The Websters

Toucan

Latest drawing by Gwyneth that she brought home from her school art class.  Kind of a scary looking toucan, but a pretty good drawing!

Our Little Inventor

Wow!  Where do the days go?!  I started this post back on the 15th, and now I turn around and it is the 24nd!!!  Jeez!!!!

Every year the kids in K-6th grade at Gwyneth's school participate in the "Invention Convention."  Kindergarten is pretty low key, but starting in first grade they really start learning the process of inventing and everything that goes along with that.  This is ALL done by the kids, from the initial brainstorming for "bugs" (problems in the everyday world around you/things that bug you) all the way to creating a display board and presenting your invention to be judged at the Invention Convention.  Some of Gwyneth's "bugs" were "one side of my pencil is sharp and the other isn't", "my markers dry out", "my brother takes my toys", "when too much toothpaste comes out of the tube", and "when I come home from school and I can't find my cat to play with me."  The "bug" she chose to base her invention on was " when my cat scratches me it hurts."

From the initial brain storming the kids then chose their favorite "bug" and brainstormed with some of their classmates on possible solutions for their "bug".  Gwyneth's selected solutions were, 1) Put rubber on the cat's nails so when the cat scratches it doesn't hurt your skin, and 2) Put a laser on the cat's nails that beeps at the cat if its nail touches your skin.

Then next step was drawing blueprints of their favorite solutions.  See!  I told you this was involved and thorough!  I never did anything like this in 1st grade!  From her initial blueprints Gwyneth then had to research her favorite solution to see if it had been invented yet and from that write how her invention was new and different.  Well, after a search on Google for "laser cat nail" we came up with nothing like it, so we deduced that Gwyneth's invention must be an original.

Now on the real blueprint for her yet-to-be-name invention!

 

Once Gwyneth started working on the details of her invention she realized she'd have to modify it a little, so she decided to add "fur lined medal sleeves so the laser could bounce off my arm."  Man-she is thinking!!!

The "ZAPER ANTI-SCRATCHER" is invented!!!!!!

In Gwyneth's words, here are the details of her invention.

 

Now that she had an invention and a name, one of the last steps was creating a logo and a slogan to go along with the invention.

The majority of this invention work was done in the classroom.  A few homework assignments dealt with aspects of the inventing process, but truly, the MAJORITY of the work was completed by the kids.  It finally all came together and all the students from 1st - 5th grade displayed their inventions at the Invention Convention hosted by the school.  Various professionals, as well as a few teachers from the school, reviewed and judged all the inventions.  The inventions were broken up in to different categories, such as "Non-Working Models", "Games, "Jules Vern", etc.  Gwyneth's invention fell into the Non-Working Models category.

Here is our little inventor in front of her invention display at the convention, as well as some more photos of her display board she put together.

 

 

We thought she did a great job!  All the kids received Participation ribbons, and we thought that would be the end of it until next year.  (Gwyneth already has a "bug" on which to base an invention on for next year: something to help prevent the toothpaste bubbles from running down your hand when you are brushing your teeth!)  There was an Awards Ceremony after the convention was over.  Mac and I attended, mainly because the ceremony was at 2:30pm and I had to be there for a Daisy meeting 3:30pm, so I picked up Mac early from school and figured we'd head to the awards ceremony and I could take some photos of the kids for the school.

Well, let me tell you, was I surprised and so proud when Gwyneth's name was called as a 2nd place winner for her invention in her category (Non-Working Models) and her age group (1st/2nd grade)!!!!!  I think Gwyneth was almost as shocked!

 

Check out her face as she examines her ribbon! :-)  She told me later that she was surprised that she got second place because she thought she'd get third place!  Love that confidence!

Mac was so proud of her, too!

Here is Gwyneth with her 1st grade teach, Ms. Rose-the Queen of Inventing!  Ms. Rose is so amazing, and puts this whole Invention Convention together and is so patient with the kids.  I could NEVER do what she does to help pull all this creativity and critical thinking out of the kids.

 

And lastly, a photo of Gwyneth with one of her classmates, who also won a 2nd place ribbon for his invention (the Jet Pow, pronounced "Po"-a jet powered pillow that can put itself back on the couch, so you don't have to pick it up.  Genius! :-)) in another category, with the Head of the school.

 

Way to go Gwyneth!!!  We are so proud of you!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tonight as Gwyneth, Mac and I are sitting down at the dinner table...

MAC: Mommy.  Tomorrow I am going to have a great day for you.  I am going to bring the house down!

Nothing like a positive attitude to get you started out on the right foot!  Maybe I should think more like that some days.

Thanks, Mac, for the inspiration!

Special Olympics

Over the past week the Special Olympic World Winter Games have been taking place in the great state of Idaho.  It has been a huge honor for our state to host these games and I think it opened a lot of our eyes to the Special Olympics for the first time.  On Monday night Fred, the kids and I headed down to what was our mini Olympic Village.  The Olympic Torch was there, as various vendor booths, and TONS of international athletes from all over the world.  It was great to see the kids reactions.  They didn't care that these were "Special Olympians", they were "Olympians"!

The Closing Ceremonies to the games were this past Friday and we were fortunate enough to receive tickets from some good friends of ours.  The four of us attended the Closing Ceremonies held at the Idaho Center in Nampa.  The floor of the stadium was full of athletes, coaches, etc.  Right in the center of it all was the torch.  There were various speakers, musical acts, and at the very end the extinguishing of the flame.  While the whole ceremony went a little long, it was still an amazing experience to be there and witness it all.

 Here are some photos that I took over the past week so that we can remember our experiences with the Special Olympics!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Last night I was reading to the kids before bed.  We were reading a cute book called, "Seven Silly Eaters" by Mary Ann Hoberman.

It is all about seven kids who all are picky eaters and only like to eat one particular thing.  Long story short...at the end of the book they are trying to do something nice for their mom's birthday by fixing all their own food, but instead it all gets mixed together into what turns out to be a yummy birthday cake for their mom.

One of the last pages is the mom blowing out her birthday candles and making a birthday wish.  At that point Gwyneth made some comment about, "It doesn't mattering what you wish for because they never come true anyway."  I was puzzled and I asked her what she meant by that.  She then told me that she had been making the same birthday wish since she was four years old, and it had never some true. 

I asked her what her wish was, to which she promptly responded, "Mommy!  Everybody knows that if you tell your wish is won't come true."  I reminded her that according to what she had just told me, her wish wasn't coming true any way, so what was the harm in telling me what it was.  She thought about it for a moment and then said.

"Every since I was four I have been wishing that Tyson would come back."

INSTANT TEARS!!!!

Tyson and Gwyneth were always such good buddies.  Ever since she was a little baby she LOVED that kitty.  We lost poor Tyson in March 2006 when his kidney disease finally too much for him.  While Gwyneth loves her new boy, Oscar, obviously she will always have a special place in her heart for Tyson.

Happy 7th Birthday Gwyneth!

Friday was Gwyneth's 7th birthday.  I can't believe my "baby" is 7!?  We started off the morning opening presents, having breakfast, getting dressed in our new birthday outfit,  then piled into the car for a regular day of school, plus homemade cupcakes to share with her classmates.

The real fun was coming after school.  I had made reservations at the Melting Pot-a fondue restaurant downtown.  The kids had never been before and I thought they were old enough to handle it and think it was fun.

At 5:30pm we arrived at the Melting Pot.  Fred was out of town on business until later, so Lindsay joined us.

The kids absolutely LOVED the Melting Pot!  It was such a fun experience.  I knew that Mac wouldn't like the cheese, but I thought Gwyn might, but it was a little strong on the wine.  I'll take note for next time: easy on the wine, or...skip everything else and come in for just the chocolate!!!!  The serve was excellent too, which made the whole experience that much more enjoyable!  The manager even took Gwyneth and Mac for a special tour of the kitchen, by themselves!

Here are some fun photos from Gwyneth's birthday dinner.

 

 

Here are the kids back in the kitchen getting a special tour of where the "magic" happens.

 

 

Just kidding!!!!  Although that Love Martini that Lindsay ordered was tasty! :-)

The happy birthday girl!

For your viewing pleasure..."Mac doing Fondue".

All in all a great night!!!

On Saturday we had arranged a special day for Gwyneth with two of her good friends, Emma and Avery.

We  let the girls have some play time and then Fred and I took them out to see "Hotel for Dogs".  They all really enjoyed the movie, and proceeded to come home and pretend they were all dogs and play "Hotel for Dogs" until it was time to head to Red Robin for dinner.  All kids love that place and want to go there for their birthdays. 

 

  

She gets SO EMBARRASSED when they sing "Happy Birthday" to her!

While the wait staff did sing her happy birthday, we had a special cake waiting for her at home.

 

What a great cake!!! I ordered it from our local Albertsons.  Not only did it have a custom photo on it, Gwyneth's choice, but it also was an ice cream cake.  The bakery lady told me that they can put any ice cream that Albertsons sells in the store into a cake!  What a deal!  Only $23.99 for a 1/4 sheet cake!  It was really yummy with the whipped cream frosting!  Sorry Baskin-Robbins, I might have found my new favorite cake place.

Check out the cool colored candles that Auntie Bob sent Gwyneth?  I've never seen any like it before!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GWYNETH!!!!!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Mac:  I'm sorry to tell you this Mommy, but when I grow up I want to be a bad guy.

I asked him why he wanted to be a bad guy.  What I deduced was...the bad guys get the guns.

Oh boy!  He is all boy!

Melodius Sounds

Gwyneth has been learning to play the chimes at church.  She seems to really enjoy it.  This past Sunday was the Wesleyan Chimes' first performance at the 9am church service.  They played their chimes during communion, hence why in the following videos you see so many heads walking by. :-)  Enjoy!!!

They had a little more trouble with this version of "Jesus Loves Me", but it was still cute!

Fun Day in the Great Outdoors

Boise is such a great place to live if you love the great outdoors.  Right outside your door are tons of trails, mountains, rivers and other areas to explore.  On Saturday the kids, Fred, the dogs and I explored an area just down the road from us.  In Boise, one minute you can be in the center of town, and the next in the foothills exploring nature.  We headed to the Hulls Gulch area which is right at the end of 8th Street and on the back side of Camel's Back Park.

It was a little chilly, but not too bad. And for the most part the trails were dry.  We did run into just enough mud to make it interesting and make for some very dirty dogs!!!! 

Here's was our view looking towards the city from the trail.

Looking back towards the foothills...

Off we go!!!

 

We made it to the top of the trail.  Here's looking down towards Camel's Back Park.

Time to play!!!  One of the great parts about this walk was that we got to enjoy the walk in the hills, but then end up at the park half way through so the kids could enjoy time there too.

 

 

The dogs and Fred enjoying a little rest at the park.

 

OK!  Time to head back UP!!!!!!  This really was steeper than it looks in the pictures.  It was basically straight up!

Nigel got tired and decided to lie down.

Finally at the top!!!!  What a view!

All in all a great afternoon!  Can't wait to see where we explore next!