Mother's Day this year was very stressful, because at 2pm Henry realized that he had a big project due the next day. (He only had 5 weeks to work on it.) After driving to two different closed-on-Sunday libraries, he settled down to work on it. Fortunately, he had read his research books and webpages for the project already, as well as having most of an outline done. (Every time I asked him about the project, he told me "I'm doing well. I have my outline almost done." I thought he had more time to complete the project, since he was being so nonchalant about the outline.) Unfortunately, he left his research book at school. :P He worked hard on the project for eight hours that day and woke up early to finish up his presentation. I'm hoping that he'll gain better time management skills, but I remember doing the same thing to my mom (usually with science fair projects). He said that there were kids in the class that forgot they had a project due, or only did half of the work, so I suppose he was a leg up on them. (Henry acted surprised that those kids forgot. "Mr. Kaemmerlen kept on reminding us about doing the project and presentation." *sigh*) At the very least, it's encouraging Sammy to work hard on the big project that he has due on Friday.

Rocket Demo

Rocket Demo
Originally uploaded by zedthezonk

Another activity of the campout was listening to the ranger talk about the model rockets that he launches. (Unfortunately, the boy scouts bought all of the kits he had for sale, so we weren't able to participate in a launch. I'll probably end up getting some for my boys on my own.)

Skipping Stones

Skipping Stones
Originally uploaded by zedthezonk

Sammy & I had another chance to go skip stones during the Spring Cub Scout Campout. The stones near the lake by Babcock-Covey (one of the Finger Lakes, I believe) were perfect for skipping. (Sammy's not big on fishing, like the other boys were doing, so he was happy to find an alternative form of entertainment.)

Toothpick World

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Originally uploaded by zedthezonk

On Friday, we went to Toothpick World with some friends. The boys were amazed and inspired by the buildings made from toothpicks. It didn't hurt that we got free toothpicks and a bottle of glue, either. Henry's favorite structure was the Bank of China headquarters (designed by I.M. Pei) in the top left corner of the picture, and Sammy's favorites were the Petronas Towers (the tall twin towers toward the right of the picture).

Today's experiment was litmus paper made from red cabbage. It worked pretty well, and the boys enjoyed finding things to test using it. Now I just need to find recipes that call for red cabbage. :)

Marble Run Pagoda

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Originally uploaded by zedthezonk

Day one of break (or day 4, if you count the weekend before), the boys made this marble run pagoda. Once a marble reaches the bottom, it triggers a seesaw attached to a straw that makes the next marble start.

I hate having to head to the library, head hung low, because we've found a book that I've sworn "couldn't possibly be at home". Ah well. I suppose a lesson in humility isn't the worst thing in the world to happen. (The fines at this point are probably greater than the cost of the book, though. *sigh*)

Sammy's first album will have such songs as "I Have a Gravitational Pull" and the bilingual hit "Enrique Es Loco".

The Boys and George Eastman

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Originally uploaded by zedthezonk

I took the boys to the Eastman House over break week. They enjoyed it even more than I thought they would. Henry liked that he was a philanthropist like Andrew Carnegie (a biography that he just wrote), and Sammy liked the old-timey things in his house. Henry impressed me by recognizing some of the paintings in the house as being the same as ones we had seen in the Memorial Art Gallery earlier in the week.

Odyssey of the Mind

The boys were in an Odyssey of the Mind competition two weekends ago. Mom, Mary, Bruce & Suzette came to watch. I was so proud of them. They were on different teams. Sammy's team had to put together three vehicles that would deliver part of a pet (they chose a weasel) to a staging area to be assembled. Sammy made a Lego car that ran on rubber bands. He had the worst time getting the car to work, and the rubber band just stuck to itself during the competition, so the car wasn't going anywhere. I thought he would be in tears, but he just smiled and pushed his car forward. It had to travel through a tunnel and pieces were breaking off. Even so, he just went along with it. He had great stage presence. Henry's team had to put together a skit where the oddness of the behavior of one of the characters was measured by a meter. The skit had to include some sort of clever scene change. Henry ended up being the "Meter Meeter Meter". The meter had a meter stick and Henry would meet everyone during the skit. He helped someone travel through time to an old-time schoolroom, where they acted strangely (there was a tap dance and song about knowing the answer to a math problem (which the entire cast joined in on)) and then they traveled back to the future, where they acted oddly once again. Sammy's team ended up with a second place finish and Henry's with a fifth place finish, but even if they didn't place, we were so thrilled with what they accomplished. :)

Dead Narwhals

Henry had a picture in the art show this year (first time he's had one of his things in it, I think...the school years tend to blur after a while). We didn't know until someone who saw his picture told us (the postcard was lost in the mail somehow), so it took us a couple days to get over there. Henry sees his picture and exclaims in dismay, "It's upside-down!" (I couldn't tell. Narwhals seem to be creaturea that look the same from both sides. :) ) I told him that he needs to stop drawing pictures of dead narwhals. We debated flipping the picture around, but that would make the name on it upside-down. There's only a week more of the art show. I might even hang it upside down at home. The narwhal will be used to it by then.