Toothless + apple = trouble

Wonder why Josie asked for her apple to be cut up? Poor kid! Another tooth fairy visit is likely this week!

An Affair to Remember

The 10th Annual A Chair Affair event was held last night at the Rochester International Event Center and it was a smashing success! 



This was my first year to be involved with this great charity and it was quite an experience. I served as a member of the auction committee and assisted with organizing the auction packages, tracking the items and package details (aka: Excel guru) and a full day of set-up prior to the event. While it was a lot of work (and caused a few headaches and sleepless nights along the way) it was worth it in the end after listening to the Rochester Boys and Girls Club youth of the year speak and witnessing the generosity of this city. The event brought in $225,000 - up over $20,000 from last year!



Jen and I all dressed up



The masks




A jealous Josie- she wanted to dress up so bad!

And a few more shots from the night



Sponsor table



Silent auction







Confirming a bid during the live auction







Crabby pants

Josie has gotten to be pretty good excuses. Sometimes innocent and cute, sometimes not so much. Naptime, in particular, seems to be met with every excuse under the sun.

I'm a big kid and won't nap at school
I only sleep in the hallway (like at Kari's house)- long story, don't ask
Its too bright out
I only sleep at night
I'll let you nap while I play (tempting Josie, tempting)
Figgy keeps me awake so I shouldn't try to sleep
I'll just rest my eyes but not close them


Weekend after weekend we fight this fight. And you know what? Sometimes we lose. This past weekend we gave in and let her skip nap in favor of an afternoon walk and some playtime at the park. Sounds harmless, right? Our walk to the park was filled with crying over being the leader, demands of letting her splash in the puddles, and complaints of tired feet and needing to be carried. And that was all before we even got there. Our time at the park was spent arguing over who could and couldn't push her on the swing, how many trips down the slide are considered reasonable, and why she needs to stop crying so the neighbors by the park don't call the cops on us. The return trip, shockingly, was much of the same. Carry me, hold my hand, don't step on cracks in the sidewalk, questions about why we didn't bring any hot chocolate, don't hold my hand, and more crying.

I started referring to her as crabby pants shortly after our adventure began. By the time we made it back home her crabbiness was overflowing and we were ready to kick her out of the house. Since the cops may have already been called due to noise complaints at the park, we decided it was best to let her in the house. As I was reaching my breaking point I mentioned to Josie that some animal mommas eat their babies. She was a little caught off guard and asked if I would ever do that. I quickly replied that I'd heat her up and have some crab stew since she was such a crabby pants. Almost on cue she fired back yet another excuse-"Mom, you can't eat me. You're allergic to crab."

Like I said, we lost this one from start to finish.

Surprise!

Fun with silly string

Dead batteries

Not only do I have a bunch of pictures to delete but I also have dead camera batteries to replace! Luckily it was the camera bandit who pointed out the need for new batteries this time. While we seem to have solved the camera mystery I would be a fool to think that we'll prevent it from happening again. Besides, who doesn't love extreme close ups of normal household items?

The camera bandit herself!



What a difference a week makes!

A week ago:

Polar Plunge, Social Ice, wind chills below zero



Warming fluid



Matt and Val- looks like trouble!

This weekend:

Chalk art, bike rides and sunshine



Signs of spring

 

B-B-B-B-R-R-R!

2012 Polar Plunge

Team BRRR(R)(R)
*(R) = honorary team member

Raised over $1600 for the Special Olympics of Minnesota

A big thank you to the team, especially Adam and Dixon for filling in at the last minute, and all of the friends and family who supported us by pledging and attending the event.



Heather, Tim (R), Ted, Adam, and Dixon. Not pictured- Matt (R), with us in spirit

Here's the team pre-plunge

Honorary plunger Tim- more on the finger later

Riding to the plunge- so many smiling faces, including the plungers!

No idea what we're in for yet.....





Our faithful followers

Its go time!

 

Such form, such grace, such a stupid idea!

 "We dedicate our plunge to the athletes and volunteers of the Special Olympics, Aunt Shirley, and the immersion blender that took down a member of our team."

The jump was followed by a mad dash to get out of the freezing water and into the hot lukewarm tub. 

Post plunge comments

-More on the missing plungers-

Honorary R #1: Matt, who plunged with us last year and was on board for this year, lost his Aunt Shirley earlier this week and was spending the weekend with family. Don't worry- we'll make sure he gets a chance to jump into a freezing cold body of water soon. He conveniently has a pool in his backyard......

Honorary R #2: Tim, who also plunged with us last year and was committed to plunging this year, had an "immersion blender accident" on Friday night and was not allowed to plunge- doctor's orders! He has since decided to retire from plunging as he took the accident as a sign from the plunge Gods. I think its a sign from the cooking Gods that he should stick with store bought hummus instead of trying to make it, but either way he's taking a place in the spectator stands from now on.  

A soap-splosion

No, not an explosion, but a soapsplosion!

First we checked if it floats- yep!

Then we cut it into quarters and put 1/4 in the microwave

Two minutes on high and we had a soapsplosion!

 Then we got to check it out. It felt warm, and soft, and flaky. And smelled really "soapy".

Next was a trip to the tub to play with her foamy soap. And guess what? It still floats!



How does it work?

Ivory soap is one of the few brands of bar soap that floats in water. But when you break the bar of soap into several pieces, there are no large pockets of air inside. If it floats in water and has no pockets of air, it must mean that the soap itself is less dense than water. Ivory soap floats because it has air pumped into it during the manufacturing process.

The air-filled soap was actually discovered by accident in 1890 by an employee at Procter and Gamble. While mixing up a batch of soap, the employee forgot to turn off his mixing machine before taking his lunch break. This caused so much air to be whipped into the soap that the bars floated in water. The response by the public was so favorable that Procter and Gamble continued to whip air into the soap and capitalized on the mistake by marketing their new creation as "The Soap that Floats!"

Why does the soap expand in the microwave?

This is actually very similar to what happens when popcorn pops or when you try to microwave a marshmallow. Those air bubbles in the soap (or the popcorn kernels or the marshmallow) contain water. Water is also caught up in the matrix of the soap itself. The expanding effect is caused when the water is heated by the microwave. The water vaporizes, forming bubbles, and the heat causes trapped air to expand. Likewise, the heat causes the soap itself to soften and become pliable.

This effect is actually a demonstration of Charles' Law. Charles' Law states that as the temperature of a gas increases, so does its volume. When the soap is heated, the molecules of air in the soap move quickly, causing them to move far away from each other. This causes the soap to puff up and expand to an enormous size. Other brands of soap without whipped air tend to heat up and melt in the microwave.