Mommio: Instant Challenge- Boat Race

I found these cool, simple team building challenges online and have modified them a bit to use with the kids.  Basically, there is a challenge to build something or accomplish a task using only the supplies they are given within a certain time limit.  Every Tuesday (Nana Day) I will give them the challenge along with the supplies they need to complete it and we'll see what they come up with.  Here was the first challenge and supply list:

Here they are working on it today...

Here is a proud Kiki with the finished boat.

And a video of the challenge in action-

Way to go kids, you did a great job on your first challenge!

Avery: Blog Of The Day

They are thinking about making animal cities because they want it to look nicer. They say it is one of the poorest places on earth. Also they want to make them animal shaped because it is an interesting thing to do. I am not sure if I like the idea or not. But it does sound very cool. The good things are that they want the place to look nicer, people will want to look at stuff in an animal shaped city, and their maps look awesome! The bad stuff is that they need to save up money, it will take a long time to build and it's hard to get it's shape right. Okay... if I was able to make Marble Falls into an animal shape, I would make it into a turtle shape!

Connor: Blog Of The Day

1. Southern Sudan is thinking of this plan because they will eventually become their own country.  They need to make sure that the new country is popular so they are rebuilding cities to be shaped like animals.

2. I think it would be a great idea if they had hospitals and roads like other countries before they remodel the cities. I think they should wait until they have enough money to pay for it on their own so they won't be in debt to other countries.

3. If I could reshape Marble Falls to look like an animal I would make it look like a spider.  I would make it a spider shaped city because the river kind of looks like the legs of a spider and there are a lot of spiders in Marble Falls.

Mason: Blog Of The Day

I think it is a bad idea because it costs a lot of money and they need money to build hospitals and schools. If I could I would make Marble Falls look like a pig. I think that they made their city look like an animal so that they can get people to come to their country.

Marney: Blog Of The Day

I think they love animals and so they made their cities look like animals.   I think it was a good idea because they can have it like that, it was a funny shape. I want it to be in the shape of a horse because horses are cool and they make funny shapes.

Gabe: Blog Of The Day

I think all the cities are already in weird shapes so Sudan is just making them into animals. I think it is a weird idea.  Marble Falls is the shape of a fat giraffe with short legs.

Daddio: 8/30/10 Blog of the Day

For today's blog of the day, I want you to read this article about Southern Sudan's plan to restructure cities to look like animals.  Then post up and explain: (1) why Sudan is thinking about this idea; (2) whether you think it's a good idea and why; and (3) if you could shape Marble Falls like any animal, what animal would you choose and why.

Avery: Family Meeting Minutes

Here are the things that we talked about at family meeting today:
1- No eating out in the living room.
2- You HAVE to put your cups in front of the rack in the kitchen.
3- You CAN'T touch stuff that isn't yours!
4- We are going to start doing instant challenges every Tuesday at Nana's house. Connor... you have to do it when you are there.
5- Kids that stay up after Mom and Dad have to clean up before they go to sleep.
6- You can NOT act like the parent!
7- Kids can only use the MIDDLE BATHROOM at night.
8- Toes have to read the blog more often. The toes that read this week are Gabe, Marney, Connor and I.

Toes- Comment if you read this. Please don't name names.

Mommio: Our Week

Here's what is going on this week:
M-  house chores, cooking
T- Nana Day, Connor leg doctor and dentist, yoga class, Connor-Mason-Ava game night
W- field trip to Mayborn Museum in Waco with Nana
T- school, World Geography Unit, Weavers visit, Connor&Mason library
F- school, world Geography Unit, music and art with Weavers, Lily and Elder sleepover
S- lake day, RPG night
S- yard chores and garden, science and chemistry with Daddio, date night

Mommio: Highlights Of The Week

This week we had a chance to get back to our fond version of normal.  We planned a lot of school, ended up doing a little, and had lots of fun.  There was Wii night and Teen Library for the older kids, a fun and delicious cooking failure when we only added half the ingredients to our lemon muffins this week, Daddio sadly got another sinus infection, we went on an impromptu visit to the Bee Caves park and swimming in the lake (and the jet ski!) with the Weaver's in the middle of the week, music and art class resumed, the little (but very successful) bits of school throughout the week and...

Max sprayed kids in the pool,

Kiki built castles (notice Jack's upset face, he was forbidden from knocking it down-pretty upsetting),

 Avery and Lily made a study spot from directions in the American Girl Magazine,

 Gabe was sad on the couch most of the week since his heels have started hurting again, but Elder was happy to be his Wii playing buddy,

 The kids made ice cream cupcakes with Nana for LD's 87th birthday and then we all got to deliver them to our favorite neighbor,

 And Max won first place on a Mario Kart race all by himself!

Mommio: Art Class

The kids finished DaVinci by making self-portraits for homework.  They all did a great job using their new color wash techniques for skin tones.  Here they are-

In class this week we started our study of Michelangelo by listening to a excerpt from this cd-

 We learned that he was already an accomplished sculptor as a teenager and was sought after by rich and famous people during his time to create personal sculptures for their homes and gardens.  We also learned about the challenge he faced when making his famous statue of David.

The kids tried out two different types of sculpture today.  First, we carved apples to create shrunken heads.  We peeled the apples,

 Cut slits for the facial features,

 Soaked them in lemon and salt water,

 Then set them up to dry.  Over the next several weeks they will dry out and shrink into what we hope are some creepy little heads that the kids will decorate.

We also tried out making some soap sculptures. 

 The kids found the soap pretty hard to work with, but that didn't stop the girls from spending the next hour creating "soap cities". 

 Next week we will study the Sistine Chapel and do some upside down painting.
*Toes- What was your favorite part of art class this week? Leave a comment.

Mommio: Geography Cooking- Mexico

This week in World Geography we started to study Mexico. We used Eat Your Way Around The World cookbook to create a yummy Mexican meal.  Avery and Mason made some delicious, fresh salsa.

 Marney and Kiki made Mexican rice.

 And Kiki and Max made beef and cheese enchiladas.

We all had fun cooking together and everyone loved the food.  Especially Daddio since we made him his own soy cheese enchiladas too!  Next time we will be cooking some less familiar food from Guatemala.

Jack: My ABC Song

Connor: Doom Chapter 4

With Hades as an enemy I knew things were bad.  Luckily for me I found a whole group of friends in the underworld.  I heard some cool stories and met famous people.  Theseus, whom had died twenty years before me, was telling everyone how he had slain the minotaur, a dangerous half man half bull.  Perseus told of his killing Medusa and about how he killed his grandfather without meaning to.  I told of my adventures in Troy and everyone around me was dumbfounded.  Orpheus told of how after his wife died he came here to get her back.  All I can say is everyone had a sad tale to tell, most involving wars, lovers, heroic deeds and the gods.  I will say I met a few hot girls down here. Pandora, whom opened a box releasing many terrible things into our world. Persephone, queen of this realm, wife of Hades, whom was kidnapped from Olympus and Earth by her so called husband.  Everyone seemed to hate Hades, which I understood perfectly.  I wished I had survived the war, but Paris was a jerk.  Hector still hunts me and I still evade him so we're pretty much even.  Being in this realm is a living hell and I mean it.  Suddenly I noticed the worst possible thing ever, an angry mob lead by the Rich One himself.  Oh Zeus, why did I come hear to be judged, why?  I was soon locked up in a terrible cell sitting next to a noisy and quite smelly satyr.  The satyr said his name was Pan and said that we should take care of nature.  A lot of good that would do me. I was trapped in the realm of the dead over twenty million feet underground in a cell with a smelly satyr.

Avery: Blog Of The Day

Yellowhammer is Alabama's nickname because a long time ago the confederate soldiers got these cool new costumes... well uniforms to wear during wars. The costumes were green (I think) with (I know this part) little yellow parts on them. Little bits of yellow. So one day Will Arnett came around and started yelling super loud "Yellowhammer! Yellowhammer!" Everyone laughed at him a lot. Later the Confederate soldiers were calling themselves the Yellowhammer(s). That is when they made the nickname for Alabama. Now... a Yellowhammer is Alabama's state bird! It is super pretty! Here is were I found my answers!

Daddio: 8/27/10 Blog of the Day

Today's blog of the day is going to be different from our other ones.  For today's blog of the day, I'm going to give you a question, and then I want you to use google or yahoo to search the internet for the answer. Then post up your answer and give the link to the web page where you found the answer.  Don't read anyone else's comment until you've posted up your own answer.

So here's the question:

Why is Alabama known as the Yellowhammer State and what is a Yellowhammer?

Connor: Blog Of The Day

Heart Of Dixie

By Connor 

  When someone mentions Dixie we usually think of stores and the book Because Of Winn Dixie.  You see Dixie was another name for the south in the times of the civil war.  Dixie were the states that tried to leave the union and become the Confederate States Of America.  The Heart of Dixie was not the state with the political power despite what most people would think.  The heart of Dixie is Alabama and for a very good reason.  You see The heart of Dixie is geographically correct because in those days Alabama was in the geographic center of the south.

The reason a lot of shops down south have Dixie in the name is because they are most likely in the old Confederate States.  The word Dixie used for the south is still in some people's vocabularies.  It is the one part of these states confederacy days that was not replaced with some other name.  This name has stuck to the south since the end of the Jim Crow laws.  It reminds people of the history of our country and Alabama itself.  Alabama has been and always will be The Heart of Dixie!

Avery: Blog Of The Day

Helen Adams Keller

Helen Adams Keller was born in Tuscumbia, Alabama June 21, 1880. She died June 1, 1968. Helen Keller, when she turned 19 months, had a horrible illness. It was either Scarlet Fever or Meningitis. When the illness went away she became deaf and blind. She could not hear or see anything at all. When she was about five or six years old she started communicating with her friend Martha Washington, who was only six years old. When she was about seven she had somebody come over to her house and teach her how to communicate. That somebody was Anne Sulivan. How she taught Helen is she spelled out words on Helen's hand with her finger. She spelled things like doll, water, food and play. Anne taught her very simple words at first. But as Helen got older she taught her even harder words and how to have conversations. When Helen became an adult she became a very famous author. She wrote many books. Two of them were The Frost King and The Story of My Life. The Story of My Life was made into a little play. She was a very famous speaker and author for many years. Then, when she got old she spent the last year of her life at home.
*Toes- if you are reading this please leave a comment, what did you think of Avery's report?