Pedigreed Housewife World

Some people are outdoor people. They hear “snow day” and squeal with delight already planning the snowshoeing, sledding, snowman making fun. Then there’s me. My plans for the day do not regularly include freezing my butt off for the sake of fun. I do love to ski, but I’m not soaking in the beauty of the outdoors, I’m indulging in the feeling of freefall. And if I’m being totally honest, I love the lodges with their hot chocolate, cute snow boots, and long days with my friends as much as the hills. So when the school calls with those dreaded words, “snow day”, I have to make plans quickly. My kids want to play IN the snow and I say okay, let’s play WITH the snow. Making frost and ice I point out the small bit of frost on our windows and ask the kids if they think we can make frost inside the house. The kids both scream,”Yay! I want to do an experiment.” Then Bree adds, “I know a snow experiment. Let’s get the dot to dot paints.” We painted the snow last...

There’s one thing about summer that is a constant throughout the years – popsicles (and popsicle sticks) are awesome! Since I am a packrat and I see crafting potential in virtually anything, I always wash and save the popsicle sticks when we’re done. Who knows what we could build or do with them later. Well today, we decided to use a few of our stash and make a real catapult for no reason other than the fun of seeing how far we can fling stuff. First I explain how a catapult works - it works just like our arms do when we throw things. A catapult is loaded with whatever you want to throw and then it goes back a bit and then forward, releasing whatever it holds. How far we can throw depends on how long our arms are, how strong they are, how far we move them before release and how heavy what we are throwing is. We start with those principles and begin crafting our catapult. The arm/stick strength is fixed but I show them how we can vary the length and movemen...

This week I was challenged by a friend with a 3-year-old, who knows the elements and how to put them together into basic compounds like H2O, to introduce molecular chemistry to the kids. Ok, I wasn’t “challenged” per se. She posted pictures on Facebook of her kid doing it and I wanted my kids to be able to do that too. Hey, I’m not perfect. I get that Mommy jealousy thing like everyone else. My undergraduate degrees are in chemical and biomolecular engineering (with a math minor) and I am a packrat so I still have my old modeling kit from organic chemistry. I dust it off and bring it downstairs to show the kids with one takeaway message for the kids – atoms are attracted to each other and bond together to make molecules. First I ask the kids if they know any chemical names. I expect them to ask what that means, but instead Briana says “CO2”. She can’t remember what CO2 is but she remembers the name is a real chemistry name. Abby fills in the gap “CO2 is ...

Summer is all about passing the downtime. Sure there are days with camp, swimming, playdates, and activities galore, but there are also those days when you are left to your own devices. Those days, in my memory, were filled with reruns of the The Brady Bunch and The Addams Family at times, but mostly they were filled with sprinklers, freeze tag, My Little Ponies, and trying to catch little bugs in the yard.   I decided this summer that my kids need those downtime days, with no planned activities. I was excited to see them explore the backyard, build sand castles and playdoh towers, and the ever-fun catching of bugs in the yard. Instead they opt for Netflix and LeapPads. When I take those electronic time suckers, the kids stare blankly at me for what to do. Me! The grown-up! Today they sit for a good thirty minutes asking me what they are supposed to be doing. I reply, “Anything you want!” expecting them to squeal with delight, not say, “like what?” I point out...

This summer I have done the dreaded Mommy no-no. I’ll admit it. My kids have been plopped in front of the tv for much much more than the usually restricted hour a day. Go ahead and flog me now. We’re going to the pool, park, library, and other outings and the kids and I are both exhausted and on goes the Netflix. Usually we TIVO everything or watch Netflix with the kids, but this morning I was extra bad. I let the kids watch NickJr unsupervised while I took a shower. When I came out the girls were screaming that we had to buy a tangle free brush now. Now! Or it will be gone! They then repeated an infomercial to me, capturing all of the marketers highlights. The brush won’t hurt. It gets tangles out TWICE as fast as any other brush. It comes in four colors. You can get a free one if you act now. And most importantly you have to act now or the brushes will all be gone. This foray into commercials had them all worked up. I turn off the tv and sit them down. “Kids, do...

It’s summertime and my girls are in love with the birds. As we drive off to pricey outings all they really want to do is point out Meadowlarks and Robins and try to make bird sounds. So I decide that we would dedicate one afternoon to staying home and bird watching. The girls are super excited to discover a giant birds nest in one of our trees. They want to know how the birds made that nest. We consult their book on local birds and discover that birds pick up everything from twigs, grass, leaves, and mud to trash. “Litter! Oh no! The birds have our litter in their houses!” the girls cry. They ask me if we can make a birds nest. Why not. I tell them to start by gathering what a bird would gather to make a nest. They consult one another and strategize, “Abby you get the twigs and I’ll get the leaves,” Briana suggests. “No, let’s both get whatever is green, leaves and grass, first, then get the twigs,” Abby amends. Briana likes division of labor so she coun...