Soccer Season Again

Jenny scored two goals in Saturday's game! Hurray for soccer season starting again. The cold winter months of playing indoor are finally over and we get to go out and brave the elements, whether rain, snow, or sunshine, to see our kids play soccer.

Dave's leg

Dave went in to have his ACL repaired on March 27. Everything went well and he is back up and walking around. Not quite back to normal, but the doctor said it would be about 6 months.

Easter morning

Saturday night we decorated eggs. The kids had a blast hunting them in the morning.

Spring Break 2008

Friday afternoon we had fun hiking.

Science Fair 2008

Jenny's Science Fair Project:

WHAT CURES SPICY FOODS?

I learned that what makes chili peppers spicy is a flavorless, colorless, and odorless alkaloid found in the tissue around the seeds called capsaicin. Capsaicin does not actually burn but tricks the taste buds into thinking they are being burned when it stimulates the nerve endings in the mouth.

Capsaicin is not soluble in water, but it is soluble in alcohols, fats, and oils. Milk has fats and a protein called casein that neutralizes capsaicin. Edger Hegyes, a medical scientist, discovered that capsaicin “stimulated the mucous membranes of the mouth and stomach and increased the secretion of gastric juices.”

Capsaicin is measured in Scoville units. This is based on how much it is diluted before it isn’t hot anymore. Something that isn’t hot would be 0 Scovilles, while the jalapeno peppers that my dad uses to make his salsa are at 55,000 Scovilles.

The bread and milk were both successful in stopping the spicy affect. The soda also reduced the spicy affect, but not as much as the bread and milk.




Lydia's Science Fair Project:

DO GREEN BAGS REALLY WORK?

Debbie Meyer’s green bags claim
“Scientists searching for ways to prolong the freshness of produce for Antarctic exploration became aware of a region in Japan known for thousands of years for storing produce for extended periods of time.
Farmers in the region had been warehousing their produce in mountain caves with amazing results. The caves were dark, consistently cool, dry and, it was discovered, the caves themselves were in a mountain of clay called oya. The oya absorbed the ethylene gas that the produce gave off as it matured, significantly prolonging the freshness. Debbie Meyer’s Green Bags' special film is made with that mineral, oya.”

We have learned that the Oya stone contains zeolite, which will absorb gasses. There is no scientific proof that the ethylene gas will actually be absorbed by the green bags. However, we’ve read that the holes caused by the Oya clay particles, increases the gas exchange from inside the bag and outside the bag. The ethylene is able to escape the plastic bag through the holes.


We found that the green bags do work to help keep the fruits and vegetables from ripening faster. However, the bags also hold in the moisture, increasing the growth of mold and fungus. We also found several other people's experiments with the green bags. They had similar results as ours.

Valentine's Day

I'm feeling good about my thriftiness today. I sent the girls off to school with valentines for their classmates, and I didn't spend any money on them. I took some 9X12 envelopes and folded them in half. I hole punched the folded edge and put some folded printer paper inside to create a booklet. We then decorated the front with red, pink, and white paper, fabric, buttons, lace, and ribbons that were left over from other projects.

Of course, Jenny didn't want to give the boys these "cute" valentines, so she bought some Shrek valentines from the store.


I've been thinking of a way to prevent Jack from sucking his thumb. I took Jack's "silky" (a pair of silky pajama bottoms of Jenny's that Jack used to drag around with him wherever he went). I made a thumb template and sewed up the "silky" as a thumb cover. He only complained a little at nap time.

Yesterday I took Jack and Mia with me to the indoor soccer arena. I left Mia in her stroller and Jack on a blanket in front of the portable DVD player. The other kids enjoyed it for a while, too. But it wasn't too long before I looked over, and Jack was stripping down to his diaper. I don't remember how I was entertained before I had kids. Those of you without are really missing out!

SICK!

Saturday morning Mia was sick (the stomach flu kind). Monday night Jack started. The rest of us were feeling bad, but Jenny and Lydia didn't start vomiting until Tuesday morning.

Hope everyone else has evaded this one.

Jack decided he wanted to wear make-up Monday. This is the result

A New Year Tradition

We sure enjoyed going to Grandma Barker's for FHE Monday night. Jack ate all his candy before we got home. It was a noisy ride home.

Jack's cup runneth over...........with personality

Today I put batteries in the bumble ball. You know, the ball that has rubber bumpers on it and some sort of mechanism inside that makes it jump around like it's possessed. Those of you who know Jack...........


Well, when the tapers got here to work in the basement, I decided I should take the little ones out of the house to run errands. We drove up to Costco to buy groceries and a piece of pizza for Jack. When we sat down to eat the piece of pizza, Jack noticed I hadn't gotten a cup for a drink. (I had left my water bottle back at the check stand where I checked out a few minutes earlier. But I wasn't about to push the overstuffed cart with two kids back through the crowds to get a water bottle that's been refilled with tap water too many times to count. I also wasn't going to buy soda for a kid who needs no sugar to act like, well the bumble ball.) So after noticing I had no cup, Jack said "Big Helper!" jumped down and ran over to the lady at the counter. I couldn't hear what was being said, but the lady was leaning down and listening while Jack pointed to the soda fountain. Now if I could just get my 11-year-old to be so helpful. She won't go up and ask for mustard at Burger King.

This evening Jenny, Lydia, and I were sitting around the computer looking for bedding sets for their new room downstairs. Jack came in and wanted to look, too. So I picked him up and sat him on my lap. A few minutes later Jack said "Diaper change, mom!" It was that moment that I remembered he had gone into the bathroom a while ago to go "Poop in the potty." I set him down really quick, and you can probably guess that I had a present on my lap. He's really into using toilet paper (a whole role in one sitting most times). But he's not really very good at using the toilet paper correctly.

So now I have a load of laundry going, and the timer just sounded for dinner.

ta-ta for now

NDPA Choir Concert

Jenny and Lydia sang duets at the concert last night. They did a great job!

Speaking of jobs, Dave got the job at Challenger schools! His first day was today.

DRYWALL!!!!

We worked hard and finally finished the girls room today.

First real snow of the season

Jenny and Jack really enjoyed the snow yesterday. Most of it has melted today :(

Drywall goes up TODAY!

We just had our insulation inspection. Yep, we passed (after staying up until 1:00 in the morning to get it finished). That means we get to start the drywall today! Jenny and Lydia will be SO excited because we are starting in their room (and the bathroom). As soon as those rooms are done, the inspector said we could have an inspection and they can move in!

btw - our coed soccer team won another game a couple weeks ago, and I got my second goal (our only goal the entire game) last week.

Handsome Jack

Jack's not happy about his new suit. Of course after telling him all day at church that he is handsome helped out the attitude a little. And when I finally uploaded the picture and he saw it on the computer, he was convinced that he looks good in his new suit. He said "Hand - some!"

Now if we could just do something with the cowlick in the front of his hair...

Soccer Silly

Jenny's team has been playing indoor for a few weeks now. I love watching them play indoor soccer because the game moves so quickly. The team is playing in the division a year older than them, so they've been playing some tough games. Last night they played the premier team in the state (they took 2nd at the state cup). But my favorite part was Jenny's comment after the game. Dave commented about how physical the other team was, but Jenny said, "They may have had more fouls than us, but we had better fouls. Did you see how I made that girl flip!?"

Halloween

What a fun Halloween. I really enjoyed the Day-Light Savings this year. We usually are trick or treating in the dark. This year it was light until 6:30. After trunk-or-treating from 5:00 - 6:00, I dropped off Jenny to go trick-or-treating with Ashley Reed (friend from school). David took Lydia and the soccer team around the neighborhood. They got home at 7:30 for donuts and hot chocolate, and to pass out candy while I took Jack up the street. He was the funniest kid. He ran from house to house, and always said "Happy Halloween."


By the way, Dave and I have been playing indoor soccer with a team made up of soccer parents. We won our first game Saturday (October 27). And Monday night I got my first goal! Dave passed the ball to me, I shot it, and it went in! The other goal during the game was off another shot of mine that was a little wide.

Birthday Season

We celebrated Lydia's birthday a week early with Dave's family because Grandma and Grandpa will be taking Amtrak out to Maryland to visit with Clay and Alisa and family. We're glad they're able to go visit, but we'll miss them on Halloween. I guess we'll all have to do our trick-or-treating in our own neighborhoods this year.

Dave's birthday is the week after Lydia's. He'll be 36 this year. I'm embarrassed to admit I had to open the calculator to figure that out.

Silly Jack

Jack is learning to speak. But I can't always understand him. The other day I gave him something and he said "Thank you." But I didn't understand. He said it again, and again I didn't understand. Finally he said "Thank you, you're welcome!" This time I understood. Funny he wasn't mad because I didn't understand. He was mad because I wasn't making the proper socially accepted response to his thank you.

Yesterday he was sitting on the potty (he's great at using it for #2, but not #1). I was really tired because I had tried to nap to make up for lost sleep caused by Jack. He wanted me to read a story, but since I had just woken up, I was reading in a tired monotone voice. He said to me "STOP! Happy!" He may not know all the words yet, but he know how to get his point across.

SOCCER, SOCCER, SOCCER

I don't remember getting out this much when Jenny and Lydia were this little. Between Jenny and Lydia, we have practice or a game every night of the week! Mia loves to be outside, and Jack gets to play at the playground as long as the weather is good. Yesterday morning Lydia's coach (her dad) made her team practice during a rain/snow storm. It was cold!

July 4th 2007

Jenny & Lydia rode on the NDPA choir float.

Jack, Mia, and I had a fun time watching the parade.

We had fun at Marni & Jamie's eating delicious food and having a water balloon fight.