Friday Funny: Justin's Favorites

As I was asking the bookends all their favorites, Justin became overwhelmingly jealous that I never asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  Ha!  So for all of you who have been waiting with bated breath, here are his favorites...

1. What is your favorite color? black
2. What is your favorite toy? chainsaw
3. What is your favorite fruit? blueberries
4. What is your favorite tv show? Longmire, The Civil War, The Unit, Nova, Parks and Rec
5. What is your favorite movie? 2001, Patton, and Gran Torino
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? jeans and a t-shirt
7. What is your favorite animal? balrog
8. What is your favorite song? "Now that We're Dead"-Metallica, "Psycho Surgery" -Tourniquet, "Behold a Trumpet Will Sound" -Handel
9. What is your favorite book? Romans
10. Who is your best friend? *me*
11. What is your favorite snack? salted, roasted mixed nuts
12. What is your favorite drink? IPA
13. What is your favorite breakfast? all your bacon and eggs
14. What is your favorite lunch? burger, fries, and a beer
15. What is your favorite dinner? pizza
16. What is your favorite game? Risk and Settlers of Catan
17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? Frisbee Golf, chop wood
18. What is your favorite holiday? Resurrection Sunday
19. What do you sleep with at night? my wife...
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? a machinist

Eleven and a Half

Our Katie is half way between 11 and 12 now.

She is full of energy and enthusiasm.

This year she's been planning a diaper drive to help some families in a community near where we live.  It is completely her idea, and she made all the contacts.  I can't wait to see how it goes!

She has been helping a family at church by serving as a Mother's Helper once a month.

She has a big heart and big ideas!

1. What is your favorite color? purple
2. What is your favorite toy? star bear
3. What is your favorite fruit? grapes and lemons
4. What is your favorite tv show? Worst Year of My Life, Again
5. What is your favorite movie? Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? my ring
7. What is your favorite animal? cute puppy doggies in baskets
8. What is your favorite song? Make Some Noise
9. What is your favorite book? Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
10. Who is your best friend? Hope, Elese, Sianna, Victoria...
11. What is your favorite snack? chocolate chip cookies
12. What is your favorite drink? root-beer with vanilla
13. What is your favorite breakfast? chocolate chip pancakes and whipped cream
14. What is your favorite lunch? tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
15. What is your favorite dinner? spaghetti and garlic bread
16. What is your favorite game? Monopoly and Apples to Apples
17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? make houses
18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
19. What do you sleep with at night? star bear and a million other stuffed animals
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? kindergarten teacher or author

Three and a Half

Today is Ellie's Half!

She's in a fun stage.  Three-and-a-half year olds are a lesson in contradictions.  She tosses her apple, the biggest, by her request, in the trash after one bite.  Then she cries when I throw away the tiny little disposable hairband (the only ones that will stay in her fine hair) at the end of the day because she wanted to keep it.

She has opinions.  She has preferences.  She has a voice.  While we can't always do what she wishes, we get to know what is going on inside her head more often.

She is also getting better at understanding us.  She notices people's tone and body language, and can point out how she thinks someone else feels.

All kids have their strengths, and one of my favorites of Ellie's is that she remembers names.  She can list off many of the little friends in her Sunday School class.  She talks about them during the week and makes them cards.  She learns her sisters' friends' names too.  Another favorite of ours is that she still calls our AHG troop coordinator, "A atch G."  I think we will loose that in the next few months, so I want to remember it!

She loves her pink rain boots (and all boots in general), still isn't a big fan of sweets, and loves to go to church.

1. What is your favorite color? pink
2. What is your favorite toy? doll
3. What is your favorite fruit? 'nana (banana)
4. What is your favorite tv show? Unfortunate Events
5. What is your favorite movie? Frozen
6. What is your favorite thing to wear? dress--brown with pink polka dots
7. What is your favorite animal? kitty cat
8. What is your favorite song? "Twinkle"
9. What is your favorite book? picture books--I Love you, Stink Face
10. Who is your best friend? Katie
11. What is your favorite snack? 'nanas, again!
12. What is your favorite drink? lemonade
13. What is your favorite breakfast? chocolate cereal, I love pancakes too
14. What is your favorite lunch? peanut butter and macaroni
15. What is your favorite dinner? hot dogs and pasta
16. What is your favorite game? Uno Moo
17. What is your favorite thing to play outside? ball
18. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas (I wanna present!!)
19. What do you sleep with at night? a dolly
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? I wanna be in a booster!  I wanna be a doctor.

-Kristy

Anatomy IV

Next Up Sk-ELLIE-ton got a brain thanks to Ellen McHenery's Basement Workshop.

Here is Nate modeling our brain hat!

The older girls each took a hemisphere to color.  Then Nate and I did the cutting and taping.

Kristy

Anatomy III

After our study of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, we were moving on to the digestive system.  It also worked out that Kate was studying how to make casings in Home Ec.  How often to Home Ec. and anatomy converge, unless your getting stitches in the ER?

I bought a yard of pink fabric that we cut into two inch strips.  I sewed about half of them together in to a very long strand (a yard was too much).  Then Kate got to work sewing them as a casing.  We kept all the seams on the outside, with the home of a smooth interior.  We cut a very thin elastic to half the length of our casing intestines.  This gave our intestines that bunched appearance.

From the top down, we placed our esophagus (a pipe cut to length) and glued it in place.  I whip stitched a stomach out of felt, which slid over the end of the esophagus.  In the back of the felt, I cut a couple of slits and Nate zip tied it to the cardboard sk-ELLIE-ton.  I hand stitched the intestines to the base of the stomach opening.  Then we made three slits for zip ties one each side of the cardboard.  Kate and I worked the intestines back and forth and caught them up with the zip ties.  The plan had been to pull them loosely so we could drop a marble through the esophagus, and work it through the system, but one of the children was a bit over zealous and pulled too hard on the zip tie!

Supplies:
1/2 yard of pink cotton fabric (cut into 2' wide ribbons)
elastic
pink felt
1" pipe
thread
sewing machine
needle
Sk-ELLIE-ton

Kristy

Anatomy, continued

So, when we last left our Sk-ELLIE-ton, she was just a bag of bones.

After that, we studied muscles

And gave her a working hand, via Be the One

Then she got a lung transplant thanks to Spell Outloud.  After several uses, we switched to a cut up ziplock bag and taped the bag on for more stability--instead of a grocery sack held by a rubber band.

We also created her a heart based on Mommy-Labs.

To that we added arteries and veins that led to and from the heart down one arm, and also to the lung.  Those attachments were made with knots and rubber cement.

Here she is on transplant surgery day.  Everyone was gloved and ready--from left to right: yarn (veins and arteries), scissors, rubber cement, and enthusiasm!  Her heart is enlarged to show texture (or just because our balloons are a bit big).  I did not pop the balloon because I wanted the extra stability while we were working on other organs.

I was so glad to find those links through Pinterest.  I can't say anything further about the sites, as I didn't spend much time there though.

Next time, I'll share some of the things I created for us myself to stick with our sk-ELLIE-ton learning tool.

Kristy