What's in My Kitchen?

I walked in my kitchen this morning and suddenly realized that we had multiple science experiments all over the counters. We have potatoes soaking in three different solutions, an egg in corn syrup, an egg in water, a glass jar with some funny blue solution, and a jar of dirt mixture.

We also have Whitney who is still obsessed with acorns. I opened my backpack at school this week and, while reaching for a pen, pulled out part of her acorn collection. That was certainly interesting! One of her new interests is dissecting beans every time we have a meal with them. I never have to worry about her curiosity for life.

I guess you can say that we've definitely covered several science concepts this week!

Never a Dull Moment

The new kitties crept into the bird cage this week and tried to have a little dove stew. One of the doves has a nice little wound on the side of her neck. I'll spare everyone and not post the photo. The girls are having a hard enough time looking at it without being queasy. We definitely need a volunteer to participate in the dove bathing.

Playing in the Mud

Jordann is learning about sedimentation and erosion in this week's science unit. She just completed an experiment with sedimentation which required her to collect dirt from the yard. She was really thrilled to be doing this particular lab in the middle of winter!


The actual experiment took all day because every time Whitney walked past the jar she couldn't resist shaking it all up again!

Fanciful Living

Jordann was busy this week creating her work of fiction. I think she's been listening to all the current events surrounding our world lately. I love the imagination and creativity!

Happy Birthday Shelby!

Today Shelby celebrates her 17th birthday! She is turning into a lovely young woman and we are so proud of all the accomplishments she has made! Best wishes from your family!

A Trip to the Vet

Shelby and I spent the morning at the vet with our black lab, Snitch.

This is the second time this winter that he's developed a cough. After a week of coughing, I decided it was time to take him in. I was hoping for a simple visit, but that was not to be the case....

The vet has determined that Snitch has an enlarged heart and very irregular heartbeat, as well as a bronchial infection. He was put on some steroids and we are hopeful that this will clear the infection and that the heart condition will not cause him too much distress. He's a happy dog and shows no signs of illness, so he's a tough boy! The vet would like us to monitor his heart rate, so today we learned how to take a dog's pulse. That should be lots of fun for the kids to do! I can see we'll be learning some anatomy and math for this canine heart monitoring.

I think the vet's office charges more than a M.D. What an expensive visit today....$275! Let's hope he stays well for awhile.

Happy New Year!

Well, this is it….the beginning of blogging life. I'll see how easy this will be to keep up or if, like other photo/scrapbooking projects, it gets cast to the side. I am planning on working on all that procrastination stuff this year!

Speaking of procrastination, it is the time of year to make resolutions and plans for 2009. This year my main goal is to make it a point to keep in touch with family, friends, and acquaintances. As the kids have all gotten older and, definitely more busy, I find it is harder to find 5 seconds to myself, let alone 5-10 minutes. So….communication is something I'm going to make an effort to do, even if it means locking myself in the bathroom with my laptop!

Life with four girls is always full of drama! Sometimes lots of drama….

Megan is now 19 years old and learning how to balance working and attending college. She's grateful to be living at home where her family still fixes her meals, cleans her dishes and clothes, and walks behind her picking up all of her "stuff". We're still working on teaching her the necessary life skills to support a family one day. I won't give up hope yet! We are delighted to still have her at home and spending time with her sisters and family. The lesson she learned this week is that parts to fix her car are much cheaper at the junkyard than through the dealer. Megan escapes all the auto repairs while her dad and Shelby end up spoiling her by rummaging through the junkyard. Shelby should be a master mechanic by the time she finishes fixing up her sister's car!

Shelby is busy as an 11^th grader attending virtual high school and spending time instant messaging all her friends. She would love to spend her day in front of the computer from sunrise to sunset, but we make sure to annoy her enough to make sure she has other hobbies. She is still pondering which major she would like to pursue at college – nutrition or kinesiology seem to be her choices at this point. Shelby is a terrific cook and spends lots of time making delicious foods from all her Paula Deen recipes. Shelby and Jordann continue to take guitar lessons each week and are both learning excellent music theory from a very talented teacher.

Jordann is leaning over my shoulder as I type, so I'm sure she's planning on editing her section! LOL. I think Jordann spends most of her day trying to escape the clutches of her little sister, Whitney. She's become a master at teasing her and sending her tattletaling to Mom. Jordann is a 7^th grader this year and we have immersed her in a classical education this year. She is an avid reader and reads countless books each month. She is fascinated with the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer, so I often have to hide all those books so she has nothing to distract her from her studies.

Whitney is eight, definitely going on eighteen! I definitely have my hands full with her. She cannot seem to sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time, so school is always a challenge with her. The one thing I have learned with Whitney is that she is a kinesthetic learner. This last week she was busy freezing black paper so she could run outside when it snowed and watch the crystal formation from the snowflakes. This weekend she was busy pulling apart kidney beans from the chili I was making so she could study the dicotyledons. The trick is finding enough things to keep her occupied before I'm exhausted!

Frank tries to escape all the drama and meltdowns by wrestling with his prized Siberian Husky, Demon. I think it's a match made in heaven!

I'll be returning to college in a week and I am excited that I have finally finished all of my core classes….especially since it has taken me 20 years to get this far! I'll be focusing on all the education classes necessary for teacher certification and passing all the PRAXIS exams. I'm sure it will be a very busy semester!

~Kim~