mad scientists at work

The kitchen was taken over today by a young group of mad scientists. They did all sorts of strange experiments-most of them involving sugar! They even made their own sherbert dips and a funky kind of lava lamp. Okay it wasn't really a lamp, just raisins going up and down in carbonated water but it was just as much fun to watch as a lava lamp. At the end they were all exhausted and covered in red food coloring from their sugar cube experiment. And who were these mad scientists-sam and the puddles. We used lots of experiements from our Usborne experiments book and they all worked. I think the raisins in the water was the coolest. They just kept going up and down, I could have watched them all afternoon. Sam was wildly enthusiastic and seemed to loose all sense of volume control. He just doesn't have a clue that his voice is too loud-I just wish that there was someway I could help him to see this without saying 'indoor voice please" 500 times. I am afraid he gets it from me-that and the chatting too much. Thank goodness he is not in school or I am sure that he would be sent in the corner most of the time. It was as usual lovely having the girls over and I hope they enjoyed the experiments.

Our stick insects arrived safely and I think they are all okay. They are very small still so small that is difficult to see them. Their new cage is arriving tomorrow so that should help matters. Sam has named them-sam, mommy and pencil box! M wasn't very pleased to be passed over in favor of pencil box.

Have started thinking about thanksgiving and have decided that we should do a lapbook to help sam learn about the holiday. we have been reading a magic tree house book about it and he seems to be taking it all in. While the historical facts are important what I think is more important is that it is a holiday that unifies our country in a way that even the 4th of july doesn't. To the best of my knowledge everyone regardless of religion or background celebrates it and brings something special to the celebration. No two families celebrate in quite the same way. My father does not eat turkey or chicken so growing up mom never served it. Instead we always had family dish called guadaroni (a bit like a giant calzone) so that to me is thanksgiving-that and pumpkin pie. I could eat both for every meal. pumpkin pie for breakfast is very yummy. I think it is a nice idea in this busy world to have one day set a side to give thanks for the people and things that are important to us. I have so much to be thankful, especially all of my wonderful friends on both sides of the atlantic. THANK YOU.