Coolest Field Trip Ever!

This past week I went as a chaperone for Ryder's 2nd grade field trip to Elm Fork Education Center at the University of North Texas.  What a great day!  I have attended quite a few field trips over the years with my children, but this was one of the best ones.  They were so well organized and kept the kids actively involved and learning the whole time we were there.

When we first arrived, our group watched a show in the planetarium about seasons.  Next we went to a class and learned about archaeology and how to set up an archaeological dig site.  Once they had learned how, the kids got to go be archaeologists and unearth discoveries in a mock dig site. Here they are getting some last minute instructions:

And starting to dig.

Ryder recording where his partner discovered a fossil.

Ryder discovering an artifact.

Then each group put their map of their unit of the grid on the larger dig map.  The collection shows what was found in the entire dig site.

The kids also participated in an aquatics study where they were assigned either the waterfall, pond, stream or wetland.  They used instruments to measure flow rate and oxygen saturation, then analyzed their data to see if it supported their hypothesis.

It looked something like this, but I was helping the kids and didn't get a chance to take pictures!

At the end of the day they searched animal statues on the site and categorized them as predator, prey or both. Here are Ryder and a classmate discussing how they should draw and categorize some prairie dogs.

Wish I would have taken more pictures!  It was a great day :)

Nicole's Sweet 16 Party

Party Invitation

Nicole is turning 16 this week - yikes how did that happen?!?! I've had in my mind that she can get her driver's license soon, but until her little brothers reminded me I'd forgotten that she can also DATE now! Help us all!

Somehow she talked me into throwing a party for her. Getting me to throw a party is like pulling teeth. Actually, I know from experience that pulling teeth is easier :)

So, she and a friend came up with having an "animal print theme" and they left the rest up to me.

Here is a picture of the cake I made for the party.  Click here to read more about how I made the cake.

Then with all of those teenagers, I knew we would need some food.  So here are some pictures of the tablescape I did:

Custom Water Bottles

Veggie Tray and "Cheetah-Toes"

Eclairs

Chex Mix

Peanuts

6 pounds of gummy bears
One guest ate 3 pounds of these himself - SERIOUSLY!

Frosted Animal Cookies

And then I posted this sign - don't know if anyone but me got it.

There were games to play.  I came up with several, but was told by my soon to be 16 year old that only one was cool enough.  Here is my "cool game" called Take a WILD Guess.  It was basically a list of 10 questions about Nicole to see who knew her best.

There were prizes for the winners, and eventually everyone just passed the basket around and picked something out.

This game is one that Nicole and her friends wanted to play.  Not sure exactly what it's called or how you play it, but they seemed to have fun.

Then she blew out her candles.

Look, the inside of the cake has zebra stripes too!

And opened her gifts

It turned out to be a really fun party.  She invited the kids from her early morning seminary class - all freshmen and sophomores, so there were about 25 kids there.

I am so glad she had fun - and that she only turns sweet 16 once!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICOLE!!!!!!!

Diggin' Volleyball

We just can't seem to get enough volleyball around here! At the end of the school volleyball season, Nicole and Melanie tried out for club teams and are both officially Texas Titans volleyball players. Melanie plays on the 14's Elite Team, and Nicole plays up an age level on the 17's National Team. This has kept us all very busy with practices and now the tournament season has started.

A week ago Nicole's team played in the MLK Ranking Tournament. They ended up taking 13 out of 38 teams which was a pretty good start. Here's a picture of Nicole going up for a block.

And a grainy shot of her hitting in warm ups (love the facial expression on this one :)

Then this last weekend both girls played in the Winterfest tournament.

Nicole's team played in a 17/18's division.  So Nicole, a 15 year old sophomore, was playing teams with 18 year old high school seniors.  They took 3rd in the tournament, but were the top finishing 17's team!!

Melanie's 14's team played a great tournament and won the Silver Bracket Championship.  Here is a picture of the girls posing with their tiny little trophy:

Their championship game was fun to watch because they lost the first set and came back to win the last 2 sets. In the final set they were down by several points and came from behind to win it. It was so exciting to watch, and I think the girls learned a lot about themselves and volleyball in the process!

Melanie was in charge of bringing the hair ribbons for the team for the Winterfest tournament.  When I finished the ribbons I thought they would look cute attached to a water bottle or Gatorade with custom labels for the girls.  Here's how they turned out:

So if my posts these days seem a little sporadic and rare, it's because I'm probably driving the girls to practice or tournaments.

Go Titans!!