Catapulting for Science

 It's that time of year again when the science fair rubric comes home - this time for Jake.

He had it in his mind to do something with a catapult and over coming gravity. He decided on determining potential energy of a spring - measured by how far the projectile is launched using a spring catapult.

He and Robert build a simple catapult to measure distances using different lengths of spring at different angles.

 The projectile - an Angry Bird!

There were many launches,

 lots of landings, 

 and lots of measuring.

One of the springs got really stretched out and the bar stopping the arm at the given angle got a bit bent out of shape from all the force.

 Data, graphs, pictures and coming up with analysis and conclusions and the project and tri-board is complete! We hung one of the springs on the board as well, since he couldn't take his catapult to display with his project (it's a weapon).

 I like when they are done and turned in - early!

Christmas in Connecticut

 We headed out for the long drive to Connecticut - playing the alphabet game, reading, watching movies, and checking out the others on the road.

Biker Dog was our favorite.

 We went into NYC the day after we got there, showing the kids 5th Avenue - lights, window displays, decorations,

Rockefeller Plaza,

FAO Schwartz, and the Lego store. The important things for kids right before Christmas.

 When the sun started going down, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped.

A NYC pretzel hit the spot . . .  if you can say that about a NYC pretzel.

 We went from Robert's sister's place to his brother's house, a little farther into Connecticut, for a couple of days before and after Christmas.

 We had fun being all together.

My camera broke completely the day we went into NYC - it was on the verge - and I was so excited to go with Robert and buy a new one the day before Christmas!

 With no snow, we spent some time at a great school playground. 

I had a hard time keeping Jake in a jacket and shoes.

 On Christmas Eve, after telling the story of Christ's birth (with everyone involved with some part), we made a cousins pyramid before sending them off to bed.

 Christmas morning brought a dusting of snow, the kids were so excited. It made Christmas perfect.

There wasn't enough snow to go out right away, but by the time breakfast was eaten and presents were open, the Georgia cousins were dressed and out in the cold stuff!

 

 The kids got to open stockings before breakfast,

 and gifts after. 

We did go one at a time for the everyone's first gift, but the excitement got the best of everyone and each opened their gifts 

excitedly showing them to others and excited to see what someone else got as well.

 With snow in CT most likely our only chance to play in snow, Natalie, Jake, and Logan went out to play in the little bit that had fallen for Christmas.

 The trampoline is always fun with snow!

 Then they came in to warm up, build with Legos,

 and just be together with cousins.

My sister-in-laws know me well and both had puzzles waiting to be done. The snowman one we finished at Robert's brother's house - it was a large 2000 piece one with odd shapes. Let's just say it got finished very late the night before we were going to be heading back to Robert's sister's house.

 We went ice skating (minus Logan and I) with the cousins, my niece is very good and it was fun to watch her to twirls and jumps 

while the rest of just tried staying up as they went around the rink.

There was a snow storm moving in that evening, so we stayed one more night. 

We let the kids go sledding, that night, when there was enough snow. 

 

They had a blast night sledding and we had to drag them in when we realized it was almost 10pm!

 

 The snowplows worked through the night and, in clearing the driveway, left a perfect mound of snow to sled off of!

 

 I love the picture below - a great shot of Jake's jump start, what you miss is the second later when he landed and biffed it! It was so funny - we were all laughing.

 Although I wasn't too thrilled about packing wet snow clothes in the car to go back to Heather's, I'm glad the kids got to have some more fun together in the snow.

 A couple of snowmen even came to life.

 

 It was a good thing they got some more time in the snow because Heather's had melted by the time we got there.

We stayed busy having fun inside. 

Puzzles, Legos, and JustDance on the Xbox.

Natalie tested out her cake pop maker, her gift from Santa. Parker could hardly wait and got as many samples as he wanted.

 We took one more trip into the city, to the Museum of Natural History. 

You can spend days there, we only had a few hours - but the kids loved everything they saw.

 Alyssa started to not feel well, so she and I headed back out to the car to wait for the others.

(I'll have to put in a picture Robert took of the cousins when I get it from his camera.)

 A vacation wish for me came true when Troy went down to Scarsdale to bring back bagels for breakfast - the ones I grew up on. They are a must when we go to visit and are so close to great bagels!

The kids had one last vacation wish come true when it started snowing again.

 By late afternoon there was enough snow for one more trip to some hills.

There were some fun runs down the hill, testing each sled and the snowboard, racing each other, and seeing who could go the farthest.

Parker enjoyed the playground and swings while the others went up and down the hill.

 A perfect way to end a wonderful Christmas trip to Connecticut!

Starting Up By Catching Up

In starting this new blog, trying to by-pass the memory limit of the original "Georgia Becksteads," let me catch you up on the last few months.

October ended with fun Halloween activities:

Trunk-or-Treat

at church was fun filled with booths, candy and prizes,

 

 and friends.

We found recipes for yummy Halloween treats 

 

 and Thomas came to visit just in time to help carve pumpkins!

The boys went for the glove method for pulling out the guts - not their favorite feeling things to do.

By using both sides of the pumpkins each sibling gets to design a carving. Here is Natalie's spider web and Jake's werewolf!

The kids were ready for trick-or-treating, 

all decked out and candy bags ready.

Alyssa

was hungry one day, but a little too lazy to thinly slice her bananas for her banana sandwich.

 Natalie

loves playing around with the camera, taking different shots. This one of the mirror turned out pretty cool. 

Fifteen!

We celebrated Alyssa's birthday with a couple of her friends.

 I had found some Tangled books and activities on clearance about a month before Alyssa's birthday - since Tangled is one of Alyssa's favorite animated movies I thought it would be fun to surprise her with a Tangled themed cake and gifts.

I made a tower cake -

  complete with Pascal (you can see him, green, sitting at the window).

 The books came complete with a clip of magical hair and a musical hair brush. 

 Logan spent the rest of the evening brushing Alyssa's and her friend's hair as we watch favorite parts of the movie.

In GA, you can get your learner's permit at 15. With a birthday on Sunday, the DDS closed on Monday, she had to wait until Tuesday to take the test (at least she didn't miss school - they had off for the election).

 She PASSED!

Only a year and a day until her real driver's license!

Thanksgiving

 Our good friend came to visit us for Thanksgiving. 

We took him to the Genghis Khan exhibit in Atlanta,

 

 Played with some bubbles while we were there, and checked out some other exhibits at the museum.

 The deep fried turkey was the center of our feast - good food and fun times.

 After dinner settled we had our choice of pies.

 December

 For us, December starts with First Friday downtown. They light the tree, 

have displays,

  Alyssa's a'cappella group went to the businesses down town, caroling, and Santa was there to talk to about special presents!

 The next day was the Christmas parade (a favorite thing to watch).

Alyssa volunteered at a bake sale table to benefit Relay for Life.

 Before the parade Logan, although he had talked to Santa the night before, had time to mail his letter to Santa.

 We love everything about the parade - 

the floats,

 the punch buggys,

 seeing our friends (they make new costumes each year for their stilt walking),

 tractors,

 and Santa (really Santa's helper this time).

We saw a picture of chocolate covered pretzel rods and when there was some dipping chocolate on clearance I got some so we could try making some.

We tossed out on the table all the toppings we had.

The kids loved dipping and sprinkling and rolling

and eating!

 Moving on -

  I'm so glad to be blogging again. Life the last few months has been busy, as life gets, but keeping a blog is something I like doing to record our family history and memories.

Keep up with us too, check back regularly! :)