Super Troopers For the Win!

This year has been Jacob's senior year in high school. It has been a wonderful experience for him and he has learned so much. This fall he will be at Virginia Tech and our house will no longer be quite so full.

 As his high school career has been coming to a close he had one big final project, the hover car. The class was divided into teams with the assignment to build a hover craft. An integral part was to have a theme for the creation, not just for the car but for the team members as well. After some hard lobbying by Jacob's two team mates, they settled on the movie "Super Troopers." I found some "trooper shirts" at Party City and the guys used yellow duct tape for the stripe along the pant leg. Aviator sunglasses and a big old fake mustache for Jacob rounded out the look.

Today was the big competition for all the hover crafts. Team Super Troopers had created a very quick and nimble car, It passed the maneuverability portion with great style and speed. The team's driver, the other Jacob, was able to swing around the car and come to a very impressive stop at the end of the course. The next portion was the timed races. They didn't have the fastest car, the Duck Dynasty entry went off like a shot, but it's maneuverability won the day. They ended up winning the competition by a two second margin.

Jacob at one point observed that today they proved that a '93 Crown Victoria was faster than the USS Enterprise.

Fire!

You know you live in the South and or a rural area when an integral component of a field trip involves the students learning how to handle civil was era guns.

That said, it was an educational field trip. Max's class went to Pamplin Park and we learned a great deal about life during the civil war. They have a huge collection of artifacts and a great audio tour of the museum. The guides were knowledgeable about the subject and were great at keeping us moving along while engaging the kids. This was not the first time for Max, but it was for me and I'm so glad I elected to chaperone. I learned quite a bit on this trip and would recommend Pamplin Park to any one visiting the area.

Artist of the Week: National Honor Society

Jacob is this week's artist for his official induction in the National Honors Society.

He was admitted some time ago, but not in time for the fall induction ceremony. Which wasn't too big a deal, he was still able to include his affiliation on his college applications. He just missed out on a slightly bigger event in the main auditorium as opposed to the smaller room that it was held in today. Five current members of the NHS spoke, candles were lit, and then a brief bio was read of each of the four inductees. Either there was cake and for me it was nice to have the short version of the event.

I'm very proud of his achievement, I was oblivious to the whole thing when I was in high school, It wasn't until college when I became dimly aware. Additionally it wasn't even an option at my school. I hung out with a smart crowd in high school, but grade wise I wasn't particularly motivated. Only some classes were challenging and I was perfectly happy with a mixed assortment of As and Bs. Plus the whole community service thing didn't exist, maybe my exercising my geriatric neighbor's horses would have counted.

Anyhoo, I seriously doubt I would have made the cut. So well done Jacob.

Artist of the Week: Mount Everest

Wind Symphony, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

This past weekend was the annual district assessment for school bands. Jacob's school hosts the event and everybody, parents, students, and the band director work their collective tails off to make the whole thing work. We have had the honor of hosting this event for quite sometime due to our hard work producing a well run affair that runs on schedule. If you are scheduled to go on at 5:15pm, by gum you will be on stage no later than 5:15 pm. This year we had to rejigger the schedule a bit to slip in an extra school. They had been originally scheduled for Friday, but they had a snow day and couldn't come. It would be a shame for all their practicing to be for naught, so we made it happen. None the less we still ended on time.

In addition to running concessions, setting up the stage and escorting the various schools to the warmup room, the main auditorium, and the sight reading room, our kids also participated in the assessment. Friday the lower, symphonic band performed and received a superior rating. Saturday the upper, wind symphony performed and received a perfect superior rating. The kicker, for the past 25 years the wind sympony has garnered a superior rating. That is quite a feather in their cap.

Below is part of their performance, the piece is titled "Mount Everest." I apologize for the poor sound quality. I was using my cell phone and it really did not do justice to the performance. It sounded much better in person.

Scientific Brownies

Scientific Brownies, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today two of Rebecca's classmates came over to work on their STEM/science fair project. They were tasked with making a device that would allow an uncooked egg survive an approximately 8 foot fall without using a parachutes. They had created an initial prototype a couple of weeks ago and came to our house to test using the second floor area that overlooks the great room.

They worked away and came up with a second design and decided to test it. An egg was procured, placed in the device, and dropped over the railing. The shell cracked, but the membrane remained intact, this counted as a success However just to be sure they tested two more times, each time with a new egg. Meanwhile Rebecca asked what she should do with the cracked eggs. I told her to set them aside, I would come up with a use for them.

As they discussed more testing I cut them off. I envisioned my remaining eggs being destroyed and that was not an option. I told them to weigh an egg and use something else as the test subject. Rebecca had some modeling clay and it was perfect for the job. As for the cracked eggs, well it turns out my brownie recipe uses three eggs.

The End of LBJ's Civil Rights Speech

Originally I posted this for Jacob to check the clip out for a school project. We were having issues with Google playing nice. It never did work out, a classic left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing (stupid Google and another reason not to use Chrome). After it was all said and done I decided to leave it up as a bit of a nod to Back History Month.

Snow Day

Snow Day, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today was the second snow day of this week, coming after a whole week off from last week's snowstorm. Thankfully it looks like the kids will be all back in school with just a two delay in the morning.

I love the snow, I love sleeping in, I love my children, but it is all wearing thin. I ran away a bit today to go shopping at Costco and to see Meryl a bit. It will be good to get back into the old routine. Plus I think we are now out of the built in snow days in the school calendar. The school year may be stretched out a bit come June.

Max

Max, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

It has been a rather wet winter break. The snow is always North and West of us, all we ever get is rain. As a result a fair amount of time has been spent indoors. Fortunately the kids get along fairly well and the house is big enough that we are not all piled up on each other.

The older two boys are finishing up homework. my goal is to avoid the classic Saturday afternoon freak out when a child realizes that school starts up again on Monday. I think they are in decent ship. I'll have to ask a few pointed questions tomorrow. Either way, playtime is coming to an end.

Life on the Farm

Farm, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

For the past month this has been our kitchen table. Nate has been working on a science project involving plants and magnetic fields. There are 90 plants in this picture, three per pot and ten pots per variable. The pots in the foreground have battery powered electromagnets, the next section has permanent magnets, and at the far end the plants have neither electro nor permanent magnets.

Monday was the end of the whole thing and I was very happy to see the plants grow. Theoretically I could have kept a few going over the winter and planted them next spring.

No.

The plants were already starting to lean and wrapped themselves around each other. It was quite a challenge for Nate to tease them apart for the final data collections. It was easier for him to cut each plant flush with the soil and then take all of the measurements. I could see differences between the two groups, but Nate hasn't crunched all the data yet. My guess is the the electromagnets stimulated the most growth.

Artist of the Week: Jingle Bells

Max, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Max and his middle school beginning band are this week's artists. The picture I have here is Max at one of his final regular season games.

He is not the best player on the team, but he has a lot of heart and loves soccer. He understands that practice is something you have to do to get better. His first year of travel soccer has been very challenging, but has remained undaunted. Hopefully this same perseverance will carry through in his other endeavors.

Case in point band. This is not the best rendition of Jingle Bells you'll ever hear, but it is remarkable considering way back in the beginning of September the students were picking out their instruments. It is hard enough to learn to play an instrument and read music, adding in learning how to play in a band makes it even harder. A sort of musical sink or swim situation. so I'm very proud how the band was able to make it's way through Jingle Bells, squeaky clarinets and all. Oh and Max, he is playing the glockenspiel off in the back.

Friday Night Lights

Friday Night Lights, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

The High school football season is coming to a close this weekend and it has been overall a good one. I finally hied myself to two games to see what it was like in person.

My high school had a terrible football team, I think they never had a winning season while I was there. The big athletic stars were the soccer team, state champions at least every other year. Also we never had a marching band, so this whole high school football/marching band thing is very alien to me. Dartmouth (our local college) has a football team, but I never went and their marching band is a "scatter band," wasn't much of a point of reference either.

What I have learned the past four seasons is that the game is important, but a huge part of the experience is the socialization. kids get to wander around, eat junk food, talk, goof off, and watch their team in action. I kind of understand the appeal of going to the games. I still don't "get" football, but I can see how being at the game is fun.

Operation Cookie Drop 2013

Cookies, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Every year, round about now, I go on a huge chocolate chip cookie baking binge. I like to give my children's teachers a little something for the holidays and I settled on making them my homemade chocolate chip cookies. They are always well received and very much appreciated.  Particularly with the high school teachers.Most parents are burnt out with teacher gifts by the time their  children leave elementary school.

At first I got small cookie tins, since it was only a few teachers. But over the years, as the number of teachers increased, I had to switch over to gift bags. Thus the focus is on the cookies and not the container.

Each bag has a dozen and a half freshly baked cookies. Each child has six to eight teachers. Throw in a few extras like trumpet teachers, bus drivers, and clinic staff (Max has to stop by daily for medications during the school day) and you have a boatload of cookies. Pictured here were the eighteen bags I made up for today. There was originally 19, but I had already given one to Jacob's trumpet teacher who was here for Jacob's lesson. Anyhoodle, I make up the bags and put them into a grocery bag and it's up to the child to distribute the cookies.We had a successful operation cookie drop today, none were forgotten or misplaced.

Meanwhile when the kids were at school I started  making another twelve  for the remaining teachers plus another for our garbage collectors. So that's 32 bags or 48 dozen cookies.

Whew, that's a whole lotta baking going on.

Friday Night Lights

Under the Lights, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

For the first time ever I went to a high school football game. Though in reality I was just there for the band.

it's Jacob's senior year and I realized that if I was ever going to go to a game I should get off my duff and actually go to one. It was the penultimate regular season game with nothing particularly special about it. My in-laws were in town and we decided it would be fun to go to the game. We would watch the first half of the game, the band's halftime show, and then head on back home.

It was a beautiful night for football, the weather mild with the rain holding off until after halftime and even then it was just a fine mist. I had fun chatting with Larry's mom and not watching the game (It was expected to be a rout and our high school did not disappoint, only one touch down by the visitors). I alsogot a kick out of the warm reception I got from the band members as I walked past. They are a nice bunch of kids and I'm glad my son is one of their number.

First Day of Middle School

First Day of Middle School, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today I can really and truly say I have no more elementary school aged children. After 12 (!) years of having at least one, and for a few years three, in elementary school I'm done.

I guess it is a little bit sad, but I'm so done with it all. Don't get me wrong, I love our school. We had wonderful teachers and the staff was terrific, particularly with Max. However I'm so glad to be closing that chapter in our lives.

As for my middle-schoolers, they were nervous, but excited. Their seemly sad expressions are more about the much earlier bus schedule and the far longer walk to the bus stop.

Oh and silly mom having to take yet another picture.

Artist of the Week: Piñata

Jacob, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

This week's artist is a rather valiant Jacob.

I took this photo of him near the end of the school year, The sword he is wielding is in actuality a piñata. It was an extra credit project for his Spanish class and he really knocked it out of the park. His teacher liked it and asked if she could keep it as an example for future classes. Jacob was happy to gift it to her and I was even happier to not have it add to the mess in our house.

Jacob did, however, bring it home to show off and have a few pictures taken. He was justifiably proud of his work and wanted us to see his creation. Then it was packed off back to school a couple of days later.

sword, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

He had told me in advance he was going to bring home his piñata, but never told me what it looked like. I had a mental image of the type you find at parties, you know something like these seven pointed stars that are filled with candy. So you can imagine my surprise when he came out of the school with a sword. A really nice and sturdy short sword. I know they can be any shape, but I (wrongly) assumed it would be a traditional shape since it was made for Spanish. Ah well, live and learn.

Knackered

Blue Ridge, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today I drove to Blacksburg and back., which is no small feet considering to almost 4 hours away.

Jacob is attending a summer session at Virginia Tech. The course is an intensive week long exploration of architecture and design. He'll be there with other like minded high school students, living in a dorm and eating in a dining hall. It is a sort of mini preview of college living.

Meryl tagged along, she has never been to Virginia Tech and was curious to see what it like. I much appreciated the company for the long ride back. After Roanoke the roads are very empty. I got to see quite a bit more the Blue Ridge Mountains, but I forgot my camera so this picture from trip with Larry will have to suffice.

It wasn't a bad drive, but I'm happy to be home.

End of the Rainbow

Rainbow, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Just one more day.

One more day of getting up early to prod children out of day and bustling them out the door to meet the bus.

One more day of packing school lunches that might be eaten.

I can't wait for that day to be over.

Conversely I can't wait for the first day of school in September.

Artist of the Week: Baking with Jacob

Jacob, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Jacob is this week's artist for his little foray in baking.

I can't believe my boy is finishing up his junior year of high school. He is looking at various colleges and universities with an eye towards architecture. He has grown a lot this year, but he is still the same goofy boy. He is starting to take more of an interest in how food appears on the table, but he is still a ways off in regards to cooking for the family. He'll get there, apart from cookies and cakes, I really didn't start cooking until junior year in college.

Anyhoodle, as I said the school year is winding down and as a result the assignments are getting rather... unique.

mock apple pie, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Monday he had an extra credit project for chemistry, to bake a "chemical apple pie." He started to tell me how there are no apples when I blurted out"Oh it's a mock apple pie and you use crackers."

Bingo.

I have never had nor baked one, but I have always been intrigued by the whole idea of a mock apple pie. This assignment should be very interesting. Pies, apart from the crust, are pretty easy to make and make for a good first time baking project. Jacob was to make the whole thing, all I could do was provide the materials and maybe coach a bit from the sidelines.

sliced mock apple pie, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Here is the recipe he brought home from school:

"Chemical Apple Pie"
Materials needed:
1.5 quart saucepan
3 cups water
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 tsp cream of tartar
25 Ritz crackers
pastry for two pie crust (store bought is fine)
cinnamon
butter
pie plare

Procedure:
1.) Bring the 3 cups of water to a boil in the sauce pan.
2.) Mix the sugar with the cream of tartar and add this to the boiling water.
3.) Add 25 whole Ritz crackers, one at a ti8me, to the water.
 Do Not Stir
4.) Boil for 3 minutes but do nor stir.
5.) Pour this mixture into a pastry lined pie pan.
6.) Sprinkle the top with cinnamon and dot lightly with butter.
7.) Cover with the pastry top and pierce several times to allow steam to escape.
8.) Bake at 450 F for 30 minutes or until done.
9.) Allow to cool and taste for quality.

Pretty easy and not an apple in sight. I taught Jacob how to make pie crust, the main points being cold butter and handle it as little as possible. He did a great job rolling out the dough and assembling the pie. The only deviation was a dash of ground ginger to liven things up.

As for the pie itself, it actually worked. It's not the best pie in the world, but it looks and smells like a proper apple pie.

Artist of the Week: Spring Band Concert

Jacob and the Trumpet Section, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Last week was the 35th annual Spring Concert for Jacob's wind symphony. They did a great job on the four main pieces: Time Sift. Heartbeat Five, Sun Cycles, and Passages plus the traditional end of Spring concert set: Armed Forces Songs (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard) and The Stars and Stripes Forever. This year there was an added bonus in the audience, Jacob's grandparents  were able to come down for the concert.

I selected Sun Cycles to post because of a rather odd connection we have with the song. It was composed by Brian Balmages as a commission by the Patrick Marsh Middle School in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, just outside of Madison. We had lived in Madison for oh about 7 years and still have friends in the area and in fact one family still lives in Sun Prairie.


Funny how you can find connections in the strangest places.

A Capital Field Trip

the Capital and Max, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.

Today was the big fifth grade field trip to Washington DC and I got to spend the day playing tourist with Max.

Our school does the big DC trip a little differently than most others. Instead of large groups of students being herded about on a set schedule we have as many parent chaperons willing to come allowing  us to scatter to the for winds. Each chaperon has one, possibly two students, we are dropped off at the Museum of Natural History at roughly 10 and picked up at the Air and Space Museum precisely at 2:30 pm. DC traffic being what it is if we are just 5 minutes late on our departure another hour is added to the drive.

As a result the kids get to go to the museums they want.

Max chose the Museum of Natural History, the National Gallery, and the Air and Space Museum. The later was only the result of A) we had lunch there and B) that was our pick up point. He really wanted to go to the Lincoln Memorial, but with a half hour hike to and from he decided it wasn't worth the effort. The weather was perfect, not at all the scorcher that was originally forecast. I had a good time as did everybody else on the trip.