Rube Goldberg Competition

We spent all Saturday morning with Brian's 5th grade class at a Rube Goldberg competition. If you aren't familiar with the concept of a Rube Goldberg machine, it is a complex device with numerous steps which performs a simple task. If you played the Mousetrap board game, you've assembled a Rube Goldberg-type machine.

My son's class has been working on this machine for over a month and all the hard work of designing, testing, re-designing, re-testing, writing a technical report, designing brochures, T-shirts, and posters culminated in the local competition where they competed against 5 other machines.

The purpose - create a machine to open the cover and the first page of a book. The machine must also be designed around a theme, complete with a backstory.

Our class decided on a Medieval theme and built it as a large Castle, complete with moat, dragon, princess and brave prince. The machine itself used ramps, dominos, levers, a pendulum and a mouse trap to open the book and turn the page.







The competition included a Junk Wars theme:


And Alice in Wonderland:

The remaining competitors: the Illini team, The Beach Team and The Jungle Team.

Here the kids are setting up right before their performance and judging:


The coolest part of the project - everyone in the class participated in the presentation. That's 24 kids to manage and herd!

Here's a quick clip of the machine in action - it goes fast, so pay attention.


The best part? The machine worked during the competition and our team won first place! Now they advance to the Regional competition in two weeks.

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5th Grade Choral Concert

The first of several "lasts" as we enter the second half of the school year and Brian's final months in elementary school. Tonight - the last choral concert - a look at the history of black inspired music, from spiritual, to jazz, Motown and Hip Hop.

See - they are moving their hands around (singing It Don't Mean a Thing if it Ain't Got that Swing).

Except for Brian. That boy - he didn't even try to perform.

Friends George, Drew and Matthew are all smiles. Yes, they all sang and moved their arms:


Oh well, I'll always remember this concert as the one where Brian just stood there...

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Into the Great Unknown

The question, "Oh, My, what have we gotten ourselves INTO?" crosses my mind quite frequently today. That, and "Are we really going to DO THIS?".

THIS:


It looks like we are going to become horse owners. Yikes. Writing that out scares me to death. But look how happy she is:


The lesson barn Erica has been with for the last 5 years is closing and as a result, they are selling all the lesson horses and slowly ceasing operations. We learned of the news two Fridays ago, and since then, Erica has been researching what it would take to buy one of the horses. Her first choice, Casey, was sold in one day. Then she started looking for horses on the internet (something I wasn't comfortable with at all). Finally, she said she wanted Caesar, a gentle Appaloosa from the lesson barn. Better yet, a boarding stall became open at the boarding farm one mile from the lesson barn, where her friend will be boarding another one of the lesson horses. We checked it out yesterday and put a deposit down on the spot.

So I guess it is inevitable. We don't know what we've gotten ourselves into, but I'm sure it will be a great adventure.

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Snow Day Two - Wednesday, Feb 2, 2011

Wednesday morning we woke to several inches of snow on top of granular snow on top of ice. And wind.

[Truthfully, we didn't receive as much snow as we expected - North of us, the snow fell heavily and South of us, freezing ice covered everything]

We started to shovel the driveway, down to the ice layer.

Yeah, I really don't mind shoveling snow as long as it's not too cold.

Later on, our neighbor, Bob plowed the cul-de-sac and all the driveways. What a great neighbor. Even better, he mounds all the snow by our driveway so the kids can use it for snow forts, sledding, snowball fights, etc.

The kids also like to slide off Buck and Jill's backyard deck, after covering it with snow.








They enjoyed the fun while they could because it was back to school on Thursday.

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Haircut

Brian received his second "professional" (ie, paid) haircut this weekend.



We have a similar trimmer at home, but the stylists have much better "finishing" tools (to get the sides and back shaved).

The overall experience took 5 minutes, and we liked the results:

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364 and 365/365 - Happy New Year!

Brian and I stayed up to welcome in the New Year. He was very excited (an understatement, really) and set up at least two count down clocks until he realized the TV show all displayed them.

Once the clock counted down, he jumped all over the place and danced on the floor.


At 1am, I drove out to church to pick up Erica from her New Year's Eve celebration. I was really tired, but she was completely awake. I suspect we will experience some groggy mornings as the kids adjust their body clocks back to "school schedule".

+++++

Later on, during the "normal waking hours of the day" - we took down the Christmas Tree and decorations. I finally "wiped" our old PC - we've been using the new PC for over a month now and no longer need the other computer.



I also cleaned out the unused toys in the basement - toys that haven't been played with in years. A bit of a trip down memory lane, remembering when the kids wanted to play with their toy dinosaurs and horses. But it was good to get the broken toys out and the other toys organized to sell at a garage sale. Cleaning and purging - all appropriate in the new year.

++++++

And so I've finished up another year of taking daily pictures.

In 2011, I plan to change things a little. I probably won't take a picture every day and post every day - after two years of posting to two blogs, I feel I need a little break. I might just post weekly instead, at least for the month of January.

For those just starting a Project 365, good for you! I found the project to be very rewarding.

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362/365 - Christmas is 70% Off

'Tis the season for great deals on Christmas decorations.

Brian wanted a taller tree for his bedroom. The little 12" tree we bought several years ago was too small for all the ornaments he put on it and it tipped over constantly.

Today, Brian, Scott and Grandma Fay visited the Target and scored a nice 4 foot, pre-lit tree, 70% off (they paid $17 for it - another bargain). They set it up in his room this afternoon.

Even though Christmas is over, it's nice to have something new and festive in the house.

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The Lost iTouch

About a month and a half ago, on a Tuesday afternoon, Brian admitted that he couldn't find his [2 month old] iTouch. Before getting frantic, I calmly stated - "Oh, don't worry, Brian, I'm sure it will turn up - we just need to look for it harder".

That evening, we searched every little nook and cranny in the family room. I moved couches, stuck my hand into the deep recesses of both couches (not a pleasant activity I'll tell you), and even searched the trash (worse than the couch, by far). Over the next days and weeks, we recounted the days leading up to that Tuesday - where the iTouch had been, who had played with it, etc.

I finally relinquished that it was lost, that maybe I had thrown it away with the papers on the desk. [Because, once upon a time, I accidentally threw away Erica's cell phone along with the Sunday paper - you know, those devices are SO small and light! A total accident! One I am still reminded of from time to time...]. I started to admit to co-workers and friends that buying an expensive electronic device to an 11 year old maybe wasn't such a great idea. I started to think about the impending cell phone purchase and how to mitigate the risks associated that.

[Truth be told, we have very responsible kids - we had never experienced any major issues with belongings and they treat their stuff well. I started to hear all sorts of stories from other parents and realized that we weren't alone!]

Fast forward to Tuesday. Brian's best friend, George, is over. Brian has been spending a lot of time at George's house because George has been grounded from electronics use, and things are "too tempting" over here. Today is the last day of his ban and the two of them are in the basement getting out the board games when Brian discovers his missing iTouch, sandwiched between the board games. Excitement ensues. We laud the discovery. We charge it up a little bit and the two boys start to play with it. I take pictures of the boys, filled with such joy.


Oops - George is still banned from electronics....



The irony of it all - the only reason why they found the iTouch was because of George's electronics ban. And now he'll be banned for another day. Sorry about that!

But Thank You! We'll make sure you get to play with the iTouch in a couple of days...

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353/365 - Was Lost, Now Found

The long story short - Brian's lost iTouch has been found. I had resigned myself to its demise, afterall it went missing almost two months ago.



The whole story deserves a separate blog post - and I'll have time to pull it together over the next couple days, so stay tuned.

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351/365 - Sleepy Sunday

Can you tell winter break has started for our kids? That's Brian sleeping in the kitchen on the makeshift couch. He's joined by the two cats.



I think the cats will be completely spoiled by the time the kids have to go back.

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349/365 - The Snow Fort

Snow mound, courtesy of our neighbor, Bob, who plows all the driveways in the cul-de-sac and mounds it up by our driveway. He knows the kids will create a fort.

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341/365 - Presents Under the Tree

Well, the presents have started to appear under the tree and with that, the guessing games have started.



Brian thinks he has it all figured out:
"This one is a Wii Game - it MUST be Mario Brothers Galaxy Two - it is the most popular game this season."

I give him a blank stare. Scott bought it. I have NO IDEA what it is. It could be a DVD for all I know. Plus, I have NO IDEA about what's popular or not. I tell him as such.

He's not buying it - "Come on Mom, you are so faking it! You know that I guessed it!"

Moving on to the next box, he then declares:
"This is a T-shirt or a sweat shirt. It feels like clothes."

[He's probably right on that one...]

Moving on to the newest box under the tree (from me to Scott):
"Mom, how boring! You got Dad a BOOK! It's big, so it must be a boring book."
[Sure, if you want to think so - but you are so wrong - and it isn't a boring gift].

Lastly, he shakes the box that was delivered yesterday, whose delivery box had Lego catalog sticking out from one of the gaps in the plain brown box [you would think companies would do a better job of packing these things].

"This is my Lego Ship! I just know it!"

Um, hon, did I ever tell you about the Christmas when Auntie Michele searched and found all of her Christmas gifts? She was a little disappointed that year because there were no surprises come Christmas morning....

"Yeah, yeah, yeah - you tell us that story every year! I don't care if I'm not surprised. I can't wait for Christmas!"

And so he goes, rearranging the gifts under the tree. Over and over. Glad it keeps him occupied...

note - this is my 1000th post on this blog! I started this blog in December 2005, but only became really consistent with posting last year with my Project 365. Thanks for visiting!

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339/365 - Sweetheart and the Tough Guy

This is a neat trick I finally pulled off with the new (to me) 50mm lens - heart shaped bokeh. I'll post something on my photography blog tomorrow (Wednesday) on my set up, but you can go to this post from DIY if you don't want to wait.

First, my sweetheart, Erica. The hearts in the background make her look even sweeter.


And a dichotomy of sorts - Is this "tough love"?


I had a fun time with these and hope to create some additional shapes over the next few weeks, while the Christmas lights are still up.

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336/365 - Snow!

So much for the forecast of 1-2". We received over 6" (some reports measured 8", but that seems high), and it was the soft fluffy snow that sticks to everything. Add in temperatures just at freezing and you have nice, packable snow.

Really pretty, too...


Brian played out in the snow all day long.


And with the Thomas boys, the kids built two snowmen.


A perfect way to spend a Saturday in December!

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327/365 - Happy Thanksgiving

From our house to yours.



We didn't include Rascal in the picture - too much work.

And some of pictures leading up to the whole family:





On this cold, rainy Thanksgiving, we are so thankful for our friends, family, our warm home and so much more.

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320/365 - Reading Night

It was reading night at Brian's school tonight. Several classrooms were set up with readers - teachers and athletes from the university. There was a classroom set up with fifth graders - Brian and other fifth graders signed up in shifts to read "The Ugly Duckling".

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317/365 - School Pictures

This year’s school pictures – I am amazed how grown up they are getting. The funny fact about Brian’s picture – he is wearing the same shirt he wore last year. The difference this year – no braces! This year, Erica put a lot of thought into what she wore and how she did her hair (straightened that morning). A sign of the times…..

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311/365 - Back to TKD

After a three month break, Brian is back at Tae Kwon Do. Three months away isn’t a lot of time, but the TKD academy has made many changes – the most notable being that they moved locations. They moved only two blocks from their original space, but the new facility couldn’t be more different. A ton of floor space, separate waiting area and cool punching bags that are suspended from the ceiling. Winches bring the punching bags down when in use and back up out of the way when done. It’s like starting new at a new academy. I think Brian is glad to be back kicking and punching.

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Day 302 - Halloween

A perfect Halloween evening - clear and a little cool (but it is the end of October - it's supposed to be cool).

I drove Erica to her friend's house and then wove back home, passing by the endless stream of parked cars in the 'hood. I know people come to our neighborhood to trick or treat, but didn't realize the magnitude until today. No wonder our huge stash of candy goes quickly.

Erica and her friends are dressed up as a tennis pro, a bum and a sports fan:


[note - I do not endorse those Yankees. She is a product of her father when it comes to this baseball stuff.... and Go Red Sox!]

As usual, Brian and George went out together.

Brian's costume is a result of the past two years' costume meltdowns. So this year, I refused to put much time into it and he came up with his own costume idea. The boys only visited three houses - ours, George's and our next door neighbor's. I think they are at the age where they don't care about trick or treating. It's a phase that will pass in about two years.

At least George's brothers dressed up appropriately:


Part of the reason why Brian doesn't want to walk around the neighborhood, is he would rather spend time at George's house handing out candy and working the spooky "tricks" of the house:

After all, Jill has her house decorated to the max:

Brian's favorite activity - hiding in the coffin, making noises and jumping out to scare the visitors. If you look carefully at the above picture, you can see Brian peeking out of the coffin - he has the Elmo mask on his head.

It was another fun Halloween in our little town on the prairie! A great end to October.

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298/365 - Practice

Brian practicing saxophone. He's figured out how to play "Hot Cross Buns", "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and "Ode to Joy".

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