Resurrection Post #1: January, In Review

Here I go, trying to resurrect this blog after way too long of an absence.  I miss blogging.  Here's my attempt at trying to catch you all up:

Our family has a variety of cultures that we are trying to honor.  In January, we joined many of the Hispanics in the area (and our own little Mr. Strut) by celebrating with a Rosca de Reyes.  Basia purposely chose the piece of bread with the king in it.  She was supposed to be the one making us tamales at our next celebration, but she managed to get out of it.

The big kids got to compete in a robotics competition.  We were proud of our homeschool group who had 4 of the top 5 teams in the tournament!  Never in a million years did I picture the day ending with Basia's team victorious over all the other teams (including her big brother's), but the Robotic Nerds won it all.  It was very impressive to see the team of 4 girls take it all.  They are now preparing for the state tournament in April.

Fun with science.  Baking soda, vinegar, and food coloring above, thanks to Aunt Diana.  Fun with microwaves below.   A full egg in a microwave makes quite a mess!

I started the new year with the goal of potty training Mr. Strut.  I thought I'd attempt working with Miss Personality at the same time.  I gave up with Miss Personality within a few hours.  I am an utter failure at potty training Mr. Strut so far.  He and I will resume our attempts...someday.  Maybe I'll just send him to Potty Camp at St. Mark's this summer.  Two potties go unused...

We got to see the awesome NASA Super Guppy on a field trip.  It was quite impressive.  It was a little, rough, however getting all my little ones inside to see the control room and the cargo area.  You can see the two narrow ladders below.  Imagine me handing small one after small one up each set to a man helping above.  To see the cargo area, I had to hand them over the hole containing the ladders to get them to the back, again child after child.  It was a time when it was a little embarrassing to have so many little ones.  It seemed more like a skit of some sort than a possible reality.

Mostly the month was spend enjoying our last days with Miss Personality and trying to hold together emotionally with the knowledge that she was leaving us on the 1st of February.  A house full of kids kept me busy enough, and centered in the moment enough, to not totally lose myself in sadness.