26 March 2017

Gibson turned 10 today!  He likes to build things and fix things.  He's generally good natured and loves a good joke.  He's a good musician and has a great ear that helps him stay in tune.  He can work hard, but if he likes what he's doing, he doesn't think he's working anymore and his job becomes a fun game.

 Gib likes vanilla the best and asked for vanilla cupcakes with blue frosting for his birthday.  We love Gibson!

19 March 2017

Brandan, Sofi and Becky had one more chance to attend the temple together before Sofi went back to school.  We had a lovely visit with her and attending the temple was the highlight.  One note: Brandan's stepmom, Martha, gave Sofi Brandan's mom's temple suitcase.  Linda used the suitcase for over 40 years and Sofi is happy for the connection to her grandma.  Plus, after 40 years, the suitcase is stylishly vintage.

Becky made a strawberry pie to celebrate pi day on March 14th (3.14).

 We drove to Wilsonville for the weekend so Abe could compete in the state Mathcounts tournament.  This year the competition was held at a large engineering firm called Mentor Graphics.  This is a photo of Abe before the competition began.  The morning started with the individual events.  First up was the sprint round where the kids had 40 minutes to answer 30 math problems without a calculator.  Next came the target round which are harder problems with a calculator allowed and a rather complicated timing system (2 problems in a set,  6 minutes for each set, 4 rounds total).  An engineer must have thought up the event.  Abe was nervous and excited, in a room full of about 75 other nervous and excited middle school kids.

 The team event followed the individual events.  Since Abe was not on a team, we took advantage of the time to get lunch.  We ate at a fun restaurant where ordering was super fun.  Each customer used a clipboard to customize a burger.  We had so many choices-- vegan, gluten free, over 30 toppings-- lunch was the highlight of trip for Abe and Gib.

 After lunch we headed back to Mentor Graphics for the scores and awards.  There were trophies for the top 5 teams and the top 5 individual scores.  The top 4 individuals, even if they're from different schools, form Oregon's state team and will compete in the national competition in May.  Abe finished in the middle of the pack.  This is a group photo of all the kids.  You'll have to take our word that Abe is in the photo, slightly to the left and down about three rows from the bottom of the screen.

 Helen stayed behind with friends for the weekend because she had her own event to attend: the regional Battle of the Books competition.  Her team of 4 girls won their school's tournament to advance to regionals.  They each read 16 books and then battled other teams by answering quiz questions about the books.  Helen's team didn't win any matches at regionals, but Helen had a lot of fun with her first weekend away from family.  She and her teammates made t-shirts for the competition.  Their team name is a compromise after not being able to settle on a name everyone liked.

12 March 2017

Monday was our last day of skiing and snowboarding lessons.  Here's a photo of Helen with her snowboard.

 Here's Abe at the end of a run.

 Here's Gibson at the end of the same run.  It was a snowy, blowy day, but we stayed warm as long as we kept moving.

 In this photo Gibson and Abe are about to drop over the hill.  The kids skied all over the mountain on Monday, top to bottom, left to right.  By the end of the day they had all rode the fastest ski lift and gone down at least one black diamond route.  It was a pretty great day!

Gibson has been making wands to sell at the next marketplace day for his class.  He starts with a wooden chopstick and adds details with hot glue.  Then he paints them.  He's already made 12 and marketplace is still 2 weeks away.

 Helen thought it looked like fun and has made a couple, too.

 Gibson's school celebrated Dr.Seuss's birthday this week.  HIs class performed a play based on the book "Oh the Places You'll Go."  Here's a photo of Gib reciting his line,"You can get all hung up in a prickly perch and your gang will fly on.  You'll be left in a lurch."

 He also played in the Boom Band. It was an odd little band : one cello, one electric guitar, an African drum called a sakara and one acoustic guitar.  The class performed the play two times, once during a school assembly and once in the evening for Dr. Seuss Night. 

 Gibson was recognized as student of the month for his class at the assembly.  Many of the teachers dressed up for Dr. Seuss Day.  Gib's teacher is dressed like the Cat in the Hat and is standing behind Gibson.

Here's a photo of Gibson with the Cat in the Hat laster in the evening.

On Saturday, Abe, Helen and Gibson all played piano solos at the Oregon Music Teachers spring recital.  

Three cheers for Sofi being home!  Sofi is home for a few days for her spring break. We went with her to the temple Saturday morning in preparation for her mission.  Mostly we're basking in her Sofi-shine!

5 March 2017

Our big news for this week is Helen got braces!  This is a before photo.

Here's an after photo.  This will be Helen's smile for the next 2 years!

 For the past month, Becky, Abe, Helen and Gibson have been learning how to downhill ski.  Well, Helen is learning how to snowboard and the rest of us are learning to ski.  Helen's entire class signed up for ski school and Becky has been checking Abe and Gibson out of their schools to come, too.  The class needed parent volunteers so Becky gets her ski rentals and lessons for free.  The kids learned quickly and moved off the bunny slope to explore the rest of the mountain.  Becky was slower to learn, but is very comfortable on the bunny slope and can manage to go down an intermediate run.  Tomorrow will be our last lesson and we will miss our Mondays on the slopes.  This is a photo of the bunny slope.

 Brandan sets goals with each of the kids every month and plans rewards for finishing their goals.  Sometimes they catch up on a few rewards at a time, like on Saturday when Brandan took Helen to the Barnes and Noble bookstore and then made fancy melts for lunch.

Helen finished a report on pirates this week.  She compared pirates from the 1600s to modern pirates. Conclusion: piracy has increased.