Robotics Team

This year, the kids' elementary school started a robotics team for kids in grades three and up, which Olivia joined.  Olivia absolutely loved participating on this team and looked forward to her weekly practice.  During the first several meetings, the team worked on learning about robots, STEM, and the correct terminology that would be used to assemble the robots.  After a month or so of this, the students began working in small groups to assemble the robots.  Once the robots were assembled, the team met to practice the skills that would be needed for competition.  The sponsors had hoped to host an elementary competition, but there are no other elementary robotics teams in our area, so it was a no-go.  Instead, they decided to end the year by having a skills competition with all of the members of the team competing against each other.  The kids took turns driving the robot through an obstacle course.  They received points for completing each obstacle.  Olivia did well on her run (below).  She did hit one cone, but had a clean run other than that.  She and another kid ended up tied for first, and they had to defer to time to see who completed the course the fastest.  Wouldn't you know they had the exact same time.  So, they had to run the course a second time.  Olivia's had a perfect second run, and she ended up in first place.  She is really looking forward to participating in this activity again next year.

Region Tech Fair

 Back in December Olivia entered a project in her school system's tech fair and placed second in Multimedia for the 3rd-4th grade band.  The top two contestants from the county were able to advance to regionals, which took place last weekend.  Knowing that there would be tough competition at the region fair, Olivia went back and "spiced up" her project.  Her hard work payed off because she placed first and will attend the state competition in March. She also took an Online test (the "Technology Literacy Challenge") and ended up receiving a second place medal for that.  We are so proud of Liv's hard work and dedication to her project.

Paris Room

We have been talking about redecorating Olivia's room for over a year now.  She wanted to switch from a "princess" room to a "Paris" room.  The three-day Martin Luther King weekend day seemed like a great time to go ahead and complete our project.  We spent our time repainting (a slightly darker shade of pink), rearranging furniture, and hanging new decorations.  Olivia is very pleased with the finished product, and now Owen is putting in to have his room redecorated.

Wild Adventures

 Happy 2016!  After dealing with Olivia's illness for a week and a half, we had two full days of everyone being well before Owen got sick (hooray).  In those two days we managed to see the new Star Wars movie and make a visit to Wild Adventures to get our 2016 season passes.  We didn't have passes in 2015, so it has been a year since we've been. The kids loved revisiting their favorite rides and attractions.  We look forward to a year of rides, concerts, and waterpark fun.

Christmas 2015

We had another wonderful Christmas this year- although I was worried that we wouldn't because of sickness.  Olivia started running a fever on the last day of school before Christmas break.  We visited the doctor's office where she tested positive for strep.  We started on antibiotics, but after six long days with little improvement, we decided that this needed to be looked at again.  We ended up with a five hour trip to the emergency room where a chest x-ray showed that Olivia had pnemonia.  She got a shot in the tail and a prescription for a stronger antibiotic.  Fortunately, she was well enough to attend the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church.

After the church service we headed to my parents' house for our annual Christmas Eve dinner.  Nick and Cassie had just brought James home from the hospital, so obviously they couldn't make it home for Christmas.  We did Facetime them and we all oohed and aahed over that precious little baby.  Everyone received so many nice gifts, but the gift of the night was Mama's new cell phone.  This is really a gift for us all- her old one is a total piece of junk.  Hopefully now we will be able to get a hold of her.

Around 2 a.m. Santa paid a visit to our home, and around 2:30 Brian and I were woken up by our children telling us that Santa had come.  The kids were told to go back to bed for a little bit and that after a rest they could get up and play with their toys.  At 3:30 they were up again, and Brian had to go order them back to bed for a second time.  This time they actually went back to sleep and ended up sleeping until almost 11:00.



The kids received so many nice things.  After opening all of our gifts, we made our way to Granny Buie's house for a delicious Christmas lunch.  We were all exhausted by the end of the day.  We had such a blessed Christmas with our family this year.

A Nephew!

 It's babypalooza in our family!  On Dec. 11th, my first nephew- James Samuel was born to my sister Cassie and bro-in-law Nick.  He weighed 6 lb 12 oz and was 22 inches long.  He has a head full of hair.  Everyone is so excited about his arrival!  He was born in Atlanta, so I haven't had a chance to meet him yet.  I cannot wait to get up there and hold that little stinker.  Owen and Olivia are also anxious to meet their "boy" cousin.

In more baby news, my cousin Jessica had her baby- Riley Quinn- four days before James was born.  RQ also weighed 6 lb 12 oz.  I have gotten to meet Riley Quinn and she is a sweetie.  Two new babies to love- this is such a happy time for our family.

Christmas Musical

 The kids sang their favorite carols with the Children's Choir at the annual Christmas performance last weekend.  This year both kids had a solo- Owen sang a verse of "Away in a Manger" and Olivia had a verse of "Deck the Halls".  As always, the kids did a great job and were rewarded by a "surprise" visit from Santa.  We enjoyed this evening of  entertainment, fun, and fellowship.