Ordinary Friday

Just thought I'd shoot a few pics today and give you a peek into a typical, laid back Friday at our house. The one atypical thing about today is that it was raining - YAY!!! We need it so badly, and are very grateful for any moisture we get, even if nasty coldness comes along with it. I don't know if it's just a girl thing or not, but I like these long, cozy days cooped up in the house with my 3 favorite people ~ once in a while, that is.

First thing after breakfast this morning, Riley started on her school work on the family computer while the boys worked on a puzzle of the good old U.S. of A.


I love it when they work together.

And I love those cute little hands!

I also love the fact that as they put the pieces in, Kole was reading the name of each state, and the name of each capital city. That's what I'm talkin' about right there! Big brother teaches little brother, and without even realizing what he's doing. Rock on!

A little later, I helped Riley weigh the apple slices she's had drying for the past 3 days. Her assignment was to record their weight on Tuesday, just after we sliced them. Then, she was to leave them out to dry for 3 days and weigh them again to see how much water was lost and calculate the approximate percentage of water in them. These apples weighed 137 grams on Tuesday, but only 32 grams today. Wish I could lose weight that easily. I'd gladly lay around on a paper towel for 3 days :)

Next in the experiment lineup of all things water was water solubility. For this assignment, we were to test the solubility of 4 substances: salt, sugar, sand (we substituted cocoa powder due to inclement weather), and cooking oil.

Salt and sugar cooperated very well. We knew going into it that oil wouldn't cooperate. Cocoa looked promising, but try as we might, we could not get it to dissolve.

See? It just won't give in!

Well, all the stirring and pouring and observing and recording data just got Riley in a tizzy to do more experimenting in the kitchen. Lucky for her, she caught Mom in a good enough mood to say, "Sure! Go ahead! Just clean up when you're done." And then I went back to my quilting.

After a little while, her brothers joined in the fun. They were just so cute, I couldn't help myself. I had to video. It just had to be done. They'll forgive me some day. Or not.