Broken

Well, it's a first for our family. A broken arm. The recipient, our 9 year old son. How'd he do it? Guess....literally climbing the walls. I took him to the doctor to get checked out. He sent us over for x-rays and I figured that he was fine. I took him to school thinking that there was no big deal. The doctor called and said he would need a cast. I couldn't believe it. I picked him up at school and he was crying. I think I won the worst mom of the year award. He is a high red belt in Tae Kwon Do, plays on the Red Sox little league team, and his favorite color is red. Sooooo...he has a red cast.

Picture of him waiting for the doctor. Picture of him getting the cast.

xo M

Mad Science!

How about a little Mad Science?!

That's what we did for our son's 8th birthday party. He enjoys science and a mad science party sounded fun and different.

We originally hired a company that would come for an hour. The host would have the kids wear borrowed lab coats, show a few fun things, and the kids would make slime to take home. That would cost around $150-$175.

After doing some research I figured that I could be the mad scientist and save a few bucks.

Here is what we/I did.

• Bought test tubes and filled with candy
• Brown paper bags with homemade stickers for goodie bags
• Baked the cake - (not cute)

• Bought colorful tablecloths and balloons
• Made slime with "slime cups" and mix (bought online)
• Made "snow" (bought online)
• Made volcano's with paper cups and plates - had the ingredients already
• Bought the birthday boy a lab coat ($10)
• Made name tags for added effect
• Bought dry ice (Huge Hit!)
  
• Used black lights to show off glowing slime
• Bought freeze dried ice cream to sample ($1.88 for a pack. One pack gave 13 kids a sample.)
  

The goodie bags had the slime and snow they made, a test tube with candy, a kaleidoscope, and "Chinese" finger toy (locks two fingers together) The goodie bags looked empty initially because they had to make some of the items that went inside.

A lot of the items are things we already had in the attic from Halloween decor. The other items were very reasonable. The party ended up costing around $120. I still saved money and that helped pay for gifts. I would have spent way over $200 if I would have hired the "professionals".

The experiments were:

• Slime
• Freeze dried ice cream
• Volcano's
• Snow

This took about 45 minutes to an hour to complete with 13 kids.

This turned out to be an absolute blast for the kids. It seemed like they had a really great time. For us, the adults, stress. That's all I can say. Tons of work, loud, and busy.

We wanted a great party with out spending a lot. Hope you have found some ideas for your next shin dig.

xo M

Science Fair

Well, it's been that time of year again. Science fair season. We started off a few weeks ago with the school science fair. Both boys did well and placed first in their grade level.
Next we were off to Pacific Lutheran University for a full day of science fun. We checked in at 8AM and got the show rolling. The boys had to stay with their display and talk to judges. It's a good chance for them to explain what, why, how and all the ins and outs of their project. Last year our oldest son received honorable mention at regionals. This year both boys participated and just enjoyed the experience. Neither of them placed.
It is definitely tougher competition. The boys placed first at their school level BUT... so did all the other kids there. It's really amazing how 300 kids from k-5 can come up and create such awesome experiments. Very impressive.
So, maybe next year.