Lead Crystal

We've been doing more experiments related to the periodic table.  If you want a fun video and song check out this one called "The Periodic Table Song."  So this experiment was really taking lead crystal and making it ring.  Lead is what made it possible to make glass really thin and strong so you can make the pretty sounds.  We found several glasses in our collection in storage and tried several shapes.  Bell shapes worked better then other shapes.  If I ever figure out how to upload a video again, I will put it on and you can hear the lovely tones of one of the glasses in particular.

We even managed to not break one.  We were extra careful and kept the glasses on a soft surface on the floor, just in case.

The third glass from the left made the best sound. The one to the right of it made the next best sound.

Christmas 2009

We had a family breakfast followed by a reading of all the things we had put in the Thankful Box since Thanksgiving. Then we opened presents. Here is the tree before the presents were opened.

The tree.

J. and B. before we opened presents.

B. was Santa's helper this year passing out the presents.

A. with a present.

Santa brought J. a Ballerina Barbie! Mom got her a Pediatrician Barbie.

Santa brought B. a lego set.  Mom got her a couple of math books and another lego set.

Christmas Eve 2009

The girls made a gingerbread house - a gift from the B. Family, with whom we stayed during the snowstorm/ Blizzard of 2009.  

J. came home with one of his early Christmas presents - a race car track set.  He and the girls had a great time playing with it.  Before they left everyone, all the kids, got to open one present each.

J. got in-line skates.

A. got  a baby doll, that she takes very good care of.

J. got a magnetic doll toy.

B. got a remote control car.

Friends M. and her son, J. joined us for dinner.  Afterwards we did a(nother) Nativity - this one with J. as Mary - the preferred role.

J. dressed as Mary with her baby.

B. as Narrator.

M. as an angel.

J. as an angel.

C. as a shepherd.

B. as a shepherd.

Before dessert we pulled out the Crackers and opened them;

B. B. C. and J. with our paper hats after dessert on Christmas Eve 2009.

M. & J. Christmas Eve 2009

Even More Snow

It was Monday by now.  Roads looked bad on the way home so we stayed one more day to give VDOT one more day to clear things up.  B. did mroe beading (J. did help some.)

More plastic bags on feet, more snow play.

A snow person, sitting on a bench that had almost disappeared in the snow two days before.  J. provided the nose.

The snow person in profile.

We headed home the next day.  We went down 29 all the way to Lynchburg, then cut over to 81.  There was still an impressive amount of snow on the road in Charlottesville.  Between Charlottesville and Lynchburg I counted at least two dozen cars abandoned on the sides of the road. Apparently that happened a lot up and down many of the main roads and freeways - this was just one of the last areas to be cleared of abandoned cars - or the owners were finally able to get back to clear them out theme selves.  It was good to get home again.

We are grateful to the B. Family for letting us stay as long as we did!

More Snow

Sunday morning there was sunshine.  This is the view from our window.

A view of the street with the fire plug.

The front door from the outside before it was shovelled.

After it was shovelled.

 

A snow angel.

That bench almost disappeared during the snow storm.

Snow!

We went up to Washington, D.C. the weekend of  December 19th and got caught in a big snowstorm. The "Blizzard of 2009" brought 16 1/2 inches to Dulles International Airport which was near to where we were.

We went up Thursday and stopped in at the Green Valley Book Fair (I love books!), then proceeded to the Manassas Battlefield to brush up on a little of our Civil War history.  Then we went to see and stay with our friends the B. Family in Gainsville, VA.  We left home on Thursday afternoon with a 30% chance of snow. The weatherman said, the night before, if the storm tracked more easterly there would not be much snow, if it tracked more westerly it would bring a lot of snow.  By the time we checked in with our friends, there was a 100% chance of snow by Friday night and a lot of it.

We did our Friday morning appointment in Fairfax - had lunch at a lovely restaurant in Burke called Aladin's Eatery.  We all had Pitzas. - the girls had cheese and cheese with chicken.  I had a Ali Baba Pitza - pita bread with "Pureed eggplant sliced tomatoes, feta cheese, char-grilled slices of eggplant, slivered calamata olives and sprinkled with oregano."  Yum!

I took a wrong turn coming back so we were delayed on the beltway, then 66 going back to Gainsville. Everyone and their brother were trying to get home and/or do one last thing before the storm got there.  The weathermen were predicting arrival around 9 pm.

I got the girls back to the B. Family's house and decided to take the opportunity to go to the Washington, D.C. temple. The ward trip was officially canceled but since I was there I thought I might as well go, if I can - so I did.   It took my 2 1/2 hours to take a normally 1 1/4 hour trip.  One hour of it was between the Maryland State Line and Connecticut Avenue.  No accidents just too many cars and too many people trying to get some place at the same time.   When I finished it was about 8:30 pm so I took a quick look at the beautiful lights at the Visitor's Center and the Nativity Scene and went back to the B. Family's house to hunker down until the storm was passed. 

The news had a great time with the whole thing.  We just sort of sat back and watched the snow fall.  I left Kensington about 8:30pm and by the time I got to route 66 - 9 pm - it was snowing and sticking to the ground.  I was very glad to get to the B.'s house.

The front door Friday night.

The back door Friday night.

The snow continued most of the next day.  The girls kept themselves busy.

Here is B. beading.  J. also helped. These were sets that belonged to the B. Family daughters who have since grown up and have homes of their own.

The girls relaxed and watched TV....

in this interesting rocker.

We did finally go outside and play in the snow. Clearing the sidewalks, after the snow stopped, later that afternoon, was a priority as well as clearing the snow off the cars.

D. made fun patterns on the snow blown off a car.  The wind made little overhangs of the snow and D. made patterns in it.

This shows how deep the snow was on the girls.

I didn't have snow boots or other snow clothes for the girls but I did make sure they had their coats, hats and mittens. We made do with plastic bags on their feet over their shoes.

Writing Group Nativity

Every year at Christmas time my Mom's writing group does a Nativity featuring the students in her class. She narrates and the students follow along.

 

There is usually some competition to be Mary and this year it was settled by straws.