Classically Catholic

And boy oh boy, what a mess it was! Today we decorated cookies for the edible periodic table. Chemistry never tasted so good. Supermom, Kimberly, brought lunch again. Today's treat: navy beans loaded with garlic, onions, carrots and spices. Perfect therapy for all of the head colds going around. And of course, cookies baked with love (the most important *element* in every recipe) were for dessert. The kids picnicked outside while the counters were made ready for the afternoon project. The real mess was yet to come: A collage that expresses a single word- an emotion or idea. Themes ranged from Precious, Sweetness and Glamour, to Travel, Hard Core and Sangfroid . GOTTA LOVE  IT when the vocabulary words appear on art projects. Dear Son totally gets extra credit for that one!  The kids ripped into the  pictures with  mucho gusto . Thankfully dear friend, Candice, handled damage control by protecting the carpet from Mod Podge and shredded magazine debri...

Fridays are fabulous when friends come together to learn the chemistry behind baked cookies, and the tricks of designing abstract still life paintings. Throw in pizza for lunch and everyone's happy! While the high school students experimented with calorimetry  at Dr. Marsha's domestic lab across the way, the younger students joined me in the kitchen to prepare Periodic Table Cookies.   We discussed the role each ingredient played in making our display so yummy, using this Alton Brown-style   lesson to understand the chemistry of baking. The cookies were a big hit, though a few disappeared mysteriously. (Time ran out before we had a chance to decorate the sweet squares, but there is always next week. After completing  the Atom's Family  Worksheets and this Element Jeopardy Game , we will color code and label each element with royal icing). While the cookies were cooling and the kiddos were chillin, the teenagers returned home for lunch and ar...