Teaching My Olive Plants

Jul. 16, 2009 - Pop Bottle Experiments

I found this brand new pop bottle experiment kit at a rummage sale for $1. The girls have had a blast doing the experiments.

Dancing raisins. The baking soda and vinegar bubbles attach to the raisins, causing them to float to the surface. Once they reach the surface, the bubbles pop, they sink, and start all over again.

Inertia experiment

Index card is forced away but coin falls into water.

Crumpled up paper remains dry when bottle is forced down into water. The air molecules inside are pushed toward the bottom of the bottle, protecting the paper from the water.

Bottle is placed in hot water, steam created in the bottle, fills the balloon...but not very well. We used a small water bottle in place of the 2-liter...works better.

Cold water

Now for some fun...Quinn had a blast pushing and squeezing the bottle to make the balloon bigger.

The girls played with this experiment for a while...what a fun way to learn science.

Water fireworks.

Esther's reflection.

Quinn's reflection.

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Jul. 16, 2009 - Birthday Party Pictures II

Well, I forgot to take a picture BEFORE the kids had at it but here it is...it had streamers pouring out of the top as well.

Tye-Dye T-shirt cake. I didn't have the spray icing so we improvised with food-coloring.

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Jul. 16, 2009 - Birthday Party

This year, I threw one birthday party for the girls. One of the most enjoyable parts for them is helping with the plans and creating everything. We decided to have a tye-dye party. We made a colorful pinata, a tye-dye t-shirt cake, and the kids did their own tye-dye shirts at the party (which I never got a picture of for the blog but they turned out great!)

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Jul. 16, 2009 -

Quinn's homemade birdfeeder. A male cardinal, who we named Stephen, would come with his "wife", Susan, everyday to our tree to eat. Then one day, we noticed that Susan wasn't joining Stephen for breakfast. The girls found her body in our flower garden. We think that our cat or a stray got her. We were so sad for Stephen.

The girls also found a Mourning Dove's nest. Quinn came running to the front door with the eggs in her hand! We put them back and left the mom alone but a few days later, the nest was disheveled and the eggs were on the ground. The girls tried to rescue the eggs and help them hatch but obviously that never happened.

Esther is both Mom and Dad's little helper. She loves jumping right in with us when we're working.

And Quinn would prefer doing something on her own. She loves to read.

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Jun. 8, 2009 - Making an Iris Folded Cat

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Jun. 7, 2009 - End of the School Year

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog...we've been busy finishing school and facing many other changes in our lives right now. Quinn just finished second grade and Esther completed Kindergarten. This past semester was full of fun and interesting experiences. Our area has begun a home school co-op which the girls have loved. This past semester provided some great classes for the girls...sign language, nature studies, some fun science experiments; then I and another young mom taught gym for their age group. They even met a deaf couple on the last day of sign language class.

We also saw three plays...The Ant and the Elephant (nobody's too big to ask for help and nobody's too small to help), Junie B. Jones (yeah, I know she's sassy but sooo funny!), and Cirque Dreams. We also saw "The Magic Flute" by Mozart...it was looong but the girls were spellbound the whole time.

We will continue doing some schoolwork throughout the summer as we plan to have a very busy winter with a new baby coming! It's been a long road for Aaron and I as we desire to expand our family and finally on my sixth pregnancy, the baby seems to be doing well and our hearts are bounding with joy the further this pregnancy progresses. I do believe that the losses that Aaron and I have suffered has given us a unique perspective on the true blessings of children. I remember times (and sometimes even now 3 1/2 years later) when moms would complain about the inconveniences of their child (specifically if it happened to be a third child...the one we lost), I couldn't help -and sometimes still can't help thinking -"At least you have your child ....I would love to hear the cries of my baby or deal with the independent seeking three year old right now." Maybe that seems bitter but it has also given me a greater appreciation and stronger patience for what we are about to receive this December. :)

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Jan. 31, 2009 - Reading

The girls and I started reading a volume of classics...Treasure Island, Little Women, Black Beauty, and now we're starting Wizard of Oz. Last night, as the girls and I cuddled in bed finishing Black Beauty, we came to the part where Black Beauty describes "running into" one of his friends in the city. She was worn out and miserable from the harsh treatment she had received from her owners. Not long after he had talked to her, he saw Ginger's lifeless body being carried away on a wagon. I could see Quinn out of the corner of my eye as I read and her face was filled with shock and sadness as she realized what happened. Tears began to form on the rim of her eyes and she turned her head to rest her cheek on her knees, facing away from me and wiping her eyes; then she turned back and said "I can't stand it!" in a quavering voice. It took every strand of my being to not lose it and cry with her. It was sad but a memory that I'm thankful for and praying that this will help to instill a desire and obligation to be kind and loving to God's creatures.

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Jan. 24, 2009 - Math Fun

It was Friday night and Dad was at work so the girls and I went shopping! In our living room with play money and stuff we already owned! I had been wanting to do this for a couple of weeks (since Quinn is learning to count money) and finally had some down time to transform the living room into the "Miersma Boutique". We had a lot of fun.