Fox Family Fun: busy week, fun weekend

I had a huge to-do list going this week, majorly stressed and then Isabelle came home on Monday saying, "Mom, my science fair project is due on Friday." Huh?! I remembered her bringing home something about a science fair project a couple of weeks ago, but I hadn't even known it was required. But she insisted it was and that is was due Friday. Luckily, she already knew what she wanted to do, and she had the brilliant idea that Daddy could take her to the store to get her the needed fruit for their Daddy/daughter date. Wednesday was early-release (oh, how I hate early-release wednesdays because she comes home right as the others are going down for naps and it means I get no alone time). I figured she could do all of the pictures, measuring, and seed counting herself so it wouldn't be too bad, but no. She needed help with almost everything.

The biggest pain was the kiwi. Do you know how many seeds are in a kiwi? 1077. And they are too tiny and slippery to be picked up so I had to use a knife to scrape a few at a time to the side while she counted them. By that night she still hadn't finished the fruit, much less the write up so I was worried. On Thursday I called the school to check with them about when exactly it was due, and guess what? As a 1st grader she isn't required to do a science fair project, it's optional. And the projects aren't due until March 30th so we have another 3 weeks. Why oh why didn't I check on that earlier?

On Friday night, Jonathan and I went to a High School "Night of Swing" put on by their jazz band (they are really good). One of the young men in the ward is in the band and his Mom is on the committee so they asked us to teach some swing steps. It was a very nice, catered event with something like 200 people there. We had a blast dancing and the teaching went well.

Saturday monring we went to the Hebron Maple Festival to see how the sugarhouses tap trees for maple syrup. It was really neat to see some of the things we had read about in the "Little House on the Prairie" books.

There was a blacksmith shop. They were making forged iron hooks which they gave out to all of the kids.

The wood-working stand let the little ones hammer in pegs for a coat holder and Isabelle got to make a toolbox. The wood-turner made little "mushrooms" for the kids to keep.

They had a bunch of revolutionary war and pioneer paraphenalia. I can't believe how big and heavy those muskets were.

There were some dog-sledding teams of huskies. The kids loved petting the dogs. Huskies are such a beautiful breed.

They gave the kids a sticker with a paw print on it. David went up to one of the dogs and was putting the dogs foot on the sticker for a comparison. He said, "too big. Mommy, it too big."

That night we went home and prepped for "Pi Day." Every year we celebrate Pi Day by having a bunch of friends come over and bring something round to eat. The winner this year was the strawberry cheesecake.