Legos - Top 2

My. Alltime. Top 2. Favorites.

Airplane Rescue

Giant Escape

Legos - Giant Escape

My birthday is this Friday!

My grandparents and another grandma have come to visit!

I wanted to get all my assignments done so that I could spend the weekend without worrying about overdue assignments.

I got to show my grandparents how I make my Legos move!

I liked making the giant.  

It was fun! Not too difficult. Just normal.

I noticed that the base needed more weight to hold the giant sometimes.  

The arm was like a big crane!

I like cranes (the trucks... and the birds too.)

Sometimes I would make the giant go up twice and the crane would go backwards! oops!

I played with the program a little.

After a while I dangled the giant over the side of the table. 

We definitely needed more weight on the base.

(I also played with the sounds the giant made. I liked making him sleep and all kinds of other funny sounds!)

Legos - Sailboat Storm

I liked making the boat!

It was so cool how it rocked back and forth!

I didn't like the sound though. 

It wasn't fun and it was a little scary. 

So, I played with some other sounds for the boat and it turned out pretty funny!

Legos - Airplane Rescue

I liked making the airplane and its program!

I love how the propeller spins!!

Because Mom had a lot of work to help with Myanna, 

Debany was there to help out some with my project.

BUT, I'm getting really good at following the directions and putting the pieces together!

#34 Week of April 20-24

This week we called 'ketchup' week

because we wanted to catch up on some overdue assignments.

Porter worked on his Robotics assignments.

 Myanna worked on her second stop-animation movie.

We couldn't find the iPad when we recorded it, 

so we had to buy the computer program and we used it.

It was so crazy because the screen had to face the scene 

and I had to be careful to not get my hand in the way of the picture. 

Next year, I want to get a special camera for stop-animation that Hue has.

Debany helped out a lot with Porter. 

I learned to have lots of patience and working with people who don't want to do what you want to.

I learned to let them do what they wanted because it was his project.

It was really hard to back off and let him do his thing.

But I was glad to be there when he needed me

and to help out mom by being a teacher's aid!

When Debany wasn't helping with projects, 

she read the books in her "How to Train Your Dragon" series. 

I'm on the last book! I'm having a hard time finishing it because I don't want it to end.

We went out for a walk and we live close to the orchards.

When we walked through the field, the trees were buzzing!

Bees were out and about pollinating the trees!

Then on Saturday (because it's the only day the store is open), we went and bought our beekeeping equipment! It was also the same day that bee packages came in.

There were bees everywhere!

Some landed on our head and shoulders. It was a little scary!

But no one was stung and Daddy got to hold a drone on his finger.

We will paint it and get it all set up soon.

Legos - Goal Keeper

This is my Goal Keeper!

I made him!

My sister helped me keep track of my kicks - which ones made goals and others that missed.

Legos - goal kicker

'Goal Kicker' was fun!

I like how it kicked!

I programmed the legos to move.

The computer runs the program and sends it through the wire to the motor.

That is electrical energy.

When the motor turns and moves the leg and kicks the ball, 

that is called mechanical energy.

Then I guessed how far the kicker would kick the ball. 

It wasn't very far at first.

I found that a bigger ball did better.

 I even made a bull's eye! 

woohoo!!!

Legos - Cheering Fans

I made the next WeDo project!

It was called 'cheering fans'!

 It was fun to put together!

I made the program, too. I changed the program just a little to make it use the sensor when the ball went in front of it.

I even drew clothes for the fans and cut out a hole for the sensor.

Fun fun fun!

Digital Art - Working with Clay

My assignment on clay was a lot of fun!

I had to make something out of clay.

I got a few books and tools to help with ideas.

So, my first project was mermaids.

 My brother, sister, and mom made some, too.

Digital Art - Stop Animation!

This week I started working on stop animation!

I watched all of the tutorials, some Gumby shows, and a lot of Tangled clips to pick which scene I wanted to do.

We found a bunch of figurines that we get at Christmas time from the Disney store.

I decided to do the Hide and Seek scene from Tangled.

I made the scene

and then set up the camera so it wouldn't move once we started filming.

Then we added sound by playing the background music from a dubbed scene and added my own voice for Rapunzel.

Here's my video!

P.E. - Swim Lessons

Today, I had another swim lesson!

I worked with Blake (actually it's a girl).

She helped me to relax in the water.

I DIDN'T like laying on my back at first. 

But every time she let go, I got nervous.

At the end, I picked up rings under the water.  

I dove down deep! That was so much fun!

Next time, I will try to be better at relaxing on my back and learning to float.

I hope we dive for rings again.

I wonder which swim instructor I will have next time.

Lego's - Flying Bird

Today, I put together the "Flying Bird"!

I made the program...

...but when I raised and lowered the bird's tail, the wings didn't flap!

We problem-solved and found out that the wings were put on wrong.

So, we took them off and put them on the back where they belonged.

It was hard to tell what side was the back when the head moved so much.

I learned to pick something on the front that DOESNT move.

THEN, when we tested the tail, ONE wing flapped but the other didn't.

We looked at the Cam Gears and found the axle was in the wrong spot.

So, we fixed it, too!

Taa daaa!

It worked.

I like my Lego Robotics class!

Legos - Roaring Lion

Today, I put together the "Roaring Lion"

 I think this program was so fun!

I love it when the lion would snore!

Heeeere's my lion!

"Rooooar!  Zzzzzzz..."

#32 Week of April 6-17

On April 4th, we headed to California.

We got a call about our Great-Grandma Wessel.

She was in the hospital.

From the 6th to the 10th, we had a family emergency in California.

 This was 3 generations (the fourth was taking the picture.)

 We saw what it meant to get old.

Porter loved to help push Great-grandpa where he needed to go.

Debany was glad to put her babysitting classes to use and help babysit her newest niece.

They let Great-grandma go home.

We came to visit them at the assisted living home.

Mom played her fiddle.  Our Great-grandparents love fiddling.

G-Grandpa played his harmonica and G-Grandma kept time.

G-Grandpa let Porter play the harmonica too!

And Debany sung the lyrics to the 8th of January - She learned it from Liberty Girls last year.

This is what they looked like at Mom and Dad's age.

The hardest part was saying good-bye.  

G-Grandma's lungs and area around her heart was filling with liquid.

They stopped it for now, but couldn't figure out where it was coming from.

We might not see her alive again.

And G-Grandma doesn't remember much because of her Dementia.

But WE went and WE remember for her.

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ALSO, while we were there in California, we had some awesome learning opportunities:

Porter learned to hold onto his glasses when he looks into a river...

Mom was doing research in Three Rivers, CA for her novel she's writing. 

Debany was taking notes for when she writes her own story/book.

Our favorite place to visit in Three Rivers is Reimer's Candies and Gifts.

They have the BEST candies and ice creams. 

While we were there, we got to watch them MAKE candies!

(And enjoy a free sample of the caramel insides.)

Our Great-uncle owns a worm farm!

THAT is something that we KNOW about!!

He gave us the grand tour and showed us the machine that he and his brother (our other Great-uncle) built to save their backs.  (Myanna and Porter were really fascinated by THAT!)

We could see the trails that the worms left on the top.

They eat from top to bottom to top. 

Here are 40 buckets of worms!

Our G-uncle sells the worm castings (poop) to help people's gardens do better.

He showed us how to find the worm 'eggs'.

AND, he showed us his hatchery for the baby worms.

He has A LOT of worm poop!