It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Halloween

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA

NASA CATCH UP: This morning we had NASA TV on, catching up on the latest news. We saw a replay of the Soyuz launch of Oct. 23, which was carrying NASA astronaut Kevin Ford and cosmonauts Oleg Novitskiy and Evgeny Tarelkin to the ISS.
Following the launch coverage, we watched a video about the importance of being able to reproduce test results in science.  Good stuff.

We were also treated to a bio of pioneering astronomer Nancy Grace Roman. Born in Nashville in 1925, Roman's career has ranged from scientific research, to creating the first NASA astronomical program, to working with the teachers and students of today. She's studied the stars since her childhood, and was encouraged to study science by her father, a U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist. 

She is often called "Mother Hubble" thanks to her efforts to make the Hubble Space Telescope a reality.  You can see a short YouTube video of her talking about the Hubble here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2movHF4NzA&feature=colike

We also watched a live Q&A session from the Johnson Space Center with astronaut Clayton Anderson. He's a veteran of six space walks. He was asked by a student what is the most amazing thing he's ever seen in space. Of all things, his answer was the Palm Resorts, which are shaped like a big palm frond, in Dubai. That, and World Resorts were "absolutely breathtaking," per Clayton. He also noted that hurricanes are beautiful from space, but their beauty is, of course, tempered by the knowledge that they can be deadly.

From Anderson, we learned that NASA astronaut Sunni Williams ran the "Boston" Marathon while on the ISS in 2007. She started on a treadmill at the same time as the race, and finished in 4 hours and 24 minutes. Not only did she run 26.2 miles, she circled the Earth a couple times, to boot!  

TWO HALVES: Today in science class the kids learned about symmetry. They had fun with three worksheets, trying to find and create different shapes with patterns on the paper and a mirror - for instance, by holding a mirror at a certain angle perpendicular to an oval on the paper, they could create a heart. And by bisecting a capital B from top to bottom, they could produce an 8. And so on.

The last fun with mirrors exercise they had time for today was putting a shield around the center of their pencil, so they couldn't see their hand and its tip. Then, they had to use a mirror to see the tip, and they were charged with writing their name on a piece of paper. Sounds so easy, but boy was it hard!

CJ took his time and painstakingly wrote his name perfectly. Perfectly backward, that is!

DECK THE HALLS: Today we FINALLY got around to hanging up a few Halloween decorations. 

We've been meaning to do it for days/weeks. So glad we have that off the 'to do' list.

It was fun seeing old favorites, including many pumpkins and witches from the kids' preschool years. 

In less productive Halloween related news, we went to the Jo-Ann store on 150somethingth and Aurora today. Lordy, how I hate that place. Every time it's the same thing - can't find what I want/need, ridiculous long lines, and green aproned staffers moving in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n. In the car when we left the store, Annabelle innocently asked, "Do you think they lied when they applied for their jobs and said they could work fast when they can't?" LOL.

We spent a fair amount of time at the pattern book table and TOTALLY struck out. I just wanted a pattern for a boy's blazer. Apparently boys don't wear blazers any more. Because NOT ONE BOOK had a single one. Not Butterick. Not McCalls, Not New Look. Not Simplicity. NOT NO ONE. I told the kids we'd wasted enough time, I'd just make my own damn pattern, recalling that I probably had a couple blazers about CJ's size in the costume box at home, from when Rick and Ken were his age. I'd made those blazers without a pattern, as well. Happily, we did find an old one, so now I'll just go back to a different fabric store for fabric. We have CJ's costume idea dialed in, but Annabelle's still casting about. She better make up her mind quickly!

WOW! AMERICA!: We read one of many library books we need to get 'round to this morning. "Wow! America!" is a big, colorful book that is mostly eye candy. There are few words, but the story is told via vibrant illustrations by Robert Neubecker.  Afterward, we found an interview with the author-illustrator on the Reading Rockets Web site: http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/neubecker/