Science Olympiad

Lauren and Grace are on their school's science olympiad team again this year. They have been working really hard since the end of September and have been preparing for their tournaments.  

On January 2nd of this year, Lauren and Grace got out their Science Olympiad binders and proceeded to spend a few hours daily during their final week of winter break, preparing for the Science Olympiad on January 13th. Instead of playing with their toys, playing games, or meeting up with friends, they studied - hard.  

When school resumed and the SO team had two practices, the duo were ready.  

We got up bright and early on the 13th and drove to a neighboring school. The girls and I arrived at 7:30am, and Skip and George joined us later, after George's 8:00am basketball game. (Yay - they won!)  

They competed in their assigned events, and Grace filled in on the Pasta Transporter event, since she competed in that event last year.  After competing all day, their hard worked payed off during the awards ceremony. Lauren's team won first place for "In Bloom" and third place for "Deep Blue Sea". Grace's team won first place for "No Bones About It" and fifth place for Pasta Transporter.  

It's always nice when hard work plays off. 

Congratulations, Lauren and Grace, on your much deserved accomplishments!

Fine Arts Field Trip

The trio's school has a fine arts field trip to the Alabama Theatre each year in December. Because this is the only year that Lauren, Grace and George get to attend together, Skip and I both went with them to see a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". They sat with their sweet friends, and afterward we checked out the food hall and then came home for the glorious (almost) three week break.  

Fine Arts Field Trip 2017 from Cathi Lindsey on Vimeo.

Weekend Update

 Friends, today was a rough day of re-entry. We had a nice, cozy weekend, complete with lots of reading, snuggling and celebrating. First, the trio continued to prep for their return to school. The girls have had Science Olympiad prep work to complete, and William George has been completing timed math drills and lots of reading.

There is something about this cold weather that is very conducive to reading. Confession: I was way behind on reading, but managed to read seven books over the break. Cozy = reading.

We also celebrated Gran's birthday with some lasagna and cake. Although it was a milestone, she's calling it 35, and I am backing her up 100%.  

After the birthday lunch, we resumed our all-important scooching, and that's where a friend of mine found us later that afternoon when she rang our doorbell. We were unapologetic about our near-hibernation, during which time the duo were watching a rom-com, while I was reading. George, naturally, was playing football.  

We ventured out Sunday by joining a friend at church to watch his daughter be baptized. After church, the trio decided to have a pajama day on their last day of winter break, and I definitely agreed.  We had our own Golden Globes viewing party later that night, and the duo especially enjoyed critiquing the red carpet.  

George woke up Monday in full support of the Alabama Crimson Tide and its bid for a 17th National Championship tonight. This game is up for grabs, but we are sure pulling for the Tide.   

Roll Tide and happy Monday!

Enumerated Update

How is your first week of 2018?

Ours has been fantastic, but that's because our vacation bubble hasn't been completely burst yet. Sure, Skip returned to work on Tuesday, and that definitely stung. Even though the trio resumed some work here at home (e.g., science olympiad prep, etc.) and I decommissioned Christmas, we have still been in a very relaxed state. I don't want to sound too 2014 or anything, but we have seriously been getting our hygge on.

So I have completely bailed on pop culture and the weekly listicle here. There were so many things I wanted to mention last fall.

1) Will & Grace:   First, the return of Will&Grace. I loved that the show was considered controversial. I tuned in to the first episode in 1998 so it was very doubtful I felt controversial about watching the reboot. LOVED it and am so excited that it resumes this week.

2) Seinfeld: This is where I really dropped the ball. How could I not have mentioned Jerry Seinfeld's entrance to Netflix. I mean, first of all, thank goodness he was able to strike such a lucrative deal ($100M) because he has to be struggling, right? No, he's not; he's almost a billionaire.

Any rate. So I loved the special and am very excited about the return of Comedians in Cars. Also, if you  have seen the special, he does a bit about how we are conflicted about our needs. For example, nighttime Cathi stays up late reading and isn't worried at all about the 6:30am alarm because that's morning Cathi's problem. Nighttime Cathi wants to finish her book! You get the idea.

So that riff struck me as so perfectly true as it pertains to William George. Nighttime George looks at the clothing being laid out for him and is unbelievably magnanimous. Nighttime George is perfectly agreeable to wearing a button down shirt, sweater, jeans and his Sperry's. Of course, nighttime George wants to look good at school tomorrow! He isn't worried about comfort! He's wearing his jammies, for crying out loud! Morning George, on the other hand, detests those selections. He wants to wear a short-sleeved shirt, sweatpants with holes in both knees and his oldest and most worn out pair of shoes. He also wants to punch nighttime George in the mouth.

This is why I love Jerry Seinfeld... because he speaks the truth.

3) Related: Have you taken the Larry David Age Test?

Confession: My score was 0. As in zero. As in no points. As in, I answered every question incorrectly.

4) The Crown: Have you seen The Crown yet? I haven't completed the second season and have purposefully saved it for January viewing. Although I tried to get Skip to watch the first season with me last year, he wouldn't, but now he wants to catch up for season two.

5) Ocean's 8: Have you seen the trailer for Ocean's 8? I'm so intrigued.

Have a wonderful weekend!

My Birthday

Photo by Grace Lindsey

My birthday was back on December 27th. Because everyone was out of school/work, we had a great day. We had a lazy morning, complete with bed snuggles and brunch. We then had a late lunch/early dinner -- something Skip and I have always debated as dunch (me) versus lupper (Skip), until Gracie came out with "linner". Clearly, we had to concede.

After brunch, the trio gave me a full service spa treatment. After some pre-birthday discussions of them treating me to a spa day, they got very creative and put together a home spa experience. It was so incredibly awesome, detailed, and they took it very seriously.  I loved it! Best gift ever!

So we went took our time at a late lunch spot. We have been reminiscing a lot about our trip to DC last year and, although we all agreed that we did not have the energy for a trip this year, we definitely count DC as one of our favorites. Therefore, since we celebrated by birthday at the Arlington Cheesecake Factory last year, I chose our local Cheesecake to the trio's delight.  

I had a fantastic birthday... so good that I continued celebrating all week! Thanks to my amazing family for all the love!  

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everybody!  

Are you ready for 2018?

Lauren definitely is. She already has her planner organized, and she has made lots of resolutions.  

We have decided to make January our "power month" and are especially focused on making each Monday in January "power Monday".  

  

Whatever you resolve for 2018, we wish you the best!