Iveyrock

Tomorrow we start driving North. The plan is three days in the car – we’ll see you when we get there!

Some of the things I’ve been working on recently…

finished, for Chava

For Micah

in progress, for Micah

(modified from this pattern, at With a Tangled Skein)

I’m also working on a bit of Christmas crocheting for the kids… the jury is still out on whether that will be done in time.

It’s becoming a family tradition to head out to Burnet and walk through the live nativity put on by First Baptist Church.

It was cold this year. We were all bundled up, but it was also less crowded, and we got through the line a lot faster.

My favorite thing about the whole experience is the details. I love the little touches that make it feel like a working little town.

It’s hard for my camera to capture the feeling of the town, because it is all darkness and candlelight. The smell of the smoke and baking bread is everywhere, and as you walk along, you are surrounded by the sounds of people living their lives. Vendors are making and selling their wares. Families are cooking their meals over wood fires. Children are playing. Taxes are collected, and those that can’t pay call to you from the jail. There is music, and the sounds of the animals. And in the background of it all, as you walk through, there are mentions of a couple, staying in a stable. Overheard conversations, about the rumors of a baby.

We’ve been experimenting a bit with glitter recently. The kids love it, of course.

It’s worked well for us to put some of the glitter into jar lids (one per kid, not one per color). That way they can just pinch some out and sprinkle, rather than shaking a whole bunch out at once.

I’ve just been cutting shapes out of old cereal boxes for them. I’m sure we’ll get more complex eventually, but mostly it’s hearts and bookmarks right now.

While we waited for the “messy” volcano to dry, we tried out Ian’s original plan

(putting in the paper rocks)

Explosion!

Ian was thrilled that the ‘lava’ pushed one of his rocks out, just like a real volcano.

There are days when nothing seems to be going quite right, and then there are days when everything just sort of falls together. Yesterday, through absolutely no planning of my own, turned into a science sort of a day.

Ian started off the morning by asking me if he could do an experiment, to make confetti. (We’re on a confetti kick right now.) He wanted to dissolve paper in water, then heat it up, then take it out and let it dry, to see if it turned into confetti. I told him he wasn’t allowed to put it in the oven for very long, and he decided not to include that part. So here the kids are, experimenting with their confetti…

… which turned into a couple more things, before Ian decided that it was our decoration for Christmas.

Then, after lunch Chava asked me to read her a book about kitchen science experiments. (It was one we got from a restaurant somewhere – as much as I would like to take credit for the educational-ness of her book choices.) One of the pictures showed vinegar and baking soda fizzing together. I happened to mention that those are the things we use to clean, and we decided to do the experiment.

We got set up on the counter, gave Chava some pickles (the book also had some pictures of pickles), and combined our ingredients. The kids were impressed, of course, and I happened to mention that those were the things that people used to make model volcanoes explode.

Now, way back in the beginning of the school year, Ian wanted to make a model volcano. Since then he’s been researching volcanoes, but hasn’t really been interested in making one. As soon as I mentioned making it explode, he decided we needed to make our own model volcano. He had a really great plan to use a glass jar, some paper in the shape of a cone, and paper rocks.

Then I mentioned that there’s another way to make them. A messy way. I have no idea what I was thinking. His idea was actually really good, and I want this to be his thing, not mine. Plus, why on EARTH did I bring up the messy way when I didn’t need to? What mother does that?

So naturally, Ian decided he wants to do it the messy way.

I haven’t done paper mache since I was little. So I went to look up some recipes on the Internet. Ian noticed some videos people had posted of their own model volcanoes, so we spent some time watching those, before quiet time.

After quiet time, we got started on our “messy” volcano.

(I’ve heard that a piece of tape is a good way to entertain a baby. Micah sure was impressed by it.)

We put it in the bathroom overnight to dry. Because it’s going to take awhile to dry, and because Ian’s original idea was a good one, I suggested that we try his way, while we wait for the paper mache one to be ready. We ran out of time yesterday, although we spent the last bit of the day before Daddy came home watching more homemade volcanoes online.

The most intriguing thing of the whole day, for me, is the way these kinds of days pop up right when I am starting to get anxious about things. Ian has been interested in volcanoes since that first day he asked about them. He’s read about them online, gotten books out of the library, and written his own book about them. He built a volcano exploring robot out of Lego’s, and made us all wear hard hats. But it’s been awhile since he’s talked about them. We have a notebook with questions that he’s asked, and I haven’t been sure how to get back on the topic to answer them. The whole thing has been very much his project from the beginning, and I absolutely don’t want to take it over. The couple of times I’ve mentioned the questions, he wants me to read them all to him, and then says that’s it for the day. I’ve been wondering if I should have just forged ahead with making a volcano way back when, since he was interested then.

But it always seems to happen that right when I am really anxious about something, and have decided that I am doing everything wrong; a day or two later things just click into place. And it never has much to do with me. There’s nothing I could have planned that would have re-sparked his interest like that. Now we’ve talked about acids and chemical reactions. We learned a new way to research, we talked through what you need to make a volcano, we’ve used some creativity and planning. And I have a volcano drying in my bathtub. I certainly didn’t have that before.

Our new set-up in the kitchen has been working exactly like I hoped it would. In fact, it’s almost working a little too well. The kids are so independent and creative with their work, they aren’t needing me nearly as much. Which is good, because I am often running interference, so Micah doesn’t grab their projects. But I am missing the time to sit with them and watch their creative process.

This past week, however, Micah got his very own booster chair, which should allow him to join in the fun from a safe distance. I am excited, and hoping I can find a few more moments to sit down with all of the kids and get back into the flow of things.

In the meantime, here are some of the things I have managed to take pictures of.

(Ian requested that I put this “very cool picture” up “where you put pictures on the computer for people to see.” He tells me that it is the sky and space.)

Chava’s letter for the neighbor girl. The yellow squiggles are apparently wings.

These are really interesting to me, because Ian drew them both in the same day – and there’s an obvious progression in the drawings.

(they are both portraits of Micah)