Morgan's Birthday Party

For his 6th birthday, Morgan wanted to have a party and do some science experiments. We had a lot of fun putting it together, as you can see in the video below! We'll add a description of the experiments we did and a brief explanation of what is happening below, as well (not all of the experiments are shown in the video). Morgan (and Emma) had a good time with the friends he invited over.




Making Gak
Solution A (mix until completely dissolved):
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 cups white glue
- food coloring

Solution B (mix until completely dissolved):
- 4 teaspoons borax (available in laundry aisle)
- 1 1/3 cups warm water

Pour solution A into Solution B. Do not try to thoroughly mix! Lift the Gak out and knead it into shape.

What’s happening:
The molecules in white glue are long, straight chains of polyvinyl acetate. Borax (sodium borate) causes reactions between these molecules and ends up hooking the chains together to make a big, rubbery network.

Invisible Ink
Use a toothpick to write with lemon juice on a piece of paper and allow it to dry. Apply heat to the paper using an iron, hair straightener, or other method. Heat will cause the invisible ink to turn brown.

What’s happening:
The lemon juice is an acid that weakens the molecules in the paper and causes that area to turn brown (or burn) more easily than the rest of the paper. You may also notice that areas of your skin that have touched lemon juice will be sunburned more easily.

Volcano in a Bottle
Mix baking soda and vinegar in a bottle and watch it bubble and froth!

What’s happening:
Baking soda (a base) reacts with vinegar (an acid) to form carbon dioxide (a gas).

Invisible Fire Extinguisher
Immediately after mixing baking soda and vinegar together in a bottle, “pour” the gas in the bottle over a candle (try to keep the baking soda and vinegar in the bottle, or at least keep it just far enough away from the candle flame that no baking soda or vinegar are poured on the flame). The flame will go out!

What’s happening:
The carbon dioxide formed from the reaction between the baking soda and vinegar is heavier than air and can be “poured” onto the candle flame, extinguishing it as oxygen needed for the candle to burn is displaced by the carbon dioxide.

Wild Wacky Colors
Pour a small amount of milk in a pan (just enough to cover the bottom). Add a few drops of different colors of food coloring near the middle of the pan. Add a couple of drops of dish detergent to the middle of the pan and watch the colors instantly spread out!

What’s happening:
The detergent breaks the surface tension of the milk and causes the food coloring to spread out.

Burning Candle in a Jar
Set a burning candle in a pie tin full of water and place a glass jar upside down over the candle. The candle will burn for a few seconds before the flame is extinguished and water is sucked up inside the jar.

What’s happening:
The candle needs oxygen to burn. Once the oxygen in the air inside the jar is used up, the flame goes out. While the candle is burning, the flame is heating the air in the jar and making it expand (you will probably see bubbles come out the bottom of the jar through the water as some of it escapes). Once the flame is out, the air in the jar begins to cool again, causing it to contract. The air pressure outside the jar forces water up into the jar.

Turning a Glass of Water Upside Down
Fill a glass with water, and place a piece of thin cardboard (could be cut from a cereal box) over the entire top opening. While holding the cardboard in place, carefully turn the glass upside down. The cardboard will hold the water in the cup!

What’s happening:
Placing the cardboard over the top of the glass leads to only a very small area of water (around the rim of the glass) to be exposed to the air when the glass is turned upside down. The surface tension of the water keeps any air from getting into the cup. The pressure of the air on the bottom of the cardboard holds it up and prevents it and the water from falling down.

Blowing on Paper
Create two stacks of books on a table a few inches apart and a few inches high. Place a sheet of paper over the two stacks and blow through the tunnel between the paper and the table. Rather than being blown upward, the paper will be sucked down. Next, cut a strip of paper about an inch wide and several inches long. Hold it between your fingers and blow over the top of the paper, making the paper lift up.

What’s happening:
What’s happening here is the same thing that makes airplanes able to fly. Faster moving air creates an area of slightly lower pressure than in areas of slower moving air. This area of lower pressure causes the paper to be sucked down or up, respectively. The front edge of an airplane wing is shaped in such a way as to force the air moving over the top of it to move faster, creating an area of lower pressure above the wing and lifting the airplane.

The Bouncing Aluminum Ball
Make a marble-sized ball of aluminum foil at the end of a piece of thread that is several inches long. Tape a piece of aluminum foil (a few inches square) to the screen of a CRT television. Hold the thread so that the aluminum foil ball is hanging against the aluminum foil on the TV, and turn the TV on. Slowly move a finger of your other hand closer to the aluminum foil ball until it begins to bounce rapidly back and forth between your finger and the aluminum foil on the TV.

What’s happening:
A CRT (cathode-ray tube) TV works by shooting electrons at the screen. The aluminum foil on the screen collects the electrons, making it negatively charged. The aluminum foil ball becomes negatively charged when it touches the foil on the TV and is repelled (like charges repel). Your finger (because of the high water content in your body) acts as an electrical ground. When the foil ball touches your finger, it is discharged and is once again attracted to the foil on the screen. When it touches the screen, it is attracted to your hand again. If the TV is turned off, the foil ball will continue bouncing back and forth between your finger and the foil on the TV screen until all the static electricity is transferred.

Holiday happenings

A lot has happened since our last post.
Talmage turned one and is walking around everywhere (and he has the bonks to prove it). He is such a fun, full-of-attitude, busy, little boy.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado with Nate's family. Everybody was able to be there for the long weekend (except Hermana King). It was so good to be together. It got a little crazy at times but it was always a good crazy. It was great to be at the cozy King house in Colorado for the long weekend.

We have had a lovely December so far. Most of our Christmas shopping was done before the month began and so we have had lots of time for fun projects and finishing up our Christmas service for our exchange. We loved seeing Morgan and Emma in their school choir program. It was fun to see them perform with all their friends. We have visited with friends and eaten way too many treats. In a few short days we will be heading off to spend Christmas day with family. Lovely.
I am hoping that most of my belly expansion is due to the little boy growing inside. Yes! We found out that we will be having a third little boy in early May! I don't know if I am ready to be so outnumbered by boys but it will be fun for Talmage to have a little friend around to play trains and trucks and ball with. They will be just 18 months apart. We are excited to add another friend to our family.
Hope you are all enjoying a wonderful Christmas season as well.

PS. The next blue moon (the second full moons in the same month) is this year on Dec. 31st. A blue moon only happens every few years and on New Years Eve even more rare. So end this year on a wild note - cause there are some things you only do "once in a blue moon". Enjoy!

A Week in Paradise

In October I went on a pleasure trip to Utah. It was a whole month ago but it was so fabulous that i couldn't let it pass without writing at least a little.
I decided that it would be good for me to do something fun just for me, just because and it was great. With my older two in school all day i left them in the able care of their dad and took Talmage with me to see family and friends. (Unfortunately for Nate both kids got sick the day after i left so it proved to be a little more difficult than planned. But thanks to Nate and some really good friends here everything worked out fine.)
I spent a whole wonderful week at my parents house and had a lot of fun. Some of the highlights included: Attending a concert at Temple Square with my mom
Meeting our newest adorable nephew, Lochten.
Cutting off a good 7 inches of hair.
A magnificent girls weekend with my mom and all three sisters. My oldest sister flew in from California for the event (her kids got sick too). We went out to a nice, kid-free dinner and spent one night at a cabin. It was so fun to talk late (way too late) into the night. I highly recommend doing this with your own girls.
A beautiful drive up Millcreek canyon to see the leaves.
Making applesauce with my Dad.
Picking apples from Gramps' loaded trees and seeing some of his impressive artwork.
And the whole reason i went in early October was to see this little cutie, and his Mom. He was born a whole month before i came to visit instead of just days before as was expected. He is so sweet. I am grateful to have met him.
It was such a great trip. I loved every minute of it. I am sad that i didn't get to see more of my wonderful family and friends. The time went way too fast. (Sorry if I missed you, know that i love you anyway!)
Some big thank-you's are due.
Thanks to my dad for providing lots of baby care - Talmage loved being with you. And for picking so many apples and being a happy applesauce worker with me.
Thanks to my mom for providing such fantastic accomodations and food and for taking so much time to be with us.
Thanks to Katie for flying in despite sick kids and for talking late several nights.
Thanks Karen for knowing the cool restaurants to go to and for coming with us, even without your voice.
Thanks Holly for letting me sleep in your room and keeping me company all week.
Thanks Jill for giving me an excuse to come.
And the biggest thanks of all to my beyond marvelous husband who encouraged me to go and took such excellent care of things at home. I love you, always.

Treasures After the Storm

Well, we decided to go this afternoon and check out the stream now that the rain has stopped (it ended sometime last night after dumping a total of 5" on us). The water was getting back down to normal levels (but the "waterfall" is gone). While looking around in the water, Morgan found a couple of treasures. The first one I think someone will be missing...

The next one was more exciting, I thought...

Emma told me that everyone (whoever everyone is) wants to call him "Tiny Tim" because they don't want to call him just "Turtle". We did finally get him to come out of his shell when Morgan got an old margarine container to put him in.

After that he was just fine to let us hold him. We also liked watching him crawl around. He actually could get going pretty fast when we let him. He must not have gotten the memo about turtles being slow but sure, because he sped right off the edge of our little patio table. Good thing he has a hard shell!

Here's a picture of our two quite different treasures together:

We let the the moving treasure go back into the stream after taking pictures. Hopefully we haven't desensitized him to the danger of Toyotas, though (a lot of animals here in Oklahoma seem to have a problem with that).

Home in the Rain

Well, we're sitting here at home watching the rain come down outside. Leslie and Talmage are in Utah for the week, so I have Morgan and Emma. On Tuesday (the first day on my own without my sweet wife) I got the kids to school and I even did Emma's hair with a bow. (See, Leslie?)

Tuesday for work I went to visit a plant in Kansas. I found out that afternoon on my way back that Morgan had had to be picked up from school by one of our friends because he was sick. I took him to the doctor and, while we waited for an hour, Emma came down with a fever, too. Sure enough it was the flu. It has been pretty mild, but obviously they couldn't go to school. Wednesday was the one day I absolutely could not stay home with them because I was having a meeting with people who had come in from Indiana and Houston to hear the results of my recent research. So, our good friend Janna (who had picked Morgan up from school the day before) watched the kids for the day. (Thank you!)

Today I was able to stay with the kids and do some work at home. We have been amazed at all the rain we've gotten. It has been raining pretty hard for at least the last 12 hours. We have a (usually) small stream behind our house that we normally cannot see from inside. This afternoon, we noticed that we could see water rushing down it, so we went outside to take a few pictures. You can see the bridge our back neighbor built. It normally stands three or four feet above a small trickle of water below it. Not today!

The kids insisted we take a picture of the "waterfall". Our kids were just down here standing on the downstream side of the "waterfall" looking for hairy caterpillars on Saturday. There is usually no water there...

This isn't quite as much water as we saw a couple times last year, though, when the water actually came up into our back yard. Anyway, we are back inside enjoying our warm house and looking out at the rain again. Morgan did want me to take a picture of his hairdo, though, before his hair dried out.

Talmage's First Steps

We have been wondering when this would happen. Out of all of our kids, Talmage has been the most physically adept, but he just hasn't seemed to care about walking. He loves climbing up on the bricks by our fireplace and then climbing back down again (luckily we have taught him to turn around backwards). He loves crawling through any obstacle he can find (in fact, the tighter it is and the more it looks like we are trying to keep him away from something, the more he likes it). He loves throwing everything he can get to out of whatever it was in (think drawers of tupperware, bags of markers, bins of toys, racks of magazines, etc.). He even loves walking around the coffee table, walking along the couches, walking while holding our hand, and walking while pushing some mobile object (including his high chair) around. But we have not been able to get him to try walking on his own. He keeps dropping to his bottom and crawling. But finally, tonight, he took a few steps. Below is a video we got of him. Enjoy!

True stories of Morgan

I thought we better give Morgan a little of the spotlight here. Those of you who know Morgan know that he is, well, intense. But he really is a very good kid for so many reasons. We've had some fun experiences with him lately. Sometimes he makes us laugh with how wise he can be.

A few Saturdays ago as we were talking about the chores that needed to be done Emma started complaining that cleaning isn't fun. Before I could even say anything Morgan launched in to a great encouraging lecture about how cleaning is fun. "Emma, cleaning is fun. It really is fun. . . . And the most fun thing about cleaning is having a clean house after. Cause it is really fun to have a clean house. . . . It might not seem fun the whole time, but it is fun, and it is really fun to have a clean house." Well said, Morgan, well said! He does like things neat and orderly (including, he told me lately, getting all the wrinkles out of his socks - by constantly pulling them up to his knees).

Nate and I bought the Wicked soundtrack after going to see the musical. The kids have really liked listening to it with us. Morgan asks me to tell him who is singing and what is happening in each song. I was explaining that Fiyero sings about not liking to learn. Morgan got very quiet and thoughtful. After a minute he said "Mom, I think he really does like to learn. This must be a pretend story because everybody likes to learn." {pause} "Oh and probably no one is really green." It really cracked me up that the not learning was what made him know that it was pretend, nevermind the green girl, the talking animals, or the magic.

His anger is sometimes intense. So much so that he has to find creative ways of expressing it. Recently he got sent to his room for some infraction. As he stomped out of the kitchen he yelled, "I'm so angry I feel like I could throw pepperoni in your EYEBALLS!" And several months ago when the same thing happened he opened his door and yelled "Mom! I'm so angry I'm going to put my PANTS in my SHIRT drawer!" Oh the horrors!

He really is a good kid, though. We love you, Morgan!