Blauggie

Birthday lady!

Without our permission, this sweet little lady turned 7 on Friday.

Like any school-day birthday, it was a whirlwind of trying to pack some fun into an already-packed day (amidst an already-packed weekend). 

Daddy joined us at lunch (Italian dunkers - yum!)

Then, we picked everyone up from school at 4:00, and, thanks to the power of reserved seating and online tickets, we were able to make it to a 4:20 showing of The Ugly Dolls Movie. 

We followed that up with some apps and games and Dave & Buster's

Then home for presents, including....a new bike!

It was too rainy to ride it that night, but we made it out for a family bike ride the next afternoon.

Destination Imagination

This year, Sebastian tried out for and was accepted to a Destination Imagination team at his school. His team chose to do an engineering challenge, which entailed building a balsa wood structure that could hold as much weight as possible, writing and performing a skit, creating a set and technical effects, and more. They participated in the regional competition on March 2nd:

And his team (Brainstorm Troopers) got 2nd place!

The next stop was the state competition, which they then had 3 weeks to prepare for. They didn't place this time (which is A-OK with me, because if they had, the team would've had 2 months to raise $5500 to go to Kansas City for the competition), but took 6th place.

Participating in the state competition required them to add a lot to their presentation, which was tough for them (turns out 11-year-olds aren't very good with time management!), and the whole thing didn't go as smoothly as at regionals. The kids were all bummed not to have placed, but Sebastian is looking forward to joining again next year - in MIDDLE SCHOOL (eek!).

 

Eliza's personal narrative

Eliza's 3rd grade teacher (who was also Sebastian's 3rd grade teacher) gives her students the assignment of writing a personal narrative each year. She gave us Eliza's back at her conferences a few weeks ago:

Her teacher's comments were, "Great details! I could tell exactly how you were feeling!"

Click here to revisit Sebastian's personal narrative from 3rd grade.

Polar vortex survival guide

Among snow days, too-cold-for-school days, and regular days off, we have missed A LOT of school over the last three weeks. What have we been doing? Thrilling things! Such as:

Volunteering for Mama (to make up for all of the time I'm not spending at work!)

Eliza finishing her scrapbook

Baking (using what ingredients we happened to have on hand)

Finally having time to do the art kits they got for Christmas

Playing chess with Bruds

...and giving up on chess with Bruds

And lots and lots of Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch

 

 

January!

Here is some of the fun we've been having in January:

Trying out new games (this one is called Klask - super fun!):

Volunteering (making sandwiches for homeless people - Sebastian and Lainey are writing the date on the bags):

Eliza and Derek and loading the sandwiches up:

Checking out the new Sky Zone near us:

Speaking at the school's PTA meeting (Sebastian and his Destination Imagination team petitioned the PTA to fund a test structure that they need to build for their competition). Do they look a little nervous? They were (although they really rocked the presentation):

Next week is Sebastian's first 5th grade orchestra concert! Stay tuned (not literally, because it will probably sound very, very awful)!

Holiday fun!

We took lots of pictures of all the fun we had over the holidays! Here is a summary -

We took a tour of the Vikings stadium on 12/23 (my birthday) followed by dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory:

Christmas morning (this is Lainey receiving a watch, which she had been wanting).

I just love this picture because you can see how proud Lainey is of the gift she picked out for her sister.

Not sure what these two are opening...

Skiing for the first time (they liked it! They actually liked it!). The kids did a 1-hour lesson, after which we met up with them and spent some time on the bunny hill perfecting their snowplow. Eliza was a natural and got it figured out quickly. She left the pack and went up and down the bunny hill over and over. The other two caught on after a short amount of time and we all moved on to a "green" hill (with an actual chair lift) when Grampy and Auntie Parker met up with us.

Last run of the day.

Mama and Daddy got to ski/snowboard, too!

More skiing fun

Lainey heading up to the bunny hill. She only tipped over on this ramp thing twice...they only shut it down once.

Making slime at Grandma S's.

Annual bowling outing with the Schauts.

Strike!

Making princess cakes on New Years Day (she did it all by herself!). This was a kit she got from Grampy and Grandma Sue. She made the cake as soon as we got home on the 31st, and decorated it the next morning (which is why she's still in her jammies).

 

This kid...

...is ELEVEN YEARS OLD today!

He loves video games (understatement), coding, messing with his sisters, Imagine Dragons, Magic the Gathering, the shows Nailed It and AFV, Minecraft, writing stories, board games, and Jim Gaffigan (which is why it is very inappropriate that we "put candles in a pie" instead of cake tonight).

This is his last year of elementary school, but his first year of orchestra (he plays the viola) and being on a Destination Imagination team. And while all that is very exciting...I sometimes miss this cute, sweet (like, really sweet) little guy. Let's take a little walk down memory lane:

 

Random fun stuff!

Halloween (2 zombies = low motivation on our part)

Buddies wearing coordinating shirts!

And lastly....earrings!!

And a hyper-vigilant 8-year-old's ear-cleaning schedule!!