Robotics

What a crazy busy week it has been!  I haven't been home almost at all, hence no posts.  Boo!  Most of the week was just full of regular every day stuff - volunteering at the school, running errands, helping out friends.  Yesterday though was a little different.  Yesterday was robotics day! 

My oldest competes on a FLL team (learn more about FLL here).  FLL, or First Lego League, is a program designed to get kids excited about science, technology, and engineering.  The teams are comprised of 4th - 8th graders.  Our team is 5th and 6th graders.  The kids use a Lego Mindstorm NXT for the robotics portion of the competition.  They have spent the last 4 months designing, building, and programming their robot.  Their robot gets points based on the challenges it completes. 

The kids also have to do a research project.  This years theme is Food Factor and their projects had to based on keeping our food safe.  My sons team project focused on oil in our water and how it effects the fish in the ocean.  I was amazed by what their research had shown about how much oil gets in to the ocean every year.  The kids talked about how regular run off of oils into the ocean is equal to, if not greater, than the Exxon Valdez oil spill!  How crazy is that?  Their solution to the problem involves the use of Polymer 403 to catch the oil before it gets into the water supply.  They had 2 newspaper (YourHub) articles written up about them and they presented their project to an environmental scientist and the local water board.

The last portion of FLL is the Core Values.  These values are:

• We are a team.
• We do the work to find solutions with guidance from our coaches and mentors.
• We know our coaches and mentors don't have all the answers; we learn together.
• We honor the spirit of friendly competition.
• What we discover is more important than what we win.
• We share our experiences with others.
• We display gracious professionalism and cooperation in everything we do.
• We have fun.

Our team worked really hard.  They nailed the presentation.  They excelled at the Core Values.  They had the fastest teambuilding time.  Their robot on the other hand had issues.  It just wasn't performing like it should have.  Their robot score was 39th out of 46.  Ouch!  Even with the bad score on the robot end they took 3rd place overall!  We are so pumped up.  We'll (meaning they) be competing in the State competition next Saturday.  Our school has two teams and they both made it to the State competition!  It will be fun to compete head on with them (we do different competitions as my son doesn't do Sunday competition). 


If you have a child interested in robotics, engineering, technology, or just science in general I highly suggest you look into this program!

Toy Story 3

If your kids are anything like my kids then they LOVE to color.  What better way to get ready for Disney on Ice: Toy Story 3 then by coloring?  Well maybe there are some better ways.  You could take your kids ice skating.  Watch Toy Story 3 on DVD or Netflix, we've been watching it a LOT.  You could act out the Toy Story 3 story as a play.  There are lots of fun things you can do together!  I can help out on the coloring end, the rest is up to you.  Happy coloring!

Beauty is......

We often hear that "Beauty is only skin deep".  This is obviously not a true statement.  Of course back in the 1600's saying something was skin deep was a way of saying that something is superficial.  The beauty we see on the outside of a person really is superficial, at least to an extent.  To me the true beauty of a person lays on the inside.  It is there that we see the true beauty of a person.  There are those who might not have the outer beauty that so many seek, but who are the most kind, loving, caring people you will meet.  That inner beauty far outshines any outer beauty.  Outer beauty can fade with time, but someone with inner beauty....their beauty only grows with time.  Often the inner beauty can be overlooked for the outer.  When that happens it is extremely sad to me.  How many people of great beauty are overlooked because of what we see at a glance?  So many prejudices are still out there based on what someone looks like; whether that prejudice be because of skin color, hair color, tattoos, piercings, etc.  I am grateful that I was taught to look for the inner beauty and am trying my best to teach my children to do the same.

The beauty of a woman
isn't in the clothes she wears,
The figure that she carries,
or the way she combs her hair.

The beauty of a woman
must be seen from in her eyes;
Because that's the doorway to her heart,
the place where love resides.

The beauty of a woman
isn't in a facial mole;
But true beauty in a woman,
is reflected by her soul.

It's the caring that she cares to give,
the passion that she shows;
And the beauty of a woman
with passing years only grows.


Authorship is variously attributed to the following authors:
Maya Angelou, Ralph Fenger, Audrey Hepburn & Sam Levenson

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Yesterday was my husbands birthday.  I love that man!  I am very grateful to his parents for having and raising such an amazing man.  He is kind, gentle, loving, funny, smart, and the best husband I could ask for. I love you lots sweetheart!  I hope your birthday was a great one.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!  This is my favorite holiday of the year.  I love spending the day with my family and friends.  Enjoying good food, laughs, fun, and being surrounded by love.  I can't think of a better way to spend a day.  I am thankful this year to have so much of our family in town.  Two of my sisters and their families came out.  My husbands brother and his sister and their families are also in town.  We have been able to spend all week surrounded by family.  My kids love getting to see and play with their out of town cousins. 

I hope this day we can all find something to be thankful for.  There is always something to be thankful for, even on those days when it seems that nothing can or will go right. 

Disney on Ice Ticket Winner Is.......

Thank you to everyone who participated in my ticket giveaway!  For those of you who did not win, you can still purchase tickets.  They are $15 on opening night or save $4 on tickets any other night using code FFA (excludes VIP and Celebrity). 

 

Since you all told me your favorite toy, I thought I'd share mine.  My favorite toy was, and still is, my bunny rabbit.  I got it when I was 2 years old from my aunt.  I still have it and when I am feeling really sick or depressed I will still curl up with him.  Now my kids sleep with my rabbit.  He is very loved!

Not the moment you have all been waiting for!  Drum roll please......

The winner, as picked by random.org, is #9!  Katie and her Astronaut Barbie!  Katie you have 24 hours to contact me to claim your prize. 

Disney on Ice presents Disney*Pixar's Toy Story 3 Ticket Giveaway

Sorry I didn't get this posted this morning, but the contest is on!

Who wants to go see Disney on Ice presents Disney*Pixar's Toy Story 3 for free? That's right, free! I have a four pack of tickets that I am giving away.

To be entered into this contest you need to answer the following question as a comment to this post.

• If you cannot get it to post, please email me and I will post a comment for you.

Question - What was your favorite childhood toy?

Contest Rules:

1. You must be 18 years or older to enter.
2. You must be a resident of the Denver Metro area or able to be in the Denver Metro area on the night of Thursday, December 8, 2011.
3. Contest will run from November 21, 2011 at 6:30 pm - November 22, 2011 at 6:30pm.
4. Contest winner will be chosen using Random.org based off of your comment number.
5. Winner will be announced on my blog November 22, 2011 after 7:00pm.
6. Winner must contact me within 48 hours or they will forfeit the prize.
7. Alternate winner will be selected through Random.org if the winner is unable to attend or fails to claim prize.
8. Prize tickets will be available for pick up at the Will Call window on the night of the show.

Prize Package Includes: Family Four Pack of Tickets to see Disney on Ice presents Disney*Pixar's Toy Story 3 at the Pepsi Center on December 8, 2011 at 7pm.

Feld Entertainment is neither a sponsor nor endorser of this promotion. Feld Entertainment will be providing the prize, however the contest is my own.