Yeah, old chum, I know. The line is really “life is a cabaret.” Not in this house. In this house it’s a carousel. An “Olivia the Pig” carousel, to be exact. And all that spinning made me a little nauseous this weekend.

Valentines for 2 dozen kids (times 2) plus 2 science fair projects = 1 mom who completely forgot to pick up the 200-plus boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

Thank goodness we learned long ago to divide and conquer in our house, when it comes to science. Ray and Annabelle worked on her zoetrope project (another post on that later — it’s super cool, thanks in large part to Maya and her dad!) while Sophie and I took on the carousel.

Actually, Sophie and I had a little help. OK, a lot of help, beginning with some awesome recommendations on Facebook. But hardly ending there. I won’t tell you about that — I’ll let Sophie tell you. Here is the report she wrote, to go along with her carousel (above) and picture board presentation (below). And yes, okay, she had a little help with it, from me. But really, for the most part, these are Sophie’s words. We are both proud.

How does a carousel work?

First, I looked at pictures of carousels on the computer. I love them.

Raimie came over to my house and showed how the gears work. And you spin it and you can press the pedal and you can go to Disneyland and go on the carousel.

I drew a carousel. Here’s the picture: (We pasted the picture in.)

Then Mommy and I went on the double decker carousel. It’s fun. And it’s cute to do it. I like to do it a lot because I like to do it a lot. I went on the carousel six times. My favorite animal was the eagle.

The lady at the carousel wrote down some facts for us about the double decker carousel at Superstition Springs Mall. Here they are:

1. The carousel goes around 9 and a half times.

2. The carousel is modeled after a Victorian carousel.

3. The carousel is operated by a pedal.

Next, my whole family went to the Renaissance Festival and my sister and I tried to go on the carousel. Annabelle was too tall. I’m perfect. First I rode in the pink butterfly. The ladies made it work by pushing the wheel. They made it go forwards and backwards.

And we love to go to Disneyland and the Candy Cane Inn, we stay there for two days and come back on Sunday. And that’s the end.

Thank You Page

I want to thank Sarah, my best friend (“B”), because I can be her valentine.

I want to thank Mommy because I love her a lot and she’s cute and you’re always going on your computer. Mommy put the Olivias on the carousel after I decorate them.

And I want to thank Raimie because she showed me how the gears work. (Our friend Raimie has a lot of experience teaching fourth grade science; she masterminded the gears and built the parts of the carousel we later assembled. I owe her a cocktail!)

I want to thank Courtney, my friend. She helped me with the carousel by drawing the Olivias. She helped me build it.

I want to thank Daddy for bringing us to the carnival.

I want to thank my sister Annabelle. I love her and she’s cute and sometimes she’s sweet.

That’s the end!

It’s not the end — not quite. The projects are on display in the school gym all week. There’s a celebration Thursday night, and we’ll get the results then.