In the Books

FRIDAY FINAL:  You know your son's math exam probably didn't go as well as it could have when he emerges from the school saying he drew heavily from lessons learned in this book (above) during his test.

"Ruh roh!" as Scooby Do would say. 

So, it didn't go as well as we might have planned and practiced for. Or hoped for. 

Oh well. It's over now!

I am looking (mostly) forward to getting the kids' results back, so we can learn more about the test, and learn more about things we need to be working on. 

FEELING SWEEPY:  This afternoon, the kids got caught up on their gambling hobby.  Just kidding - kind of. ... Our local Albertsons grocery store has a game going whereby you get tickets for a Monopoly-themed game every time you shop there. 

As the kids were tearing open the tickets today, in hopes of winning fabulous prizes, CJ asked where the word "sweepstakes" came from. 

To the Internet! ...

According to the Merriam_Webster dictionary online, the origin of SWEEPSTAKES is Middle English.  A swepestake is someone who wins all the stakes in a game. The word was a hybrid of swepen, which is to sweep, and stake. MW reports its first known use was 1774.

We all want to win a Tesla really, really badly! Unfortunately, the only 'prize' we scored today was a ticket for two more free tickets. Whoop-di-do.

GEOLOGICALLY SPEAKING: The kids are inching ever closer to being done with their research report about a local geological feature.  

In recent days, we have learned the Puget Sound area was carved out by the Vashon Glacier between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago.  This short YouTube video, "Vashon Glaciation Animation," which shows the process.

YAMMERING: We're still plugging away on our "exotic" produce experiment. A couple of days ago I bought a sweet potato and a yam, and I knew at the time I was going to forget which was which. Fortunately, Annabelle was able to find a checklist online for similarly troubled people.

We had sweet potato oven fries tonight. They are not the kids' new favorite thing.