Happy Easter!

Alleluia!  He is Risen!

Pinewood Derby Time!

RJ's Cub Scout Pack was on mlive.com Sunday!  If you look closely at the end of the video, you'll see him!

Video: Whoosh! It's Pinewood Derby time for Cub Scouts and their cool and crazy cars

Published: Sunday, April 17, 2011, 9:43 AM     Updated: Sunday, April 17, 2011, 10:00 AM

By Terri Finch Hamilton | The Grand Rapids Press The Grand Rapids Press

The whir of the wheels. The smell of fresh paint on pine. The cheers of 9-year-olds in the throes of race-day excitement.

T.J. Hamilton|The Grand Rapids Press Ready to race.

Cub Scouts across the land are taking part in the Pinewood Derby, a time-honored tradition -- it dates back to 1953 -- that starts with a simple block of wood and some wheels and ends with grins and trophies.

Boys ponder, saw, carve, sand, paint and tweak until their cars are ready for the big day.  Then the Scouts proudly stride in with their cars and the fun begins. Some are sleek, with flame decals and racing stripes. Some are disguised as dinosaurs with spiky backs. One ingenious kid (with help from his dad) carved his in the shape of bacon and eggs.

The agony! Your car came in last. Every time. The ecstasy! You won a trophy for wackiest design.

Winners advance to the district derby May 14.

Watch Pack 3219 as they competed at Northview Public School’s Highlands Middle School Saturday.

Get so close to the track with a shot from the “Derby Cam” you can smell the excitement. See a car piloted by Stitch. Hear the Lancaster twins tell how it’s not all about winning.

It might make you want to carve yourself a sweet little race car.

"Traveling" Around the World

During our homschooling season, we don't take a Christmas or Spring Break like public schools do, but we do take days off from "doing school" to go on educational outings or even just to run errands.  Since public schools were on Spring Break last week, I decided that we would change up our school routine and add some fun outings to our week along with a lighter schoolwork schedule.

I read that Cornerstone University's Psychology students were offering a "KidLab" in which the students could interact and observe kids in real-life play-based learning situations.  The kids would "travel" in groups of 10 to 4 different countries.  In each country, they would learn where that country is in the world and how large it is in comparison with the U.S.  The kids played games that kids in the country play and they had snacks that are popular in that country.  When they left one country to travel to the next, they would get their passports stamped, just like they would in real life.

We went to Israel first (I tagged along to help Megan because the program was geared to kids age 5-12).  Along with the basic geography lesson, the kids learned a little of the Hebrew alphabet.  They broke up into two groups and played the dreidel game for candies and chocolate coins.  RJ and Emily didn't do very well at the game, but had fun anyway.  While they were playing, they enjoyed a popular Israeli snack - pita bread with hummus - yum!

After we departed Israel, we went to the Philippines.  We learned that kids in the Philippines love to play tag - the kids were able to burn off a little energy and play a quick game of tag in the gym.  They then sat down and made a bracelet, and learned what the beads and symbols on the beads meant.  We had some pineapple for a snack and were on our way.  (Sadly, my pictures from the Philippines were too dark or blurry to post.)

We landed in Italy, where we talked about pasta, of course, and colored some coloring pages.  One of the student-leaders read the story "Strega Nona".  The kids played the fun game "Lupo Delle Ore," or as we know it: "What time is it Mr. Wolf".  They practiced their Italian, asking  "Lupo che ore sono?" and moved closer and closer to the wolf (one of the student-leaders) until she yelled "MIDNIGHT" and chased them back to the starting line.  After the game, they enjoyed Italian wedding cookies and departed from Italy.

Our final stop was in South Korea.  The kids practiced writing "hi" in Korean: 안녕and then made paper fans.  The group competed in a tournament of "Di Bi Di Bi Dip," (pronouned with long e sounds) the Korean version of Rock, Paper, Scissors.  It was a lot of fun for the kids because the symbols involve full-body poses, rather than hand signs.  RJ was the grand Di Bi Di Bi Dip champion!  We finished our time in Korea by having Pepero - chocolate covered cookie sticks.

Audrey slept the entire time we were traveling, and woke up just in time to drive home.  

April Fool's Day Fun

Its been pretty busy around here - for the past 2 weeks, especially.  I had originally thought that we would do a "backwards day" to celebrate April 1, but then a birthday party and a field trip came up.  I'm not brave enough to take my kids out in public with their clothes on backward (on purpose anyway!), so we went about our business dressed like normal people.

RJ went to Craig's Cruisers for the day for his friend's birthday.  The girls and I ran some errands and then went to United Bank for a field trip with the Greenville Home School group.  The kids had so much fun!  The manager first talked to the kids about how the bank is involved in the community:  Around Thanksgiving each year, they buy about 100 dolls and have a contest for people to dress the dolls in the most creative or beautiful way.  After the winner is chosen, that doll is put on display and the other dolls are sent to needy kids who don't have dolls.  The winner is sent to that organization after its been displayed for the year and a new winner is chosen.  I just love it when our kids can learn about different ways they can help others, right in our own "backyard."  Then the kids went to see the vault.  Of course, they had visions of piles of money and gold bars stacked up, so they were naturally a bit disappointed to see only 5 large locked drawers (which contained the cash), a table, a calculator and a timer.  But, that's how banking works in our electronic world.  After that, the manager showed the kids the black light and how they can detect counterfeit bills.  Each of the kids took turns "verifying" a large bill (no they didn't get to keep it!).  Then the kids got to send and call and send the drive through bank tubes.  Finally, the bank had a special treat for the kids:  sugar cookies covered in white frosting and decorated with $ and ¢ symbols!

We finished our April 1 foolishness with backwards breakfast for dinner:  Monkey bread for dessert first and we finished with eggs, fruit, toast, and juice.  Yum!

!yaD s'looF lirpA yppaH

Happy Birthday to Megan!!!

Megan is three years old today, at 11:27am!

Happy birthday to our sweet Mega-Moo!

After the Ice Storm

About 2 weeks ago, we were bombarded by an intense ice storm.  In the middle of the night at our house, the power went out, came back on briefly, and then went back out again.  Even though it was loud enough to wake me up, I found myself coveting my neighbor's generator that night  The house was extremely cold when we got up that chilly Wednesday morning and I could hear vehicles working hard to get up the icy hills on our street.  The kids and I got our stuff together and ventured out of the house to find warmth (and running water!) at my mother-in-law's house, where RJ and Emily were to have piano lessons that day.  The weather that entire day was the kind that makes Michiganders stop and ask, "Why do I live here?"  Thankfully, the power was restored by mid-afternoon (18 hours earlier than estimated) and the house was warming as I and another Mom from Emily's Daisy Troop unloaded 101 cases (1,212 boxes!) of cookies into my living room.  

We woke up on Thursday and headed about our business.  On our way home from gymnastics, RJ, Emily, and I marveled at the beauty of the trees - still covered in ice, shimmering in the bright sunlight.  The pictures are below.  The temperature stayed so cold that the ice didn't melt from the trees until late Friday afternoon, even though the sun was shining down steadily both days.  My Mom dropped Megan off and she (Megan) exclaimed, "Mom!  The trees are sparkly!"  Gotta love seeing the world through a child's eyes!

As I saw the natural beauty all around us, I was reminded of God's love for us...How He uses every situation for His glory.  Sometimes, it is evident nearly immediately, such as with the beautiful sparkly trees after a nasty storm.  Sometimes, its not so immediately aparrant and we tend to get frustrated or impatient...And that's when we need to remember the sparkly trees:

Meijer Gardens 2011

***I've resolved my technical issues (ie: operator error) with Picasa Web, so there will be lots of posts this week!***

Last week, the kids and I went to see the butterfly exhibit at Meijer Gardens with my Mom and my brother's family.  We go every year, and every year we have a wonderful time.  Megan didn't like it when the butterflies flew around her - especially  the larger ones like the Common Morpho.  This year, they had a pretty cool butterfly chair, where the kids could sit and they look like they've got wings and antennae.

Here's some pictures of the kids learning about caterpillars, chrysalids and some tropical plants before going into the main butterfly exhibit.  We saw several new Monarch butterflies in the cases drying out their still-wet wings.

Here we are exploring the main area.  RJ and Emily each like to take a butterfly guide and go on a scavenger hunt to see how many different types of butterflies they can spot.  Megan stayed close to the stroller, a little overwhelmed with all the butterflies flying around.

We then went over to the Children's building and the kids had lots of fun exploring all the butterfly manipulatives and imaginative play items.  The kids built butterflies, looked at mounted butterflies through a magnifying glass, dressed up as butterflies and caterpillars and played with the puppet theater.

After we finished up at Meijer Gardens, we went to McDonalds for lunch and to let the kids play in the play area to get them good and tired.

A great time was had by all.  I'm going to close this post with my favorite picture from our day:

Thank God my kids aren't caterpillars!