Dream it...you can do it - 3D Candyland

As part of our daughter's AP English assignment, they have been tasked with attending a different class, other than English, on Fridays as they study Da'Vinci.   The Space and Rocket Center is hosting the Da' Vinci exhibit and they will take part in a field trip to view it later in the month of February.

Since Da'Vinci was known for bringing his dreams and visions to life, the students were assigned to groups and tasked with the same.  Our brain child decided on a 3D Candy land, which she was convinced would be a piece of cake to build and take no time at all.

Since this happens quite frequently with her and projects ( in her mind she has a thought and her own timeline), which seldom transfers over to real life , I had to kick her into gear to begin.  So she started last week  with a trip to the Dollar Tree, Target's dollar aisle and Wal-Mart.  Here is a list of what she had to purchase

Foam Board
Cotton Balls
Pipe Cleaners
Paint Chips ( courtesy of Lowes)
Paint Stick ( courtesy of Lowes)
Erasers in the shape of lollipops
Erasers in the shape of candy conversation hearts
Tissue paper for the water fall
Candy Stickers
Colored Pom Poms
Pink Paint for Ramps
Craft Paint for Boards
whew....and the list goes on!

Eraser Lollipops from Target dollar aisle, along with eraser conversation hearts.

Size "C" batteries disguised in Three Musketeer wrapper to give the board some weight and balance

Fake chocolate candies straight from her 'play' food as a toddler

Her Dad helped her transport it this morning to the school library.  She said she felt like she was starring in one of the Food Network's cake challenges, where they have to decorate this huge cake and then get it to the table for judging.

Can you believe all of this and she wasn't even being graded.  You had to complete and compete to be eligible to attend the field trip!  Wow...really, how about next time we draw it instead! 

Poet and doesn't know it!

Well the 'kid' came home the other day to announce she had won her class level poetry reading.  "Great...what does that mean?"  Well, she has the opportunity to participate in the school level reading and if successful she will participate at the district level.

So we have been serenaded to the sounds of The Trees and other select works of poetry,  I am amazed as some days it is difficult for me to remember my own name, or where I laid down the remote control let alone works of poetry.

So, we wish her much success at her school level competition.  Kudos to the kid for all she is doing...she makes me tired just trying to keep up with her!

Monday Night Madness!

This could have easily been a picture of me and our daughter Monday night around 11:00pm. Everyone dreads Mondays, but this one we dreaded for good reason.

She has dance on Monday (3) hours, but arrives home before 7:30pm. So, it was a shower, dinner and a made dash to the dining room table to start on homework. What she had failed to recognize was the 75 question study guide her honors biology teacher had given them to be completed you guess it that evening in prep for their test on Tuesday.

Now, this wasn't your average run of the mill, multiple choice, fill-in-the blanks, true/false guide, but a name all the parts of an atom and how they work together, to include a colored drawing. Are you kidding me, that took 1/2 a sheet of paper and that was just for question one! Needless to say, I thought I was back in college and could clearly envision an "all nighter".

Keep in mind she didn't just have one subject to complete, we (she) was in for a marathon round of geometry, Spanish and biology..ugh! Ahhh to be young again (NOT). I did everything I could to support here, fetched drinks, snacks, offered to color in her black and white drawings, but alas she did it all on her own and before the stroke of midnight!

I am hoping the week results in a lighter homework load, if not the next post may be one of us laying on the floor wiped out!

Mt. Vesuvius....no but close!

It is that time again (school project time) so once again we find ourselves elbow deep in some type of mad material trying to construct whatever our daughter's teacher has deemed required. This go around it is a volcano, which must be capable of erupting. Of course no kits were permitted as that would make too much sense and be way too economical. So, as usual we found ourselves wandering the aisles of Wal-Mart in search of the needed materials to construct an erupting volcano. Thank goodness for You Tube (never thought I would hear myself say that out loud) and stormthecastle.com, which provided step by step instructions for numerous types of volcano models along with complete You Tube tutorials! The one we chose could be easily crafted out of a (2) liter bottle of Diet Coke, aluminum foil, Great Stuff foam sealer and craft paint. My husband did decided to help our daughter epoxy the (2) liter bottle to the platform in an effort to keep the volcano from tipping over. Here is a picture of what it looked like with the first coat of foam. She is in the process of painting it as I type, but I did want to share the events of our "trial" eruption, which took place earlier this afternoon. We decided to put a bottle of Diet Doke and some mint mentos to the test to make sure this thing would truly erupt as it is a requirement for the grading rubric. So, my daughter and her Dad set up the bottle and mentos, He stood close to the pseudo volcano leaning against the car and I took great care (as always) stood way...way back in an effort to get this on film. Here is what happen! Look what type of reaction you get when you dump in (4) mint Mentos into a bottle of Diet Coke. Just think that could be YOUR stomach on diet coke and mentos. I tell you it sure made me think twice about mixing that combination! It happen so fast my husband almost knocked himself out trying to step away from the car and out of the stream of Diet Coke. I will post pictures of the finished project tomorrow. Right now we are still waiting for the paint to dry!