The Little Science Fair Project Who Could...

Things got a little crazy around here because Gavin and Savana had Science Fair Projects due. They worked hard, Gavin did a project on rust and Savana did a project on storing pop corn. They both came out very well, good job guys!
Avery watched them put their projects together and looked a little left out, so I asked her if she wanted to do a little project too. We brainstormed different ideas, and she decided to do a project a friend of mine suggested. It was entitled "Which Cereal Gets Soggy The Fastest?" It was simple, something Avery, a 2nd grader could do on her own. I showed her how to follow the scientific method and she went with it. She got the whole thing done in a few hours on a Saturday morning. I got her a science board and printed pictures up of her project. She asked if she could take it to school to show her teacher and I said yes thinking it would be a show and tell type of deal.
Well, it turns out that Avery's teacher entered her project into the Science Fair at school and Avery won 1st place, qualifying her to enter into a regional Science Fair called Southern Arizona Regional Science Engineering Fair (SARSEF). This surprised me, and I thought maybe there weren't many 2nd grade projects entered so she sort of automatically did well. We started getting notes home asking to document our research and to write a science journal to include with her project for this competition. At this point I started to get nervous. Our research consisted of reading the side of the cereal box and using their recommendation for how much milk to use. Avery picked cereal she likes to eat. Our project only took a few hours, so journaling it didn't take very long.
Well, I had Avery go ahead and "document" our cereal box reading and make a cute journal.

During spring break we were notified that Avery's project had won an award and that we had to attend the Award Ceremony to see what she won.


Avery was awarded 2nd place in the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair (http://www.sarsef.org/) for her science fair project titled “Which cereal gets soggy fastest?” She received the award Thursday Mar 11 at the Tucson Convention Center. There were about 2000 projects competing overall. There were about 300 awards given out! Way to go Avery! If Avery had been a little older, winning this would have qualified her for a trip to Washington D.C. for the National Discovery Science Fair.
So there you go, the little science fair project who could and did, and whatever will we come up with next year?

A funny thing..

Several years ago we went on vacation to Florida. We saw uncle Haydn and played on his beach. We visited Disney World, and basically had a great time. While we were there, Trent grew a beard/goatee/vandyke and until a few weeks ago, never shaved it off
One fine Sunday morning Trent decided to trim his beard/goatee/vandyke and had a little mishap which resulted in his having to shave it all off.

Here is a picture of Trent with his beard and a picture without!

I of course, knowing what a rare event this was knew it must be documented.

This is the kids reaction when they noticed! Here is the rare family picture of Trent without a beard.

The funny thing was Trent's brother also shave his beard off that day as he had been called to the Bishopric in his ward. Luckily, Trent got to grow his back and proceeded to do just that as fast as he could!

Wii Will Wii Will Party!

Gavin celebrated his birthday with his friends. They went bowling and then came back to the house for cake and Wii games. It was loud, crazy and loads of fun. What a great bunch of boys.

January 2010

On January 29th at 1:02PM Gavin Trent Bell turned 12 years old. Although his mother feels like she isn't old enough to have a 12 year old, it just went right ahead and happened anyway. Gavin, having you join our family 12 years ago was such a blessing for Dad and I. We love you and enjoy you so very much. Allright, enough with the mush!
Here is your 12 year old list!
1. You are the best big brother your little sibs could possibly wish for, funny, kind, patient, well... mostly patient!
2. You rocked your audition for Beauty and the Beast and scored the role of Gaston! Your drama teacher called and said "Mrs. Bell, Gavin blew us away with his audition!" Ya got chops!
3. You made the honor roll every quarter so far in 6th grade, and we forgive you for not letting us put the "I have an honor student at Desert Sky Middle School" bumper sticker on the van.
4. You have grown 6 inches and gone from size 10-12 to size 16-18 in 12 months. Way to go Too Tall.
5. You've developed a love for movie theater movies and take great pleasure in discussing (in great detail) all the ways the movie is different from the book.
6. This year you started having Friday game night at our house to hang out with your friends.
7. This year, you started ignoring your parents in public :) Dad and I find this quite funny.
8. You are famous in our house for the expression"oh no you diint".
9. Your favorite meal: anything and is there more?
10. You rock at playing the piano.
11. You missed the bus home for the first time this year and when you called me to come and get you I asked why you missed it, you said: Oh I was just chit chatting and lost track of time.
12. Bed time officiallychanged to 9:30PM. Yes, we know you stay up late to sneak in extra reading! You also know and have told every blonde joke ever invented, prompting your mother to dye her hair from blonde back to dark brown.

Gavin, this year has also had some challenges and you have dealt with them with maturity beyond your years. We are proud of you.