Science Fair

I'm so proud of Myles and Sydney for participating in their school's science fair last month. Myles was always on board, but it took awhile for Sydney to decide. In her words, "It's like homework, except you don't have to do it, so I don't want to." That girl - she is so smart and a hard worker, except when she doesn't have to be. I'm not sure she's going to be an academic overachiever just for the sake of it like her mama tried to be. But seriously, she did have a point.

So, after Gilby showed them some cool experiments on YouTube they decided to do SEPARATE experiments. NOOOO. That was not the plan! I really wanted them to do a project TOGETHER, you know, so that WE only had to technically do one project! I kinda think a little bit like Sydney does. Oh well, we conceded to both experiments, and it actually ended up to be fun (and not that much work, really).

Sydney's experiment question was "What will happen if I use paper towels to connect empty jars and jars with colored water?" Spoiler alert - the paper towel will absorb the colored water enough to partially fill the empty jars with colored water.

Myles' experiment question was, "What do different types of drinks do to your teeth?" We learned that eggshells are made up largely of the same material as teeth (calcium), so we replicated what would happen to our teeth by soaking eggs in different liquids. It was actually pretty interesting. Bottom line - brush your teeth, a lot.

In the end, the kiddos were proud of their projects, it was great to have them do something (semi) independently from start to finish, and it was neat to be part of and contribute to the larger school community.

Christmas Card 2016

Christmas 2016

Well, now that we are into March and rounding the corner to Spring, I think it's the perfect time to document our CHRISTMAS celebration! Life has been a wee bit busy (more posts to come...hopefully!), so I am just now backtracking to what I've missed.

We stayed in Colorado for Christmas this year and ALL three of my siblings and their families came to celebrate! We haven't all been together for Christmas for several years, so this was really, really special. In addition to that, my Uncle David and Tory were also with us for Christmas Eve, and my Aunt Jane, Michael, cousin Courtney, and her boyfriend, Max ALSO came from Michigan to spend the holiday with us. My mom hosted Christmas Eve and we hosted Christmas Day, and both of our houses were packed with 20+ people. It was great.

All eight of the Schaefer cousins (we're already up to nine as I'm writing this with the addition of cousin Lydia!).

Sydney (and Myles and Ryker) LOVED having Emma here!

Christmas Eve festivities.

Elf cousins!

Santa came!

We had the honor of serving Christmas dinner on the table that Gilby had just finished custom building, using my Great Grandma Schaefer's china, and my Great Grandma Hillestead's silver. The older I get, the more sentimental I feel about moments like this, and this was a really special one for me.

Rounding out our Christmas Day with a rousing game of Pie Face!