This week was a good week for our family, with some unexpected twists and turns.
Spencer
Spencer's work went along well this week. His company got final approval for a contract to turn corn oil into jet fuel. The project is a joint project with clients he has worked for before in Panama City, FL and new clients in Kansas City, MO. Right now, there are several pilot plants in then engineering stage...so he spends lots of time drawing and such.
For his calling at church, he teaches all the young men (ages 12-18) on Sundays and also participates in their activities on Wednesday nights. Three Wednesdays a month, they have Boy Scouts. But one Wednesday a month, they combine with the young women. This Wednesday (his first as Young Men's President), they had a combined activity at Climb Upstate. So...Spencer got to go rock climbing!
Rebecca
I finally finished a project (last week)...but wanted to wait until it was delivered to post pictures. I finally got to the UPS store this week, and the presents were delivered and opened. So...I can finally share!!!
My brother and his wife are expecting their fourth child on MONDAY!!!! I'm way jealous that they get to hold a brand new baby girl tomorrow!!! So cool.
Anyway, I made their new little girl a quilt and a crocheted baby blanket. (I've made all my nieces and nephews a crocheted baby blanket, and most of them a quilt too). I'm super tickled pink at how well the crocheted blanket matches the quilt and how everything turned out!
Now that that deadline was over (PHEW), I could work on other things. I bought a book that has instructions for crochet animals. I have tons of extra yarn (see above about crocheted baby blankets). I thought it would be an fun way to use the extra yarn, and something to do as I'm traveling or waiting in the car...times I only have a few minutes here and there and want to do something but don't feel like reading.
So, I started one while I was waiting for Isaiah to get tubes in his ears. It was way easy and super fun! First creation: ELEPHANT.
Oh...and my kids finally decided to not eat all the bananas right away. Which meant that they went brown and I could make banana bread. Spencer took too long getting home from work and didn't get any. But we assured him it was super yummy!
Makenzie
Makenzie decided to practice her scissors skills and her interior decorating skills all at once. The results were pretty cool.
Hailey
Hailey is a sweet heart. She made me presents this week...just because.
Isaiah
Isaiah had an exciting week. He had surgery on Wednesday to get ear tubes. He did great. He was in the OR for less than 30 minutes. Most of our time was spent pre- or post-op. By the evening, he was running around playing "Super Heroes" with Hailey.
Waiting to head back.
Playing with the nurse anesthetist (dude...that's a crazy hard word to spell!!!)...
waiting for the doctor to be ready...
30 minutes later...waiting to wake up...
Up...but not quite awake...
Riley
Riley can now climb up onto the table by herself. Fun, fun, fun! She's starting to use more sounds to get her way. Also fun.
On Wednesday, things got really quiet. Always a bad sign. So I went hunting for Riley. Here is what I found in her room behind closed doors.
Sweet little girl took a LONG nap...right there on the floor!
Special School Stuff
We started an experiment with plants this week. We have two African violets. One is in the sun and one is in the dark. We will be monitoring the plants for a month to discover any changes that occur. Here they are at the start.
The two violets...
One light...one dark...
We've been studying Vikings this week in history and we made long boats.
Super-Duper Family Fun
On Wednesday, Spencer was going to run an all night experiment at work (8pm to 3am). So, he brought Makenzie and Hailey along for a sleep-over at work. They were going to watch a movie on the projector and have some fun together. As they were driving to work, Spencer got a call that the tube had ruptured. The packing in a fitting had failed and the tube erupted...oily mess everywhere (including the ceiling!). So...Spencer just went home. No slumber party this week. But is should be fixed soon and they'll do a repeat this week.
Notice the dark spot on the ceiling!
Crushed inner tube...
On Saturday, we helped clean the church building. Then went to A.H.G. and helped turn old blue jeans into shoes for Ugandan children. The service project was easy, fun, and for a good cause. You can learn more at:
http://www.solehope.com/
(I would have pictures, but I got sick Friday with a stomach bug, and wasn't very with it Saturday either. But, I shared with my kids, so they've been feeling icky all weekend. Luckily, it seems to only last 1-2 days...so we should all be better tomorrow!!!)
Team Lean Results
Well...neither of us won...but we both lost!!!
As some of you know, Spencer and I joined the YMCA's Team Lean contest this year. It ran from the beginning of January to the middle of March.
We didn't do anything extreme or drastic. Spencer would go to the gym every morning Monday through Friday and work out on his own (or take a spin class). On Saturday, he would go work out and then take one of the girls to yoga. I would go to the gym Monday through Thursday and take the cardio/sculpt classes at 9/9:30 am. We have switched to a whole-foods diet (for more information, read "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan and visit the website http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/).
Spencer started at 244.8 pounds and ended at 206.4 pounds for a total 15.7% weight loss!!!! (He came in 4th overall for guys). I started at 139.4 pounds and ended at 125.0 pounds for a total 10.3% weight loss!!! (I came in 5th overall for girls).
For our next step, we are thinking about investing in a good set of racing bikes (plus bikes for the kids and a trailer for the little kids) and then training together for the Middle Tyger YMCA Triathlon on June 1st.
We'll see.
Well...that's a week in our life!!!
Spencer
Spencer's work went along well this week. His company got final approval for a contract to turn corn oil into jet fuel. The project is a joint project with clients he has worked for before in Panama City, FL and new clients in Kansas City, MO. Right now, there are several pilot plants in then engineering stage...so he spends lots of time drawing and such.
For his calling at church, he teaches all the young men (ages 12-18) on Sundays and also participates in their activities on Wednesday nights. Three Wednesdays a month, they have Boy Scouts. But one Wednesday a month, they combine with the young women. This Wednesday (his first as Young Men's President), they had a combined activity at Climb Upstate. So...Spencer got to go rock climbing!
Rebecca
I finally finished a project (last week)...but wanted to wait until it was delivered to post pictures. I finally got to the UPS store this week, and the presents were delivered and opened. So...I can finally share!!!
My brother and his wife are expecting their fourth child on MONDAY!!!! I'm way jealous that they get to hold a brand new baby girl tomorrow!!! So cool.
Anyway, I made their new little girl a quilt and a crocheted baby blanket. (I've made all my nieces and nephews a crocheted baby blanket, and most of them a quilt too). I'm super tickled pink at how well the crocheted blanket matches the quilt and how everything turned out!
Now that that deadline was over (PHEW), I could work on other things. I bought a book that has instructions for crochet animals. I have tons of extra yarn (see above about crocheted baby blankets). I thought it would be an fun way to use the extra yarn, and something to do as I'm traveling or waiting in the car...times I only have a few minutes here and there and want to do something but don't feel like reading.
So, I started one while I was waiting for Isaiah to get tubes in his ears. It was way easy and super fun! First creation: ELEPHANT.
Oh...and my kids finally decided to not eat all the bananas right away. Which meant that they went brown and I could make banana bread. Spencer took too long getting home from work and didn't get any. But we assured him it was super yummy!
Makenzie
Makenzie decided to practice her scissors skills and her interior decorating skills all at once. The results were pretty cool.
Hailey
Hailey is a sweet heart. She made me presents this week...just because.
Isaiah
Isaiah had an exciting week. He had surgery on Wednesday to get ear tubes. He did great. He was in the OR for less than 30 minutes. Most of our time was spent pre- or post-op. By the evening, he was running around playing "Super Heroes" with Hailey.
Waiting to head back.
Playing with the nurse anesthetist (dude...that's a crazy hard word to spell!!!)...
waiting for the doctor to be ready...
30 minutes later...waiting to wake up...
Up...but not quite awake...
Riley
Riley can now climb up onto the table by herself. Fun, fun, fun! She's starting to use more sounds to get her way. Also fun.
On Wednesday, things got really quiet. Always a bad sign. So I went hunting for Riley. Here is what I found in her room behind closed doors.
Sweet little girl took a LONG nap...right there on the floor!
Special School Stuff
We started an experiment with plants this week. We have two African violets. One is in the sun and one is in the dark. We will be monitoring the plants for a month to discover any changes that occur. Here they are at the start.
The two violets...
One light...one dark...
We've been studying Vikings this week in history and we made long boats.
Super-Duper Family Fun
On Wednesday, Spencer was going to run an all night experiment at work (8pm to 3am). So, he brought Makenzie and Hailey along for a sleep-over at work. They were going to watch a movie on the projector and have some fun together. As they were driving to work, Spencer got a call that the tube had ruptured. The packing in a fitting had failed and the tube erupted...oily mess everywhere (including the ceiling!). So...Spencer just went home. No slumber party this week. But is should be fixed soon and they'll do a repeat this week.
Notice the dark spot on the ceiling!
Crushed inner tube...
On Saturday, we helped clean the church building. Then went to A.H.G. and helped turn old blue jeans into shoes for Ugandan children. The service project was easy, fun, and for a good cause. You can learn more at:
http://www.solehope.com/
(I would have pictures, but I got sick Friday with a stomach bug, and wasn't very with it Saturday either. But, I shared with my kids, so they've been feeling icky all weekend. Luckily, it seems to only last 1-2 days...so we should all be better tomorrow!!!)
Team Lean Results
Well...neither of us won...but we both lost!!!
As some of you know, Spencer and I joined the YMCA's Team Lean contest this year. It ran from the beginning of January to the middle of March.
We didn't do anything extreme or drastic. Spencer would go to the gym every morning Monday through Friday and work out on his own (or take a spin class). On Saturday, he would go work out and then take one of the girls to yoga. I would go to the gym Monday through Thursday and take the cardio/sculpt classes at 9/9:30 am. We have switched to a whole-foods diet (for more information, read "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan and visit the website http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/).
Spencer started at 244.8 pounds and ended at 206.4 pounds for a total 15.7% weight loss!!!! (He came in 4th overall for guys). I started at 139.4 pounds and ended at 125.0 pounds for a total 10.3% weight loss!!! (I came in 5th overall for girls).
For our next step, we are thinking about investing in a good set of racing bikes (plus bikes for the kids and a trailer for the little kids) and then training together for the Middle Tyger YMCA Triathlon on June 1st.
We'll see.
Well...that's a week in our life!!!
