George Washington Carver

Derek is in first grade and was assigned to do a Social Studies report on George Washington Carver. So we researched him and found five interesting facts about him. If you don't know, he was an African-American botanist that came up with all these different uses for peanuts and sweet potatoes. He also helped fortmer slaves become better farmers and improve their lives. He also taught at a University. So he did lots of great things. The last thing that we wrote in his report was that he fell down the stairs and died.

Andy came home and asked him who George Washington Carver was.
His response: "I don't know."
I prompted him with: "Who is your report on?"
Derek: "Oh yeah, George Washington Carver."
Andy then asks: "What did he do?"
Derek says: "He fell down the stairs and died."

All that this great man did and Derek only remembers a guy falling down the stairs!

We have to make a diorama next. I'm going to suggest a peanut farm but I think it might turn out to be a guy falling down the stairs! So sorry Mr. Carver!

Don't Eat Pete!

This game caused great joy in our home this week! We played it after Family Home Evening and lets just say we will play it again for sure! I found it on ldssplash.com and all you need are M&Ms or something similar. You lay out seven or eight M&Ms and someone leaves the room. You designate one of the M&Ms to be "Pete" and don't tell the person who left the room. They come back and eat the M&Ms one by one until they reach for "Pete." Then everyone shouts "DON'T EAT PETE!" Tucker was so excited he was just wiggling with joy! Zane was shouting the whole game which translates to excitement and Derek would have played all night! I want to always remeber the absolute joy in Tucker when we were playing. That memory is truly something special to me and Andy.

New Year, New Rooms!

Andy finished Derek's bedroom and Derek got to sleep there New Year's Day. It was a longer project than we thought, but it is done and Derek loves it. We painted, built a closet, put in a door, and got him a bed. It sounds so simple, and yet . . .



Once Derek moved out of the bunkbed, Zane got to move out of the crib and into the bottom bunk. He was so very excited to sleep in the same room as Tucker. Of course, crib to bed isn't as easy as all that, but he is doing remarkably well and hopefully won't try to reclaim the crib when the baby comes!



Tucker stayed put, but was such a great helper. He helped load people's clothes into boxes and put them away in their drawers. He was thrilled about his new bunkmate. What's more is everyone sleeps in a little later (of course, now that school has started, that isn't such a great thing, but I'll take what I can get).

New Year's Eve

We went to the Aquarium for New Year's Eve and had a great time! Poor Zane was scared for parts of it. It was really dark in the exihibits and they had sound effects like you were inside a creaky boat. I guess that might have had something to do with it. We saw cool animals though!

They have a Shark Train ride where you ride through a tunnel of sharks. Everybody loved that! Tucker said it was his favorite.



There were also White Bengal Tigers that were Derek's favorite. They were beautiful and very large. Zane's little heart was beating very fast and would not let me put him down.



Derek and Tucker also got to ride on the Ferris Wheel for the first time. Zane and I weren't allowed, so we sat and waved to them as they twirled by.

My favorite was the octopus, but you couldn't take flash photos of it. It was spread out over the glass so you got a very good view of all the suction cups on its legs. Andy's favorite was the sea turtle at the large restaurant aquarium. The eel behind was cool too.



Andy and I also touched a stingray and a small shark! The boys were too nervous to touch it. Derek and Zane pet a starfish. It was quite motionless and less "scary." It felt remarkably similar to a rock.




I had great plans for a party with the boys, but everyone was tired and there wasn't much time, so maybe next year. With that, our year ended.






Happy New Year, 2010!