The Library is Awesome!!!

So we went to the Port Angeles Library today. The kids LOVED the children section! It's smaller than the King County libraries we are used to, but it made it easier for the kids to find things that they liked. Plus, they have some awesome things that kept Elizabeth happy...like puzzles and puppets and a little house she could sit in. The kids each got their own cards and I let them check their books out themselves. I don't know why I took so long to do a field trip to the library, but I am super glad we did it today! 

Here are a couple of pictures...fuzzy and all...that I snapped while there with my phone. I hadn't planned to post them, or I would have taken a few more, but, as I look at all four kids sitting and reading their new books as we speak...I had to write about it! 

Little Miss got a princess book!

Lately...

We have done a couple more science experiments...

This one is called Corny Goo...

 The ingredients

 Corn meal...

 and water.

 Mix...mix...mix...but it won't stay together!

 For reals. They both tried. 

 Then documented their findings. It was fun!

 Joseph got a couple of model cars. I helped him build this one. It's a Dodge Challenger. We went and let him pick out his own model car paint. He picked GREEN!! 

 Lizbet wanted to help him...so I got out the water colors and she made her own masterpieces.

 For science a different day, we walked around our neighborhood. We saw several deer...

A Downy Woodpecker (see him on the tree?)

  And a lot of mallard ducks.  I couldn't get a good picture of them, but that's what we were watching here. Down in the little swampy pond.

 The ducks flew away all at once...Lizbet liked that part.

 Then we fed the neighborhood dogs. We bought milkbones and take them with us on our walks. These poor dogs are olllld...but very friendly.

Oh, but the old, friendly dogs tend to wander the neighborhood...and poop where they want. Joseph and Connor get pooper scooper duty a lot. Joseph got fed up. This is on the bush in front of our yard.

So...there are a few things that we have been up to. We are going to finally go and get library cards today...and show off my shiny clean van...compliments of Connor and Joseph car wash. (yep...they wash cars in 45 degree weather!) 

Prayer Rocks

First of all...the magnet chart and the school chart the I wrote about in the previous post...are TOTALLY AWESOMMMMEE! They are really working. For now. Cause I know that novelty tends to wear off of things. But, until then...woot woot!

Okay...on to the next. (which totally reminds me of Ghost Hunters and how sad I am Grant is leaving...but that is another post!) Focus! For our art project last week, we gathered rocks, bought paint in colors of their choice, and painted prayer rocks. (and in case anyone out there in the world is saying..painting a rock is considered art?...don't worry your pretty little heads...they painted many other things after the rocks...but the rocks are our main objective here)

 Joseph chose green...shock!

 Spencer chose blue...another shock!

 Connor chose...pink? This was actually a surprise. He informed me that it was supposed to be red! And that this week his favorite color was red! His mistake...he only looked at the dot on top of the bottle...it looked red...not watermelon pink. But Connor is the coolest cat in town and refused to let that stand in his way of painting an awesome prayer rock. 

 Elizabeth got shimmery purple...cause if it doesn't sparkle...it's not worthy of this princess!

They turned out very nice, I do believe. I love that Spencer used his manners and included please. I want the kids to have the habit of saying their prayers without me having to constantly remind them. Between the chart and the rocks and an occasional reminder from me...it is going well.


I made a little pink and purple tutu for Elizabeth, but I couldn't get a good enough picture of her. She puts it on and refuses to hold still. It's okay though. It was my first tutu...it could have been better. I'll post a picture of the next one. Actually, it's not a tutu...it's a pwetty pwincess! Get it right! *smile*

Order

Anyone that knows me well, knows that I am disorganized and very messy. Dad says I'm the biggest pack rat he knows...and he's kind of right...because he knows all 6 of us Nelson's...and combined....we make the biggest pack rat on the planet. Well, no, scratch that. It's not bad enough that you will see us on the TLC channel any time soon...but still....

Anyway! I have started to notice that our kids are spending way too much time on the computers and not enough time doing chores, studying and just playing outside. So, I came up with some fun ideas and charts that we have started to use to help remind us what needs to be done and also help keep things like screen time limited. The kids helped make a lot of it, and so far it's working for us.

Here  we go...

 This is an extremely simple daily checklist. And if you look closely, you will see that there are only 5 days. Weekends are more lax...we are just starting out...I figure we can build on our successes as they come. I followed everyone else in the crafty universe and used a picture frame as a dry erase type thing. Each chore completed counts as 5 minutes toward computer time. This is why it is hung next to the Computer Time chart...which is....

 This! The kids helped with this so there are some things that are kind of crooked, but that's okay. I like it. I got a cookie sheet for 96cents at Walmart. The kids have a base amount of 60 minutes a day. (15 minutes of which must be used on an educational website). They can earn up to 2 hours...which sounds like a lot, but compared to what they have been doing lately...it's nothin!

 This 96cent pie pan holds all of the extra minute magnets. Spencer spent a chunk of time helping me mod podge (the homemade kind..thank you Pinterest!) the numbers onto the rocks. Connor helped me hot glue the magnets on. I got the rocks at DollarTree and the magnets at Walmart. I think this whole project cost me about $7. Steal of a deal for something that is really working well.

 This is in the hallway right next to the bathroom and the kitchen. They see it a lot and has helped remind them what they need to do. Bedtime has been easier, they are getting more fresh air and exercise and they are participating in other things besides just sitting in front of a screen.

 Joseph has a lot of trouble with "doing" school every day. He asks how much more we have to do about five minutes after we start. I've tried writing down what we are going to do each day, but sometimes I forget...so...I came up with this chart. He's 11 and should be able to work on his own...but he won't..and I'm not sure he can at this time...we're working on it. For now though, this has been a life saver. I let him check off each thing as we accomplish them. We don't do every single thing each day, we mix it up to give variety. He doesn't whine nearly as much now. Phew!

I REALLY love magnets. I have a shoe box sized container of all kinds of pictures that I have cut out and put magnets on for Elizabeth to play with. I put magnets on the back of all our Scrabble letters and we use them for school. I just love magnets! So...I let each child, including Lizbet...make their own magnet the other day. (they are holding up the chart above) They want to do more...they love magnets too. Who the heck doesn't??? Seriously! This is a close up of Spencer's. He loves Club Penguin. Isn't that cute?

Anyway! Sheesh...I talk a lot. But...this is one of those times that I am proud of the ideas I came up with (thanks to prayers of inspiration being answered)...and they are working..so far.

the end....

Little Miss Turned 3!!!

 Can you believe it???? Three??? I can't believe it. It makes me so sad. It was a really fast 3 years! But, we are so proud of Elizabeth and love...love...love...love having her in our family. 

 The night before her birthday, I set everything up because we had to have her "party" the morning of her birthday so that Daddy could be present, since he had to go to work at noon. She helped set up. It was so fun watching her be excited.

 I made her a heart cake because she loves hearts and it's pink like her princess stuff.

This is blurry...but it shows the brothers singing. They were so attentive to their little sister and really helped make her day special.

Snow Day!!! 2012

Yesterday we awoke to a light blanket of snow on the ground. An hour later, it was really coming down. Travis said, "I'm not sure it would be a good idea to go to church today. Gasman would be really scary!" (Gasman road is a very curvy road that is the only road that takes us down from the bluffs to the main roads. It's about 2 miles long.) Not long after he voiced his concerns, the phones started ringing that church was canceled. Joseph and Connor were already outside playing in the snow. We ended up spending over 5 hours outside in the snow as it fell. Travis said it was one of best days he's had as a family in a while. Here are a few pictures of the day.

Spencer started out his morning snuggled up reading his favorite books. (We are big Diary of a Wimpy Kid fans)
Lizbet really wanted to go out in the snow...so we threw on an old sweatshirt and Connor's hat. She stayed pretty much on the deck, but had a blast!
Spencer decided that the snow was too tempting, so he abandoned his reading and headed out. (yes...our children wore their jammie's alllll day!)
Daddy went out and threw some snowballs and had some fun.
I was busy with the camera. We have 4 suet cages, 2 bird houses, one seed sock, and one hummingbird feeder all our in our backyard...they were all hopping busy.
This is the most hummingbird action we have seen since we moved here! They are sooo cool!
We moved to the front yard and the boys started helping Travis make a snowman...
....but then the neighbors invited the boys to sled down the street instead....
Lizbet got cold and just watched at the door with Daddy's snuggie.
They had a blast! Connor was the only one that wore jeans.
...meanwhile...Daddy worked on the snowman on his own...until Little Miss decided to go out and "help" him.
She said, "Too cold!", but had lots of fun watching.
What a cute Travee and his snowman! That thing will never melt...it never is warm up here on the Bluff's.
Joseph and Connor went down the hill together a lot. I baked peanut butter cookies and had Joseph take the plate out and hand them out to the neighbors while they were still warm to say thank you for including our kids. We have such awesome neighbors!!!
This was the first picture I took after it really started to come down. You can see the green of the grass still. (I'm not sure why this one ended up at the bottom, but that's okay)

It was a great day!

Science Experiment #1

I got a nifty new book...
So...we are starting to do some of the experiments in the book. My plan was to take pictures of each step of some of them, and then print the pictures and let the boys organize and place them in their school notebooks. Then, I decided to also post some of them on my blog, so if I end up not getting around to having the pictures made, at least they can print the blog page for their records that we did indeed do such an experiment.

"Dehydration"....
The items required. A spud, salt, water....
Cut the spud in half...

Put water in each saucer (I promise...there's water in there). Add salt to one plate.

Write an S on the spud that goes into the salt water.
Let them sit. The book said to wait just 30 minutes and you will see a fabulous difference...NOT! We left them over night...
Here is the one that was in the salt. The water was all starchy and yucky and it was puckered at the bottom...
The water one looked pretty darn good.
Here is the difference.

I admit I was a tad disappointed in the results of this one, but it was significant enough that I could show the kids and make my point of dehydration. The kids had fun setting it all up and checking the progress.