Cookie Decorating

This last weekend we went to a cookie-decorating event sponsored by the local 4-H club. The kids went right to work.

 Well, except for Willow, who just enjoyed the atmosphere and smells of sugar.

It quickly became obvious that this was very much an art event.

 Who can resist?

 Yum, sweet bliss.

 Soon the frosting mustaches (and beards) were evident.

 And why bother putting frosting on the cookie when it can go straight in the mouth?

 These little friends decorated diligently.

 How high can a cookie be decorated? Or maybe the question should be how high can it be and still fit in your mouth?

 Caleb gave a little talk about what 4-H is. Cloverbuds are the youngest 4-H members, and need to be just 5 to join.

Warning: the next photos may cause you to gain five pounds just by looking at them.

 Desert Girl's final creations. Which one would you choose?

Desert Boy's decorating. I think he had a theme going on!

Here's to a sweet Christmas!

Getting Ready for the Christmas Bird Count

Monday is our annual Christmas Bird Count for this area. It started here in 1997 and has been going on every year since, and it's been interesting learning about some of the trends (which you can see in an article in this publication).  Worldwide, the very first Christmas Bird Count was in 1900, which makes this project the longest citizen science project in existence.

To get ready, we started putting bird feed in our feeder about a week ago. It didn't take long for dark-eyed juncos and pinyon jays to find it. The pinyon jays come in a huge flock and stay until they eat everything.


They are beautiful birds, although a little aggressive so they keep out the other birds. I was surprised by how the photos I took captured them in so many stages of flight.

 A neighbor's feeder also gets the pinyon jays, but also lesser goldfinches, and at the top, a white-crowned sparrow.

To expand the citizen-science aspect of this project, I visited Desert Boy's school and put up a bird feeder for them. They are going to help watch what shows up on Christmas Bird Count day and contribute to the effort.

 They were fascinated with the binoculars I brought. We also practiced a few bird calls (e.g., Canada goose, mallard, raven, mountain chickadee, great horned owl, red-tailed hawk). I was impressed how well they knew them. Although most thought the red-tailed hawk was an eagle because that's what television dubs in--a real eagle call is rather weird and unimpressive sounding.

 Then we made bird feeders they can take home with them. First, find a pine cone, tie a string around the top, goop it up with peanut butter, then roll in bird seed. Put in a plastic bag to get home, then take out and hang up outside.

The kids seemed to really enjoy it. Hopefully they will see some neat birds at home!

If you'd like to help in your local Christmas Bird Count, it's not too late to sign up. They are lots of fun, and you can participate even if you're brand new to birding. Trust me, it's more fun to look at birds for the day than you might imagine! You can also just count birds in your yard or on a walk and submit what you find.

Some Holiday Preparations

 We've been focusing on homemade Christmas items this year, and that's been a lot of fun. Desert Boy got a lesson on how to wrap presents the other night. He asked where I had learned how to wrap presents, and I told him "My mom." He said, "Your mom taught you a lot." I agreed.

 Meanwhile, Desert Girl was enthralled with a craft project putting together gingerbread people made out of felt that allowed her to use glue. Glue is a special treat in our house now, after several glue incidents. It is a carefully controlled substance.

 Desert Girl was trying hard to make her gingerbread dolls just right.

 We've also made some Christmas ornaments out of a sticker kit. It's funny how the kids can make even a simple design have some extra character!

 You can tell that these were kid-made! They will be happy reminders of this stage in Christmases future.

We had an extra form in the package, so I let Desert Girl do whatever she wanted, including using scissors. This is what she came up with. Notice the ponytail on the snowgirl. She was very proud of that.

Desert Boy wanted me to open a present early. This is what I got:

I asked him where his club was, and he said he was making it. Once it's ready, I've got an exclusive ticket!

 Here is one of the finished gingerbread people!

I so much appreciate the extra smiles and chuckles the kids share and create!

A Winter Trip to the Salt Flat and Sinkhole

The day before Thanksgiving Desert Boy didn't have school, so I took the morning off. Desert Girl had preschool, so I decided that after we dropped her off, we'd head to the nearby sinkhole with a stop at the salt flat on the way. Better yet, we'd take some of Desert Boy's friends.

We have a lot of salt flats, or playas, out here in the desert. The rain falls, runs down to a low spot and pools, and then evaporates. It often leaves behind salt. Sometimes the playas are hard and you can drive on them, and other times they are mushy and will cost you an expensive towing bill.

The temperature was just below freezing, so I was hoping that it would stay that way. I was a little concerned that if the snow melted it could make the playa just mushy enough that I would get stuck. With four kids. Miles from the nearest person. I told myself if that did happen, it would be an adventure they'd remember. 

This playa has a dug out spot that collects water. We went over to look for wildlife and found some deep snow and a little ice. I had to work hard to convince the kids not to step on the weak ice. I didn't want our outing to end in the first five minutes due to a soaked, cold kid!

Fortunately they listened and soon were running free across the playa. That's one of the best things about a playa. It's a wide, open space, and you can go anywhere you want.

While the kids ran, I looked for patterns in the snow and ice. 

These patterns were quite a bit different from the ones I found in the spring when I visited this same playa.

Meanwhile, Henry was busy rolling on the snow. You can see Ava's boots in the photo. She was rolling around too.

Desert Boy tried to make a snow angel, but the snow was a little too hard.

I found it kind of funny that the kids chose to lay down on a cold surface.

We all agreed after awhile that it was time to head to our next destination: the sinkhole. When I had first asked Desert Boy if he wanted to go to the sinkhole, he enthusiastically agreed.

"I want to go. We can look for snakes."

I smiled inside. Yes, the sinkhole is a major snake haven. But it was winter, and our likelihood of finding snakes was very small. In fact, this was the perfect time to take a bunch of kids there.

We parked by the fence and found a place to cross it.

Then I had the kids line up for a "before" photo.

Soon they were charging down. I had told them as we were pulling up that we were going to the bottom, and none of them argued. They were ready for some outdoor time.

The mixture of snow and hard ground made for some interesting falls, but we all made it down unscathed.

Then the real fun began: finding snake skins! The snakes shed their skins as they grow, and we found snake skins all over. The kids soon began a friendly little competition to find the most.

They all left with a pile of snake skins and big grins.

I knew the trip was a success when the next day one of the friends asked me, "Where are we going today?"

Soon, my little friend, we will go out again!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Here are some things we've done to get in the proper spirit.

1. Turkey shoot.
Nope, we don't shoot turkeys (although that is very tempting, especially since the non-native ones introduced here a few years ago are wreaking havoc on the ecosystem). We went to our local Turkey Shoot (a fundraiser) and shot at targets; the winners took home turkeys.

We let the kids participate, as where we live guns are important tools for getting your food. We want them to respect guns and learn how to use them properly. The turkey shoot turned out to be a very family friendly event, and we enjoyed spending time with each other outdoors. Bonus: we did some good shooting.

2. Turkey dissection.

Well, since we won some turkeys, we had to check one out more thoroughly. The giblets were our area of focus. We looked up information on the neck (tasty for soups), gizzard (special organ at top of stomach to grind up grain since turkeys don't have teeth), liver (largest organ), and heart. Then we dissected the organs. The kids thought it was really cool.

Here's pre-dissection. I did take a post-dissection photo, but what's the fun in showing that when you can try doing it for yourself!

Looking forward to eating some turkey tomorrow! Have a super holiday and weekend!

Science Experiment: Which Container Has the Most Water?

 The kids have been asking me to do an experiment. Here's a simple one that's easy to clean up and doesn't require any special ingredients.

First, I put a measured amount of water into five different containers. Then I asked the kids:
What container has the most water in it?

They both came up with a hypothesis.

 Desert Girl thought the container filled to the rim had the most water in it.

 Desert Boy thought that they all looked about equal.

Well, how can we test that?

First he wrote down a list of the containers.

 1. Flower Vase, 2. Widest, 3. Jar, 4. Little cup, 5. Big cup

Then came the fun part: measuring the amount of water for each one.

 Desert Boy had a lot of fun pouring the containers, one by one, into the measuring cup. We discussed fractions and what 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup and 3/4 cup meant.

And our results:

Desert Boy was mostly right in his hypothesis. All the containers held the same amount of water (1/2 cup), except for the flower vase, which only held 1/4 cup.

This experiment could be altered by putting different amounts into different containers, but I wanted the kids to see that the same amount of water looks different based on the shape of the container.

Another alteration could be to put some food coloring into the water to make it even more apparent, but I wanted a super easy clean up so skipped that step.

The next experiment that naturally follows is:

How much water will each container hold?
Step 1: Have the experimenter arrange the containers in order from smallest to largest. This is the hypothesis that each next container will hold more water than the previous one.
Step 2:  Pour water to a defined line (e.g. 1 cup or 2 cup) in a measuring cup.
Step 3: Pour water from measuring cup into container. Record how much water it holds.
Step 4: Continue steps 2 & 3 until the amount all containers hold is recorded.
Step 5: Check results to see if the hypothesis is true.

I thought these experiments might be a little too simple, but they held the kids' attention for half an hour. Plus Desert Boy learned how to correctly read a measuring cup and a little about fractions. He also practiced his writing and recording skills. And Desert Girl, who mainly watched from the sidelines, piped up at the end: "Mom, this was a great experiment."

Hurray!