First Lego League Robotics

In December, both Cordell and Ryan were able to compete with the Rolla Regional Robotics Teams in the First Lego League in Mountain Home, Arkansas. This involves building and programming a Mind Storm robot, and strategizing missions to gain the most points during two and a half minutes of competition.

The judges also talked to the team members about all aspects of their project and were on the lookout for signs of team work and good sportmanship.

In addition, each team must complete research on how robotics can be used in keeping food safe, this year's theme. Cordell's team, The Green Team, chose cheese to research and gave a 5 minute presentation to the judges giving lots of info about cheese, how it is made, and what steps are taken to prevent contamination from the farm to the table. They were the "Cheese Heads"!

The Cheese Heads scored 3rd in the competition for points, won the "Core Values" award for strong team work, and will advance to the state level competition in Little Rock, Arkansas, in February! Great Job Green Team!

This picture shows the board competition between the robots. Here Cordell is facing his brother, Ryan's team in a head to head trial. Needless to say, it becomes a rather intense few minutes!

Ryan's team, "The Red Team" chose to research eggs for their food safety topic. Here they are preparing for their 5 minute skit for the judges. They came up with the acronym "CLUCK" to protect eggs.

C hill the egg at collection and keep it cold.

L eave egg in shell until ready to use.

U tensils clean and never mix with raw / cooked.

C ook it completely.

K eep it hot until it's eaten

They ended the skit with a very cute song about Salmonella, set to the tune of "Interjections!" It really wowed the judges!

The "Chicken Heads", as they were fondly known, were the First Place tournament Winners with the highest consistent board score, best robot design, and highest marks for their research project. They also advance to Little Rock in February!

WAY TO GO RED TEAM!

Fall is harvest time...

Digging up Sweet Potatoes!

This is the 2nd year we have grown sweet potatoes. They are really quite easy to grow and don't require a lot of care. Late in May I bought 25 sweet potato slips (small plants) and planted them. After mulching, we really just left them alone until this past week. Cordell and Ryan have been a great help in digging them up, and it is nice that they can just take over the task for me now.

We will be eating these soon. Yummy!

Posted by Pam

St. Louis Science Center

Last month while Jenny was at Sr. Week at LPBC, we went to the Science Center after my dentist appointment. My neice, Jessica, came with us also. We had a lot of fun looking at all their new exhibits. Our favorite things were watching the science experiment shows, doing all the hands on stuff, and building arches. Here is a small wooden arch, nicely displayed by Cordell and Jessie.

Next it was time to try something bigger - a bigger arch!




Midway... and Success!

This was a "hamster wheel" of sorts which powered a machine to lift balls up to the ceiling, in which they rolled down in all sorts of neat ways like a marble maze in huge proportions. Jessie and I are attempting to spin it here. The boys were able to spin it much faster - look at thier feet go!

Posted by Pam

What We Do To Keep Our Cool =)

First, we grab a long plastic tarp out of the garage.

Next, we get the water hose and wet down the tarp.

Then we proceed as explained in the pictures.

The approach.

The Slide.

The Pre-splash.

THE SPLASH!

One Rather Sunny Afternoon..

Baseball is a sport loved my most Americans. My family included. =)


These pictures are just of the boys playing two man baseball outside one rather sunny afternoon.

Cordell's game face.

I really like this one. haha. :)

Cordell's favorite position is pitcher and he does a good job at it.

As for my pitching, it has improved since last year when I accidentally hit my mom in the head. ( I was catching and she was batting... It just slipped off my fingers wrong.)

I felt so bad....and so did mom's head.

Now, aside from T-ball, I have never actually played on a baseball team. I didn't enjoy it as much as I did basketball, and soccer, so I never got past hitting off the tee. (Just to clarify, I DO NOT hit off the tee anymore. =)

My brothers, however, really enjoy playing it which makes daddy very proud since baseball was "his sport" in high school.