Who Knew I Lived In the Bowling Ball Capitol of the World?!

Well, apparently I DO live in the bowling ball capitol of the world! We are home to Ebonite International which produces 1,000,000 bowling balls a year. Yep, a million!

Our homeschool group took a tour there this past Friday and it was SO MUCH FUN! Really one of the best field trips we've taken. Ebonite went above and beyond in their tour--they were well-organized, interesting and it was just the right length of time: not to short and not too long:)

(Mr. B holding a cup of the *plastic cement* that forms the core of a bowling ball)

We got to see the process of making a bowling ball from start to finish...and I must say it was incredibly interesting! I had no idea the amount of engineering that goes into creating one. It's quite a scientific process!

( our great tour guide, Brian)

For instance, did you know that a bowling ball must be designed off-balance? This way it will be in-balance when they drill the finger holes. Interesting, I know...:)

(wearing our attractive safety glasses)

It was so cool to watch them pour the outer shell (the colorful part) into the molds and then pop them out to cool. That stuff hardens in 40 seconds!

Here's The Princess holding some of it that hardened while pouring it from one cup into another.

We watched the balls work their way down the sanding line and get themselves all polished up.

The results are these oh-so-pretty balls! It takes 3 days to make a bowling ball from start to finish--who knew, right?

I have to say we were all impressed with Ebonite. They did a great tour and all of the employees were so friendly--and they seemed happy to be at work, which says a lot about a company. This will definitely go down as one of our favorite field trips!

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while. It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it. However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it. Plus it's a little bulky. When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it! It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make. I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course. They have these little wooden door hangers for .79. I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each. I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing. I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had). Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

my blessed life

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