S'm'oreos

     I saw a picture of these the other day on pinterest, but it didn't actually take me to a link for the recipe. I decided to make them on my own without a grill (I refuse to learn to operate a grill).  As I suspected they are really easy and really yummy!

     You need oreos (Like always I got double stuffed), marshmallows (we found flat ones), and chocolate bars.  I started by turning my oven to broil and lining a cookie sheet with foil to catch any mess. Then I un-twisted my oreos and placed the side without cream filling on the cookie sheet.

     Then add a marshmallow on top of each cookie.  The flat ones worked well even though I really wanted round ones since oreos are round.  I think if you took a big round one and cut it in half to make shorter round ones they would be perfect.

      Place these on the top rack of your oven for just a little bit. Seriously don't leave the kitchen unless you want burnt marshmallows.  We started placing the chocolate on the other side of the cookie while the marshmallows got toasty.

     Watch the marshmallows closely, so you get the perfect degree of toastiness for you; then pull them out.

     Immediately top with chocolate and cream side of cookie.  Allow to set a few moments for it all to melt together and cool just a bit. Then enjoy!

Lava Lamps

     Of all the activities we have done this has been one of the girls favorites!  We ended up playing with them for over 2 weeks!  Here is the link we used: http://slsmithphotography.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/06/lava-lamps-summer-fun.html

    All you need is plastic bottles, water, oil, food coloring, and alka seltzer (we ended up going through a few boxes).  Start by filling the bottle over half full with oil. Then add water leaving a little room at the top.

     Add 10 drops of food coloring.

    Break one alka seltzer tab into 4 pieces.  And add 1 of those pieces (too much will make the bottle cloudy). Instant lava lamp (without the light)!

      Once the bubbles die down a bit you can safely add another piece of alka seltzer.

     The science part: alka seltzer releases carbon dioxide (CO2) when mixed with water (which makes the bubbles).  The bubbles carry the water drop to the top of the oil where they burst releasing the CO2 into the air and allowing the water to fall back through the oil (since we know water and oil won't mix as water has a higher density)..

      Like I said earlier the girls loved these and played with them over and over for two weeks!  We just capped them between uses to keep them from spilling.

Another Use for Shaving Cream

    I try to do so sort of project each week the girls, and this week I chose shaving cream painting.  This past summer the girls were introduced to shaving cream when I attempted to get them to write in it. That ended with both girls and my kitchen covered in shaving cream. After that we only used it in the bathtub where they would mistakenly chant "sour cream, sour cream," when they wanted some.  They always get excited to do something with shaving cream!

     So we started with cheap shaving cream, a shallow pan (or whatever shallow dish you have around), acrylic paint, and thick paper (we used watercolor paper and construction paper).  You will also need a spoon, toothpicks, and a squeegee.Squirt shaving cream all over your dish an smooth a little (we used a spoon for that). The squirt whatever colors of acrylic paint you want on it. The girls chose several colors most of which we metallic or sparkly.

     We then used toothpicks to swirl it around a bit.

     Once you are happy with the swirling just place a piece of paper on top for a few seconds and lift straight up.  It will have to sit a couple more minutes for the paint to adhere to the paper now.

    During all this painting I kept Eli busy with a little sensory bin of big uncooked noodles and bright colored plastic animals. He mainly liked dropping them all over the floor.

     After the painting has sat a few minutes just take a squeegee and squeegee all the shaving cream off. The paint stays behind, and you have your picture!  First we tried the watercolor paper. Then we repeated with several colors of construction paper, and it worked too.

 

Texas A&M Press Remembers University's First Full-Time Female Professor, Author

Texas A&M University Press mourns the passing of Betty Unterberger, the first woman to join Texas A&M at the rank of full professor with tenure. Unterberger taught history for 36 years until her retirement in 2004.

She passed away May 15 in her College Station home, at the age of 89.

Unterberger, hired by the late General James Earl Rudder in 1968, was also the author of The United States, Revolutionary Russia, and the Rise of Czechoslovakia, published by Texas A&M University Press in 2000. Her classic study of the First World War and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russiaexamines Woodrow Wilson’s direction of U.S.policy toward Czechoslovakia, as it sought liberation in the early 20th Century.

Rudder asked Unterberger to help internationalize the history department and to build a graduate program. She became the first female in a full professorship at a formerly all-male college.

Unterberger taught Russian foreign policy and Communist China during the Cold War. In 1991, the Collegeof Liberal Arts appointed her to the Patricia and Bookman Peters Professorship in History, which allowed her to accept an exchange professorship at CharlesUniversity in Prague in 1992. While there, she became one of the first Western scholars after the breakup of the Soviet Union to gain access to important historical documents.

Her trip there gave her the idea for her book The United States and the Russian Civil War: The Betty Miller Unterberger Collection of Documents which she felt was her “capstone research contribution to the field of American foreign affairs.”

Following her retirement from Texas A&M, she received a personal letter of appreciation for her service from Leon Panetta, the former director of the CIA.

Underberger received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse Universityin 1943, a Master of Arts degree from HarvardUniversity in 1946 and a doctorate degree from Duke University in 1950. She began college on a forensics scholarship, but a citizenship course with Syracuse’s only female professor at the time incited her true passion.

A memorial service in her honor was held Sunday, May 20 at 2:00 in the All Faiths Chapel on campus.

Memorial donations may be made to the Texas A&M Foundation for the Betty Miller Unterberger Memorial Account, 401 George Bush Drive, College Station, Texas 77840. A Facebook page has also been set up for those who knew Unterberger to share their memories and photos.

New Bouldering Room Open!

New Bouldering Room NOW OPEN!

Celebrations, a Convention, and some Colored Toast

   Wow. I must be a bit sleep deprived as I can't remember much of what I did the past 2 weeks.   As always we have kept ourselves quit busy though! Last weekend was full of excitement as we attended a wedding, celebrated Mother's Day,  and attended a graduation.  The girls loved the wedding!  They really enjoyed the reception though. At first they were content to run around the dance floor with some of the other kids there, but after watched the bride and groom dance they thought they should do that too.  I feel sorry for the little boy they kept trying to teach to dance with them. His older brother sat down (and did not get up again after dancing started), but this little guy kept trying to play.  (For some reason blogger isn't letting me upload videos, so I added the youtube links instead.)

Video: Girls chasing little boys

Video: Girls trying to dance with little boys

Video: Chicken Dance

     On Sunday we went to lunch with Nathan's parents to celebrate Mother's Day. This was probably the most frustrating lunch I have ever had! We sat outside since there was no room inside; which was fine since it was nice out. Except when we had to wait for probably an hour or so to order and get our food. I don't know how long it really was, but it was long enough that my arms and nose were sun burned and we barely made it to graduation.  Graduation was uneventful. Nathan and I stayed in the lobby area where we could still see, but let Eli play a bit. The girls went and sat with Grandma.  I don't really know what they thought of it all, but Eli especially liked finding anything he thought he could destroy. He wanted to knock over an easel, tear down some paper hats, and empty a program basket.  Keeping him out of trouble made the ceremony seem like an eternity.

     This week we have done all our usual stuff as well as having a BBQ with some of Nathan's co-workers.  We were surprised to learn that some of the kids we see at story time belong to someone Nathan works with! Not only that, but they don't live far from us. Of course then when we went to story time this week they weren't there, but maybe next week.  Nathan left for St. Louis Wednesday evening. He was going to work during the day and attend the Gaming Convention in the evenings, so he could promote the board game he helped produce.  If he hasn't told you about it, it is called Biomechanic Dino Battles (BDB). If you want more info I would look it up on facebook or boardgamegeek or just ask Nathan, he is happy to talk about it.  We had been pretty busy earlier this week, and I wanted to make sure we did something fun, so Thursday morning I let the girls paint their toast. Not with real paint, but with colored milk and new paintbrushes.

I think he is trying to drink the cat water; kept him busy until he spilt it.

Finished!

     We also rode bikes and made it to the park!

I couldn't get them all to look at the same time!

"Letters to Alice" Launch Party

Authors Jane Clements Monday and Frances Brannen Vick

On Tuesday, May 8, Laura and Bob Wilson, Dub and Jane Roberts Wood, and Mel Crews and Thomas Adams hosted a launch party in Dallas for TAMU Press’s new book Letters to Alice: Birth of the Kleberg-King Ranch Dynasty written by Jane Monday and Fran Vick with a foreword by Thomas Kreneck.

In the summer of 1881, Robert Justus Kleberg rode across the hot, dusty South Texas brush country to the palatial home of Capt. Richard King to consult with the cattle baron about attending to his legal affairs. On that same journey, the young lawyer also first laid eyes on Alice King, “Princess of the Wild Horse Desert.” Neither of their lives would ever be the same.

Published for the first time in this book, the love letters written by Kleberg to Alice Gertrudis King provide a glimpse of the lives of two of the most influential people in Texas history. Letters to Alice: Birth of the Kleberg-King Ranch Dynasty represents the only existing collection of letters between any of the great Texas cattle barons and their wives. Although a great deal is already known about the ranch and its development, Monday and Vick present for the first time Robert Justus Kleberg’s personal perspective on his first meeting with Alice King, their early courtship, the difficulties obtaining her parents’ permission to marry, and the poignant time surrounding Captain King’s death.

Monday and Vick are the coauthors of the award-winning Petra’s Legacy: The South Texas Ranching Empire of Petra Vela and Mifflin Kenedy, published by Texas A&M University Press in 2007. Monday has served as chair of the Texas State University System Board of Regents and mayor of Huntsville, Texas, and is a distinguished alumna of the University of Texas at Austin. Vick, cofounder of the University of North Texas Press, has served as president of the Texas Institute of Letters and the Texas State Historical Association. She is also a Fellow of the Texas Folklore Society and president of the Philosophical Society of Texas.