AZ Science Center

A great standby outing.  We used to get memberships to this fun museum, before they were so expensive and our kids were so busy.  We managed to combine  a culture pass from the library with a buy one get on free offer.  We spent Labor Day watching 3 Brazilian exchange students experience the magic of hands-on science.  

There was a new lego exhibit.  Kenneth tried on the lego scuba jacket.

I love legos they are incredibly versatile!

Life size lego bricks, and Hazel and Ladson.

Megan and Hazel and some other random little girls.

Hazel in the lego trap...

Nate and Natalie.

Big Boys legos, still a hit!

Daddy Daughter lego racer buildings.

Abby's winning vehicle.

The Big Race!

The BIG racer!

Wheel Chair Races...

Hazel beat Cecy!

Allef and Ladson

The dancing Iron Shavings

Laying on a "Bed of Nails"

Natalie on the "Bed of Nails"

Learning about pulleys.

Syd and her braid and centripetal force.

Ladson rides the sky bike.

Ladson, Cecy, and Allef watching the Welling kids between the screen.

Hazel modeling the crocheted grocery bags.

Hammin' It Up!

Hazel is quite a clown these days.  She was exceedingly silly and loving all the attention for her birthday.  Here are the highlights.

Hazel doesn't like cake.  (but she does like cup cakes, and can't explain it)  So she first said she wanted Chocolate fondue instead.  She changed her mind about 20 times and in the end decided that she wanted root beer floats.  Not normal root beer floats but floats with different kinds of sodas.  Her  #1 choice was cherry 7-up.  I'll hand it to her, it was pretty good.  Putting candles in a float was quite a trick.  The first attempt was a big mess, and left the candles buried in foam.  The second attempt was a big mess but we got the candles lit.

The other sisters bought her little gifts and wrapped each item individually in lots of paper.  She was such a ham.

They even wrapped a potato for her and she reacted well!

I laughed more in the 30 minutes it took her to open her gifts, than I have all month!

Brigadeiro

Ladson brought us the ingredients to make this brazilian candy.  He was very patient while we tried to find a good time to make it.  Sometimes with everyone's schedules it is hard to find a time that everyone is home.

Brigadeiro is a party food.  So in honor of  Hazel's birthday we made it on Friday.  The 3 oldest kids were at Marching band, so we made it with out them.  We did save them some.

 I liked this picture because Ladson's smile seems to say "see I told you it was good!"

Megan turns 38!

It's my birthday!  I got up in the morning to find that my kids had made me cinnamon rolls and that they were up at 5:30AM baking them for me.  I am difficult to surprise.  I was more than surprised, I was shocked.   And majorly impressed.  The cinnamon rolls were delicious.   

I did have to apologize to Kenneth.  On Monday night as soon as family night was over, he was all intense about how I needed to go shopping with him for soccer equipment.  He was looking for clearance cleats for kids who weren't with us.  He wandered around muttering that he was looking for something...  At first I was feeling really sorry for him that he must be feeling very neglected, to need me to come the the store at night with him.  I was trying to be patient, but he was being so trying.  Finally after an hour of wasted time, I gave him a lecture about how Nate's homework wasn't finished and Hazel needed to be put to bed.  He finally finished his shopping and we came home.  He had been stalling to give the kids time to roll up the dough and put it in the fridge.  

I never saw any flour, or dirty mixing bowls.  No one even hinted.  I was so amazed!  It must be true Love.  (On a side note, I did find Truman asleep in the middle of the living room floor this afternoon.)

I don't usually get in many pictures and many of the pictures I am in are not what I think I look like.  Birthday candle light is always flattering!

 It is bad enough that I had pigtails, why did no one tell me that they were crooked?