Creative Kids
STEM Robotics Competition
The “Crosswell Flares” logo and design the kids came up with for this year.
The girls STEM Robotics Team – The Crosswell Flares – did a great job this weekend! It was their first year in the competition and a long day (left the house at 7 am and wasn’t back home until around 7 pm that night), but all their hard work paid off they got 2 Trophies!!! The girls had a blast, learned a lot, and met a lot of people from various schools in the area!
The tagline they came up with was “Keep your flame in the game” which was on the back of their shirts along with the list of team members.
With so many people around the robot table during the competition this was the best picture we could get that day. This is their robot going through the course. They were able to accomplish all their missions that they had programmed and practiced.
The team getting ready to start the competition!
Brina very excited about her “swag bag”! As part of the competition each team made swag bags for their team members then they would have the opportunities to trade items with other teams. It stimulated a lot of interaction among the various teams. They were actually judged on this piece of the competition as well.
Karlie showing off her swag bag! Their team actually won a trophy for this part of the competition which included their sportsmanship and values.
They won 2 trophies! It was a long day and a lot of work, but they did fantastic! The kids were troopers! This was the teams first year competing against 17 teams (most of which have been competing for several years). Proud of all the kids and coaches for all the hard work. Good Job!!!
Brina and Karlie’s Show
Brina and Karlie put on a show for us recently. It was called “The Town of Twenty”. It was quite an interesting performance. Full of singing, dancing, acting, audience participation, and more fun. It is wonderful seeing them use their creativity and come up with some neat ideas.
Brina singing during one of her parts in the play.
Another fun part of the play.
Karlie playing one of her parts.
Brina all smiles
Chatting with the girls after their play. Love watching them act out their show and having some time to chit-chat with them afterward. Thankful for our girls, their creativity, and their excitement about life.
Loom Bracelet Craze
The girls have a loom bracelet set and over the past few weeks there has been loom bracelets popping up everywhere in our house, car, backpacks and random places. In one day they went from making no loom bracelets to do several in a day. Not to mention, the little individual bands have been sprinkled like confetti around the house.
The girls are learning that these are not only fun making they are a blast trading with friends, giving them away to friends, or teaching their friends how to make them. They go to school with a certain amount of bracelets and come home with a different amount and a variety of other colors. They’ll even make custom-colored and various size bracelets for friends too. Yes, they even made one for Mom and Dad (we were recipients of the first couple they made)!
It’s neat to see them making these and sharing them with others. The nice part about them being easy to weave together is they can make several in one day. Since starting making the loom bands they have discovered a number of different patterns, shapes, sizes, and neat designs. So even though they learned how to make them one way they have adapted to learn a variety of ways to make the bracelets.
A pile of bracelets put on their bar stool the night before so they could put them on before school at breakfast time.
A common sight laying around our house the past few months!
Brina ready for school with a stack of bracelets on her arm.
The bracelets Brina made
Karlie ready to go to school with an armful of bracelets
Karlie’s bracelets she made in one night.
Christmas Tree Ornaments
Thanks to my sweet cousin Renelle the girls got a cool Christmas Ornament craft this year. Renelle sent glass ornaments and some paint so the girls could make their own Christmas tree ornaments. They had a blast making these ornaments! The ornaments turned out beautifully too!
The ornaments have a tie die and swirl mix of several colors. Brina and Karlie were so excited to have these hanging on the tree. Both girls agree that they want to do more of these or another Christmas tree ornament next year!
Karlie squeezing paint into her ornamentTake the glass ornaments and slowly squeeze paint into them. Add at least 2 or more colors and swirl around until the glass ornament is coated on the inside.
Brina making sure the paint is covering the entire glassAfter adding paint rotate the ornament around until the paint has coated the entire inside of the ornament. The colors will start to blend as you do this which is very fascinating for the kids to watch.
Karlie swirling and coating the inside of her glass ornament with paintThe colors blend together and look pretty neat together.
Turn the ornament upside down in a styrofoam cup or muffin pan so the extra paint can drain.
Every few hours flip the glass ornament the opposite direction so the paint will dry evenly inside the bulb
One of the glass bulbs hanging on the trees
Beautiful ornament made by the girls hanging on the tree
The girls did a fabulous job making these ornaments.
Colorful and looking great on the Christmas tree
The colors merged beautifully on their glass ornaments
Thanks Renelle for an amazing craft! The girls had a craft and they turned out beautifully!
Creative Kids: New Hot Pads!
Karlie’s colorful hot pad she made!
The other day I was working on several items that needed to be done so the girls took some time to do some crafts. I wasn’t sure what they were up to, but they were staying busy and being good. The next morning I was presented with two brand new colorful hot pads! One that Karlie had made and one from Brina! What a special treat it is to get such a sweet gift first thing in the morning. Thankful for my thoughtful girls. I am very blessed and will think of them every time I use their beautiful hot pads.
Brina’s new hot pad she made for me!
My beautiful new hot pads! Love them and especially love the two sweet girls that made them for me.
Jello Jigglers
The girls had a lot of fun making Jello Jigglers after school to share with their friends who were coming over after dinner. We had a great time doing this treat together while talking about memories, the girls day at school, and the fun we were anticipating having with our friends that evening.
I remember making Jello Jigglers when I was a little girl with my Great Grandma Vi so this activity brought back a lot of sweet memories of my Grandma Viola. It is wonderful being able to carry on this fun tradition with my girls too.
The girls had a wide variety of shapes and animals from birds, flowers, Mickey Mouse, hearts, bears, rabbits, and more. They had a blast choosing the cookie cutters and getting this special treat together to share with their friends. I would say it was a big hit because there were only a couple “jigglers” left by the end of the night. 🙂
Great Work Girls!
Great Work Girls!
The girls completed their extra math work this week and earned pumpkins! The pumpkins were on clearance for two dollars at Walmart so we figured it would be a fun activity to do together with the Halloween Holiday. I don’t know which was more fun for them, scooping the seeds out and dehydrating them so they could eat them or doing the jack-o-lanterns!
Super excited that they continue to go the extra math with their math learning. If you want to read more about why we are doing this activity you can see my post on Going the “Extra” Mile with Math It has been very beneficial for our family!
Native American Homes – Extra Credit School Project
Now that the girls are in third grade is seems like they have more “hands-on” projects coming up these past few weeks. They had the opportunity to earn extra credit for Social Studies by building a replica of a South Carolina Native American home. They spent a lot of time building their houses, writing out their facts, and presenting their project to the class. Thank goodness for a yard full of saplings, vines, monkey grass, and for Jake who is creative and patient when helping the girls.
The girls really LOVED the arrow heads (even though they did not come from SC). The arrow heads are actually ones that Jake and his Grandpa Hayes collected when he was a boy. Both girls did well and got a 100% on their extra credit projects. Even though they worked hours on this project they told us it was one of the most fun homework projects they had ever done and would love to do more! Glad they enjoyed it because it was a great way to learn even more about the Native Americans from South Carolina.
Brina building the structure out of saplings for her Longhouse
Brina’s House:
- Longhouse
- Cherokee Native American’s lived in Longhouses in the summer months
- The Cherokee’s live in the Blue Ridge Mountain Region of South Carolina
Karlie weaving vines to make the structure for her Wattle & Daub
Karlie’s House:
- Wattle & Daub House
- Cherokee’s from the Blue Ridge Mountain Region lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
- Yemassee’s from the Coastal Zone Region also lived in a Wattle & Daub house during the winter
Travel & Vacation: Spending Time with Family in Kansas
The plane was delayed due to rain, but now we are ready to go. Two little chickies all buckled in….one snacking and the other one with her nose already in a book. Thankful that the girls travel well.
The girls and I recently flew out to Kansas to spend some time with my family. We stayed at my parents house, but thankfully we were able to catch up with quite a few people while we were out there visiting. While we were in Kansas Jake was traveling with work so he was managing to stay busy too.
The girls even got in on the last part of my parents church’s VBS, which included getting wet with water balloons. I think the highest temperature I saw during out week and half in Kansas was 113 while it was hot the wind helped make it more tolerable.
A cooler full of mammoth water balloons for VBS game time the next day!
Lots of little water balloons too! I think by the end the count was somewhere around 300 water balloons. The kids loved it!
Karlie picked a variety of flowers from Grandma Penny’s gardens and displayed the flowers in a pie dish. They actually lasted almost the entire time we were out there!
Brina made a blue cat while Brandon is working on some blueberry cookies!
Karlie is busy socializing and creating play dough goodies too! Grandma Penny made some homemade play dough for the kids. They loved it (and were asking me to make some a couple days ago)!
Beautiful purple flower along the road in Harlan, Kansas
Some of my Great Grandma Viola’s rose bushes were blooming near the Kelly’s Store and the Post Office in Harlan, Kansas where she used work. She planted the roses many years ago and yet they continue to bloom every year! Grandma Vi had an amazing green thumb (something I did not inherit, by the way)! She loved flowers and I thought it would be appropriate to stop to snap a quick picture of one of her pretty roses while I was in the area!
Brina and Brandon hanging out in their giant tent they built downstairs in Grandpa Russell and Grandma Penny’s basement!
Three silly kiddos hanging out in their fort tent while chomping on some “spicy” candy Aunt Renelle brought for them to try!
One of the girls favorite places to visit when in Kansas! A view of my parents house from the top of Windy Point.
P&G Everyday Effect Movement – 10 Ways We Can Make A Positive Impact
With the celebration of Earth Day fresh on our minds our family has been thinking about ways of how we can be more intentional in our efforts to conserve. While we do our best to recycle we are not always very consistent about doing it. Making small changes as a family can save a lot over the course of a year.
P&G Everyday Effect Program is brought to you by P&G and SheSpeaks! P&G believes the most effective changes start at home first by changing the way we think and making small steps to improve our lives by reducing, reusing, recycling, conserving and more. Here are 10 specific ways our family has been working on changing so we can make a positive impact:
Adjust the Thermostat
By adjusting the thermostat only a degree or two you could save potentially several hundred dollars over the course of a year. Also, when you travel, like we did in April for the girls Spring Break, make sure to adjust the thermostat even more. If we are not going to be home we turn it up or down (depending on the season) as much as possible so that the HVAC unit is not working over time for an empty house. Yes, we have come home to the house at about 90 degrees or in the high 40s but we have also noticed a significant decrease in our power bills those months too! 🙂
Picking Up & Recycling Litter
When it rains all the water from the street next to us runs down into the creek into our backyard. After every rain storm we usually have to pick up a variety of trash that was litter on the side of the road. One of the ways we decided to help is by making it a point to recycle any of the items we pick up instead of just throwing them away. We have an aluminum can crusher in our garage which is one of the kids chores to sort and crush any cans that we have for that week. Every couple months or so we take all the cans the kids have crushed to a salvage yard nearby and get some cash for the cans they have saved.
Using Reusable Water Bottles & Re-purposing Disposable Plastic Water Bottles Prior to Recycling
Our family typically has at least a few disposable plastic water bottles in our cars or lunches or a 24 pack in the house to grab quickly. We are trying to use more reusable water bottles to take to school or work lunches and other places so we are not being wasteful. If we get a plastic water bottle from an event we are making a point to reuse it for something fun (like the snack container pictured above or another craft) before putting it in the recycling bin instead of just throwing into the nearest trash can.
Water Conservative Shower Head & Shorter Showers
Sometimes we tend to take longer showers than necessary in our house. While the occasional long shower doesn’t seem like a lot just cutting it back a few minutes can help us conserve a lot of water for a family of four! We have put conservative shower heads in our showers so there is not as much water coming out as we take our showers which helps us save a little bit more.
Washing Our Laundry in Cool Water & Air Drying Our Laundry
Choosing to wash the laundry in cool water instead of warm or hot can help conserve energy too. Also, when we allow items to air or line dry that saves energy on the drying cycle. We have been more intentional about picking out certain items that would air dry nicely.
Turn Off the Water while Brushing Our Teeth
This is one that we have been working on at our house for a long time. For some reason it seems like it is just so much work to turn off the water while brushing our teeth. If we assume that all four of us brush our teeth for 2 minutes (recommended time) at least twice a day and the average bathroom faucet uses approximately 2 gallons of water per minute our family alone is using over 30 gallons of water a day just to brush our teeth! Yikes! If we took the extra second to turn off the water then to turn it back on only to rinse we could easily cut that amount in half or more.
Grow Our Own Produce & Compost
We make it a point to grow at least some of our produce every year. Usually we have a huge garden with surplus that we are able to share with family, friends, neighbors, and people from church. We only water our garden when necessary and it is on a timer to prevent us from wasting the extra water. This year we are doing a smaller garden because of several big events coming up but we are so looking forward to eating our juicy strawberries and any other plants we put into the garden this summer! If you don’t want to grow your own garden you can buy produce from your local farmers market. One of the big benefits of growing your own garden or eating a lot of produce is you have the opportunity recycle and make great compost for future gardens!
Turning Off the Lights
Here is another one that it seems like we have worked on for a long time especially with the kids. They tend to bounce from room to room without even thinking about turning off the lights. We have talked in depth about the importance of turning off the lights so we don’t waste extra energy. Thankfully, the kids seem to be getting better with this one now too (although they have forgetful moments)!
Pack Our Own Lunches Instead of Eating Out
We have made a point of packing our own lunches for work and school. It saves money by not eating out all the time plus we can use reusable sandwich and other containers as well as a lunch box instead of getting disposable wrappers and containers from restaurants or fast food. I have noticed during the busy months I tend to be a little more relaxed on this one so we pulled ourselves together and stuck to doing this for most of the year so far and plan to continue it. The food that we pack is much healthier, offers more variety, and is packed in more earth friendly containers.
Only Run the Dishwasher When it is Full
I have been known to run the dishwasher half full especially if it seems to be a little “stinky” smelling! This past month we have been more intentional on how we load the dishwasher and only running it once it is completely full.
Even though you are only one family “everyday effect” can make a huge difference over time. We only listed a handful of easy ways to conserve water, energy, power, take care of our environment and more, get together with your family and come up with a few more creative ways you can make a difference!
More about the EverydayEffect movement can be found:
A special thanks to SheSpeaks and P&G for initiating the Everyday Effect Program and sponsoring this post. Any specific program information was provided by P&G and SheSpeaks, however, the opinions expressed in this post are our own.
