Science Fair!

Elena's school had an art and science fair and she begged to make a volcano for a project! So I googled some instructions and we got to it. We started with an empty bottle and secured it with some tape.

 

Then it said to use newspaper for the structure but we happened to have some extra bubble wrap so we formed it and taped it around the bottle.

 Then we made some paper mache out of 1c flour, 2 tbs salt and 1.5c water - tore newspaper strips and started putting on the bubble wrap. (Note: Elena is wearing a gymnastics outfit not a swimsuit! Lol - more to come on the kids and their gymnastics fun!)

 She did not like how the mache felt! Ha ha!

 Now it just needed to dry overnight! She was really proud of the progress!

 The next day I let her paint it - she chose brown, green, black and a little red...

She was so excited to take it to school the day of the fair!

 That night we joined her for a chili feed and the fair.

 Getting all set up to explode!

 She wanted to add some of Dominic's toy dinosaurs to the bottom - the kids loved this!  

 She loved showing everybody how it worked! We just put a couple tablespoons of baking soda (and glitter - lol) into the opening - and then poured about 1/2c vinegar (with red food coloring in it) in and waited...  

 All the kids loved it and she did it over and over a few times. :)

 She was so proud and we were so proud of her for doing such a great job!!  

 Little bro was sure proud of big sis too! :)

One more close up of this action shot! Love it! :)

 

Kindergarten!!

Elena is officially a kindergartener!!! She was beyond ready and excited for this day - and nearly two weeks later she is still just as excited as she was on day 1! Yay - so happy that she is enjoying it so much!!

She rides the bus to school and Dominic (when he wakes up in time) loves watching her drive off in the "cool bus"! Hard to tell who was more excited on the first day!!

 I couldn't just send her on her way and be done with it on the first day of school - I packed Dom up and we met her at the school and made sure she was good to go! ;)

 Dominic did not want to leave!

 The best part of the day was Elena jumping off the bus and running to us to give us big bear hugs!! Then she chattered on and on about how much she loves school, her teacher and all her new friends!

This is going to be a great school year!!!

Back to School.

 As we were getting Dominic's 2 year checkup, I realized that I didn't get Elena a physical yet for school - whoopsie! Thank goodness for the best family Doctor ever who let me sneak Elena in for her checkup while we were there!  Dom was a healthy happy camper!

 Little did we know Elena's visit would require 3 shots and some bloodwork! Yikes! Elena is terrified of shots...it took me and 2 nurses to hold her down while screaming to give them to her! Never mind the blood work after - thank goodness the phlebotomist could see the drama in her eyes and just went straight in for the kill (thank you kind lady for not drawing that out longer than necessary!!) what an ordeal! Dom was there for moral support but was very happy he was not getting poked like his sister was!

After an eventful morning I sprung for some pre-lunch ice cream - I think she more than deserved it!!

 That seemed to make everything all better!

Soon after it was time for meet the teacher night at her new school - she was beyond pumped and kept asking me if all these kids had to have the same shots she did! ;)

Here is just a fraction of the excitement she had on this night!!

 We celebrated her last night before kindergarten with her request - Mexican food and a kids margarita!! :)

 Cheers to the beginning of a new era for Miss Elena!!