The Journal

With three kids, I hoped that perhaps one or two would inherit my love for writing. My oldest? Not. At. All. He'd rather have his fingernails removed than sit down to write anything.

You think I'm kidding?

I'm not.

My middle child will write...but only when it is required. He doesn't rush it or whine about it like my oldest, but he doesn't love it either. With N, it is almost a given that his writing will be very fact-based. Almost like reporting. If he has to do something creative, it will involve sports. Even if there is no logical reason why it should involve sports, he will manage to work it in. For example, his polar bear journal writing...well, the polar bear decided to try out for the New York Yankees. Apparently, it was quite good and set all kinds of home run records.

With my youngest, though, I may have met my match. She loves to write. LOVES IT.

At bed time, she leaves me little notes outside her door with sweet comments or casual observations about her day. Or sometimes very pointed feedback about how I wronged her during the day. Ahem. She always signs her notes and then draws a little arrow with instructions that I should leave her a note in return. Which I do. Except when I forget...and then I get feedback on that as well!

I love reading her journals and writing assignments that come home from school. She has such a different style than either of my boys, and I always learn little things about her from her writing.

While it is probably not critical that I know she would name her horse Sunny (if I would please, please, please buy her one...which is not going to happen!) or that she'd want to play freeze tag with her friends if she was a penguin, it is such a treat to be able to read her words.

Visit The Long Road to China for Favorite Photo Friday.

Meal Assembly

One of our family goals for 2012 is to get more involved in the community, donating our time and energy to causes that are important to us. G and I both enjoyed the Brush Up Nebraska event last summer so Mike and I have been looking for similar projects to tackle with the kids.

While Brush Up Nebraska was a service event sponsored through my office, our next project was sponsored by Mike's. We're blessed to both work for companies that are committed to giving back to the community and encourage their employees to do so.

For two hours, we helped package bagged meals that will go to an orphanages in Haiti and local food banks. Each bag contained six meal of rice, soy, dehydrated veggies and vitamins. The boys were in charge of sealing and stacking the bags.

I filled each bag with rice, and K was the runner who took the filled bags over to be measured.

We didn't get any extra adults assigned to our 13 person team just because there were three kids, which meant they had to pull their own weight.

Which they did.

With smiles.

K even gave the team a team name "The Ponies." (Hey, you ask a 1st grade girl to name the team and you are going to end up with something like that!) Luckily, everyone played along and accepted her team name. Although I suspect that my boys at the end of the assembly line might not have heard her...if they had, they might not have willingly gone along with it.

K begged me to trade her jobs for the final ten bags so that she could help fill them with rice.

An estimated 600,000 meals were assembled at the event, which lasted for most of the day. We were only there for a two hour shift, but it felt good to do our part.

Winter Music Program

The 4th grade and the 1st grade were paired together for the Winter Music Program, which worked out great for me since I have both a 4th grader AND a 1st grader. As luck would have it, though, I had a business meeting in Pennsylvania the day before the big concert...which meant there was a risk that I'd miss the show. I scheduled the earliest return flight I could get on the day of the concert(5:20 AM...which meant I was leaving the hotel for the airport at 4 AM) and crossed my fingers that everything would go smoothly.

Luckily, it did. Only a dusting of snow overnight in Penn. so only a small delay to de-ice the plane. So thankful for our MILD winter this year!

K's class was up first. She loves to be on stage and really gets into all the songs and dances.

She also broke into a huge smile every time she saw that I had the camera pointed at her, which was quite often!

After the 1st graders finished their show, the 4th graders took the stage. They played their recorders.

G was also in charge of one of the drums for another song. I could tell he liked this part, and it was fun to watch.

Costume Design & Pink Bears

Costume design & pink bears may seem like an odd choice for a post title, but in the world of Daisy Scouts, they somehow make perfect sense together.

K and I went on a field trip with her Daisy Scout troop to a local museum that was featuring a new exhibit on cinematic couture (yes, I took that term from the exhibit...I certainly would not have come up with it myself!) The exhibit showcased costumes used in films representing five centuries of history. The costumes were worn by stars like Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet in films like Sherlock Holmes and my personal favorite, Sense and Sensibility. The girls received a guided tour, and the guide was simply wonderful at explaining the costumes and the fashion that was popular in each time period (and she was also quite pleasant as she repeated over and over reminders to them about not touching anything or standing on the platforms...much more patient than I would have been, I think!) We were not allowed to take any photos in the exhibit, but I wish I could have - it was so cute to see the large group of little girl gathered around these beautiful gowns, listening intently to the stories she was telling them.

After the tour, the girls had a little tea party of sorts where they received these pink bears. Of course, this meant we needed a group photo:

The Derby. Pinewood Derby, that is!

Some things you do because you love them.

And some things you do because the people you love love them.

Pinewood Derby? Well, it falls nicely in category #2 for me. Not my cup of tea. In fact, I sort of dread that time of year when the little box with the little block of wood comes home because I know the future. I've experienced it a few times now.

First, my basement will become a makeshift wood shop. Because we live in Nebraska. And Pinewood Derby is in the winter, and it is entirely too cold to work in the actual workshop area of the garage for extended periods of time.

And creating those cars? Definitely qualifies as an extended period of time.

So Mike and the boys will take over the basement and spend hours "creating" two little cars, which I will ooh-and-ahh over when they are finally done.

In part, I am oohing and ahhing over the fact that the cars are finally done...since I will have spent the better part of two months stepping around tools and asking, "when will these cars be done?" We're usually down to the wire, people. Last year, I didn't even get a photo of N with his completed car prior to the big race because they were literally attaching the wheels 30 seconds before the weigh-ins. (On the other hand, N got first place last year and advanced to districts...so perhaps last-minute-assembly works in our favor.)

Eventually, the big race will arrive. We will head to the race and secure a spot along the finish line. Everyone has a job. The boys must cheer for the cars and perform little skits with their dens to amuse the crowd between races.

Mike was in charge of the actual cars for the den, making sure they were all running in the right lane at the right time.

K was the official race recorder. She didn't even drop the video camera. I was very impressed. I won't tell you how long it took the two of us to figure out how to actually turn on the video camera. You would be less impressed.

My job? Well, it involved sitting in a chair and taking pictures. Only some of which turned out well.



Both boys brought home trophies this year, although neither advanced to districts. One got 2nd place, and one got third.

I also won because all of the tools are now back in the garage where they belong. Yippee!

I'm participating in Sunday Snapshot over at Ni Hao Y'all. Come join in the fun!

Ice Brain

This probably won't show up well...but since I promised my child I'd post it because, you know, it is the coolest thing ever...well, I have to post it.

After G's successful showing in the school science fair, we headed out for a family dinner at a local restaurant. Out of nowhere, N screeches in delight, "Look! I have a brain in my water!!!"

We all leaned in for a closer look, and sure enough, one of the ice cubes had a little ice brain attached to it.

Now, I personally would not be delighted to find an ice brain in my ice water. In fact, just the thought of it makes me a little sick to my stomach. But to a seven year old boy? Ice brain = coolest thing ever.

The Science Fair

For the last three weeks, our house has been Science Fair Central. I participated in several science fairs when I was in elementary school, but somehow I don't remember them being quite this much work.

Of course, this could be the difference between being the child and being the adult, I suppose.

First, there was the gathering of all the ingredients...the trips to the store to buy random things. Jars? Check. Alum? Check. Nylon thread? Um, check...only thanks to my mom who put in the extra effort to find that one.

G's experiment involved growing alum crystals in various solutions at various temperatures, trying to determine which solution and which temperature (hot vs cold) grew the biggest crystals.

We spent many nights on this project...setting up the experiment - six solutions at two temperatures each...well, if I had to do it over again, perhaps I would have encouraged him to limit the scope of this project a bit.

After the initial set up, G had to record everything in his journal each day.

Lots of measuring, photo taking and recording:

Selfishly, I couldn't wait to remove said experiment from my fridge...

...and pantry.

Then once the experiment was complete, there was the task of getting ready for the big Science Fair. G had to create a board explaining the steps in his experiment and showing his data. Our office was closed off to other little family members and pets for almost a week as he working on the display.

Then the big day arrived. Did I mention that the Science Fair was entirely optional for 4th graders? Yep. G was the only kid in his class to participate. There were certainly a few times during the three week process when I wondered exactly why we were voluntarily putting ourselves through this. Did we really need all this extra work in our already too-busy lives?

While I might have given a different answer on Day 9 of the Science Fair Experiment, the answer was clear on the last day. Yes, it was totally worth it. The Science Fair was held after school so many parents, teachers and classmates attended, making their way through the hallways to check out the projects. I left work early to attend and stood back for a while, just watching him confidently share his experiments with all the kids and adults who stopped at his display. It was clear that he had learned so much from the process and really enjoyed it.

The Diamond Mine was a success! But I am glad that we have 11 months until Science Fair 2013 begins.

I'm participating in Sunday Snapshot over at Ni Hao Y'all. Come join in the fun!

Robotics State Competition

We recently spent the day at the state lego robotics competition, which G's elementary school team advanced to after a good finish at their first competition.

I took a ton of photos of the day, but all of us were wearing either robotics club shirts or the school spirit wear, all of which proudly proclaims the kids' school name in big letters. I'm having computer troubles so I just don't have the patience to block out the school name from every photo...and I'm not OK with putting that out on the internet so you'll have to use your imagination with this one. Most of the photos look something like this one: lots of similarly dressed boys cheering for robot.

The team did really well in the robotics portion of the competition. They finished in the Top 10! Only the top two teams advanced to Nationals, though, and G was honestly a little disappoined that they didn't get a trophy. The next day, though, he got excited about it again when a friend sent us a link to a clip from a local news show on the state competition. Not only were G and his teammates shown in the clip, but they even included a part where you could watch them doing their team chant. It was pretty cool!

1st Half February

Continuing with my pledge to take a photo every day in 2012, I bring you the first half of February. Now I just realized that there are 366 days in 2012 so calling this my "365 in 2012" project was not very smart. However, I also know I missed a day this month...so technically 365 still works.

Feb 1 - K helping me decorate the house for Valentine's Day:

Feb 2 - Groundhog cookies:

Feb 3 - while K and Mike were busy at the Father-Daughter Dance, the boys and I made sundaes:

Feb 4 - SNOW!

Feb 5 - playing the Wii:

Feb 6 - sledding:

Feb 7 - I was on a business trip. Went out to dinner with a friend and snapped a picture of the fountain outside our restaurant:

Feb 8 - writing out their class valentines:

Feb 9 - the kids are in Texas:

Feb 10 - we definitely aren't in Omaha anymore. Sun? Short sleeves? Cactus?

Feb 11 - the kids had to load up their backpacks before we left each hotel. K made sure her horse stuffed animal was sticking out of hers:

Feb 12 - Roadtrip Heaven! Starbucks AND the green Shamrock Shakes are back!

Feb 13 - plugging away on the pinewood derby cars:

Feb 14 - N's showing off his ice cream at his 2nd grade Valentine's party:

Feb 15 - yeah, I got nothing.

Great-Grandpa

Mike's grandfather recently passed away. He was a truly wonderful man. From the very start, he welcomed me into the family, and I always looked forward to our little stop in Rochester whenever we made the trek to see Mike's family in Minnesota. He was especially sweet with the kids, his great-grandchildren. When he heard G was learning spanish, he bought him a Blues Clues book in Spanish. When N arrived with a little toy rocket he'd made out of paper and cardboard at a science center on the drive up to Minnesota, Grandpa took it from him and flew it all around, making the little boy laugh. The kids liked eating in the "fancy" restaurant on the top floor of his retirement home where he showed them off to his friends.

He will be truly missed, and I'm so thankful that the kids and I got to know him. For this week's Wednesday Walk, I dug out some old photos of our visits to see him: