4-H science fun day

We spent a full day at a 4-H festival ! It was so much fun and we did more science projects in one day than I think I have done the entire school year. Good friends, science, and gooey experiments, What more can a boy ask for right?

Density experiment
What happens when you mix three
liquids together that are all made up of sugar
and water?

Look at those faces as the try to listen to the
instructor and smile for the camera!
They are waiting for water to put in their cups

each cup has a different amount of sugar in it.
hmm what is he doing?

After adding water and food coloring to each cup
they stirred and then poured each color into
one tall glass.

Chase and his partner pouring his liquids together,

Pouring and mixing

Watching the instructor intensly

Stirring and pouring.

Look what happens when you add the
three liquids together?
WHY didn't they mix together?
What is happening?

Density experiment All three
liquids 

After the experiment they got to mix all the colors
together. 

Next table we learned about chemical reactions
this is a bowl of water and pepper.
Tristan is putting his finger in a bowl of dish soap

Look what happens to the pepper when he touches
the dish soap to it!

Pouring a bowl of milk

Adding drops of color

look at his smug face heeeheee :)

Now add some drops of dish soap to the milk

What is going to happen now

Chase's Silly putty

making silly putty

I had to copy the recipe so we could make it again

mixing the silly putty

using physics to make a marble track

Good teamwork Tristan and Spencer

They were concentrating pretty hard on their track
I love their determined faces.

This was by far the cooolest of them all.
Lava lamps.
Spencer waiting for his 6th alka-seltzer tablet
he would have done this all day if I let him.

Water, oil, and an alka seltzer tablet

Tristan watching it fizzle through the oil and
the bubbles were so cool and the brought the
color to the top of the oil.
So cool

Eco Bots
A tiny motor and a button cell battery
attached to a toothbrush and
voila a motorized brush!

Tristan was a little worried that his wasn't working
right but with the help of a new friend he got it working

Chase showing off his eco bot with hit buddy Zachary

Spencer learning how to make plantable paper

Spencer squishing his paper into his tray.
He made the paper, then put some tomato seeds
on one side and folded it over, squished it together
when the paper dries you can plant it in a garden and your
tomatoes will grow!
How cool is that?

Tristan is making a paper horse and stable. Very
cool indeed. 

Chase made a duck tape wallet. 

It was a fun filled busy day and mom needed a nap by the time it was over. 

The Coolest little Pet Shop

WELCOME Everyone to the coolest pet shop ever. We had a friend over the other day and there was some play money laying around, it was snowing outside (in April), and 4 adorable shih-tzus.  Between all of the boys they came up with a pretty fun idea to pass the time. With a little help and guidance from me they had a math lesson and didn't even know it. (Don't tell them that though)

Which dog should they choose.

               Tristan's Petco Dog Store
Here the boys found a small variety of loveable shih-tzus
In the fantastic care of one Tristan Nuttall a fantastic and clever shop owner.
Each dog was between 50.00 and 100.00$ a pretty good bargain if you ask me. This included a leash, You can't beat that right?

Each boy picked out their favorite dog and left happy customers.

Zachary Picked Bella because his own dog
has the same name. 

Before you left his store Tristan made sure
that each dog had a leash and he wrote down
everyone's name and what dog they bought. 

Dogs on their leash, they were good sports
through the whole thing. 

OOPS she didn't want her picture taken anymore.

                                                 

WELCOME To Chase's dog Toy Store! 

Next stop on our adventure was to take our dogs to the toy store and pick out a toy for them. Chase set up his shop in the dining room he had a great display table and his toys were reasonable. With a little help from his calculator he managed to give and get the right amount of money to everyone. And I think all the dogs enjoyed their toys.

 Waiting in line to pay for his toys, while the dogs
tried to figure out why they were not leaving for a walk was quite comical for me to watch.

What a great job Chase did with exchanging money!

Look at Chase with Lucky Leo! He sat with him
on his lap the whole time. 

How much is this toy again?






WELCOME TO Zachary's Petco dog treat store

So you have your pet and you bought him/her a toy, what next but food!

Enter Zachary's dog treat store where only the finest of food is available. 

Zachary packaged all of the treats himself and set the prices.

 He is a budding 

entrepreneur mom and dad!

He allowed his customers to bring their toys and let their dogs play
and eat their treats for a while.

Here is his first customer and first dollar. 

Tristan visiting Chase's store after he closed his shop

Negotiating prices and making deals, Chase drove a
hard bargain on his prices.

He was a good salesmen! He advertised this to everyone
as they came up to pay for their toys.




After all the shopping was done, no one wanted to go to Spencer's toy store.  They were too busy playing with their dogs, can you blame them? So Tristan and Spencer came up with dog training school. Tristan was the boss. When he ran out of space in his shop he rented Zachary's store in the kitchen and continued his training session.
These boys were so inventive and entertaining to watch. I am so impressed by their creativity and fun ideas.
They negotiated prices and there was no arguing or fighting. It was a pleasant and successful homeschool day in my book.

Who needs a classroom when you have good friends and creativity?

And that my friends is My life with Boys!

dusting off the blog

So I am not going to put myself down any more or feel guilty (I say this now) about letting my blog go forever and a day before i post something on it. My pictures folder is overflowing with pictures of the boys and they are constantly asking me to tell them stories of when they were little and see pictures of them as babies. Can you see the guilt creeping back up now? Yeah I am that mom who procrastinates everything and then does nothing but complain about all the things i didn't get done while missing out on the things that are going on around me. I am trying to take some advice from our beloved Elder Uchtdorf and STOP IT!
So they may not be in any order or make any sense but i am going to try and get on here weekly and post something and start organizing my life and my kids better.

A rare primary moment

The primary president called me today to share a story about Spencer today during shring time.
She said they were haveing a lesson on The Holy Ghost and what it was and how it helps our lives. She said that before she realized what she had asked to a group of junior primary kids who probably had no idea what to answer the question came out; Have any of you felt the Holy Ghost in your life? Spencer raised his hand enthusiastically, she said he was just bright eyed and could hardly sit still waiting to be called on. So she called on him. His response was "Well last week my dad wanted to teach me how to ride a two wheeler with out my training wheels on. It was really hard at first but then I got it and  (giggle giggle) now I am riding my BIG Brothers old bike...with two wheels. My dad helped me do that." Then she said they all cheered for him and gave him a "mommy"  chuckle and she went on to try to show how this story could  tie back into the discussion and Spencer blurted out " The Holy Ghost guided my dad to help me learn to ride with two wheels. She was so impressed by his little spirit and his intelligent answer, it floored her and she never imagined such a concept would come from a little five yr old boy. He taught her something today about how much Heavenly Father loves his children.

I am so proud of my boys!!! They teach me so much about the Gospel, he was a little stinker all morning and throughout sacrament meeting. I wonder sometimes if anything gets into his little brain besides how to plot his next naughty move. Then this story and well I am still bawling about it. I love this kid so much and I wouldn't change a thing about him.

This picture was taken the night of his kindergarten concert but I thought it was appropriate for this story. He does not like to get this dressed up on Sundays at all. He prefers play clothes.

Tristan and the hairy dinner conversation.

Tristan came down to dinner tonight after barging into the bathroom while daddy was in the shower.

He sits down next to Chase and says..... "Chase... guess what dad just told me..... he said that when we are teenagers we are going to have hair all over our bodies!!!"

Chase laughing says...." yeah I know "

Tristan's response was  "ugggh I don't want to be hairy..."

Chase says " yeah dad is a hairy guy."

I almost spewed food across the table.  This is what dinner conversation is like when you live with boys.  I love it !!!!!!!

Kids in Motion

The boys had a chance to participate in a free afterschool program at the Y . The program taught them about healthy choices for our bodies and our tummies. The boys were able to exercise for an hour and then sit down to a healthy snack and learn about how healthy it is and why the body needs healthy food. It was a great program and they all came home tired but full. They tried all kinds of new foods they would never try with me so I loved that part of the program. They loved wall climing the best. I took way more videos than pictures