Scott's Skillz

Scott's skillz are many.  One was this great FHE lesson, where he had the other kids guess the height of Goliath (blue tape on the wall).  He wrote things that are "Goliaths" in our lives (things we struggle to overcome), and the kids took turns throwing foil "stones" at where Goliath's head would be.

Not all FHE lessons are like this at our home.  I love it when they try.

Benson's Skillz

Benson has the "spoon on nose" trick down.

He's pretty good at Pie in the Face, too, though he considers it a success when he gets hit with the whipped cream instead of avoiding it.  He played this by himself one afternoon for a good hour.  I'm glad we had plenty of whipped cream.

Gracie's Skillz

In the previous picture of spoons on noses, you may have noticed that Gracie's was supported by her glasses.  She was pleased to show that she can now do it glasses free!

At the beginning of February (on Grandma D's birthday--and Groundhog's Day!), Gracie participated in the UIL contest for calculator skills.  She had tried out for the "team" earlier in the school year, and had been going in early once a week to practice with them, and she was pretty confident that she would do well.  At the district awards ceremony that evening, she was pleased when two of her teammates from her school placed, but then was especially thrilled when she won first place!

Awesome job!

Art class

Guess what!  I have zero kids in soccer this season!  I offered an alternative, and two took me up on it, so now Gracie and Caytie go once a week to art class.  They love it, and I love having my Saturdays and weeknights free.

They apparently get to choose their own projects, and their teacher helps them along the way with media and style suggestions.  Here are a couple works in progress.

Caytie:

Gracie:

Their art teacher is moving in the summer.

Bummer.

Lady Bug Picnic 2017

University of Scouting

Did I mention my new assignment with Primary?  I'm now also a Unit Commissioner for four Cub Packs in my stake.  Yay!  My counselors are also UCs for other packs in the stake.  A Unit Commissioner is a liaison between the packs and the district, so we need to know what's going on in both so we can connect needed resources from the district to the packs.  Basically. 

The council was offering UC training at the University of Scouting that happens each January at SMU, so I figured I should go.  Ben came for moral support--he's awesome like that.  We spent the first four hours in the training class.  It wasn't terrible.  We signed up for a working lunch for commissioners, with a guest speaker--Charles Dahlquist!  He's the commissioner for the whole BSA, as well as the former Young Men's General President.  That was pretty great.  He was entertaining, energetic, and actually brought the Spirit to our little non-denominational gathering.

After lunch, we had signed up to go to a few more commissioner classes, but decided we had had enough scouting for the day, and went home to be with our kids instead.  Let the Unit Commissioner-ing begin.

The Days of January

This boy fills my days with sweetness--because he's very good at convincing me to buy it when we're grocery shopping.  (I wonder how my food choices will change when I no longer have a shopping companion next school year?)

This is a very naughty candle.  It was burning so nicely one afternoon, and I looked over and it had melted a hole in its side.  I didn't get a picture of the puddle of wax on the floor, or of me scraping it up off the carpet.

Scott took the PSAT at school, which brought this:

Of course, it was the first of many, which continue to trickle in each week.  These kids keep growing up...

Time to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day--with a trip to Bahama Bucks!  We actually had a cold snap come in, so we took the picture and ate in the car.

I can't remember the details about this picture (like why Benson is wearing shoes with his pajamas), but I still think it's sweet.

Go football

Ben had a work event and was invited to meet a Dallas Cowboys player (Travis Frederick, the center line man) and tour the stadium.  Since it was on a busy weeknight, and I didn't really care to do that anyway, he invited Scott to go with him, and they had a great time.

(I just looked at the date on this picture, and it is December 5th, 2016.  I thought it happened in January!  My life is all meshed together sometimes.)

Ouch

Tessa had a little bump on her lip which was actually getting bigger and bothering her.  I had one exactly like it when I was in fifth grade, in the same spot, so I knew we should see an ENT to get it looked at.  He said it was from biting the lip and constricting saliva glands that then build up in one place.  It's basically harmless, except that it's annoying, especially if it's growing like hers was.  We opted to have it removed.  When I had mine removed, I had to go to a surgery center, they prepped me and I put on a gown and they rolled me in on an operating table, and though I was awake for the procedure (with my eyes covered), it seemed like it was a big deal.  For her, we went back to the office one afternoon where the ENT numbed her mouth and cut it off and stitched it up in about five minutes.  She even got dissolvable stitches so we didn't have to go back unless anything unusual happened (which it didn't).  She was a great sport about it all, and now we have matching scars!  Yay!

Before:

After:

Remember that one day when it snowed?

Last Hurrah

I thought I had posted all the pictures of our Christmas break, but I found these three from a fun day.  Who else in the country gets to bring in the new year with a trip to the park and some ice cream (and other general silliness)?  We've had a great winter, for those who don't like much cold--like me.