Rock Candy: Take 1

The kids were watching Cyberchase on PBS kids. At the end of the show they show what they call Cyberchase for real. This segment showed how to make rock candy and sugar crystals. The kids decided to do it on their own. They needed some help but it was their idea to do the experiment. Well today we got to see if any crystals grew.  It takes about 7 days for crystals to grow.  Garrett has been so excited.  All week last week he kept saying, "I can't wait until Sunday to see the crystals."

Here is the solution of sugar, boiled water, and blue food coloring.

Here are two nice crystals.

The kids are excited about the crystals.

Some of the crystals just formed at the bottom of the jar and not on the string.

Best part of these crystals is that you can eat them.

So today we are going to try the experiment again with a few modifications to try and get better and bigger crystals.

Here is the recipe

• 1 cups water
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2-1 tsp flavoring extract or oil (optional)
• food coloring (optional)
• glass jar
• String/thread
• Pencil 

Boil the water then add the sugar and food coloring.  Tie a string to the pencil.    Pour the water solution into a jar.  Place the pencil and string on the with the string in the water solution.   Wrap lightly with plastic wrap. Put in a place where it won't be disturbed for 7 days.  Then carefully pull the thread our of the water and see your beautiful crystals.

After doing some research here are some changes we are going to try:
1.  Soak the thread in sugar water  before
2.  Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water
3.  Add a small weight to the bottom of the string like a paper clip to keep the string close to the bottom of the jar.

We will see what happens next time.

Interesting

Since our boys just had their birthdays we were interested to know how tall they were.  So we measured them and Olivia.

Olivia is  59 inches

Garrett  is 53 inches

Devin is 41 inches

We think that they are pretty tall so we wanted to know what percentile they were in for kids their age.

Olivia is in the 92nd percentile

Garrett is in the 97th percentile

Devin is in the 95th percentile

So then we were interested as adults what percentile Jeremy and I would be in.

Jeremy is 74 inches and in the  94 percentile for men
Robin is 70 inches  and in the 97 percentile  for women

So, yep Genetics seems to work and yep the kids are tall but so are their parents.

Here is the site we used to get the percentiles
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/usefultools/l/bl_kids_centils.htm

Brave Garrett

A couple weeks ago I took Garrett to the Dr. to look at some moles on his scalp, on his back and on his stomach. The pediatrician said she thought I should go and have them looked at by a dermatologist. We took him to the Dr. today. Jeremy came and met me at the Doctor's office since Garrett isn't the most cooperative person at the doctor's office. The Dr. said the ones on his scalp and stomach look fine but thought that two on his back needed to be removed. So they put some numbing cream on it and told his to come back in an hour. So Jere and I took the boys to McDonalds for lunch and let them play in the Kid Area. We went back to the doctor's office but I guess the numbing cream didn't work so they had to give him a shot to numb the area. He cried during the shot but then he did very well while the doctor shaved off the moles. They will send the moles to lab and let us know the results and let us know if we need to have the area scraped deeper.

Glad Jeremy was there to help. Having to deal with an upset Garrett and Devin who wants to run away would have been really stressful.

These are the two spots where Garrett got the moles removed.

Sleeping and DSing

A couple of days ago during the night Devin was banging on the door to let him in our room. I told him to go and sleep on the couch. A little while Garrett is knocking on the door. I told him to go and sleep on the couch. When I woke up they looked liked this.  So cute and sweet that they were sleeping on the chair together.

Later in the day, Olivia asked to play the DS.  I thought it was cute that all three of them were sitting so nicely together.

Having the DS is working out well. They share (most of the time) plus it is a great motivator to have them do their chores, homework, or even get along.

Garrett's 2nd Basketball Game

Garrett loves basketball.  He loves to go to practice each week and loves to go to his games.  Yesterday he got a chance to shoot the ball during the game, and during warm up he made a few shots.   Also during the game some kid hit him in the nose which made him sad. But he got over it quickly and wanted to play again. This is a cute video of him playing.  It is has a couple of funny parts.   I think it is funny to watch him run/skip with his arms up.  Towards the end of the video there is funny part of another kid.

Happy Birthday Devin!!

This cute little baby just turned 3. He isn't a baby anymore.

Yesterday was actually Devin's Birthday but we celebrated it today. The morning started out with Devin getting up and shaking his presents. This particular present is a shake and go rocket car with Buzz light year in and it and Buzz says his famous quote, "To Infinity and Beyond." Devin would shake it and laugh.

He is so happy that it is his birthday and that he has presents.  But he didn't get to open them until much later.

This is Devin and I.  I like taking my picture with them on their birthday because it was me who gave birth to him.

For his party we went to Build a Bear.  He said he wanted a bear party.  We just did the party with our own family and Jennifer.  But he really enjoyed picking his bear, stuffing the bear, giving it a bath, picking out clothes.  It was a lot of fun.  He named is bear Robby(after me). He wanted to name it Mommy but was happy with this compromise.

After all the excitement he fell asleep on the way home and was really tired and it took him a while to warm back up and want to open his presents.

But it didn't take him long to really get into opening the presents.  He would open one and then he would run to the couch and scream "Give me the next one."  He got some Toy Story link sets, a toy story shake and go car, a toy story flashlight, play food, playdough, a Thomas Pop Up Play Hut, and a book, and a wooden car ramp. He got a little spoiled.

This is the Toy Story link sets put together . They are way cool. Watch the Video to see the chain reaction.

Then we had dinner and of course Chocolate Cake, with chocolate icing with a Dora and Diego Cake Topper.  After all of his presents maybe we should have gotten him a Toy Story Theme Cake but this is what he said he wanted.

Who needs a fork when you can use your hands and just shove it in your mouth.

Happy Birthday Devin!  We love you.  We think that you are so smart, funny and cute.  You are growing up way too fast but we love that you make our home exciting.  We our so glad you are apart of our family.

Mind Blowing Science

Garrett got a Mind Blowing Science Kit for his birthday from Grandma and Grandpa Doolittle. For Family Home Evening tonight we did one of the experiments: the underwater volcano which used Cabbage dye, baking soda, oil, water, and citric acid. (all of these things were included in the kit)

Setting up the experiment

Doing the countdown.

The first time was a complete dud with only a few bubbles.

This is the second Try: It worked fantastic!

It would change from blue, to purple, pink. If you added more citric acid or baking soda it would change color again. So Cool!

Happy Birthday Garrett!!

Today Garrett turned 7! He woke up this morning at 5 am he was so excited.
Here he is as new baby. It is so hard to believe that this little baby is my big 7 year old now.

I told him since we were his parents that we wanted pictures with him.

For his Birthday party we went to Jump on It and jumped and played for an hour and half.  It was a lot of fun.

Eli Spek, William Zerkle, and Landon Bellows were his friends that he invited.

Afterward we came back home and had cake and presents

Garrett loves Mario and he wanted a Mario cake. I love these edible cake image.

Garret wanted to open presents yesterday.  He was excited about them.  He got a basketball, a stomp rocket, space books, a craft kit, trucks, painting, science kit, pillow pet, a screaming monkey and some silly band.  If you ask him what is his favorite he will say the silly bands.

Garrett we love you! We think you are smart, funny, talented. We are so glad you are apart of our family.