269 More Days Until Christmas

Grace is afraid of snakes. Not real snakes - she's never seen one, and I'm not sure what she'll do when we do see a real one at the zoo, given her reaction to these "snakes" she's been seeing around the house. These "snakes," as she calls them, are little 1-inch pieces of carpet or yarn or string that are on the floor here and there, slightly curly, and tan. She does not like them at all and really gets upset when she sees them!

She's also afraid of Robert's flying monkey.

We had a theme this weekend - football movies based on true stories. We didn't intend for it to happen, but as it were we ended up watching three such movies over the course of the weekend: Invincible, Remember the Titans, and We Are Marshall. Pretty funny that they are all from about the same time period as well. Movies were great, but I am totally footballed out. LOL Good thing it's baseball season now! ;) (And I have The Rookie on TiVo that I'm planning to watch soon.)

Velcro can't leave Mom's cigarettes alone - isn't that hilarious? He ate the tip of one a few days ago, and last night he chewed up an empty box. Maybe it will mellow him out a little?

We haven't been doing a whole lot - just hanging out and enjoying being together. We did a little geocaching on Saturday, but not much. The weather has been odd - in the 60s, and then snow, warm, snow, lather, rinse, repeat. Our church picnic had to be postponed yesterday due to snow. We're not getting a lot - just a little layer each day that usually melts off by afternoon.

Well here we go again - I woke up with a cold in my chest, cough, scratchy throat, and J stayed home from school with basically the same symptoms. We had a reprieve, you know - no one has been sick since, oh, March 14th! LOL

I finally finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter - a really, really good read but actually a pretty sad book throughout. I'm glad I read it though, and I do recommend it, with the warning that it's kind of depressing! I saw it on display at an airport in February and it looked intriguing... it was - but just not a real light read. I just saw that Hallmark (I think) did a TV movie for it that will be showing in a couple of weeks - good timing! :)

And the kids got their report cards on Friday - wonderful work, of course. :) We have some things to work on here and there, but over all we are incredibly proud of them.

Turkey!

Yesterday it was so beautiful - a warm 68 degrees outside, warm enough to shave my legs and put on shorts. I'm glad I didn't go to all the effort, though, since this morning it's SNOWING! It's so strange - snow wasn't even forecast on weather.com but it's snowing now, the big pretty lazy flakes that are so beautiful to me. It's odd, though - it was only 44 outside when I took J to school. It feels pretty mild out there.

Let me tell you, I have my hands full. If I didn't realize it before (which you know I did), I surely did a few days ago when Grace threw her stuffed dolly at me and called me a turkey.

She is sure something. Tired of riding in the car recently, I told her, "Almost there - 5 minutes!" to which she retorted with a shake of her hand and furrowed brow, "TWO minutes!" She has been singing (sort of) up a storm lately, her favorite songs/rhythms being "Mine's All GONE!" (a ditty we learned in baby sign language class last year), "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" (which she gets quite animated about, especially the doctor's part), and "Patty Cake" (she loves to "roll 'em up"). Fun times, although I'm pretty wiped out by the time she goes to bed at night, that's for sure! I think I had another Grace story for you but I can't remember it right now. :(

The other two wiggly ones have settled back into school nicely. They're completing the state testing this week and have one more week of school (I think) before our spring break. It's really a shame ours wasn't at the same time as our CA buds, but what can you do about it, I guess. I'm sure we'll find some good stuff to do anyhow. :)

Well, I'm stalling. I've got some taxes to do so I'd better close this out and get on it. TTFN...

Cali

I uploaded a few pictures from our trip to CA last week. The wedding was one of the most beautiful I've ever seen - very simple, very elegant, with a gorgeous bride and groom who could be cover models of any major magazine. The rest of our time in CA we enjoyed with friends and family. We met K's new baby boy, the kids visited friends, and we were able to have some fun with Aunt Deb at Mulligan's and the bowling alley. We watched a softball game of Deb's and C and J toured the Air Park with Mr. Tom and Pop.

On the way to CA, the roads were pretty nuts! We got snow and ice going across the Rockies and slid a bit on the road near Vail. God answers prayer, though, and we made it to our hotel just fine that night... the next day we got more snow and ice (we even got stuck going 30mph behind a snow plow!) through Utah. And again, we made it fine, landing in Palmdale around 8:30p.m.

On the way back we brought "Me-maw" with us. She came to see C's spelling bee and to visit with the grandkids for a little bit. The ride was long (doesn't it always seem longer coming back?) but the weather was fine - just a little snow again through Vail. We had lunch in Denver at a place called Casa Bonita where the food is a little iffy but there's a lot of entertainment - cliff divers and more. :) We were sooo glad to be home, though. We got back late Friday afternoon and had to get ready for the bee the next morning - up and on the road back to Denver by 6! :)

Wiggy Stats:

~~~~~~~~~

Miles traveled - 2270 (including wedding)

Hours driving - 32

Hours traveling in all - 42

Novels finished - 6

DVDs watched - 4

Hotels stayed in - 2

Restaurants patronized - 18

Starbucks purchases - 99? LOL

Gallons of gas - 120

** Most expensive gas we saw was $3.81/gallon in Baker, CA

Can You Spell These Words?

nadir

misogynist

opossum

epitasis

calliopean

uveal

patois

pizzicato

esurient

braggadocio

gallimaufry

decussate

cartulary

phugoid

troglodytic

molybdenum

Neither could 200 other top spellers from all over Colorado on Saturday (or, I dare say, their parents!). These were part of the written test in the state spelling bee that Christianne participated in last weekend. Unfortunately, she didn't make it to the final oral round, but we are incredibly proud of her still! She placed 5th in the district and went to the state bee - quite an accomplishment, even if I am a little biased.

This is the outside of the Colorado Convention Center, where the bee was held:

I gotta say - looking at that word list makes me want to play Balderdash!

He is Risen!

He is risen, indeed!

Is there anything more important to our faith than the knowledge that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has risen from the dead?

I hope you'll take a few minutes and watch this video someone sent me from YouTube. Good stuff - better than chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.

He is risen, indeed! I pray you will be celebrating His Resurrection today!

~~~~~
Thanks for all your prayers - our trip was wonderful and we had no problems at all. I'll update the blog this week, hopefully tomorrow. We are enjoying a beautiful white Easter this morning.

Love and God's blessings,
Beth

I Know You've Been Wondering...

... today was the first normal diaper Grace has had in 14 days. I am so relieved. I sure wasn't looking forward to a long drive with a baby who explodes her diapers and pants every couple of hours. Hopefully, we're good to go now. Thanks for praying!

Well, yesterday gas prices at my local station tipped the $3 mark - $3.01. Sure not looking forward to the rising prices as we head west!

Ro and I are a little anxious about our drive tonight. Tonight is the worst part, crossing the Rockies and going through Vail (we *think* that's the highest, or near highest, elevation we'll be traveling). If we stay on track and don't have any problems, we should make it to Grand Junction by 10p.m. -- however, there is a winter storm warning in effect, which could make travel "difficult or impossible," according to the weather service. They are expecting 12 to 24 inches of snow this evening. PRAYERS ARE GREATLY, GREATLY APPRECIATED! I am on a quest this morning to find us some snow chains! :(

If we're able to get there, we'll be driving to Grand Junction tonight, then leaving early tomorrow morning to drive the rest of the way through. The kids are so excited... Even Grace went out to the car this morning saying, "Go to Cowl! Go to Cowl!" :)

Please pray for us as you think of us. Tonight should be the worst part of the drive... but prayers for our safe journey in its entirety are coveted. Thanks.

I'll try to blog over this next week as I'm able / have access to a computer. Love you all...

b.

Man, I Love Books

Got 4 or 5 boxes unpacked yesterday. Ro put a bookcase together for me recently and I filled it up yesterday. It looks so nice up here in the loft - like a library! :) We were thinking that it would be neat to put a comfy chair down at the end by the bookcases for a little reading spot.

And then I had about 4 more boxes up here (loft) that we moved down to the basement... electronics and things... I just don't know if we're ever going to get unpacked. We've only lived here, you know, 6 1/2 months now. Part of the problem is that for as much space as we have here in this house, there isn't a lot of storage in terms of cabinets and such. In fact, upstairs there are *no* cabinets for linens and towels! So the stuff we've needed are just piled in closets for the moment until I can get a cabinet or armoire of some sort, but the rest is just in boxes. Same with all the boxes of games and craft stuff down in the basement - I need cabinets.

If I could just go drop some $ on cabinets, then at least I could finish unpacking. Or at least I'd have no more excuses. ;P There'd still be a lot to do - we need furniture in some spots, etc. - but the unpacking might get done. We need cabinets in the upstairs and basement, and probably a bookcase for Grace's room. But you know, all that costs $, so we have to do a little at a time. Even buying "budget" stuff... it's going to take awhile.

Anyway... on a kidlet note... Grace has been saying prayers with us this week. She's always sat there at the table as we prayed, but we've been letting her pray, leading her phrase by phrase. And she's usually in bed when we pray with the kids at night, but sometimes she's still up. Like last night... and we asked, "Grace, do you want to pray?" She said yes, and we didn't jump on it quick enough. She started yelling, "I want to PRAY! I want to PRAY!" with such an angry face!

She's really embraced this stage where she wants what she wants and she wants it now, can you tell? :) Yesterday I asked if she wanted lunch, and she said, "Not yet." Then after a while it was, "I'm hungry NOW!" "Now" is becoming one of her favorite words. Which, after 3 kids, makes me go even slower in accommodating her. :) Really, no one likes to be told what to do - especially by a kid who is not even 2.

The other two are getting pretty excited for our upcoming road trip to Cali for Nathan's and Jamie's wedding. :) Actually we all are, I guess... except Grace. LOL I just hope we have good weather crossing the mountains on the 70. It's been absolutely beautiful here the past few days... it would just figure we'd get ugly weather for the drive. Oh well, we'll just take it as it comes, family bonding and all. :) Actually even worse than the possibility of bad weather is the possibility that Grace won't be over this poopy garbage. :(

Prayer, please:

• Safe trip for us - leaving Thursday evening
• Grace to get over her yuckies
• W - health concerns
• N - relationship struggles
• CD - loss of husband recently (lost daughter 2 years ago)
• Talena - healthy pregnancy
• our church - God's direction and provision on new building
• Nathan and Jamie - beginning a new life as one! :)

Spring is in Sight

Well, can you believe Miss Grace is still sick? She has had this diarrhea/stomach thing now since the 29th. I got her in to the doctor on Friday, and although she was borderline dehydrated (for which they attempted an IV), they said it just has to run its course. It's hard for me to believe that this can last so long - today is our 10th full day - but Dr. M said she's seeing it last up to two weeks! :( She's not contagious, but I kept her home from church yesterday, simply because although I'd welcome the break, it wouldn't be right to subject the nursery workers to Grace's latest diapers! Ugh.

Guess what we got on Friday? Air conditioning! :) Seems the previous owners of this house didn't want to part with their a/c unit, and so they took it with them, for some reason. We moved in the late summer and were told there were only a couple weeks of hot weather left (we're grateful they were right!), and so we basically elected to wait on it. We got a great quote in September from one of the honest guys who came out to tell us there was nothing, in fact, wrong with our furnace, so we called him out again. He not only kept the quote at the same price, but was running a special, so we also got a whole-house humidifier as well - for free! (Great service, unbeatable prices - if you're in the area, we highly recommend Kevin at Northern Colorado Heating & Air.)

No, of course we haven't used the a/c yet. LOL But yesterday was gorgeous outside. After Ro and the elder Wiglets got home from church, we tried a new Mexican restaurant for lunch and then headed over to the park to play for awhile. Grace absolutely loves doing the slide... and she was blessed to have her "Nina" (which is what she has begun calling Chris) and Josh take her down them again and again. After that we came home and the kids played outside most of the afternoon while Ro and I rearranged some of the items in the garage.

Our tree out front is beginning to bud. I don't think that's a good thing, since evidently we still could be in for some really cold weather this month. I have to admit (and excuse me if I've already admitted it), after having come through a "real" winter here - one with snow and colder temps and perhaps even longer than the ones we used to know - I am really looking forward to spring. The winter wasn't even as bad as I'd expected it, but I'm still getting excited about springtime. It was funny how many people were out and about yesterday - lots of people at the park, all the kids in the neighborhood playing outside. Pretty cool.

Time change this weekend... Easter in less than two weeks - seems like everything is happening so early this year.

We finally finished season 3 of 24 this past weekend. Pretty good stuff, although I was really glad for it to finally be over. I also watched Little Man Tate from 1991, which was interesting to me in that the kid competed (like Joshua!) in Odyssey of the Mind... and last week I watched Catch and Release... the best part of that movie for me is that it was set in nearby Boulder. :) These mini-reviews brought to you by... j/k

And finally, a couple of sad things to report. A woman at our previous church, R, has in fact lost her baby. :( And there is the friend of a friend who lost her 43yo husband this past week. I feel particularly burdened for her because she lost her 11yo daughter two years ago. And lastly, a brother and sister at a local middle school here were killed in a car accident on Saturday; they were 13 and 14. :( Please pray for these families.

Those Were the Days

Isn't it funny how a particular smell or taste can take you back to a specific memory of something in your childhood?

Tonight I was scrounging for something to make for dinner. There's not much here, sad to say, because I really don't like shopping much, so I procrastinate forever. Anyway, we had a dab of tuna salad left and a dab of egg salad left and I mixed them together (= tuna and egg salad) and made a sandwich. One bite and I was transported back to when I was a kid and we used to go boating as a family.

Now Mom was never a big fan of boating, to put it mildly, but the rest of us enjoyed it a lot, and really I have some wonderful, great memories of it all. Getting the food ready the night before (or sometimes early in the morning) - packing an ice chest of sodas and bags of food, including... you guessed it... tuna and egg salad. Stopping for donuts on the way out of town. A somewhat long drive (to us) in the back of the pick-up to the lake of our choosing for the day - often Pyramid or Castaic or Buena Vista. Walking barefoot on the dock while Mom and Dad backed the boat into the water, anxious and excited. Piling into the boat and heading off to score the perfect spot to call our own for the day. Swimming, water skiing, exploring, playing, reading - sometimes just the four of us and sometimes with extended family and/or friends.

I remember often we used to have to make our sandwiches and carry them out to the lake with our sodas, eating them in waist-deep water, to avoid being stung by bees.

I remember learning how to ski, being told how to do everything except what to do when you fall - that is, let go of the rope.

I remember how Dad tied our beginner water skis together while we were learning how to ski. That's the hardest part - keeping your feet together.

I remember specifically boating with some cousins, my grandma and Pop, their friends the Tuckers, some of Dad's friends from work, and sometimes Deb and I were allowed to bring a buddy along ourselves.

Good memories, of good times. Thanks, both of you, Mom and Dad.

I'm a Girl... I Think.

I'm starting to get a complex. Today we took Velcro to the vet to get spayed. Everything went well until it was time to pay, and the vet's assistant gave me the amount - $20 less than I was quoted. I said, "Are you sure? I was told it would be more than that." "Oh yeah," she said. "I forgot to tell you that. Velcro is a boy."

OK, so you might think that's bad enough, but there's more. Once upon a time long ago we adopted a beautiful kitty that we named Samson because a) we were told he was a boy, and b) he had somewhat long hair. We had Samson for quite awhile with no problems and then we went away on a weekend trip to San Diego. When we returned home, we walked in the front door to find our Samson curled up in the entertainment center, nursing three kittens. We had no idea Samson was pregnant. Heck, we had no idea Samson was a girl!

So evidently I have trouble identifying gender. Heck, when I was pregnant with Joshua we even thought he was a girl up until the last ultrasound just before he was delivered! We had several ultrasounds and each time we figured he was a girl. Ack!

So when you put it all together, can you blame me for starting to doubt myself?!?! I *think* I have one husband, one son, and two daughters... but you know... I could be wrong! LOL ;)

~~~~~
Funny how... an hour after I get home from WalMart, I have another list for the next trip already started. Sometimes, it takes even less time than that!

Thanks again to those who supported J's fundraiser for the AHA. He was the TOP FUNDRAISER for his school! :) We've never accomplished that before! Through online donations and checks received, he raised $380 to help fight heart disease. That's awesome!

J had a field trip today to go see a live performance of Annie, he had his first student council meeting this morning, and he had a birthday party this afternoon. Big day, so we're glad he's feeling so much better. We're still dealing with Grace's diarrhea, but it's not as severe as it was. She also had quite a fall yesterday from her high chair. :( She's really had a rough week.

And Miss Chris did a lovely job at her band concert last night. It's so neat to watch them and see how she's really developed a passion for music. The only bummer is, even with 9 songs, their set only lasts about 7 1/2 minutes! :)

What a Weekend

by Contributing Guest Writer, Christianne

Friday, February 29th
Today was pretty good. I just came home from LOCKER (Lord Our Christ Kids Eternally Reborn) club, a Christian club for LEMS (my school) students. I enjoy it a lot. It was pretty neat-one of the activities was to tear up these pieces of paper and come up with a picture. It was pretty difficult, especially since we didn’t know what we were doing until we actually ripped up the paper.

Then I went home and played the Wii. I played this fun game called MySims™. In this game, the person who kept the town (of which you get to name) up and running mysteriously left, and so did other people, as they saw no reason to live there. It’s up to you to help bring the town back to its original condition. Pretty cool game. When I first got it, I thought it would be a little childish, but actually, it fits my age. I really enjoy it. There’s also some content that a six-year-old wouldn’t understand, like this one time this person was conducting a séance. Of course, I don’t believe in doing that, so I didn’t join in, but anyways…

Saturday, March 1st
I had to get up at 4:15 AM. Dang! Way too early if you ask me. But there was a logical explanation for this: I got to go skiing today!! Yay!

The trip was hours long, though. Fortunately, the bus had TVs, so on the way there one of the chaperones popped in the movie Ratatouille. Lucky me. I wish my friend (I’ll just call her A) A were there, she owns that movie and really likes it, so…Anyways, they also offered snowboarding lessons, which she wanted to take. Poor her, she didn’t know! She just thought that it would only be ski lessons. Well, now we know: wherever there’s a ski lift, there’s going to also be snowboarders.

When we got there, kids unloaded their snowboards and skis. I just stood on the sidewalk with three other kids who were learning how to snowboard. The others, who have lived in Colorado so long they actually knew how to ski/snowboard, just took off to-well, somewhere. I have no idea.

My health teacher (whom I’ll call MS) was one of the chaperones, so she led us to the Ski and Ride School, where we would get fitted to go skiing. I mean, the snow there was actually real-back in California, it would be a miracle to receive snow. Anyways, I met my ski instructor, who I’ll just call E. She’s really nice, and she has this really cool accent. She’s from South America, so…

We learned how to stop (“Pizza!” as it was called. Pizza formation!) and to slowly ski down areas and turn. And to just do regular skiing, you have to be in French fry formation. Wow. Talk about being at an eatery, though I was learning about a sport. J This was also the first time I went on a ski lift. I was really scared the first time, because the lift went so high! I’m afraid of heights! Oh well. It turned out okay, though. What happened was that E and I were on it together, and I felt really safe. I felt even more safe with the safety bar over us, too-I am SO thankful for that. Anyways, we got down safely, so I’m really glad about that. We got to ski down the hill twice, and then it was time to go.

It was also a good thing my parents prayed, because I didn’t get injured (except two little scratches on my leg from the boot being fit too tight-my mistake) and I made it home safely. Thank God!

Sunday, March 3rd
Today I got up from a nice sleep in the basement with my brother. I know it sounds kind of awkward and strange, but it’s a weekend tradition.

I was still sleepy. I don’t know, that’s how my brain works! Get up while still drowsy! Gosh, that part of me is totally messed up…Anyways, I wish my body would have accepted more sleep, because as I said before…*ahem* 4:15 AM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That was no excuse, though. We still went to church. I mean, I like it, but I want some sleep!! Come on, peoples! It’s beauty to the eyes! It’s obvious that I haven’t slept!!! Aaaaahhhh!!

Oh well. So we went to church. Yay! On the way there our parents gave us a challenge to go speak to someone we want to get to know better. I was going to do it after class, but my mom came like, SUPER early. Boo hoo on me. :(

So then later my parents told me to put on some pants. I didn’t want to, but I figured that if they tell me to do something, I’d better do it. Then they told me to put on some tennis shoes, because I was going to be standing up a lot. What for?

It turned out to be a Newsboys concert!! There were also three other bands playing, too-Newworldson, Article One, and Rush of Fools. I loved the songs. We got some rainbow ice Dippin’ Dots, a hot pink Newsboys shirt, a CD for Rush of Fools (they said it was to help pay for their tour bus. Glad to help. J), and a button from Article One. It was a very cool experience. It was also my first concert.

The only downsides are that it was freezing cold and that we got home by 10:40 or something like that. :( I mean, for crying out loud!! It was hot on Saturday, and on Sunday it was freezing. What the heck?!

And I’m still tired. I didn’t get to sleep in at all this week, so waah. :(

Oh well. Both skiing and the concert were wonderful experiences, and the concert was a good bonding experience with my dad. :)

Bye!

-Christi

That Nasty Flu

It's sure hit us hard. Grace started with vomiting on Friday night, and she's been sick ever since. Vomiting, diarrhea - nasty. Sunday night was the worst, up until 3:30 a.m. before we could finally get her clean and settled down enough to get a few hours of sleep. Then it hit me as well the next day... AND then Josh. :( Grace seems to be feeling better this morning - so far, so good. Josh is still asleep. He never sleeps this hard, or this late. So far, my stomach is better today, too... so hopefully we're on the road to recovery. I'd hate for Josh to miss school tomorrow - he has his first student council meeting, a field trip, and a birthday party!

Chris seems all right, so far, but she had this bug a couple of weeks ago. Hopefully it'll bypass her on this round. She has her second band concert tonight, and she's pretty excited about that.

Sunday night Ro took Chris to her first concert! :) She got to go to the Budweiser Events Center to see one of the biggest bands in Christian music perform - the Newsboys! She got her picture taken with the bass player (I think) of one of the opening bands, Article One.


Ro said she was on her feet the whole time, rockin' out like a natural. :) She loved the Newsboys and got a t-shirt and they just had a fab time in all. They made it home and to bed before 11 (when Gracie's fun began) and Chris made it to school on time Monday morning. Busy weekend for her, with the ski trip on Saturday and concert on Sunday!

By the way, Josh's OM team didn't win on Saturday, but they had a great time and learned a whole lot!

I watched Catch and Release this weekend. It was okay, but the best part is that it was set in Boulder. ;)

By Popular Demand...

... the pink is gone. :)

Can you believe March is here already, and that 2008 is already 1/4 of the way over? Wow.

Well, I did it! My neighbor friend gave me courage and we went and played Bunko last night. I think there were 70 to 75 women there, from our church and our two sister churches in the neighboring communities. It was a lot of fun and a great way to meet people. Not that I'll remember all their names by tomorrow, but I hope I can remember many of them at least! But wow - Bunko is sure a great way to get people together and get them to meet others, huh? I even borrowed some dice earrings of Christianne's to help get me in the mood. :) I was just a little disappointed to find out it's really nothing like Craps, though... ;)

Poor Miss Grace seems to have caught Ro's stomach bug. She threw up in the night and has had yucky diapers all day. Poor kid. She's a good sport, though. She's been really good through it all, but now she's getting whiny and I know she's tired. :(

And what a wonderful day it was today! A beautiful, gorgeous 77 degrees this afternoon (with snow forecasted for tonight!?!) Ro got up and took Chris to the designated meeting area for her ski trip at 5:45. She was bundled up in her new ski pants and excited to go. I have to say, I so admire her courage. I wouldn't go play Bunko without a buddy, let alone go skiing 2 1/2 hours away! She has really blossomed here, willing to try new things and learning a lot about herself. I'm pretty impressed with her. When we spoke to her at lunch she said she was having a great time and that this might just be the sport for her! :) This afternoon she called us from the bus and said that she had such a good time. I can't wait for her to get home (another hour or so), and tell us all about it. :)

And then the rest of us went to Highlands Ranch for the 25th year of Colorado's Odyssey of the Mind. The only bummer was that the coach and her two kids couldn't make it because they got this nasty flu. :( However, the remaining kids rallied together and did a wonderful job. They tackled the problem of how dinosaurs became extinct, and Josh played the very important part of DinoPox - the disease that they came up with that wiped all the dinos out. :) After the presentation, the judges came over and talked to the kids about their project; they asked them questions and allowed them to talk more about it. Even Gracie was fairly quiet. All in all, an excellent job.

That's Joshua with the anklysaurus his team created.

We then had time for a nice lunch at IHOP. I know, IHOP, big deal... but we had the coolest guy come by and twist some balloons for the kids. Josh got a monkey with a banana and Grace got a bear with a heart. Fun stuff.

After that we went back to the OOTM meet for the second portion - a spontaneous problem. The kids are given a problem and they have to think on their feet to throw out possible solutions. They're judged on the amount of answers they come up with as well as creativity. Sadly, the kids are sworn to secrecy (only kids allowed in - no parents or coaches) until after the event on what the problem is (so as not to prepare other teams who haven't gone yet) - but Josh says he promised not to tell until MAY! So who knows what problem they got?!?

Hopefully we'll hear the results sometime this evening.

They held the competition at Valor Christian High School. Talk about a facility to make you drool over! This place was amazing - and huge! The church it's affiliated with is just across the street - also amazing and huge! Here are two pictures of parts of the church, followed by a picture of the school from the church parking lot.




After the competition was finished, we headed back home so I could change the colors on my blog before people revolted. ;)