Holiday Cookie Making

In preparation for going down to the grandparents' house for the holiday the kids and I made some cookies that were gluten free/nut free for their dad and other cookies that everyone else could enjoy. Once at their grandparents' house the kids decorated the various shaped cookies with frosting. Unfortunately we used natural food dyes that didn't make the colors very bright for the gingerbread cookies. They ended up pink, light green, cream, and a strange mustard yellow. Oh well, they were yummy.

Toasting Marshmallows with Candles

A friend gave both Ian and Shannon "fishing rods" for toasting marshmallows for Christmas. They REALLY wanted to try them out but what are you going to do in the middle of winter? We used candles of course!

The kids learned that it takes a whole lot longer to get marshmallows to toast when they use a candle in comparison to last summer when they used our friends' fire pit. It was a lot of fun.

They are looking forward to the summer when they can try out their new rods with the fire pit.

Homeschool Classes through a Microsoft Store

Both kids have gotten the opportunity to attend free classes through a local Microsoft store. Each class had 4 sessions that are held once a week. The first was video game design using Kodu, then digital photography, and the last class was coding using TouchDevelop. These classes ran from October through December.

I couldn't get good pictures of what they were working on but here are some of the main screen where the instructor walked them through how to use the programs.

Here is Shannon learning how to navigate in Kodu.

Here is Ian learning to navigate Kodu.

Everyone got a chance to change the parameters while in TouchDevlop to see how the games change. Then they got to play the games. 

Walking a Winter Solstice Spiral

A homeschool family we are good friends with usually has a Winter Solstice celebration that includes walking a spiral (inwards and out) along with a get together of friends. It was a lot of fun with good food and new and old friends. We each got a candle and silently walked the spiral thinking about the past year and what we hope to do in the coming year. I forgot to take my phone outside so no pictures of the spiral were taken.

Zoolights!

As a family we went to the Smithsonian National Zoo's Zoolights night. It was our first time going to Zoolights and boy was it cold. The main walkway was wonderfully decorated with lights in patterns and pictures. We also loved the small mammal house and the reptile discovery center. We also went in the think tank and the great ape house. The gorillas and orangutans were sleeping so we didn't see much going on there.

Shannon giving the anteater statue bunny ears.

Ian and his dad in the reptile house. Sorry Drew I cut off your head.

Sleepy guy

SCOOP - Elementary Drama Skits

Today was the last day of the fall semester at SCOOP and Shannon's drama class put on a presentation. Shannon had a few lines in one of the skits. Originally Shannon had the option of being in multiple skits but she wasn't comfortable learning that many lines. She had a blast and so did I.

Tectonic Plates, Cookie Style!

The kids demonstrated how the tectonic plates move using cookies and homemade frosting. Both Shannon and Ian moved the cookies around making the their tectonic plates diverge, converge, and transform. It was a bit messy, but definitely yummy!

The Make Up of the Earth

Shannon, Ian, and I had fun with playdough today. We used it to make the Earth from the inner core on out to the crust.

Shannon's Earth

Ian's Earth