventure and lifestyle blog and let her know you stopped by.

So here is the beet juice recipe (for our family of six) for anyone who may be interested...

Sunday Evening Juice

3 med beets-thouroughly washed but not peeled
4-6 carrots depending on size-washed but not peeled
1 bunch of kale washed
1 handful of cilantro washed
3-4 medium apples washed and decored
1-2 lemons depending on size-cut of skins

Run the veggies and fruit through a juicer.  Roll the kale and cilantro into balls as you work them through.  Serve with club soda.

Have a great week,
Alison and family

P.S. Daddy's Kettle Corn recipe coming soon someday...

Different Strokes...

Colter is LOVING swimming these days!  He started lessons in January and just finished up with them today.  Here are some pictures of him today doing his strokes...

And this little girl has been LOVING watching her brother at the pool!  She practices her strokes in the bathtub in the mornings!  To cute...

During Colter's lesson's they leave open a couple lap swim lanes for lap swimmers.  I watch with great envy as they gracefully speed through the water!  SO wish I could swim like that!  What great excersize it would be!

I seriously have to get Colter to teach me someday... if only I could get over my dislike of having water up my nose.  Yeah...

Different strokes for different folks.

Keep up the good work Colter!

somoas and more-oas

Oh dear!  It's that time of year.  Just when I said, a couple of posts ago, that I was doing better this year at making healthier decisions... these had to show up yesterday!  Yes, the Samoas are my favorite but I like all the others too!  How about you? 

 Maya's been really enjoying Brownies this year.  Kyla's been helping out with the troop this year too.  It's been a fun (only twice a month) activity for them enjoy.

Little Miss Brownie herself bought her own boxes of Samoas.  I had to laugh at the little note she posted on her boxes- "Daddy Do not eat them they are Mayas"  She knows her Daddy well! heehee

I'm kinda surprised she didn't put "Mommy" on the note too...

Happy Wednesday, Me

Supercooled Instant Heat!

Here is something that has been going on here lately.  Kyla has been participating in sixth grade science fair this year.  The picture above shows her conducting her experiment.  I will share her abstract as it is a condensed version of her project and experiment...

Abstract

Kyla

What if you could somehow bring a liquid to temperatures below its freezing point without it actually freezing?  Could you then initiate freezing at these temperatures? What if the freezing point was actually “warm”?  Sodium Acetate hand warmers provide a “supercool” window into studying crystal growth and heat generation at this freezing point.

In this experiment, I changed starting temperatures of hand warmers to understand the effect on crystal growth and heat generation.  My hypothesis was, if I change the starting temperature of the hand warmers, then the hand warmers started at zero degrees Celsius will have the most crystal growth and the hand warmers started at forty degrees Celsius will have the most heat generation. 

With the intention of testing this, I conducted six trials each at three different temperatures.  Using water baths, I changed the temperatures of the hand warmers.  With a ruler and an infrared thermometer, I measured the crystal growth and heat generation.  My independent variable was the starting temperature of the hand warmers and my dependent variable was the crystal growth (centimeters) and heat generation (Celsius).  As a result, I proved my hypothesis correct.

The most interesting thing I learned was that freezing doesn’t necessarily mean something is “cold”, but instead the point at which a liquid crystallizes.  If conducting this experiment again, I would test further starting temperatures and the amount of energy released.  This experiment was well worth the effort I put into it, because of the “supercool” things I learned.


Last week Kyla participated in her school Science Fair, today she is participating in the County Science Fair and next week she will be headed to State Science Fair in Missoula.  Fun times...

Good Luck Kyla! 

  *************

This just in!

Here is our County Sixth Grade Science Fair Reserve Champion! ;)

Good Job Kyla!

2006 Album Begins...

So, tonight I started on my 2006 album pages.

Here is my title page (above).

Picmonkey has some amazing new goodies for spring!

Happy to be scrapping,

Alison

Dear Bloggy Checkers,

Some of you voted for me to have a chocolate party in January, after I met my goal of going choc-free for the entire year of 2012.  It would have been a great idea if only 4/6 of our family hadn't come down with the flu during the weeks following the New Year.  The other two of us (at right) ran to Costco one evening for groceries and had a quick celebration in the Costco Food Quart.  We shared a nutty chocolate ice cream bar and a chocolate frozen yogurt.  Yum!  So... that was our party.  Just glad to have everyone healthy again and I'm glad to be enjoying chocolate again.  It was a good year for me.  Mostly because I was making healthier decisions.  I'm trying to carry that through to this new year too!  So, off to Costco we will go to pick up some fresh veggies and fruit.  And... we will avoid the food court on our way out.  WE WILL! :)

 
Cheers!  Alison