Animation Praxinoscope February 19, 2009

Ani-what? The kids pulled this off the shelf on this morning and we played with it for a LONG time. The principal is similar to the flip-book animations that we would make as kids. On a circular piece of paper, there are sequential images that differ only slightly from the one before such that the image appears to move when the wheel is spun rapidly. The image is viewed through a square window that is aimed at the image’s reflection in the mirrored piece above.

Sadie then made her own- an animation of a bouncing ball.

Sadie’s Antics February 18, 2009

Here’s a few pics of some of Sadie’s recent interests.

Baking, of course! Yes, we bake and cook on an almost daily basis. Sadie loves to feed people.

She can always be found making art, writing, or both. Here she works on illustrating a story that she dictated called “Me and My Brother”.

Below is Sadie with her new favorite gadget- the label maker. She’s been making labels for various household items which has proven very amusing for Elijah (primarily a sight word reader).

First Lego League Competition February 18, 2009

Considering Elijah’s complete fascination with Legos and robotics, we checked out the First Lego League robotics competition at the University of Texas at Dallas. The first thing we saw when we went in really cracked the kids up:

trophies made from Legos!

There weren’t any competitions going on when we first got there so we watched a group testing and tweaking their robot for their next match.

It was confusing at first but we were able to understand the basic jist of what the goals of the matches were after watching for a few minutes. The rules and goals of the matches are delineated clearly in this YouTube video.

Probably the most interesting part was talking with some UT Dallas robotics students on our way out. They showed and told us about a couple of the robots that they had been working on and their functions/special characteristics. One of them is The Blender- an acclaimed combat bot as seen on BattleBots.

This has started a combat robotics fixation in our house. Here, the boys build and battle their own robots in Robot Arena- a computer game in which the user can use computer-generated bots or tailor-make their own. It is very complicated and realistic in the sense that the size of motor, CO2 cartridges, etc. must be appropriate to power the size of the bot and the weapons that are chosen. The bots can then be matched against others online. Cool!

Universal Remote February 5, 2009

We have a lot of remotes in this house. Sadie has solved all of our remote issues and then some with this universal remote. It has an emory board lever and buttons hot glued on. According to Sadie, this remote does pretty much everything. We will never have to leave the couch again…

Can’t Stay Away From Bear Creek February 5, 2009

We met some of our friends at Bear Creek Park for a wheeled ride (scooter, bike, wiggle car) on the mile-long path to the playground.

Many hours of play ensued. Here Sadie, Elijah, Ethan, and Rachel play cheetahs gathering food and hiding it from scavengers in their den.

Elijah and Ethan climb and slide. This slide was the focus of much of the boys’ play as they piled the bottom high with mulch and sticks ‘ambushing’ any who dared use the slide. Great fun was had by many children as they joined the game.

Sadie plays in the sandbox with friends.

Sadie and Ehlayna hug a friend they made at the playground as we prepare for the journey back to the parking area. Very sweet.

Saddling up for  the ride back.

It was not without pause. Here Declan and Elijah peek through one end of the drainage tube…

… as Ehlayna peeks through the other.

And we were not done playing just because we had reached the parking area. More exploring was to bed had down by the creek.

Meeting at the Mall February 5, 2009

We met our friends, the Quinns, at the mall for some fun. 

Elijah actually asks me to take his picture!!! 

Sadie’s always ready to ham it up.

Elijah’s friend, Declan, was kickin’ it at the indoor skate park with another unschooling friend so we watched them for a bit. Then we hit the carousel.

After the Quinns went on their way, we went to play some Lunar Golf (in the dark with black light- the holes are accented with fluorescent colors). That’s always a good time. Who goes to the mall for shopping?!

Ice Day February 5, 2009

We had an ice day! It was very exciting and we suited up quickly to get some slippery action in before it melted.

A little boot skating.

Wiggle cars don’t go so well on the ice. Elijah was stuck at the bottom of this driveway and needed a tow.

A beautiful leaf cluster encased in ice. Sadie was bummed this was melting.

And we must take a picture of the design on the driveway that looks like a dinosaur!

There were ice pops (aka icicles hanging from cars).

I’m not even sure why we still have these ice scrapers but they made for some good fun as the kids felt incredibly useful scraping the ice off of Mema’s windows (which, if left alone, would have melted in 10 minutes anyway but… whatever.)