Lego Robotics Regional Competition- January 17.

Henry is part Lego Robotics team at his school.  You had to be in 4th or 5th grade and try out for a spot on the team.  He was very excited to be in.

They'e been working all fall and winter in preparation for the Regional Competition.

Every team uses a Lego Mindstorm kit to construct a robot to navigate through an obstacle course with tasks.  You get points by completing as many of the tasks as possible using programs that you design.   

I think the Purple Squirrels completed 3 tasks.  (Not bad for a group of first-timers.)

Why the team name "Purple Squirrels"?  That's revealed in this video of the Q&A portion of the competition.  I give one thing away.  9 and 10 year old boys fidget a lot.

There was also a spontaneous problem solving portion of the competition.  Although it doesn't look like there is any sort of order in trying to use straws to move balls to a target on the table, I guess the Purple Squirrels got the most balls to the target.

In the end, the team didn't get the most points in the competition, but were surprised by advancing to the next level of competition- State!

What a great team!  And they were lucky to have great coaches as well (our friends Chad and Janet), who I think may have been looking forward to the end of the season, but graciously extended their services for another two months in preparation for the state competition.

Ninjabread- January 11 to 15.

After preschool, we often have playdates or picnics with our friends.  But sometimes we come home and just play, which Georgie HATES.  But every now and again she manages to find something fun to make up for not socializing.  Like the play-doh sea creature book she got for Christmas.

This little chair that suction-cups to the bottom of the tub is genius!

I wanted to take down our Christmas decorations, but the girls quickly stole all of my boxes to decorate and turn into pet houses.   This reminds me of the ornament box that I still have that has my 7 year old hand writing Mudd Creek Road address.  

As they created pet houses, June sighed and wished we'd done anything Christmas-y this year.  I guess the 5 Christmas trees just aren't enough.

While we're waiting for Henry and June to get home from school, I like to put Georgie to work.  She is very proud that she's now big enough to run errands to Miss Juliet's house (4 houses down the road).  She looks so tiny down there!

She's also become quite an accomplished towel and pillowcase folder.  She's quite handy to have around.  Henry will do jobs to earn money if he wants something.  June won't do any extra jobs out of pure stubbornness.   But Georgie loves loves to be known as the "good helper" and will do anything we ask for the chance of earning some "moneys."  (She she prefers to be paid in small coins.  Then there are more.  

Speaking of people who won't help.  Look at this kid.  She just sits on counters and plays with prescription drugs.  Where are her parents?

It's a big responsibility when your name is also a command.  So of course we had Uncle Cole design a shirt to capture it.

At 9 months old, Bea still wasn't doing much rolling or crawling, but she can manage to get where she wants very slowly in a sitting position.  She still loves to listen in during piano lessons.

I found this hilarious cookie kit at the Aldo after Christmas.

So we gave it a try, Our ninjabread men turned out pretty great!

Here are the girls' designs.

And after eating their ninjabread men, June and Georgie really felt they had mastered their own ninja skills.

It may have been the cookies giving them their awesome skills...

...or it may have been their awesome new shoes.  Hightop sparkly sneakers are the best.

I love that the girls get along so well (most of the time).

January lull- January 1 to 10.

June and Sadie had big plans for Christmas break, as evidenced by their to-do list.  I think they completed most of the items, including "fashion."

Henry and Grams visited the Columbus Museum of Art, where Grams is training to become a docent.  They had a very cool lego exhibit that included a lego downtown Columbus.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without gingerbread houses!

We made it back home and the girls were glad to have time to dress up.  I like that Georgie used winter gloves as her fancy gloves.

Bea tried to win the playoff game for the Bengals with costume cuteness, but as usual, the Bengals blew it in the first round.

I tried to weed through some of the accumulating papers and took pictures of a few good ones.  Like June's drawing of Sam and Bea.  Sam is obviously much bigger/

Georgie is very intently practicing writing her numbers and letters.

June's class celebrated Hanukkah, so she drew this for Miss Sara (soon to be Aunt Sara) and included her Christmas greetings while telling me that she firmly intends to be Jewish when she grows up.  (You know how we love to celebrate a holiday!) 

This is from Halloween, but I couldn't help but keep it on the fridge for a long time.  It's so cute.

June and Sadie tried their hand at riddle writing.  

Bea was a little sad to be home and alone in the house while all of her people went back to school.  

Lucky for mom, they stayed very close all day long.

We do quite a but of babysitting swapping with our friends the Fitzpatricks.  You can always tell when Cleo and Tia come visit, because they love apples and know how to pull a chair over to help themselves.

But after finding many apples around the house, we had to enforce a "apples don't leave the kitchen" rule.

Georgie got to go to a Chik-Fil-A party for her friend LJ's birthday.  Ice cream and a playground.  And she still won't touch any of the food.

Hanging out- December 28-31.

Before we left Ney, we stopped by to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Seibert.

They were happy to play with Beatrice for a little while.

Back in Marion, mama and June worked on sewing some stuffed animals from the sewing kit she got.

While Georgie and Dash watched some videos.

Beatrice and Sammy ruled the floor.

And swapped nuks.

Hey, these crackers are great!

Then Bea rolled around safe in her favorite place- mom's lap.

Nothing exciting- just sisterly cuteness.

Down in the basement, June and Sadie got to work on the bunk bed.

They classified all of the stuffed animals by type and set up a zoo.

Where were the grown-ups? 

They were out at the Hofbrauhaus celebrating New Year's Eve.

Drinking large beers and dancing on tables to oom-pa bands playing Journey covers.  They are so embarrassing.

It's like they never get out.

Double baptism- December 27.

We took advantage of everyone being together and added Beatrice to Molly's Baptism.

It was a very nice baptism.

Even if the priest kept forgetting that the name Beatrice Douglas didn't belong to a boy.

Bea and her very tall godparents, Aunt Jenni and Uncle Jim.

Molly and her godparents. Holly and Jake Coolman.

Beatrice showing off her sitting up skills.  What have you got, Molly?

Our best try at a family photo.

Thanks for the cute pictures, Uncle Jim.

Afterward, we had a little party in the church hall.  

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Uncle Jim captured the fun of a family party.  (Good thing Uncle Kevin and Aunt Elizabeth came prepared.)

Bea changed out of her fancy white dress and into something more seasonal.  

Getting baptized means getting to wear a fancy necklace.

Cecelia certainly doesn't look like she's up to something.

The kids decided to have a race.

Which, of course, ended with Georgie falling on her head.

Mom saw this picture of Aunt Jenni, Uncle Kevin, and I.  And realized that she'd packed the same dresses!

So we grabbed a little boy in a blue striped shirt and set up a reenactment.

There's our winner!