Robo Eagles

Saturday Parker spent the day at a tech school out in South Jordan for his robotics competition.  (He is in the back, second from right in the dark jacket with the white mask).  He was so excited! 

Parents/spectators weren't allowed in, so it was nice that his teachers sent a few pictures because Parker said he was "too busy fixing stuff" to take pictures!  (Parker is on the left, studying something, in the blue shirt next to the red box).

Forgive the poor editing, as I had to cut out the other kids introducing themselves so the video would be small enough to post here on the blog.  I left in the first kids just because they're showing off the robot, but Parker introduces himself a little past 1:25.  He worked on the design of the robot, and said that was exactly what he had wanted to be doing.  

His team, the Robo Eagles (in blue) and the team in green (both from his middle school) were the only middle school kids at the high school competition!  Even with that, Parker's team came in 7 out of 14.  Not too bad for being up against much older, more experienced kids!  (Parker is in the middle, in the back, just to the right of the kid who apparently looked the wrong way!).  Besides the robot, I got a kick out of how excited Parker had been that a parent had sent in deli sandwiches, chips, and cookies for the whole team.  He had packed a lunch, but didn't even need it because he also was given candy, snacks, plus they could buy Girl Scout cookies (never has a boy been so delighted to purchase his own box of Samoas all for himself!).  It was right up the growing boy's alley.  He had a fun day, and we were glad he was able to still have some fun (many of their team meetings were cancelled throughout the year due to various restrictions so it was nice this one finally worked out!).  He said he's definitely signing up next year, too!

Bedrooms

The bedrooms for the kiddos are just about there!  Still a few little things like Parker's curtain rod isn't up yet, but close enough for now.  Parker was a little concerned about being alone in the basement at first, but once we bought a 2-pack of bright night lights, he's been happy.

Usually he can be found over in the corner, working on homework (sometimes) or playing Minecraft (usually).

After a couple of coats of primer, Kenzie's old bright pink bedroom was ready to become a bright green room for Cameron!  He has been so happy to have his own space.  There are several large cardboard boxes in there right now as various forts, and he's been excited to have the desk area.  Parker still comes in and they play games, though, so it's been sweet that they still hang out together.

Kenzie picked out this lavender shade that, depending on the light, looks purplish or even looks light pink.  It's very feminine, though, and she picked out a floral bedspread and had fun setting up her room the way she wanted.  "Who needs bookends when you have owl figurines!?" she exclaimed as she set up her bookcase.

I held up her black rug as we were setting up her room and said, "Does this even go with your room anymore?"  Kenzie immediately replied, "It provides contrast!"  She also refused to even consider paring down her stuffed animal collection, so those are still stacked in her closet and on some shelves, and on her bed, and on the chair... but she's happy!  It has been a lot of painting each weekend, so it's nice to have this project over!

 

St. Patrick's Day

A conversation with some co-workers of mine brought up that one had made green Jello for St. Patrick's and another had forgotten entirely and hadn't even reminded her kids to wear green.  I didn't say anything, but then I felt pretty on top of things to have made corned beef and cabbage, our traditional green Irish soda bread, and even added green food coloring to Sprite.  Apparently that's way over the top for St. Patrick's Day, so good for us!  (Parker was the only one without a green shirt, but he stuck a green star sticker on his shirt, hand, and apparently even on his forehead at school to cover his bases!)

Cameron set out the chocolate gold coins along the table, and I asked him if we could trick Kenzie into thinking leprechauns left them.  He said, "No, she doesn't believe in those, but I do!"  Kenzie came home from work with green and white cookies a teacher had extra of, so the boys promptly forgave her for not believing in leprechauns!  

Happy St. Patrick's Day!