Zach's Computer Animation

Chemistry :(

I loved school when I was a kid. I wouldn't say I'm competitive by nature, but I did everything in my power to finish my multiplication timed tests first. I would slam my completed paper over as loud as possible to draw attention to the fact that I was the first one done. I took pride in the fact that I was one of two or three people in the highest reading group in grade school. I would finish my seat work quickly so I could move up a level in the SRA's with the color coded story cards complete with comprehension questions. I rarely missed a word on the weekly spelling test- even when written in cursive. I regularly took home report cards with straight A's. . . . . And then. . . . . . . . I took Chemistry my sophomore year in high school and realized I just wasn't that smart after all. I always managed to pull my D letter grade up to a C by the time report cards came around, but no matter how hard I tried to understand it, I just could not grasp the concept of an atom or a molecule or how elements got together to form things like water and ammonia. I even memorized the Table of Elements but it did me no good. All of this to say that, of all the choices I offered Gloria this year for Science, she chose "Fun With Mixing and Chemistry". I went with it, figuring I could figure out 3rd grade chemistry. . . So, today we were using gum drops and toothpicks to form molecules:

We were going along just fine until Zach started asking questions about the elements and blah, blah, blah. . . he's read enough about chemistry on his own in the past that, not only could I not understand his questions, but I certainly couldn't give him an answer. I couldn't even fake it!! Lucky for me, the internet is vast and immediate so I pointed him to the information he requested at http://biology.clc.uc.edu/courses/bio104/atom-h2o.htm . It's all Greek to me:

"The shape of a water molecule is also a tetrahedron. Oxygen has six valence electrons and two “holes,” thus can bond with two hydrogens. Therefore, the chemical formula for water is H2O. Oxygen’s other four valence electrons, in two pairs, are not bonded to any other atoms, thus these are referred to as unshared pairs of electrons. Oxygen shares electrons with hydrogen, but pulls just a little harder on the electrons. The electrons are just a little closer to the oxygen than the hydrogens, so this is called a polar covalent bond. Note that even though the molecule as a whole is electrically neutral (the + and – charges balance), the ends of the molecule where the hydrogen nuclei are (which contain only a proton) have a sort-of positive charge, and the ends of the molecule by the unshared pairs of electrons are sort-of negative. The sort-of positive ends on one water molecule are attracted to the sort-of negative ends on another water molecule. This is called hydrogen bonding. Actually, hydrogen bonding can happen with other molecules besides water as we will see later."

Blah, blah, blah. . . It makes my head hurt just looking at it. The worst part is, I need to understand it at least a little bit so I can teach it to my kids. Thankfully, Zach is scienc-y and usually understands this stuff when he reads it. I guess he'll just have to teach it to Gloria!!

Tonight we brought the neighbors with us to Quizzing/Kid's Club/Youth Group and they had a great time:

I've been thoroughly enjoying the last few days of ordinary-ness in my life. Less to blog about but way more peaceful.

A Lesson In Fashion

Gloria has always been the fashionable one in our family. The rest of us are content to pull on jeans and a T-shirt when we roll out of bed in the morning but Gloria changes her clothes at least three times a day, everyday, and has done so since she was about two years old. She confided in Grandma the other day at the mall that Zach really doesn't seem to care what he wears so it won't do any good to ask his opinion. She has become concerned enough about his apparel that she decided to take matters into her own hands. Amazingly enough, he was receptive. They pulled all of the clothes out of his dresser and other dark corners of his room and spread them out for her perusal and approval (or disapproval). She asked him serious questions about what he likes and dislikes about his clothes and then she had him try things on!! And he did.

He didn't quite grasp what she was getting at, but she was (mostly) patient.

It all made for great entertainment for me!!

I think Gloria got the biggest kick out of the whole thing. She could take the fashion world by storm some day!!

I think she even made some progress. There might be hope for Zach after all:

While I've been devoting my time and energy to my kids and school, Rob has still been working his tail off. He has set-up for some semi-big names at The Egyptian. I think it's way nerve-racking to set up for these shows, but Rob seems to thrive on it. He's learning a great deal in the process and has had mostly good experiences. He had 4 shows there in the last two weeks:

Richard Thompson (www.richardthompson-music.com), They Might Be Giants (http://www.tmbg.com/), An Evening of Reggae With Everton Blender, Jus Goodie, & Isha Blender (www.myspace.com/evertonblender) and The New Pornographers (www.thenewpornographers.com). He's gaining a wealth of information by working with the pro-techs that come in and use our system. He ended up running the Reggae groups himself and had a great time. A little too great, but you'll have to ask him about that. . .

The Apprentice Flies Solo

You Learning Fast, Grasshopper

Blood and Guts

Gloria and her friends played outside all day Saturday. It's always nice when they choose to play at our house so I don't have to worry at all about where my kids are. While they hung out in the front yard, I was inside cleaning, listening to the giggles and chatter of this cute group of girls. Suddenly, there was an ear-piercing scream followed by the cries and shouts of the rest of the girls. I raced out front, fully expecting to see blood and guts from some horrific accident. . .

. . . It was blood and guts alright, but it was the molded plastic kind on Zach's Halloween costume:

The blogger in me made the kid's re-enact the screams that made my adrenaline shoot through the roof!! I'm pretty sure it was little McKenna (in the middle) who let out the initial shriek!!

Peace For One Day

On Friday, we headed out to Julia Davis Park to set up a stage and sound system for the First Annual Peace For One Day Festival. While this smaller, lighter stage is easier to set up, someone still has to crawl underneath to clamp it together. I told Dale, who usually has this "privilege", that this picture looks like something out of The Wizard of Oz:

It's a pretty good day when your job takes you to a park for a whole afternoon. The weather was perfect and the kids even collected items for a nature study.

All in all, it was a pretty easy set-up. Rob spent some time during the week simplifying the system so we don't have to take out every case we own for a smaller show like this. We set up the stage and the sound system here in less than two hours.

Being a good, peace-loving Quaker, I was ready to embrace this event and make it an educational experience for the kids, too. The festival began with the ringing of the "peace bell". This good man talked about the universe and how fliers and crawlers and buzzers (?) etc are all one with us in our call for peace. . . OK, so it was a little out of my realm of thinking, but he did touch on how everyday is a gift and we shouldn't waste any of it. That I get.

Next came the poetry reading accompanied by some kind of cool flute and a drum. I tried to take in all that was being said, but I was distracted by the crawlers and the buzzers. . .

. . . and the hacky-sackers. . .

The next order of the day was the peace dance. The Dance For Peace. I'm for peace. I found Gloria and decided to share this new experience with her. I'm opening my mind to new experiences. . .

I'm sorry, maybe I'm just too set in my ways, but this made me a little uncomfortable!!!! Rob laughed his head off while he made the video and Zach was sure I was joining a cult. I did try to find my own, more-comfortable-to-me way of embracing peace but it was all just a little mind boggling. The dancing went on for about 45 minutes but I was able to duck out during the I-am-a-flower-I-bow-to-you dance. After the dancing, a young trio took the stage. They sang a few John Lennon songs. . .

Gloria spent most of the afternoon and evening in the craft area making peace signs on everything from coffee filters to shakers:

After watching his mother dance for peace, Zach pretty much sat in shocked silence for the rest of the event. . .

After the last band finished playing, Gloria joined in the candle-lighting and lit a few candles for peace:

I'm sure I'll regret posting the video. . . .

Things I Love

I love it when Zach teaches ME something. Converting measurements and dealing with scientific notation are not my strong suits. Thankfully, Zach knows what he's doing!

I love it when we finish all of our school work AND learn something in the process.

I love it when I don't have to leave my house, at all, for any reason, for a whole day.

I love that it takes my kids two hours to pick up a room because they have to read the books before they put them away.

I love going to bed at a reasonable hour knowing that I'll wake up to a clean house and brewing coffee. Ahhh. . .

The Root Canal

Dr. Turpen, our dentist, was able to fit me in at 11:00 a.m. He confirmed my self-diagnosis and recommended a root canal. Ugh. I decided to have him start the procedure right away so I wouldn't have to face another night of excruciating pain. All things considered, the process was relatively painless. The worst part was the two shots it takes to deaden the area. I have to close my eyes so I don't see the long, shiny needle headed towards my gums. . . .eww. Anyway, the only pain I have now is financial.

I rested most of the day and then headed to church for Quizzing and Kid's Club. The kids always love when Marva comes with a craft. Louise talked to the kids about her time in Peru and I think the kids are enjoying the missions theme.

I snuck out and took a few pictures of the kids in youth group. I'm not sure I figured out what they were doing, but they were having fun!

Tuesday was pretty quiet. The dogs took the kids for a walk:

We finished school and went to the shop at a reasonable hour. There is plenty of work to do, but not a lot of energy to do it with, so after a couple of hours, the four of us went to Merritts Cafe and had finger steaks and scones. Yum!

Rob went back to the shop and I took the kids to Walmart so they could look at Halloween stuff. Zach has been planning out his haunted maze for a couple of weeks now and is becoming just a little bit obsessive about it!!

When we were almost ready to check out, I suddenly got a terrible headache that felt like sharp knives were being pounded into my skull. I've had a tooth that has been bothering me all summer so I narrowed down the problem pretty quickly. I took a couple of Advil that were in my purse but the pain just got worse and worse. I'm pretty sure I scared the kids just a little bit as the pain started to send me into a panic. I was able to find some Ora-jel after much frantic searching and that helped ease the pain enough to get us checked out and in the car. The pain came back with a vengance when we got to the van and drove home. The kids took great care of me when we got home- Zach put away all the groceries and Gloria turned down the covers of my bed and brushed my hair which always makes me feel better. I finally called Rob to come home because the pain was so bad. He's been urging me to go to the dentist all summer and now I have no choice!! :( I was finally able to fall asleep, sitting up, around 3 a.m. I can't remember my head ever hurting so much and I'm more than ready to go to the dentist!

Family

This is Rob and his cousin, Kimberly. They were very close when they were kids and always had fun playing together:

Apparently, they were so close they wore matching outfits! Too cute:

Kimberly and her husband, Robert, moved to New York 8 or 10 years ago and live a very exciting life in the big city. We've only been able to see them a handful of times since then so we were very excited when we heard they were coming for a visit. We all went to Rob's folks for a visit and had a grand time catching up on things.

We had the great priviledge of meeting their little boy, Ross Robert, for the first time. He's 3 1/2. It was fun watching the second cousins all get to know each other.

Group picture!!

We all went outside and played games in the front yard:

Tony would bounce the ball to Ross but it would just disappear and end up somewhere behind him. . . .

We decided to play Red Light. . .

. . . Green Light. . .

It was pretty comical! We also played a few rounds of Red Rover, Red Rover. . .

The teams tended to be a little uneven. . .

And who knew Duck, Duck, Goose could be so much fun??

This is how most kids look at Rob. A little excitement mixed with a bit of fear:

It was a great bonding experience:

Run, Ross, Run!!!!

It was a very fun evening- just what I needed!