Cute Little Monsters . . .

I think I started this knit monster project in early November.  I gave myself plenty of time before Christmas to finish, unfortunately, I got hung up on some knitting lingo and it stalled me for months.

Then lo and behold I went on a weekend retreat with some knitting friends a couple weeks ago and as if through osmosis I figured out what was troubling me the day after I got home.

 A week later I was finished.

From the "Big Book of Knitted Monsters."

A Wonderful Monday Walk . . .

I love listening to and learning from families that have the similar dynamic as mine, 3 boys.  A couple years ago I found a blog from a local family that has 3 boys.  The mom writes so well and I truly enjoy her way with words.  She often has me in stitches with giggles as she lovingly describes life with her 3 boybarians.

On Monday, I had the chance to take an awesome walk in her neck of the woods in Whatcom County.  I'm so thankful she brought her camera to capture the day.  Please click over to her blog of our walk.   Herding Grasshoppers

Lynden Pioneer Museum . . .

This gem of a place is truly one of my favorite things.

So many nooks and crannies filled with so many cool, old things.  The boys call this the Star Wars ATAT Walker.  Silly boys, it's totally a farm thing-a-ma-jig.

On this recent trip, I was accompanied by 11 Cub Scouts, their siblings and parents.  I didn't spend much time looking around.   I chatted, herded, grouped, guided and pulled the rank of Den Leader once, on boys, including my own, running circles around the upstairs Old Town Gallery.

This is a perfect place to find great collections of antiques.  I love this place because it can fulfill so many Cub Scout requirements.  It's also a great place to take visiting family.  It's a Lynden gem!

Sunshine on the Mountain . . .

The boys just completed lesson two of a 6 week ski lesson package.  Josh took the day off and joined us for the day of skiing.  He'd been watching the weather and knew the odds were good for clear and sunny skies over Mt. Baker. 

Catching the sunrise as we head east.

This year we're driving the back route to Mt. Baker Highway.  Doing so has shaved 20 minutes off our drive time.  That has made the drive much easier.

Look, we can see for miles and miles! Yay for sunshine!

The sun was shining all day!  It even started to melt up there.  Josh said it was a temperature inversion.  So while we were enjoying sun and warm weather, those down in the valley were experiencing colder temps.  Weird, but I'm not complaining.

 Lessons run from 9-11.  Then it's lunch time.

I kept my camera with me the whole day.  It was big and bulky but I wasn't going to miss any pretty mountain pics.  I also ended up taking a bunch of videos of the boys.  They found a jump and wanted to conquer it.

Josh and I spent the second half of the day chasing the boys down the hill. The Professor likes speed.  The Architect enjoys the jumps.  The Scientist has a dangerous love for both.   This is why they are in lessons.  Two down, four to go. 

Big Creek . . .

That rain last week was a bit much.  I'll take clear and cold over gray and rainy any day.

During one of the rainy nights the creek near our house flowed over it's banks.  Thankfully there's a big gully for the over flow.

The creek overflowed it's banks in 2010 too.  2010 Creek Flood.

Building with Polydrons...

When Josh was helping with school two weeks ago I brought out the Polydron building materials.  Somewhere on one of my mental "do to" lists I had "build pyramids with polydron."  I was glad to get that done and off the list.  These were bought last year with school funds.  At that time we used them to learn about prisms.  I thought I had blogged about it but I can't find it. 

First we built pyramids.

Then they had to go bigger and better.  

The Architect said he was building the Microsoft building. 

Chess Tournament #2 . . .

It took me a while to get this post together.  I had iPhone pics, iPad pics and Cannon camera pics to download.  The quality will vary greatly.
Ever since our first chess tournament last month the Scientist has been looking forward to his second.  Last Saturday we spent 7 hours at Wade King Elementary for another day of nail biting chess play.  The parents do the nail biting the kids do the playing.

I convinced the Architect to join the tournament because the only other option was to spend the day doing Christmas Tree pick up with his older brother, Papa and the local boy scout troop.

He didn't know what to expect but started off with a win after a 25 minute game.  He went in un-ranked and 33 on the list out of 34.  He played a boy ranked 10th for his first win.  This moved him up to 14 on the list.   It was exciting but set a false tone for what can actually happen at your first tournament.  The next 3 games were losses and he was feeling crushed, mad that I "made" him sign up and come to this tournament.  After an unwanted pep talk I left him alone for a good 30 minutes.  He played some app games and went into his last game calm but ready for a battle.  I watched from afar, upstairs looking down through Plexiglas.  I could tell he was playing tough and had the other guy's King on the run and in the corner.  At last, it was over.  The judged was called over and the Architect gave a thumbs up to his little brother.  He completed his first tournament with 2 wins and 3 learning experiences.  An excellent first time out.

I had 2 of these t-shirts made so my boys would "blend" in. 

The Scientist had a slow start.  He began the day playing the champion Kindergartner from the last tournament.  The game lasted about 5 minutes and we chalked that one up as another learning experience.  A few more of those came during the day.  Then the 4th game pairs went up and I told him he would be playing the little girl from the last tournament.  This little girl beat him and he remembers it well and has talked about it for a month because she did it by keeping her knights out and together to dominate the board.  

When she sat down to the board the Scientist smiled, drummed his fingers together and said "aaahhh, we meet again."  He had been hoping for this rematch all month.  

You can just barely see the board but he is rocking it.  Pawns out and Bishops out too.

As I watched the game I mentioned to the girl's mom who was watching beside me that my son had learned so much from the match that her daughter won against him.  She smiled and was happy to hear that.  That last tournament was also her daughter's first and the game with my son was her first and only win.  She hadn't had a win since.  In the end the Scientist beat her.  His first win and it was sweet.   Each having participated in the same two tournaments and each having only one win on their record - against the other.

His first medal.

At 3:30 the awards started and my little guy received his first medal.  He came in 9th out of 11 this time. All the K-1st grade kids who placed 9th-11th received a medal and the others received a trophy.  The Architect had such a huge amount of kids in his age group of 4th-5th graders.  He placed somewhere in the top 20's.  I was extremely impressed and proud for him but he was bummed and exhausted.  I'm not sure I'll be able to convince him to sign up for another tournament.  He's currently hooked on playing a chess app.
The Scientist is already wanting to sign up for the next tournament which is only 2 weeks away.
I'm not sure if I'm ready.

My First Dutch Puff...

 The boys and I had another opportunity to care for chickens over the weekend.  These girls were averaging about 12 eggs a day so I had to try out the Dutch Puff oven pancake recipe that is so famous in these parts.  I took a basic recipe and one with a bit more flavor and combined the two and doubled the recipe.  

Since I've never tasted the recipe before I have no idea if I got it right.  But here's the end result.

Sunday Planning . . .

Too much planning today for blogging.  I have a week of school to plan and a Tiger Den meeting.  I have lots to blog about so stay tuned tomorrow.  Hopefully I can catch up.

Our Frozen Sea Turtle . . .

During the month of December I find it easier to take the week off before Christmas for holiday break as well as the week of Christmas.  That means that, to stay on track I have to start school back up the week after Christmas.  So, on Monday December 31st we started back with our routine.  

Thankfully, Josh is home on vacation to lend a hand and nip any whining in the bud.  Having him home also allows me to schedule a FULL day of lessons, work and activities.  These past two days have been wonderful.   We are back in a routine, on schedule and having some fun.  (Is it strange to write routine, schedule and fun in the same sentence?)  

It's full steam ahead!

After today's science lesson the boys had an activity to complete outside and even though it was cold they enjoyed it.  

 Their task was to measure out and draw a life size 9' x 6' leatherback sea turtle. 

 The Professor was in charge of the measuring.

 The Architect was in charge of the drawing.

 And the Scientist helped decorate the back.

 I loved hearing the Scientist say "WOW, it's sooooo BIG!"