Icepocalypse 2013

We woke this morning to find that we are in the midst of the Icepocalypse of 2013!

It has been sleeting since last night.  It was weird hearing the little taps on the window all night.  We tried to tell the kids it wasn't like snow and not something to really play in.  But next thing you know, they were all geared up and ready to go!

The raingutter next to our front door has a leak in it so water dripped out of it all night making for some really cool icicles on the plant below.

Ice in the yard?  Must. Eat. It.

The bushes are all weighted down and drooping from the weight of the ice.

Everything glistens in the light.  It is magical to see!

Drips of water froze solid during the night.

Rachel found a giant icicle!

The bushes look pretty in their blanket of ice but it was weird to feel the leave crunch when we touched them.

Little icicles can be found everywhere!

Here's a video of Rachel hopping on the ice in our front yard. It was really neat because when you first step on it, it just feels hard then instead of sinking into it like you would with snow, the ice just kind of breaks and you fall through to the grass below.


They soon discovered that there was some water running along the edges of the street into the big drain.  That had to be investigated!

This ice was smooth on the top but melted and slushy underneath = wet feet and hands!

Here's a video of the two of them bouncing on the slushy ice trying to break it.

We ventured to the back yard and found a lot more icicles!

I love the beautiful fall colored leaves with the branches enveloped in ice!  So pretty!

Nicholas chipped away at a layer of ice on their sandbox. Wow that is thick!

More shimmering beauty...

Rachel and I studied some oak leaves.  They had a thin layer of ice on them.

We were able to peel away the leaf and had a perfect ice leaf complete with veins and all!

Beautiful iced Holly berries.  What a perfect contrast to the white all around.

I still can't get over how every single branch and leaf has a layer of ice on it.

It's just breathtaking!

Nicholas found the icicle of all icicles.  He of course called it his Icicle Sword.  What a boy!

It is still sleeting at times.  We've had lots of coffee and hot chocolate today.

After a brief break inside to warm up, Stuart bundled up the kids again and took them for a walk down to the playground and wooded area to check out some more wintery scenes.

What a beautiful day it has been.  The temperatures are supposed to drop into the teens tonight so this stuff isn't going anywhere anytime soon.  Stay warm and safe.

From Park Day to Parkas

Yesterday it was 80 degrees and gorgeous! We spend hours at the park with a great group of homeschool friends. Nicholas brought his swords and nerf guns to have battles with the other boys in the open field while Rachel brought two baby dolls and played Mommy with the other little girls on the playground.

The kids also held a craft fair/bake sale where kids could make items to sell. They all set up on some picnic tables under the big tree.

I actually forgot to tell my kids about it (*bad mom*) so they didn't have anything to sell...but that didn't stop them by buying a few things. I only had a $5 bill but they got a popsicle stick crossbow, popsicle stick sling shot, a Christmas ornament, a brownie, and a cupcake. My kids had fun looking at all of the creative things kids brought.

But today the high will be only 37 degrees with rain, ice, and wind to only make things worse. Here's a picture from the National Weather Service. 

Ick!

This weather should continue through the weekend with the wintery mix slowing down Sunday. I don't like being out in icy weather but Rachel's Nutcracker performance is Saturday so we will at least venture out for a little fun. But other than that I plan to stay warm and snuggly indoors and stay off the road as much as possible.

I did find a neat website today that helps you learn about the road conditions in your area before you venture out in it. 

Check out the Drive Texas website by TxDOT.   It is pretty cool. You can find snowy conditions as well as construction and even incidents that you might want to avoid. Click on Traffic and you can see color coded traffic conditions that may help you know if you need to plan an alternate route. You can also find out where rest stops and travel information centers are located in the state. I love finding cool resources like this!

A friend just posted this on Facebook...HA!

Community Bible Study: Children's Christmas Program

I am really enjoying our Community Bible Study (CBS) classes this year.  We are studying the book of John and I'm learning so much.  They offer a complete homeschool Bible study class for kids infants through high school.  Starting in 1st grade the children study the same scripture as the mom classes.  So Nicholas and I read the Bible together and discuss the scriptures as he works on his homework for the week.  I do my homework on my own since there are a lot more questions that are also more in-depth for the moms than for the children.  Nicholas is good about following the schedule and working on a section of his homework but I kind of wait and do it all the night before our next class!

Today we had CBS.  Rachel brought along "Big Baby" that my mom gave her for Christmas last year.  She has also started calling this doll "Rachel" but I'm just used to calling it Big Baby (plus that is less confusing!).  Anyway, Rachel got upset when I wouldn't let her bring Big Baby into class.  I told her that the baby was tired and needed to just take a nap in the car.  Rachel insisted on buckling her into the car seat "because she might wiggle out of the seat and fall down".

Each year the children put on a Christmas program for the moms.  Rachel is in the preschool class but you can see how she towers over everyone else.  It doesn't help that they put her on the top step when they were placing the kids in rows.  She may look older but she's still just 5 like many of the kids in her class.  And of course, they all have the attention span of a gnat!  Check out the video:

And here is a video of the rest of the performance where Rachel is totally distracted by her newly discovered ability to snap her fingers.  Then she sees big brother Nicholas line up by the stage with his class and all hope for actually participating in this performance is lost!   

Nicholas' class did a short performance of the Nativity scene.  He was a wise man.  The teens group was going up after them and needed all several tables on stage but I wish they would set them up after the Nativity scene performance because they were kind of in the way a few times.  The class actually wrote the play, came up with costumes, etc all on their own.  Check out the video:

Raingutter Regatta

We've never participated in a Raingutter Regatta before but our C3D group was holding its first annual competition and Nicholas was excited to try it out.

He worked with his dad to come up with some designs.  I'm sure there were some videos they found on YouTube - because you can learn how to do anything from YouTube right?

We gathered for the race and everyone put their boats out on the table.

Nicholas' boat was made in a catamaran style with foam and popsicle sticks.  He was number 31.

The boys race 2 at a time.  They put their boats in a sealed raingutter that is full of water  They can only use a straw to propel the boats down the raingutter with their breath. The first to reach the end of the gutter wins.

I don't have the exact time for the first race but Nicholas won with somewhere between 7 and 8 seconds.

Each person raced 2 times against different people.  Both the C3D boys and the American Heritage Girls competed together.

Nicholas won both of his races, hands down.

Nicholas had the overall fastest time of the night with his second race at 7.04 seconds!

The boys have been reading an amazing book called Quest for the Keys which teaches character development to young people through an exciting adventure story. The boys were very lucky to have the author, Scotty Sanders, come to our meeting to meet the boys.

Make Your Own LEGO Advent Calendar {LEGO Challenge}

I love the wonderful LEGO Advent Calendars out there!

However, those cute little kits are as expensive as $39.99 each..and if you have two or more kids you know you will have to buy one for EACH of them. That gets expensive!  

But why spend that money when you can make a DIY LEGO Advent Calendar?

Make Your Own LEGO Advent Calendar

I pulled out an old Advent calendar that we've used in the past and created a DIY Lego Advent Calendar.

I first bought a small LEGO kit.  This one was about 90 pieces and cost about $10.

I looked at the directions enough to see how the pieces would go together.  Then I grouped the pieces that went together and placed them in the daily boxes on the calendar.  You'll have to come up with 25 groups.

LEGO Challenge

Each day in December, Nicholas opens a drawer and takes out the LEGO pieces (and maybe a few pieces of candy that managed to find their way in there).  He can build whatever he wants with the pieces he collects and even try to guess what the kit is really supposed to be.  He likes to think of this as his Christmas LEGO Challenge.

On Christmas, he collects the last LEGO piece and displays his final creation that he has made with all of the pieces he has collected for the month.  It may or may not look like the kit is supposed to look but that is half of the fun.  After he has showed off his creation, THEN he gets to look at the directions and put the pieces together like the kit was originally designed.  

Make your own LEGO Advent Calendar this year.  It's a fun LEGO Challenge that helps kids countdown the days until Christmas!

Here is another LEGO Advent Calendar that a friend of mine made.  The actual calendar part is made of LEGOs!!  Isn't it amazing?!