Dinosaur Dig

Connor and I went on a little excursion today...we joined 15-20 other kids for a dinosaur dig in Bladensburg, MD. OK, so dig is a bit misleading as you don't actually dig. We found out that paleontology is not as fascinating as they make it look on television. You're not actually digging as much as you are walking around observing what is on the surface and if you find something protruding then you dig just around the object to determine what it is and only go as far as the object goes.

But we learned SOOO much about fossil finding. We learned about the difference in dirt and whether you can find prints or actual objects (teeth, bones, wood, etc). We first hit an area where prints have been found...we weren't warned beforehand that we'd need to be master climbers to accomplish this feat. So being 7 months pregnant was not favorable in these conditions. You can see from this image the steep slope we were working on, Connor was not hindered by the slope, but I only ventured about half-way up.

Here's Connor with his bag full of fossils.
This red dirt is where you'll find prints, not objects. The soil has been exposed to air which is why it presents rust colored and the rocks are called iron stone. Any fossil matter that was trapped in these layers would not have been preserved as objects due to the air exposure, however air does not effect a footprint, which is why this is where we were looking for prints. Connor's convinced he found a print of a baby duckbill platypus...we really found nothing more than some really cool iron stones sans prints.

We then moved to another site where we could search for actual objects.
We saw the dirt changing from red to grayish-black. This indicated the soil was once covered in water which kept the fossil matter from being exposed to air and therefore would become intact fossilized objects. We learned that bone takes on the coloring of the soil it's in so the bones or teeth that were to be found where we were looking would have been black, not white like we'd expect. We also learned that teeth are always shiny (not sparkly, but reflective as if they've been polished). If you find something resembling a tooth, it should have a shiny, reflective coating, like enamel I guess, if it's not reflective it's probably not a tooth, but probably a rock that has a tooth shape.


At this new site we did not find dinosaur parts, either...we did find lignite, a form of coal, petrified wood and plant fossils. We expected to see leaves like we have today on most of our trees, but learned that flowering plants did not exist 100 million years ago, which was the age of the site we were exploring. Instead of broad leaves they were more like pine needles. We found quite a lot of plant fossils in this particular area.

So we did not feel like we had truly gone on a dinosaur dig as we didn't find anything related to a dinosaur and we didn't dig. However, we learned where and how to look for fossils, which is knowledge we'll be able to apply for the rest of our lives!

By the end of the day, I was hobbling along like a senior with arthritis in my back and Connor was bouncing around saying, "But you said this would be an all-day event!" We were gone for over 6 hours, that's all day to me...especially when I missed my daily nap.

Parental Bragging

Once again, you've been warned :) Some people don't like to hear parents brag about their kids, but seeing as this is my blog, my children and I'm a proud Momma, look out!

Our kids have been sleeping in and business has been slow for Al so we've been a bit relaxed on our morning wake-up time the past week or two. We've actually slept in as late as 8:00am this week. This morning was one of those slow, sleepy mornings. Isabel got in bed with us at 6:00am and with it still being dark and the window was open as it rained outside, I was able to convince her to go back to sleep for awhile. Around 7:20am Connor came into our room to announce the tooth fairy had visited with him and left some money. Then he left the bedroom.

I was in and out of a light sleep for the next 15 minutes or so when I heard the clanking of dishes in the kitchen. Jane was not home so I knew Grandma wasn't making breakfast and Grampy had already left for work...so who was making the noise? I listened for a few minutes trying to dicipher whether food was being made or dishes were being pulled from the cabinets. Then it hit me...the kids are doing their chores! Part of our morning routine before school is everyone has a chore and we rotate them each week. This week Lillee had dishes and I figured she was clearing out the dishwasher as she's a really responsible kid. I woke Al, shared my theory on what was going on and then snuck to the door to peek into the kitchen for clarification.

There I saw Connor removing dishes from the dishwasher. He would put a bowl on the counter, then hoist himself onto the counter, open the cabinet while ducking his head under it and then put the bowl away.
He did this over an over until he had the entire dishwasher empty and everything was in it's proper place.

I called Al from bed and we stood at the bedroom door, peeking through a crack like two kids trying to get a glimpse of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. The spell was broken when Lillee came through the kitchen and headed straight for us, we knew we'd not be able to watch any more. Connor cheerily told Lillee good morning and explained that he was doing her chore for her and he wanted to do everyone's chore this morning!

I don't think Al and I could have been more proud. Connor took it upon himself to do something really nice for other people without hoping for a reward in return. Maybe we should all wake up with money under our pillows, it seems to have started Connor's day with a desire of serving others.

Now I have to switch gears and do a quick Isabel brag. Isabel is 2.5 years old and participates in our morning school exercises which include:

Prayer
Pledge of Allegiance
Articles of Faith (we learn a new one each week or two)
Monthly Family Goal
Weekly Quote & Scripture
Weekly Primary Song (we're working on learning the songs for the Primary Program at church)
Presidents of the Church
Presidents of the United States (we focus on one president per month, learning interesting facts and history)

Then we start into work books, experiments, etc. By this point Isabel has lost interest or she grabs a coloring book and colors while we do handwriting or math. At 2.5 I did not expect her to sit for so long through our daily opening exercises but she does. Not only does she sit through them, she's learning! She can lead us in the pledge of allegiance with very few promptings...she knows the entire pledge! She also has memorized the first four articles of faith. Last night when we were giving out dots, Al decided to do a little drill to see who knew information about the presidents we're studying this month (Brigham Young and George Washington). Isabel was able to identify George Washington by picture and when asked who Brigham Young was she smiled and very matter-of-factly said, "Prophet."

I know home schooling is not for everyone and there were times over the past couple of years that I thought I couldn't do it myself, but when I see how well my children are learning things that are important to our family, I know we've made the right decision. I'm having a hard time keeping up with the kids! I've been a member of our church for 5 years (5 years tomorrow, actually) and I've not memorized the articles of faith, yet. Connor knows 8 of the 13, already. I think home schooling is going to be as beneficial to me as it is for our children but it's going to be a lot of work for me to keep ahead just enough to be able to teach them :)

Scones & Jam!

I have had large quantities of frozen fruits in the freezer for a long time now and decided it was time to use them up. I decided to make a strawberry sauce for a pound cake and ice cream dessert. I filled a pot with frozen strawberries, added some pomegranate syrup and balsamic vinegar (I don't like sickeningly sweet toppings for ice cream, I prefer a little tangy over something sweet). I reduced this down to a nice thick sauce and made a delicious layered dessert.

I was still left with about 10lbs of frozen strawberries to deal with. So in the pot they went and I made strawberry jam! I ended up with 3 quarts of jam and the kids were dying to try it. I did not use pectin, as I did not have it on hand, the jam is a bit thinner than store-bought jams so I felt we needed something a bit more substantial than toast for the jam. I've had a sweet tooth the past two days so when I started to ponder desserts using jam, scones came to mind.

I dug out my favorite scone recipe...this recipe is one I've used for years and absolutely adore! I don't care for traditional dry scones so this recipe is perfect as it makes the most moist, buttery and melt-in-your mouth scones.

1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 egg

In a small bowl, blend the sour cream and baking soda, and set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a large baking sheet.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. Cut in the butter. Stir the sour cream mixture and egg into the flour mixture until just moistened.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly. This is a moist dough so only use enough flour to keep from sticking to your work surface. Pat dough into a 3/4 inch thick round. Using a pizza cutter, cut into 12 wedges, and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. I also use cookie cutters, especially for Christmas morning breakfast fun, try not to overwork the dough when reshaping excess from cookie cutters.



Bake 18 - 22 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on the bottom. Tops may not appear to be browning so watch the bottoms.



Connor has become a bit leery of trying new foods this past year so we've created a reward system for him trying new foods. For every 10 new foods he tries, he can have anything he wants for dinner. Now, Connor being the wonderful kid he is, has not figured out that anything could be ice cream, cake, candy, etc. He asks for Frosted Mini Wheats almost every time. Anyway, sorry for the tangent. Connor was not so sure about eating the scone...even though I told him how much he'd love them. He replied with, "I don't want to taste the scum!" Then Lillee chimed in, "I want a scum, I love scum!" This is her response to anything that someone else may be getting and she feels she might miss out on.

I gave the kids the option of hot scone with butter and fresh canned strawberry jam or cinnamon sugar.


After one bite, they were all in love with the scum and begging for seconds within no time. Cinnamon sugar was the favorite amongst the kids, Al included, but I preferred the strawberry jam.

It's official, he's a big boy now

In August, when we visited the dentist, we were warned that Connor had 4 loose teeth right in front. We've discussed losing teeth and what will happen, how it won't hurt and the tooth fairy, of course.

On the way to swim lessons on Wednesday, Connor was eating an apple when he exclaimed about his tooth being loose. Now he's been wiggling it for 2 months saying how it was loose so I was not shocked by his announcement. When he opened his mouth I saw a bit of blood around the tooth and realized he'd given it a good jar with the apple bite and sure enough, it was really loose.

For the past 24 hours Connor has not stopped wiggling that darn tooth. Here he is showing off his loose tooth.


We've attempted yanking it with fingers, but haven't put forth a lot of effort to really pull it out. At dinner tonight, Connor was having some cooked baby carrots when he started giggling and laughing and pointing at his mouth in a very excited manner. He stuck his tongue between two lower teeth and was thrilled that the tooth was out!

The excitement quickly faded when I asked where the tooth was...it did not appear to be floating around his mouth, it had not fallen out on his chair, it was no where to be seen. You guessed it...he swallowed his first tooth. The tears began to flow quite freely as he realized he had no evidence to present to the tooth fairy.

Boy, did Al and I have to think quick how to resolve this problem. Al thought he'd be slick and grab a piece of cauliflower (our other dinner veggie tonight) and pretend to fish around in Connor's mouth and pull out a pretend tooth. He guarded the cauliflower carefully so Connor could not inspect it too thoroughly. I pointed out this was not a good plan by spelling the word T-R-U-T-H to Al. He shrugged, agreed and waited for me to have a brilliant idea since he'd already presented his own.

I explained to Connor that we could write the tooth fairy a letter and Al offered to take a picture for evidence I liked my plan sooo much better!

We just finished the letter to the tooth fairy and Connor explained in great detail how he was eating a carrot, swallowed the tooth and he hopes the tooth fairy gives him "some cents." Al & I laughed heartily as we both interpreted it as "some sense."

Well, we were sad that the first lost tooth of our first born child will be gone forever...but nothing with Connor (or any of our children, for that matter) ever proves to be normal.

Guess what I was doing?

For those of you following my week, you should be able to easily answer this question...guess what I was doing at 4:00am this morning? Did you guess, "Not sleeping." You're right!!! About a month ago, my sister-in-law sent out an email saying she had been awake since 3:00am because she couldn't sleep. Trying to be funny I told here, "Not sleeping at 3:00am as the mother of 4 boys?!?! I can sleep anytime, anywhere." Well, this past week I've definitely come to realize that I was wrong.

So all week, something has had me up at 4:00am...Isabel coughing, a baby using my bladder as a trampoline or just general insomnia. Last night was no different. Al ended up getting sucked into watching TV (he NEVER watches TV so this was quite a shocker) and did not come to bed until 3:45am. Yep, I woke up...and although he was exhausted and fell right off to sleep, I was wide awake; partly because I had crashed and was snoring by 9:00pm...so technically I had already had a full night sleep by 4:00am.

Well, I got up, read some emails, putzed around the internet for a bit and then went back to bed about 5:15am thinking I would be back up in no time...Isabel was bound to come get in bed with me, right? I was wrong, she didn't get up until after 7:00am this morning!!! She hung out by herself for awhile and Lillee didn't wake up until 7:30am. It was like a miracle morning :) Everyone had slept in and after all the kids piled into the bed we didn't get up until 8:00.

I was able to get my work done this morning, do some school with the kids, bake my sister-in-laws amazing bread recipe to create delicious breadsticks and cinnamon rolls for my luncheon with 8 women and 11 kids without much effort. A good night of rest ( with drooling and snoring, of course) can make all the difference in the world!

And flowers always help! Thanks mom, I needed a hug :)