Mad Scientists!

Ya ... that's what you can call Riley & me.
Mad scientists.

Yesterday was a day for experiments.

One, because we're homeschoolers & that's what we do ...
& two, complete necessity, folks.

We are suffering from a severe fruit fly attack!!
Erma-gerdness!
Where did alllll these fruit flies come from, all the sudden?
I'm guessing it's from this massive bowl of fruit {tomatoes & apples}?!

I did what any normal person would do to solve this pesky problem.
I got on Pinterest.
I knew if anyone knew how to kick these fruit flies in the teeth,
it would be all the stickin' geniuses on Pinterest.

Here's the little concoction I found:
I poured some apple cider vinegar {about 3/4 c} into a bowl & added about 1/2 c. of water.
After adding the last ingredient, 3 squirts of dish soap, I stirred it all together.
The trap was set.
I just hoped it would work.

So today, after hearing many complaints from my boys about how terrible horrific-smelling the vinegar was,
I decided that I would throw it out.
It had been 24+ hours & I saw not one single fruit fly in the bowl.
I was feeling quite disappointed,  but as I was preparing to pour it down the drain,
I saw a speck of black.
I grabbed up a spoon & stirred the vinegar & discovered there were gobs of fruit flies
at the bottom of the bowl!
It worked!!!
Success!
I quickly sat the bowl back in it's spot, willing to endure the nasty smell a bit longer.
My 'Vinegar Fly Trap' is doing it's job!

As for Riley's experiment, it was equally as exciting.
He mixed some yeast & hydrogen peroxide in a bottle & it blew up a balloon!
Then that same oxygen from the balloon, caused the flame of a candle {under a jar} to grow.
Pretty cool!

We got so excited about these experiments that we almost cheered when we saw that
we'd be doing another one today!
Thanks, Apologia!

Oh, & how could I forget this one?!
This was another experiment, of sorts.
I cooked beef bones to make homemade beef stock, for the 1st time.

James stopped at a vitamin store last week & the owner told him there were great health benefits,
especially for women, from doing just this.
She said to get beef bones from the butcher or the grocery store & boil them with root vegetables
to make a rich & healthy stock.
She said to drink it plain, or use it as the base for a vegetable soup.
I simmered it all day with carrots, onions, & celery, making about 1.25 gallons of tasty stock.

And last but not least ... I have to add a pic of the gorgeous sunflowers that James brought me yesterday.
I guess it's an experiment of sort too ... seeing as how I've never had live sunflowers before,
I'll need to see if I can keep these babies alive as looong as possible.
Aren't they just divine?!

In conclusion, I need to blog more about homeschooling.
We have so much funny doing it.
I also need to play catch up about sooo many things, blog-wise.
Time gets away from me too fast.
I resolve to do just that ... blog more about the goings on around here =)

Have a blessed weekend, all.