Resolution 2011

The end of the year brings new opportunities for goal-setting and evaluation. In addition to recommitting to covenants and life-choices, I have a temporal resolution for 2011.

I now publicly announce that my goal is to be more healthy and lose weight. To track my weight-loss progress, I am adding a little graph to my blog (on the right-hand side) that shows how much I've lost, starting today! The zero point will be my current weight, with [hopefully] negative values indicating weight loss as time progresses (only the most recent ten entries will be visible).

Here is the graph (it will show more detail as time progresses and I add more data):

Get your own graph at skinnyr

Here's what I looked like on Sunday (26 Dec 2010).


Accountability. It's a dangerous thing. If I fail—and I don't plan to—it will be in plain sight as the curve goes above the baseline.

So, what are your resolutions?

Update: 01 Apr 2011
Three months in and 30 lb down! (I splurged a bit mid-march around spring break... I should have heeded the advice: "Beware the ides of March!")

Here's me on 02 Apr:

More Siler Science: Pressure

While on a break from school, the children asked me if they could do some more science experiments (see previous science post here). Using Bathtub Science (link) by Levine and Johnstone as a guide, we did three experiments to demonstrate how pressure affects water and air in different ways:

1. Cartesian Diver (Wikipedia)
   
2. Air Pressure Sprayer
3. Water Balloon Cannon
   

Enjoy!

Part 1: Cartesian Diver


Part 2: Air Pressure Sprayer


Part 3: Water Balloon Cannon

2010 Siler Family Christmas Card

Merry Christmas!

I'm sure you've been curious to see how we used the pictures from our Christmas photo shoot (click here) in our Christmas card. Well, wait no more!


We've placed our year-end family summary (a.k.a Christmas letter), along with our photo, on our family website (click here).

Holiday Clothes

Here are our children in some new holiday clothes:

Let it snow: the wish of Utah expats living in Texas
Wearing clothes decorated by Grandma Siler
(Please note the little one hiding on the right)


New Holiday jackets/fleece they chose themselves!

Christmas Photo Shoot

We had been putting off taking family photos for our do-it-yourself Christmas picture until the newest little one came. It turns out that we're too afraid to take him outside still, so we ended up doing it piecemeal anyway. Regardless, we think the pictures turned out wonderfully! (In fact, Walmart didn't want to let us print them because they questioned whether we had permission from the copyright holder. It took some convincing for them to finally hand the pictures over--we had to fill out some form, and I had my children vouch for me, too! All that trouble for an image I threw together in PowerPoint!)

Here are our favorites of the nearly-200 we took today (stay tuned for the official card collage):

The Coveted Squeeze!


Leaning in


A lot of love


Lean On Me


What is the youngest saying here?


Best Friends


Sidewalk Shot


Not Fence-sitters


Did you notice the boots?


Unto us a child is born...

Siler Science

I asked the the children if they wanted a special treat when they came home from school. They came to the kitchen where a makeshift science lab was waiting. Their treat: Science!

Together we played with dancing colors in milk and the science of fire!



Wanting to share our fun with you, we recorded the action. Take a look and see if you want to try your own experiments:

Part 1: Dancing Milk Colors

Part 2: Candle Extinguishing

Part 3: Candle Vacuum

New Arrival

Here is our newest little boy!