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February 28, 2009



This picture is posted courtesy of Dan McIntosh from the http://secureliberty.blogspot.com/ blog. He is also a Heinlein fan. Thanks Dan!

February 17, 2009

The Solar System Song

I know that Mandy has already mentioned the Solar System Song, and for those of you that know me, space is 'The Place', so needless to say, I am very excited about it. That being said, I am making this post especially for my very talented sister who is an authority on music and has agreed to help me take this song one step further. (for those of you not interested in science CAUTION! EXTREME BOREDOM ENSUES)



The point of this rhyme and why its special is because it is the only one (that I know of) that uses all the current 11 planets, the true name of our sun, and the names of the outer bodies that encompass our solar system. Each verse has a little fun fact in it, and I think that it will be easy for most kids to pick up. For you adults drawing question marks, here's the skinny on the down low.



All the stars that we can see are named. Most with numbers but many with proper names, and its surprising how many people don't know that our sun is named Sol. With the reclassification of the definition of a planet, many people assume that Pluto is no longer a planet. But what happened to it? Is it lost or something? The answer is no, we now refer to it as a dwarf planet, with which bring others changes as well.



By the new standards there are 4 giant planets including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, 4 regular planet including Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars, and 5 dwarf planets including Ceres, Pluto and Eris. Although dwarf planets don't technically count to our official number, I believe that the knowledge is inertly beneficial as our future generations will be more focused on the challenge of frontier life on another world. The more we know now....



So anyways, to qualify as a planet, it has to be a body big enough to have its mass shape it into a sphere (or roughly sphere-like shape), it must orbit a star and not another body, and it must be big enough to dominate its orbit. And that last one is what knocks every one of the dwarf planets I've listed down to the bottom totem. It doesn't meant that there's not any good real estate out there though, many moons around Jupiter and Saturn are bigger than some of the smaller planets and they have atmospheres and weather, and are great potential harbors for life. But they orbit a larger body and not a star, so my song doesn't have anything to do with them. (stand by for future updates).



At the end of the song, I squeezed in the name of the belt of debris that is beyond the orbit of Neptune in which Pluto and Eris travel. Its named the Kuiper Belt and is similar to the asteroid belt but instead of rocks and metal, its composed of mostly different ices, and is much more massive. And far beyond that, is the vast Oort cloud that make up the outer barrier of debris and comets orbiting our star.



On a technical note, at the time of creation, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) had named two other Kuiper Belt objects as dwarf planets, being Haumea and Makemake. But they have yet to be observed well enough to determine their mass as qualifying for the requirement of shaping them into spheres (they're really small). Its possible that at least 40 more observed objects could be dwarf planets, with estimates of 200 to 2000 in and beyond the Kuiper Belt. As these facts change and become updated (as with all science) I will inevitably change and update the rhyme. I do apologize for the lack of more specific information but you can only rhyme so much into a children's song.



Anyways, since I'm probably boring the vast majority of people who started reading this novel not knowing how long winded I am (especially on my favorite topic), I will now post the rhyme and a 1 min 3 sec video of me singing it so the glorious Mrs. Hight can transcribe it for my musically illiterate @$$. Thank you all.



The Solar System Song


We start in the middle with Sol
Then Mercury is hot and cold
Venus is super duper hot
And Earth is the one we’ve got

Mars is cold and dry
And Ceres in the asteroids is just a little guy
Jupiter the giant is king
And Saturn has the most fantastic rings

Uranus rolls on its side
And Neptune trades places sometimes
With Pluto who was the last
But now, by Eris, it has been passed

The planets go round the stars
And I am very proud
To know every planet that’s been counted so far
In the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud

Feel free to laugh.

February 9, 2009

Cupcakes are from Mars

Today marks the beginning of year numero 28 for my husband. Happy Birthday Mike!

You are an amazing husband and father. You rock as an uncle, and I think I'm safe in speaking for Chris and Melissa to say a better brother couldn't be found. I know your parents are so proud of you.

Thank you for endeavoring to make me laugh everyday.



We started the celebration this weekend at Mike's parent's house.




Karyn made these completely rockin' "Martian" cupcakes. Lime-Margarita Cupcakes, as a matter of fact. There was even Tequila in the icing!










Mike's always been a Martian at heart; now we know he can resemble one too!

After a game of Malarky, we had a delicious lasagna dinner. My favorite part of lasagna dinners at Chris and Pam's is that Pam makes a separate personal-size lasagna for us to take home! Thanks Pam!

After dinner, Chris and Karyn, Mike and I all went to a IA Chops game (hockey is probably my favorite sport to watch, even though my understanding of it falls short). I'm happy to report, Chops kicked @ss. There was only one fight though, and our guy went down first. Boo!

Once the game was over we headed back to Chris and Karyn's. Mike's parents kept Max overnight so we could celebrate as long as we wanted to w/o having to be up before dawn. I was initiated in the game of Magic, much to Mike's delight. Guess who was the first out? No, not me silly! That's right, birthday boy himself was eliminated by yours truly. I also happened to win the game. I'm thinking this was not entirely on my own merit, but more than beginners luck. I don't think I have to name names on that one ;o)
Karyn made Mike a birthday banner:




Shots of tequila before starting the game.
From the reactions, I think it may have been a little rough!





The next morning Chris spoiled us all. Migas! Talk about starting the day off right :~D


What we ate...............................and what we were listening to!




After breakfast we went to grab the baby. After hanging out with Chris and Pam again, we headed down to supper with Matt, Jill, and their boys. Children, chili, cake, and brownies. A delicious time was had by all. Mike was even able to introduce Sheldon to the solar system rhyme that we wrote (more on that when copyright issues are figured out).


Other random goodness includes this new style being sported by Max. It seems the static from his blankets and hoods and everything else has affected how his hair lays. Yesterday the result was a mohawk. We may just have to try duplicating this again soon. Cute, no?



Last pic of the night, Max and Daddy.

Yea, We pretty much celebrated all weekend long. I hope you enjoyed your annual extravaganza sweetie! I know I did! Love you!

February 5, 2009

5 in 52





So this post is a day late, sorry 'bout that. Mr. Hanson had a business dinner last night and I figured we could wait. This is what it would have looked like last night.









I don't care how poor a man is; if he has family, he's rich. ~Dan Wilcox and Thad Mumford, "Identity Crisis," M*A*S*H
Max enjoys his baths just like mommy. Warm and with a good book (sans vino for the babe).
Guess what? I forgot some info on the last post, besides what I already pointed out I forgot. I mean, something I forgot
completely until posting this. YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN. Max has another two new teeth! A third tooth on the bottom and his second on top! I'm sure he appreciates the additional grinding material.

Quick Update

So, sorry for the absence. Max had an ear infection last Thursday and got super demanding. Can't blame him. He had a nice high temp for a couple days. But, the antibiotics kicked in and Sunday we had a fever free day. By Tuesday he was acting almost like himself. And this morning all was back to normal....I hope. Just in time for his nine month well baby.
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Oh, did you want to know how that went? Well why didn't you ask?
Kidding aside, here are your stats:

29 inches 21lbs 8oz
I can't remember the head and chest circumference, just that his chest is now bigger than his head. (anyone from Doc's, leave a comment if you remember!)

This is in the 75th percentile for both height and weight. Doc pronouced, "he couldn't be healthier". YEA!