Monday Funday

MUGGY: Monday afternoon, we headed to King County Library System's Burien location for a Teen "Crafternoon" event. The kids were invited to customize mugs using oil-based Sharpie pens.

Here's Annabelle with her blank 'canvas.'

There were a half dozen or so kids there, and it sounded like they were having fun. 

CJ went for a Nirvana-inspired design. 

Afterward, I suggested to him that if there's a next time, he might want to try something other than yellow for the text, since it didn't show up very well. 

Annabelle free-styled her design.


After the ink cured for 24 hours, we baked the mugs in the oven (per instructions from the library) to help it set. (And good news for CJ, fortunately, the yellow got a bit darker after baking.)

SPACED OUT STORIES: We're helping out with a reading celebration on Thursday. We'll be serving up hundreds of pancakes while students and their families enjoy 'books for breakfast.'

We've decided to feature "Story Time From Space" as the entertainment. It's a really great series of videos where astronauts on the International Space Station read STEM-related picture books.

The kids and I previewed one of the videos, "Notable Notebooks: Scientists and Their Writings." Written by Jessica Fries-Gaither, the book was read by NASA astronaut Joseph Acaba. The story is about how important science notebooks can be, as they contain sketches, scientific observations, imagine experiments, record data, or just record random thoughts and observations. 

We were fans of the video. The production value is good. We liked the way the astronaut is shown in a split-screen with the pages of the book (many of them were even animated). 

You can find all of the stories recorded to date on the website http://storytimefromspace.com/

FUTURE FILE: A DIY project I want to attempt in the future popped up in my Facebook feed today. I think these globe pendant lights look so cool! We'll definitely be on the hunt for globes at thrift stores in the coming weeks.