Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee

Madison was one of the five sixth graders who were selected for the Knights of Columbus Spelling Bee at the beginning of February.  Madison made it to the fourth round and got out on the word boomerang.

Since then she has earned the right to represent the school in the Scripps spelling bee.  You are allowed to send one student from the school.  They had all interested students take a written test and the top five students then had a spelling bee to determine the winner.  Madison will compete in the Iowa finals against 14 other students on Saturday March 2nd.  The finals of the Scripps bee are in D.C. and are televised.  This is a pretty serious spelling bee and the word list is a big challenge.  I can't even pronounce some of the words.  There are 1150 words that are broken down by country of origin.  She has been working on them, but has only had a few weeks to learn them.  I will keep you posted on the outcome.

Snow, Snow and More Snow

Just before Christmas we got hit by a snow storm.  With the snow there was wind and that brought drifting.  I watched as Greg and the kids went out to clear snow.  I really wished that I had the camera ready when Greg sank up to his chest in a snow drift at the bottom of the back stairs.  Oh well maybe next time.

This picture doesn't do justice to the amount of snow piled on this table.

There was plenty of snow to clear and the snow blower decided to stop working while we were clearing it.  They kids thankfully are really good helpers.  However the windchill was well below zero and we had strep and pneumonia so we couldn't stay out long.

We have had several other big snow and ice storms since this one.  Just this week we got 14+ inches of snow.  We have not gotten the snow blower working since it quit during that first storm so we have had to work together to shovel all the snow.  At least it is a good workout.

Christmas 2012

Here are some pictures of the kids helping put the tree up and from Christmas eve and Christmas morning.

Andrew received some Geo Trax airplanes.  Jonathan received an AT-AT walker.  Last year he asked Santa for one and got a AT-ST instead, to make sure he got what he wanted he informed Santa he was including a picture so he wouldn't get the wrong thing again.  Madison received hexbug warrior bugs and Siftio cubes which is a new gaming system.  They all got a new book to enjoy as well.  There were many other gifts as well these were just the main ones.  They really enjoyed what Santa brought them as well as what they got each other.  It is always fun to take them shopping for each other and listen to them as they are very thoughtful as they choose what to get.  It is the one time a year where they don't talk about how much they dislike each other.

Lego League

Madison participated in the First Lego League again this year.  Greg coaches the team for our school.  This year his dad helped him since he wasn't getting much help from the school.  The theme this year was Senior Solutions.  They had to research a problem that seniors face and find a solution.  They also use the Lego Mindstorm robotics to solve different missions. They went to competition with only one working mission this year.  The robot was able to go out and pick up the right colored medicine bottle and bring it back to base without knocking the others out of their area.  When they got to competition they were basically the only team who had that mission working.

 This is during the project presentation.

 Here (if you click for a larger view) can see the final standings for the day.  Even with only one working mission they were in the middle of the pack for points.

 Madison really enjoys working with the robotics and figuring things out.

Andrew's Birthday

On November 28th Andrew turned seven.  He is really into fire fighters and wanted a fire fighter cake.  Thankfully Greg is really good at decorating the cakes for me.  The kids always want something that I have no clue where to start to make it look good and Greg always comes through for me.

Andrew is also a big ISU Cyclones fan.  If you notice Jonathan has on a Uof I Hawkeye shirt so there is some competition when it comes to which is best.  Andrew got an imaginext space police station with a police robot.  He also received a space villain for the robot to catch.

Festival of Trees

Every year the scout troop decorates a tree for the local festival of trees.  The boys make things to hang on the tree.  This year they made paper scouts and a blue and gold paper chain.  We then went to the city center to put up the tree and decorate it.

Basketball Camp

In October and November the high school boys basketball coach holds a Saturday basketball camp.  This year Andrew was able to participate for the first time.  He also added Tuesday evenings in for the 3rd and 4th graders so that meant that Jonathan got to go twice a week this year.  The coach works on building the fundamentals of basketball with the kids.  Both boys really enjoy going to camp.

Halloween

This past year for Halloween the kids each picked out their own costumes.  I had found Jonathan's at a consignment shop in Iowa City and grabbed it when I had the chance.  Then Greg helped Madison and Andrew find theirs at a Goodwill when they were in Ames.

We had a princess from Narnia, Indiana Jones and a BMX racer.  They really enjoy getting to dress up and go trick or treating.