First, some pictures of our Christmas tree :D That's a Get Real Girl doll climbing up the branches. There are also various little Kelly dolls you can't see stuck in there. Yes, the tree was decorated mostly by the kids. Instead of the angel I usually put on top this year we have the one from the Target circular that Bridget cut out and made. I love it. The whole thing, dolls and all :D When they're grown and out of the house I'll unpack my antique ornaments and cry over my uncreative tree.

So the other day Bridget was digging into the cabinets and found an unopened science kit from her birthday (her 8th or 7th? I can't remember). We got it open and set to it. Unfortunately, it turned out to be rather disappointing. It was more parlor tricks than science. The coolest part was petri dishes and we all got excited about that. We followed the instructions for making gelatin to put in the bottom and then swabbed various things to see what would grow. Two days later the petri dishes are totally covered with huge drops of water and we can't see what (if anything) is going on inside. Plus, the gelatin seems to be returning to a liquid state. That can't be good.

So, thouroughly disappointed, we're going to order a pack of petri dishes and some agar (already mixed up so I don't screw it up) from Home Science Tools. Meanwhile, I went to Denim Jumper and asked for fun science activities. I got a ton! Some we had already done, some I knew but had forgotten and a bunch of totally new (to me) activities. Plus the titles of a few books to order from the library. I just have to get a few things and we're going to start some projects this weekend.

Owen keeps spouting out (really simple) addition equations for no apparent reason. Well, sometimes there's a reason, like this morning playing Hi Ho Cherry-O. "Two plus two equals four!". Sometimes he'll just randomly count things and then tell me how many it would be if he had X many more or whatever. He's also asking me to read to him more. And for some reason he keeps telling me he'll be 5 at his next birthday. I hope he understands that's quite a ways away ;-)

We went to a playground yesterday with some friends and then went for a bike ride around what we had been told was a short trail that just looped around. It turned out to be *not* short and while it did loop around, it did so with an unpaved road that we didn't think to take. We followed the paved road. Meanwhile Bridget had zipped ahead of us. With her excellent sense of direction, she took the unpaved road back to the playground. You can see this coming right? The rest of us followed the paved road, occasionally asking strangers if they had seen a girl on a bike. They all said no. Eventually it had been about 20 minutes since we'd last seen her, the other kids began to get scared she was lost and (worst of all) the sun began to set. We cut across a field, heading to the playground as quickly as possible and wondering who to call if we couldn't find her. Of course, she was there, happily playing and not knowing why I was upset. I wasn't angry at her, I was just scared. I explained to her that I have no problem with her going ahead of the group as long as she didn't stay away too long and came back to touch base. Then I realized that won't work. She might have an excellent sense of direction but she has pretty much NO sense of time and had no idea she had been away from us so long. She probably thought only a few minutes had passed. She's one of those kids who can sink into her own world and not realize when hours have passed. My friend suggested I get her one of those emergency cell phones so I can call her in that situation (when, not if, it happens again). I'm thinking either that or walkie talkies, I don't know which would be better. I *do* know that she has a strong need for adventure and I don't want to squelch that if I can. I want my kids to use their wings, I just want to find a safe way to do it.

And now for something completely different. I've gone sugar free. Again. Yeah, I've done this before. Twice. Both times I feel awesomely healthy and both times I eventually go back to my sugar binging ways. It's worth a shot though. At the very least, I'll have a few weeks/months of feeling really healthy right? I'm coming up with a list of yummy (to me) foods that don't involve sugar so I'll have something to treat myself with at the upcoming Christmas parties. So far my list includes things like double cream brie (with a side order of lactaid), macademia nuts, hot apple cider and date rolls. That, and the wonderfully delicious ham my aunt serves at Christmas Eve, and I should be ok :-)