This past week, I enjoyed recovering from the Half Marathon I ran last Sunday.  I was just a little sore for a few days and I look forward to starting back to early morning runs again this week to stay in shape as much as possible.  


Last week was busy as always and we did a fun "R" craft as my 4 year old continues with her Preschool Alphabet Boxes.  I got this "R" craft idea HERE.


Below are pictures of the colorful craft:

What a day....it began when my alarm went off at 4:00 AM as I got out of bed to get geared up for my First Half Marathon!  I have been training since late December for the big race today.  I've run several 5K races in the past (3.1 miles), but I always wanted to run a half marathon (13.1 miles). 

The race began at 6:40 AM this morning and I achieved many personal goals: I ran the race in 2:13 without stopping, I crossed the finish line strong, and I did not have to use one of the port o potty bathrooms during the race!  :)

I had a lot of fun and what a great sense of accomplishment I felt when I crossed the finish line!  Here are some pictures that were taken by my husband as he and my family waited at the finish line for me:

42 years ago, not one, but two Smith boys were born!  Happy Birthday to my husband (on right) and his twin brother (on left)! Both of you bring much joy, happiness, and laughter to our family and friends just like this picture! 

This past weekend I took my son to his Pinewood Derby District Race since he placed first in his local Pack overall and qualified for the District Race.  My husband could not be with us for the races because he was coaching soccer games all morning for our 3 oldest.  My son missed a part of his game to check in at the derby race in time. 

My son's car in on the far left lane getting ready to race in one of the many heats. 

After 4 heats, his car was in the Top 15 and he ended up winning 2nd place against all other WEBELOS II scouts in the District!  He was very excited and happy that he did better than last year's District race!  It was a fun morning watching alot of fast cars!

Here I am with my youngest daughter and son.  Grandpa and Nana came to cheer him on which made the day special. 

I posted recently about the Milk Art I did with my cupcakes in my post HERE.  This art went along with the "Mm" activities I did to incorporate the Preschool Alphabet Boxes I have been doing with my 4 year old (and my 7 year old always likes to jump in on the fun too!)



Last week, we did another Mm activity that I got HERE.  This time my daughter made a Mountain with snow capped peaks, trees, cotton ball clouds, and pictures that started with Mm.  Here she is holding her mountain.

Then it was onto the letter "Nn"....I had a feeling, when I was in my college education courses dying TONS of pasta different colors, that I might happen to use the colorful pasta if God blessed me with children one day.  Well, I'm happy to say my project from so long ago came in handy as my daughter glued the various shaped Noodles onto her letter "Nn".  :)  And I thought I didn't have time to do such projects when I was single in college? :)  Now, I'm wondering if dying pasta would ever get done these days? :)   

For more "Nn" activities go HERE and HERE!

How did my children make this awesome art?


The answer may surprise you!  It is Color Changing Milk, a science experiment we did yesterday morning!  

This was a super easy and fun experiment with milk, food coloring, and liquid dish soap!  Since my 4 year old is doing "Mm" this week in her Alphabet Boxes, I thought this would be a fun activity to do with all my cupcakes!  I got this idea from the Sun Scholars program that I purchased, downloaded, and printed.  



We put milk into a shallow dish and put one drop of different colors of food coloring into the center:


Then each child touched their plate of milk with a clean cotton swab and watched what happened:



We then added a drop of liquid dish soap to the other end of the cotton swab and put it in the milk.  These are some of our results...Beautiful Milk Art!


The Sun Scholars Program then had information about how this worked with a note that stated that the Milk Changing activity was found at Steve Spangler Science.  My children were more into the colors than the actual science behind it, but it was such a fun, easy and fascinating activity!  Go ahead, give it a try!