We're Off to Binghamton

I know, I know -- there's been a complete lack of blogging on my part this week. I've been not only like a single mother, but also having Odyssey of the Mind practices every day. Bryan leaves the house at 6:00am, so I have my kids and the daycare kids for breakfast and getting ready for school. OM lasts until 5:30pm (6:00 on Monday). Bryan usually doesn't get home until after the kids' bedtime. Yesterday he got home at 5:45, while I still had a daycare kid and an OM kid here, and we had to be at the Cub Scout Banquet at 6:00. We didn't get home until after 8pm. Needless to say, it's been crazy.
I've spent the last couple of days getting ready for the weekend, and I'm still not ready. Not only do I have to pack for a weekend away, I also have to pack for the competition. I have lots of different lists so I won't worry that I forgot something. I had to pack up all the costumes, props, etc. and make sure all the paperwork was together. I printed out maps, directions, and schedules for all the parents. I had to fill out forms, make copies of forms, and get checks from the school for the hotel and tournament fees. Some forms the kids need to fill out, others have to go to the registration desk, others have to go to the staging area judges. It's very complicated and time-consuming. On top of all this, I'm trying to get the house cleaned and laundry caught up and some meals put together ahead of time for Faye this weekend. No wonder I'm exhausted!
Here is a picture of the kids getting off the bus for the last OM practice yesterday. Chase is on the left end and Myles is on the right end; the seven kids between them are our team. Plus I had Merlyn, Berkleigh, and CJ waiting with me in the house. 1 adult + 12 kids = pure chaos. We have a good group of kids, though, and I do enjoy them.


Despite everything, I'm really looking forward to the weekend. It'll seem almost like a vacation with just Carter with Bryan and I. I don't remember the last time the adults outnumbered the kids in our family! The whole team is very excited about the trip. I'm going to try to videotape the performance on Saturday. Also, the Awards Ceremony is going to be streamed live online at 6:00 on Saturday night. If you want to watch it and maybe catch a glimpse of us, go to:
www.ws.binghamton.edu/live/
I'll let you know how it goes, and I promise I will catch up on blogging next week. I won't know what to do with myself with no OM practices. Also, I will try to fix the pictures from my last post. It's Bryan's fault (I think) that you can't see them, but he was trying to help so I can't complain. I have some cute pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Merlyn, Myles, Orange Smiles, and a Sled Train

Here is a variety of pictures to help me catch up. First, we have Merlyn, who still is sensitive to noise. The other day I had four kids in the house: Merlyn, Berkleigh, Cole (4) and Alison (20 months). I was only having a 25% success rate, because three out of the four kids were crying. Merlyn was coloring and instead of complaining about the noise, she simply went and put on her ear muffs.

Myles wrapped himself in the t-shirt quilt I made for Bryan many years ago. He looked like a little vampire until he flashed his signature smile for the camera.

One day at lunch we had oranges, and I didn't want to peel them all like I usually do so I cut them into pieces and showed the kids how to make orange smiles. Here are theirs:

There's Merlyn, Berkleigh, CJ, and Cole. Cole is my newest daycare kid, and he's a VERY picky eater. He wouldn't even put the orange up to his mouth, but I took a picture of his cute orange-less smile.

The preschool bus comes a little after noon to drop off either Aleesa or CJ or both. When CJ is by himself, we go down to the end of the driveway to meet the bus. If the weather permits, we play outside beforehand. A few days ago I tied sleds together to make a train and I pulled Berkleigh, Cole, and Merlyn down the driveway. It's very cute to see it from my point of view as I look back while pulling them. They love it when I run in circles so the kids in back whip around. And yes, I do pull four big kids (Merlyn, Berkleigh, Cole, and CJ) all the way back up the driveway and end by running in circles in the turnaround spot. It's cheaper than a gym membership!

Student of the Month and a Sunrise

On Friday Bryan and I took Merlyn, Berkleigh, Alison, and Aleesa to the school to attend the character education assembly. Carter was awarded student of the month for "Pride and Self Respect" His certificate says, "Carter has so much of which to be proud and the self respect it takes for a good balance of the two. He is a great role model and motivator for all of us."
This is Carter's third student of the month award; he has gotten one each year of school, and we are very proud of him.

This is a group picture of all the students of the month. One kid from each classroom receives the award for a different character trait each month. Their picture will be in the newspaper.

I took this picture the other morning from our front porch. It was warm and rainy all day yesterday, so we don't have any more icicles now.

Poor Berkleigh

Last week Berkleigh fell while running on our slippery floors in her socks. She got a little bloody nose, but she was hurt more emotionally than physically. While I held her, on my way to get a cold washcloth for her nose, she fell right asleep. I laid her on Bryan's chair, then couldn't resist taking pictures.




Berkleigh picks out her own clothes each morning. This outfit at least doesn't clash like some of her selections. Notice how she even touches her belly button in her sleep!

Lacrosse

Today is Bryan's first lacrosse practice for the modified team, although he's been having team meetings and coaches' meetings for the last week or so. There's a team meeting for Carter and Myles tomorrow night. Of course, there's still snow on the ground. That didn't stop Myles a couple weeks ago (before the big snowstorm). He stayed outside by himself for almost an hour practicing scooping, cradling, throwing, and catching. This will be his first year on the team, and he's been looking forward to it since Carter started two years ago.

Snowy Day

Here are some pictures to show you how snowy it was on Saturday. I took these in the morning before we left for the Odyssey of the Mind competition. It snowed and sleeted all day, and the drive home was awful. The views were beautiful, though.

Bryan didn't have much fun plowing the next day -- the snow was too heavy for the four-wheeler. After about two hours, he had cleared probably a third of the driveway. That's when Jerry's friend came to the rescue with his pickup truck plow. The kids are loving the snow, but it isn't good for trying to get firewood.

Odyssey of the Mind

I just realized this morning that I haven't posted anything this week -- life's been a little hectic! Our OM competition was Saturday. We got our picture in the paper (the reporter told everyone to make funny faces):

There was just one other team doing our problem in our division. The weather was horrible that day, so the other team cancelled. I knew that morning that we were going to win by default, but I didn't tell the kids. Even during the awards ceremony, they had no clue. They were so excited, especially when they were called up to get their trophy for first place.

Now we are headed to the University of Binghamton for the State Competition on March 29th. The kids are thrilled, and I'm excited, too, but the next couple weeks are going to be difficult. We are having team meetings, practices, and work days just when Bryan is staring his lacrosse season. Yesterday Bryan had a lacrosse team meeting from 2:30 to 4:00, I had an OM team meeting from 3:30 to 5:30, then I had a meeting at the school with the parents and school superintendent from 6:00-7:00. At least it's only for a couple of weeks!

Full Moon

The night of February 20th, there was a lunar eclipse. Carter was up late for some reason that night, and he and Bryan saw some of the eclipse. I was too tired to get out of bed to look, so I missed it. The next morning a little after six I saw the full moon setting just as it was getting light. It made for a nice picture:

Hand-dyed Yarn

Remember how I'm making a bunch of felted scrapbooking bags for a convention in May? Well, it usually costs money to rent to booths, but the woman running them (who is the mother of my new daycare boy) said if I donated something to their raffle she would waive the fee. I looked through my handy dandy "One Skein Wonders" book that Kelley gave me for Christmas and found a cute little felted purse, and I just happened to have one skein of a wool that would work. (Since I, unlike Annie, pay attention to gauge!). The wool was plain white, though, so I decided to try dyeing my own.

I used plain tea and berry tea, which produced a beautiful soft brown and a dark burgundy color. In the empty pot in the back is the mustard I used for yellow. The yellow was like a flourescent color (totally ruining the colorway) so I tried redying it with blue food coloring, which helped make it green. The green was still the color of a bright Easter egg, not compatible with the soft calm brown and purple. Following Annie's suggestion, I redyed the green again with berry tea. Now I have soft brown, deep burgundy, and a deep dark teal color which I think is lovely. I'll get started on the purse soon and post pictures of the finished product. You'll either see a wonderful hand-dyed, hand-knit, and hand-felted purse, or an artistic vision gone wrong.

New Photo Editing Software

I've been getting into digital scrapbooking lately, and I got some new photo editing software for it. I love the possiblities of this software, although it's taking me a while to get used to using it.
I was trying to get a picture of the kids to send to a friend, and as usual, I wished I could combine the faces from different pictures into one. Well, with my new software, I can!

I took Carter from this one...

... and Myles from this one...

...and Merlyn and Berkleigh from this one...

...and ended up with this picture.

Four kids looking good!

The color is off because I had to adjust it for the printer, but the printed picture looks great. I'll post more creations when I have time to create them.