Heads Together for Pumpkin Lab

Yesterday Mom and I joined Benny at his school for their annual fourth grade-wide Pumpkin Lab.  We didn't know for sure what a Pumpkin Lab was, we only knew it involved math and a request for lots of volunteers, and that it was a "tradition," and that it generated a lot of excitement.

The kids divided into groups of three.  Benny and his closest pals, Houston and Bennett, immediately grabbed each other and began jumping up and down, yelling with delight that they got to be together.

Then each group was given a pumpkin and supplies, along with a lengthy worksheet, and sent outside.

 They spread out the sheet and put their pumpkin on it.  Then they got to work.  They were asked to do a lot of estimating--how many centimeters is the circumfrence of your pumpkin?  They were asked to use a string to wrap around the pumpkin, then estimate the length.  They had to guess the weight.  They had to guess if their pumpkin would sink or float.  They needed to guess how many seeds would be inside, and how many ridges their pumpkin would have.

So for the next two hours, these three boys worked---

With their heads---

Together.

And I mean together.  They were so focused!

And not just heads, but hands, too.  For the record?  They guessed 217 seeds would be inside their pumpkin.  But they ended up with 472!  And in case you were wondering, yes, the pumpkin FLOATS. And yes, of COURSE they had to hurl it into the water bucket and create a massive splash and get themselves soaked.  It's all part of scientific research, after all.

They guessed eight pounds for their pumpkin, and it was 10.8.  Good guess!

The teacher gathered all the seeds, stating she planned to take them home and roast them and bring them back so everyone could sample pumpkin seeds. 

A good time was had by all, and there were a lot of parents there!  Also, it was "hat day" at school, so nearly everyone had on some kind of hat or another.  All in all, a great afternoon.  Love to see those kids so interested in their projects.   Thank heavens for dedicated teachers who know how to bring a little magic and fun to something as ordinary as math.

And thank heavens for eager fourth graders!

Jack O Lantern

As Marty has said, "It's just not Halloween without a jack o lantern."  So tonight he made a special trip to the store on the way home from work to get a pumpkin carving kit.  Benny was waiting.  He had already drawn the face on the pumpkin we picked out at the farm last week.

Marty also picked up two small flashlights for the kids and Benny put his to immediate use, examining the inside of the pumpkin.

Then it was time to start chopping and scooping.

But first, further examining with the new nifty flashlight.  Inspector Benny on the job!

Marty was very patient and very efficient. (I wasn't feeling great and was no help at all.)

 In no time at all we had a nice pumpkin carved out.  And Benny did the eyes and nose by himself!

An eye piece.......

And the end result?

Oohhhhh..........scary.

Good job pumpkin carvers!

I love October!

Yahoo!

Today I took the boys to Yahoo Farms, a place which has become traditional for us to visit each fall.  The boys are out of school for a few days for Fall Break, so it was good timing. 

They have a lovely butterfly garden out front, full of butterflies.

And of course they have tons of beautiful, ridiculously perfect fall produce:

We posed for pictures before entering the corn maze:

The boys thought this was hilarious........

Then we met Sugar.  Is Sugar the cutest thing ever?

He wanted to be petted.  His partner pony, Cinammon, was in the barn that day.  You have to love a pair of horses named Sugar and Cinammon.

Then it was into the maze.  We like this maze because they ask you questions and if you get the right answer you are pointed in the right direction.

Afterwards we were given prize spider rings for our troubles.

Then came the REAL highlight; the bounce house.  The boys got some much needed exercise and let out a lot of energy in that thing.  Gotta love the bounce house!

Candy Bugs

We made another recipe from the Halloween cookbook today.  Candy bugs!  We made these last year as well.  We got our stuff ready.......

and worked intently, as you can see.

The early stage.

The finished product!

Yummy!

Maze and Fog

Today we took the boys to a corn maze.  It was a pretty day, but kind of hot.  The maze was HUGE.

The boys went in, they came out, they went in again, they came out again. And again and again.  They had a good time and Benny took the Flip Video for some fun running-through-the-corn movies.  Then he LOST the Flip cam, asked someone to help him find it, and they found it.  Thank goodness.

There was a little petting zoo there.....

But after the maze, we were ready to come home.

Benny brought home a Fog Machine today and wow, was he excited to show it off.  He plugged it in and showed us how it worked.  Then we "haunted" the porch, the back of the truck, and our ghostie.

See the fog around the ghost?

Here's a video clip he asked me to take.

Gotta love the fog machine!

Football Game

Today Marty and I went to the Georgia Tech football game.  He went as a photographer to cover the game. I went as a spectator.

They played Middle Tennessee.

They have some seriously devoted fans, those GT folks!

It was fun to see Marty taking pics......

And to watch the game.

I enjoyed the band and the funny yellow jacket mascot!

See how they spelled out "tech?"

I also really enjoyed taking a few pictures of the stadium and such.

There's a football in the air in the photo below. See it?

Ga Tech won the game (not that I was invested either way, but it made the crowd happy) and it was a nice day to be outside.   And Marty got some great photos.  Now it's back to real life!