Back to Junior High

Today was "Parents Day" at Oak Canyon Junior High. I got to go to Jonathan's B3 class with him! It was his honors science class which is taught by the Utah PTA 2008 teacher of the year, Mr. Panee. Now I know why he earned that honor. What a fabulous class! Jonathan's class is doing a physics unit. Mr. Panee has a demonstration for every concept he taught- video or in-class experiment. Mr. Panee started off the class with a review of energy by asking the kids why, when bungy jumping, doesn't the jumper smack his head on the tower when he is on the rebound portion of the jump. That lead right into today's topic--gravity. He explained that gravity works equally on all objects, regardless of whether it's a piece of paper or a book. He taught them that everything falls at the same rate, even if there are 2 identical items and one of them is dropped stright down and the other is shot out of a cannon. Then he showed the class this was the case using steel bearings and a spring loaded device. It was cool watching the kids "get it" so fast! From there the discussion went to orbital motion and how the Space Shuttle is essentially falling aroung the earth. He asked the kids how the Space Shuttle gets back to Earth... they knew the answer... just slow down! It was amazing to observe. I was impressed how much more is taught in junior high compared to when I was there 25 years ago. I didn't learn any physics until college! I even got a better understanding of these principles thanks to a fabulous junior high science teacher!

Fun Challenge!

Okay, my amazingly creative friend in Southern California has this challenge on her blog. I think it sounds like fun so I am jumping on the bandwagon. The beauty of this challenge is that you get to be the giver and the receiver! The first 5 people (do I even have 5 regular readers?) to respond to this post will receive something made by me. It will be my choice what I send to you. But there is a catch...
1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (But I hope you do!)
2- What I create will be just for you (it won't come from my closet full of prizes!).
3- It'll be done sometime this year.
4- You have no clue what it's going to be.
5-The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog! Then come here and post that you did it. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a homemade gift by me! Anyone up to the challenge? Ready, set, go!

More Miles

Full body shot! Love those legs!

Sitting in the Bumbo seat!

Miles with Dan... look at Miles' toe... it found a hole!

He's just too cute!

Our Changing Neighborhood

There are only 4 houses on our block. Our block is about to undergo an overhaul. There is/was a very quiet, keeps/kept-to-themselves family across the street. Last Friday, I heard a truck coming up the street... a U-haul type moving van pulled up to their house and their son and his friend started loading up the contents of the house. They only moved in last May, and now they are headed out. I use the term "moved-in" very loosely with this family. Their garage was completely full (top to bottom, left to right, back to front) of stuff that they never moved into the house. See what I mean (I love having a good zoom lens)...

Anyway, in the picture above, the guy is about to move out a refrigerator. After he rotated it around so the doors faced out, he opened it. He and the helper guy got the rudest shock of their lives... the refrigerator was full and hadn't been plugged in since Memorial Day Weekend. I was in my living room with all the windows shut, I heard them make sounds of disgust and then saw them both throw-up from the stench. I laughed until I cried... The daughter came out and nearly threw up as well. They emptied the refrigerator contents, meanwhile one of the guys emptied his stomach contents again. Why did I find hilarity in their misery? I really don't know, maybe it was empathy laughter... been there, done that... remember the "fish in the microwave" incident? Well, the fridge got emptied and hauled to the curb to air out.
The next day, it disappeared. I assumed they took it with them to wherever they moved. Yesterday, the garage door was open... the garage was empty, with the exception of the refrigerator. I guess they are leaving it behind.

So the quiet family has moved, and today, the Stokers (right next door to me) have made it publicly known that Kevin has taken a great job (Associate Dean of the Communications Department at Texas Tech) and they are leaving this summer. Sigh... great neighbors that will really be missed. Well, where does that leave us... who knows... stay tuned...

Talking with His Mouth Full!

Miles is developing bad habits already! He has started talking with his mouth full. If I am feeding him and he is feeling sleepy, he starts grunting and moaning while eating! His eyes get heavy and soon they are closed. I know he is asleep when the groans and grunts stop, even if he is still actively sucking away. I love it!

Cookie Festival

Today I was into one of those "baking" modes. I wanted to make lots of different kinds of cookies, so I did... I made 3 kinds of chocolate chip cookies: Regular Chocolate Chip Cookies, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, and the Neiman Marcus Cookie (which is a fancy-schmancy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie). Each of these recipes made an obscene number of cookies so I now have at least 20 dozen cookies headed to my freezer. As if those weren't enough kinds of cookies, Amy decided that she wanted to make her Peanut Butter Chocolate No-Bake Cookies, so there are about 2 dozen of those cookies upstairs as well! If you're craving a cookie, come on over... there are plenty to go around!

Mmmmmmmmmmmm Indian Food!

I'm glad Shauna doesn't like Indian food... that means there is more for me! What a yummy Valentine's dinner we had last night. First I stayed "American" and made "real" mac and cheese (homemade instead of "out-of-the-box) for Jonathan and Nolan, who promptly rejected it and cooked their own dinners of corndogs (Nolan) and white rice (Jonathan). Dan and I had a fabulous dinner and the house still has the amazing aroma of exotic Indian spices. I made Potato and Cauliflower Curry (self explanatory, but add 2 onions), Tarka Dahl (red lentils, tomatoes, fresh ginger, garlic, and seasoning), and Kitchouri (Basmati rice, green lentils, onion, celery, garlic, and seasoning). It was all so yummy! The boys tried a bite of each dish; Jonathan even said "not bad", but because there were only 2 of us really eating 4 large Indian dishes, there are a lot of leftovers! Dan mixed them all together, so now we have Indian food goulash to eat this week! For dessert I made individual Molten Lava Cakes. Yum, Yum! The best part about eating Valentine's dinner at home was that we didn't have to deal with the Valentine's crowd at a restaurant. Also, another bonus was that Dan did the dishes!