It's Freezing!

There's definitely something goofy with our weather. It's snraining (TM) out and for some reason I'm thinking, "Ugh, I thought we were done with that." I live in Buffalo! We're supposed to have snow in February!

I don't care what the calendar says, we're starting spring next month around here. Before we do, I have one last wintertime science play project.

To finish up our little segment on melting and freezing, we made some ice cubes.


And because no science project is complete without food dye, we made colored ice.



We made ice from hot water and cold water. Not much difference, huh?

But when you see it with the dye, there was a huge difference:



The ice cube on the left was made with cold water; the right hot water.




All of them made a mess when melting.

After we made our ice cubes, we did one last experiment: an ice cube race!



We put two ice cubes on a dry cloth and some ice cubes in a bowl of cool water. We set the timer to see how long the ice would take to melt and which ice cubes melted first.

Answer? The ice cubes in water melted in six minutes, while the dry ice cubes made it for more than 20 minutes. Then we ate them. In the name of science.

Indoor Hopscotch

How long can winter possibly be?? I'm ready to run around outside and so is Maddie. So we're filling in the days with this indoor hopscotch game.

Because we're in an apartment, we opted for something that couldn't possibly damage our floors-- construction paper and scotch tape.




Maddie wrote in the numbers with real sidewalk chalk.




And then up and down the hallway we go! I'm a little out of practice for that one footed turn at the end-- phew! Time to train for the summer.

You've Got Mail

Mail call!


In my family, Valentine's Day breakfast was always a little thrill. We would get up, get dressed and come downstairs to a special treat.

This year, I wanted to capture some of that magic for Maddie. I started by making her a mail bag. We actually each have one for the back of our chairs.


(Surprise, surprise, made out of felt.) As we get valentines they go right into the mailbox.




And speaking of Valentines, here they are! Maddie worked very hard on these "works of heart."

Sometimes I get a crafty project and get frustrated if Maddie wants to do it her own way. Rather than Pinterest and find some craft project, I went the easy route. I gave Maddie a bunch of white construction paper hearts and let her go to town.



Some she colored.


Some she painted.




But she really put her whole heart into it.

Then we glued each one onto a background of pink or red hearts.




This is my favorite-- personally addressed to "MOM".




Well, maybe this one, too, which I was told was a picture of a black cat, purple cat, yellow cat and red cat (please note the green eyes).

Paper Princesses

When we last left off, Maddie had told me that she needed some valentines in her room and implied that they must be princessy.

So I made her this:




A little Princess valentine garland. I may have made it a little too big because it really does stretch across one whole wall.



Each princess is just a card stock paper doll with a felt dress. They're strung together with thread and felt hearts in between. If anyone needs a pattern just leave me a comment and I'll be happy to share.

Speaking of princesses, Maddie's aunt sent us these awesome headbands yesterday:



How cute is that!

Maddie made me take a picture of us with each one:





I'm not really sure why she looks so unhappy in this one -- it was her idea!

So there you have it, a princessy Valentine's day!