From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah CELLS part 2

Bring on the science fun!!It's a race! Well sort of...we wanted to watch some celery tissue carry water up the stalk to the leaves. We cut the celery up the middle, placed one half in a blue water and the other half in red water. And we waited.....
This experiment allows you to see the process of osmosis in action.
I only added the above picture because Elijah looked SOOO cute in it. We sliced a potato,placed one slice in regular water and the other in salt water and WAITED.
The potato slice in the fresh water became a little stiffer, while the potato in salt water became rather flimsy. The water outside the cell is saltier than the water inside, water will move from the inside of the cell to the outside. As the water left the cell it was like letting the air out of a balloon. As more and more of the cells lost water, the slice of potato became soft and flexible. If the water inside was saltier, the opposite happens, and some water goes into the cells, stiffening them up.

We also did it with beans

Checking out the results of the celery race. the blue and the red seem to be neck and neck.
We weren't seeing the leaves of our celery change color as quickly as we wanted to see decided to get white carnations....the result?
How many cotton balls can you fit in a full glass of water without spilling any of the water? Isaiah 4 Elijah 5.
The cell wall organelle supports and protects the cell. Cell walls have small holes, called pores, in them. This lets water, nutrients, and other substances into the cell.

Keep going...

Final count...Isaiah 27 Elijah 34....that's a lot of cotton balls.

In this experiment, you were able to get the cotton balls in the water because cotton balls are mostly air. Even the strands of cotton are mostly air, because the strand is just the cell wall from the cotton plant.
Here are our flowers. We're going to let them hang out for the week and see them change more.

Super cool!

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah CELLS

I wasn't sure how this year's science would work out...after last year's thrilling ride of hover crafts, robots, white light, and electricity I thought "life science" might not be as thrilling for the boys. But leave it supercharged science to turn up the excitement level. How is a balloon like a cell membrane? Find out...put vanilla extract in a balloon, blow it up.
And take a good sniff...smell anything? We did! The balloon kept air in but also let some out. Sounds like a cell membrane to me.
We started with something that smelled GOOD and then went to something that smelled HORRIBLE!!! I mean HORRIBLE. For days Peter and I kept saying to each other "what is that smell?" well we found out when it was time to check out out protozoa specimen. (Made with water, dead grass from the back yard and yeast, and let it sit and grow) The boys were pretty grossed out and said it smelled like....well you don't need to know. =) BUT I wish I would have recorded their reaction to looking at their specimen under the microscope. I had no idea it would have been such a BIG hit. "WOW no way" "check it out" "things are moving" "what are they" "let's stain the slide" "You've got to check this out" "are they really alive" "so cool"
Just as important as observing is recording. The next week in science will be even more thrilling and we'll return to our specimen jar to see if more critters have grown!!

From the ART desks of Isaiah and Elijah

Have I mentioned the boys take Art from an amazing lady named Brenda. You can check out her blog here. She taught them last year it was such a blessing that I couldn't wait to sign them up this year. Here are a few projects they have worked on.

African Lion

Elijah "mini" African Lion

Cheetah by Elijah Scratch art!

Crocodile by Isaiah Scratch art

From the Desks of Isaiah, Elijah and Hahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnnah

So much learning so little time to post it all....We have been so busy it seems this past month. Every night seemed to have some commitment or other. We have a few weeks of "rest" before it all starts again. But I wanted to post just a few fun pics of some stuff we've been doing in school.

Isaiah and Elijah are doing life science this year. This particular unit focused on how to use a microscope. With thanks to MP3 we bought a really nice one for them to use this year.

Isaiah found a "critter" outside and is taking a better look. They have learned how to mount a dry,wet, stained, and a hit fixed slide.

The all important onion skin.

Staining it to see it better.

Heat fix of active yeast.

Elijah taking a turn.

Elijah finished the Viking unit. He made a really awesome lapbook which I haven't taken a picture of, maybe next time, but this is Elijah with Viking rune letters.

Looks pretty good buddy!

Hannah is keeps raising the bar of what is considered acceptable activities for her to do during school. She wants to do hands on stuff.

This is colored salt in cute little shakers I got at Michael's (the even read "Shake it")

With a little glue she knew exactly what to do! Super fun, a little messy but nothing a good sweep couldn't clean up.

Annual Stoney Ridge Farm Adventure

When you relocate your family to an entirely different region of the country,thousands of miles from family and age old traditions, you wonder if you'll ever have new ones, in your new home. Well traditions take time....this is our 3rd fall in Washington. And although NOTHING compares to a New England....MAINE fall, it's still amazingly beautiful here (and like I have said, after fall comes winter and I am all set with a Maine winter) Anyway back to traditions, we have been here for 3 falls and each time we have visited Stoney Ridge Farm. For our Mainer friends, it's sort of like Treworgy's. But it's become our own little thing we do. The first year Hannah was 2 weeks old and my family was here. Last year, we went with friends, the same friends we went with this year. The day was PERFECT, SUNNY, WARM, and BEAUTIFUL.

This is very Washington to me. Flowers in a rain boot.

PUMPKINS

Our Friends Melinda and Ryan HA HA!

Hannah and her puppy...imagine that.

The five of us

Daddy can I please have a puppy. She loved this little miniature pony. She was not afraid at all. I let her pet him, and then saw a large sign that said "Do not put fingers inside the cage" OPPS

Here Pony I love you so much I will let you see my puppy.

Apple cider donuts....so yummy

Lots of friends and lots of boys!

Melinda and I picking some WASHINGTON apples...you haven't had an apple until you have had a WASHINGTON apple.

I want to sit on every pumpkin

Give me a ride back Daddy!

I LOVE our new family traditions that are forming here. Miss the old ones, but embracing the new!

Happy 12th Anniversary

12 years today!

Let me start by saying that I LOVE my husband. I can't believe all the Lord has done for us in 12 years. I could write for days.

Our love story is nothing short than the Creator of the Universe supernaturally stepping in and invading our lives to start, write and is still writing our love story. If you don't know us or haven't heard the awesome story,I will tell you. But I want to share more about how He is working in our lives today....because I truly believe He is just as invested in us today as he was 12 years ago!

Anyone who tells you their marriage is perfect is LYING! Peter and I do not have the perfect marriage contrary to what people may want think. We are real. We are sinners. We don't have it all together. That being said I have to confess in saying that I am married to the most wonderful man. The Lord has really opened my eyes to this more in the past month. He has been showing me so many parts of Peter that I have yet to discover and fall in love with. At first I felt ashamed, thinking "I've been married to this man for 12 years, I should know all there is to know" But God has been revealing to me that this is an awesome and exciting thing, because as Peter grows in Jesus, and becomes more like Him, I can't help but fall in love all over again.

I often look back at the two weeks of our engagement and our wedding and think "Oh you were in a dream world where you thought as long you are in love with Jesus your marriage would be great" I think I have let the lies of the enemy take up home in my heart because I started to believe if our marriage wasn't perfect then we were failures. And as long as Jesus was in the mix somewhere we would have to settle for that. But What God has been showing me this past month is that, the world I refereed to as a "dream" world was actually reality . That's really His desire for marriage.It is for us to be so in love with JESUS and desiring to more like Him, we can't help but fall more deeply in love with our spouse. He wants to do things even greater than how our love story started in our lives. I think we are finally at a place where we can allow Him to bring that to pass.

I guess the point is when you look for the Jesus in your spouse and find Him in the way he gives to others, in how he steps out to minister to people, when he teaches your children the Word of God, when he is quick to forgive, when he is tender, when he puts your needs before his own, it's so very sweet to fall in love again.

So Happy Anniversary Peter, I love you....I love all that God is doing in your life. It's an honor to be your wife and to be allowed to watch God's plan for our lives unfold. I am so thankful that He handpicked YOU for me.

Happy 11th Birthday to Isaiah

There is no way that he is 11 right? He is! Our first baby is 11!! Where has the time gone? I said last year that the first 10 years of his life went by in a blink of an eye and I have a feeling the next 10 will go by in half a blink.

Isaiah likes to tease me and say in 10 years I'll be....21, in 7 years I'll be 18, in just 5 years I'll be 16. I don't think I like how he can fast forward so quickly. That I do remember about being young, you just want to grow up. WHY??

I remember the day I found out I was pregnant with Isaiah. Peter and I had been married a little over 3 months. I felt so tired and just not quite myself. I will be honest telling you that I cried a lot when the test turned positive, and not so much tears of joy as tears of fear! I was scared to have a baby, to be a mom. And I will be totally honest with you again....I still have that fear. Not fear of having a baby (been there done that) but of being a mom. I sometimes fumble through hard lessons with Isaiah,trying to guide him in truth, but falling so short of perfection it scares me. I gently remind Isaiah that "I'm new at this" I am not always sure how to be a mom to an 11 year old boy.

Our prayer for Isaiah this year is that he continues to grow in his personal relationship with Jesus. That Jesus would increase and Isaiah would decrease. That the things of the world would loose their appeal. That his thirst for the Word of God would increase. That he would encounter the true and living God and a new, fresh and very personal way. (And if you are reading this feel free to pray that for ME as well)

Happy Birthday Isaiah. You are a joy in our lives, our precious gift from the Lord. (we always tell Isaiah he was our first anniversary gift since he was born the day before our one year anniversary) We are so proud of you and know God has awesome plans for you!