February 2011

On February 2nd we went to SEP conference. Faith is doing great and just has to work a little more on her reading comprehension. Well, actually she just has to read more. That's the kind of extra work that I'd like to have!

That evening we celebrated Groundhog Day by watching the movie of the same name and eating sausage (which is made from ground hog).

I began our membership contest. It's hard to tell from this picture, but each of the brown papers look like bowing lanes and the little colored circles are supposed to be bowling balls. The kids get their name on a bowling ball for each parent with a PTA membership, and the class with the most bowling balls at the end of the contest wins a Wii Bowling party.

On the 4th we had a Valentines party with Ann+kids and Natalie+kids. It was so fun to visit with Natalie, we hadn't hung out since last fall! Unfortunately Ann had to leave early, but Natalie had the kids do a fun craft with red paper plates, sparkly pompoms and glitter made into shakers (here's a similar tutorial if you would like to make some).

We saw Megamind at the Kaysville dollar movie on the 5th.

Faith got her braces off on the 8th!! I forgot to take a better pic at the orthodontist office and hurried to get this one just before dropping her off at school. Those teeth look like a million bucks! And only cost thousands!

On the 11th Faith and Buddy got another sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's, this time with Sierra and Lily.

On the 12th the kids got to make music boxes at Lowe's.

The weather was finally a little nice, so we stopped by Barnes Park on the way to visit the family on the 13th.

My mom had a Valentine's party for the kids that night. Mylar balloons, gifts,

and these awesome pop-up balloons:

On the 14th we got the anual ding-dong-dash of gifts from Grandma Braegger and Tammy. Then we had "special" dinner of pasta with spaghetti sauce and alfredo sauce, served on china, with goblets of sparkling pomegranate juice and a lit candle (which firebug Buddy obsessed over the whole time). Daddy had even gotten us this fabulous ice cream cake!

On the 18th I did my Fun Friday teaching for Faith's class. I thought the subject I came up with--attraction, was perfectly appropriate for the month of February :)  I did some experiments with ring magnets on a pencil, showing how like poles repel and opposite poles attract. I made a compass out of a magnet and a needle and talked about how the Earth's North Magnetic Pole is actually a magnetic field south pole. I had a bottle of baby oil with tiny clippings from fine steel wool in it and used a magnet to show magnetic fields (similar to this video). I showed the effects of static electricity with a homemade electroscope (here's a fancier one in action, I used a glass with a paperclip hanging through cardboard and a comb that we ran through several kids' hair). I even bent water with static electricity! At the end I had the kids do an experiment in pairs with balloons on string--seeing how they interacted initially, after one was rubbed on a kid's head to negatively charge the balloon, and then after both were. Lastly I gave the kids some cardstock, a magnet and a paperclip so they could make a moving car on a road (like this) or any other moving item on a background. (Just now while I was looking up an example for the blog, I came across this fun idea of ice skaters on an old cd.) It was another fun lesson!

Afterward, we ate school lunch. I wasn't excited about it being hot dogs, but I have to give them credit for trying to make them healthier. The buns were whole wheat, the fries were baked sweet potato fries, and the other sides were applesauce, grapes, salad, carrot sticks, and a frozen peach cup.

Probably not enough to make Jamie Oliver happy (especially the chocolate milk), but a good try. (Have you been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? It's good t.v. with a purpose!)

Hot dogs for lunch again the next day, but this time they were free! R.C. Willey's was celebrating President's Day.

Here the kids are on the 21st poking their heads out of the moon roof of our car while we were waiting in the parking lot somewhere.

Buddy took some pics and ended up with two gems--this colorful one of cereal and the camera's strap:

and the ever fluffy Dusty's backside:

On the 25th we had Ann and the kids over for a playdate and the kids enjoyed the Just Dance 2 Wii game that the kids scored because Faith traded in her Sims game that she didn't like. They are so funny!

(sorry to those who can't watch YouTube, it was too long to upload in Blogger)

I scored an awesome deal on gift certificates to Sweet Afton's candy shop in Gardner Village from Deals That Matter. They had a $10 certificate for only $5, but you get a $5 credit just for signing up. Tony and I each got one so we had $20 for free! (Sorry that I didn't notify anyone of the deal--total brain fart!) On the 26th we headed down south for some sugary goodness.

Of course we easily collected $38 worth, so we still had to shell out some cash. We mainly came for the Taffy Town saltwater taffy (which is a million times better than Sweet's) since Faith is braces free and can have chewy stuff!

And lastly, Christian asked me to capture this moment of love (and sheer strength) between him and his fluffy (and I'm not just talking about the fur) cat.

(my favorite quote from the movie Ice Age-- Sid: "I mean it's hard to get fat on a vegan diet." Mannie: "I'm not fat! It's all this fur. It makes me look...poofy." Sid: "All right, you have fat hair. But, when you're ready to talk, I'm here." )