27 December 2007
Solar Sisters
This is from almost four weeks ago. As their fall activity, Katherine's GEMS (girls in engineering, math, and science) group participates in the Lego League tournament. This was a totally new world to me, but was actually kind of fun to watch. Prior to the competition, each team builds and programs a Lego Mindstorms robot to complete "missions." At the tournament they are scored on how many they can complete in 2 1/2 minutes. While they're doing this, an emcee gives the play-by-play and adrenaline pumping music blasts in the background. This year's Lego tournament theme was alternative energy, so their missions were things like pushing a hydro dam and wind turbines into place, etc. Katherine's team, the Solar Sisters, got an award for best programming, but didn't make it on to the state tournament.
21 December 2007
Am I the Bad-Mother-of-the-Year or Evil Genius?
As a testimony to my lack of organization, here is William at his Spanish holiday program.
Notice he is the only one wearing homemade reindeer antlers--not just homemade, but hastily fashioned from a grocery bag, a plastic straw (to keep the antlers from flopping over), and staples...and handed to him seconds before the program started. Deep down I knew that my little craft-meister would appreciate my effort. But I really didn't think he'd be the only one (out of 15) with a homemade hat and I felt a little self-conscious. So when we were walking home I asked if the antlers were o.k. He said, "I love them! Is it from Martha Stewart?" Evil Genius it is.
He did, by the way, assemble the necessary materials on his own and started working on this craft. However, jumping in a huge pile of leaves proved to be a more tempting pursuit and he never got back to finishing his project.
Notice he is the only one wearing homemade reindeer antlers--not just homemade, but hastily fashioned from a grocery bag, a plastic straw (to keep the antlers from flopping over), and staples...and handed to him seconds before the program started. Deep down I knew that my little craft-meister would appreciate my effort. But I really didn't think he'd be the only one (out of 15) with a homemade hat and I felt a little self-conscious. So when we were walking home I asked if the antlers were o.k. He said, "I love them! Is it from Martha Stewart?" Evil Genius it is.
He did, by the way, assemble the necessary materials on his own and started working on this craft. However, jumping in a huge pile of leaves proved to be a more tempting pursuit and he never got back to finishing his project.
19 December 2007
The Waaaaves
Meet the Waves volleyball team (or at least two-thirds of them). The team cheer: stomp, stomp, clap, "The Waaaaaves" (while moving hand in wave motion). They had a pretty good season--won more games than lost I think. Came in 4th place out of 16 teams in the city championship. "Power," little number 42 there, lost the groove on her serve early on in the season and only managed to get it back for the last game. Painful to watch, but better late than never.
14 December 2007
Blessings
There are many people who had a much worse day than mine yesterday, which included my car getting nicked by someone going into the school parking lot and our TV dying. However I feel lucky that just thinking about my wonderful husband and children can make me feel incredibly fortunate.
12 December 2007
This is a total rip
I saw this on a gift-idea website and thought, "That's cool. I could make that." It looks like about a total of 35-ish or so stitches around and made out of a chunky yarn. So I went to the company's website to see if they divulged any info about the dimensions. Of course that was a negative. But get this, it sells for 108 dollars! I think it's at max $30 worth of yarn and would take like an hour to knit. I'll make one for you for $60! The real topper is that they "custom make" it for you in 2-3 weeks. That means that none of that $108 is even being invested in inventory. I think someone's got quite the racket. Guess there's a sucker born every minute.
Addendum: It's a neck-warmer!
11 December 2007
Cool
If you're a Twin Citian as I am, you might be interested to know that Google Map's Street View for our fair cities has launched. Maybe they've even snapped a photo of your mother-in-law gardening in her front lawn!
07 December 2007
7-11
Happy Birthday, little man!
06 December 2007
That was fast
After applying for the kids' (non-expedited) passports three weeks ago, Katherine's arrived yesterday and William's today. Guess that State Department log jam is over. Or else some other law of the universe where when you don't need your passport fast, it comes quickly. And you'll notice, Tom and Ildi, that the wheels are in motion...
Oh, and Happy St. Nicholas Day!
Oh, and Happy St. Nicholas Day!
