Thursday, December 14, 2017

Blast from the past

Eric just happened across an old soundbite of Annika talking back when she was a wee toddler -- maybe 18 months or so. 

Hearing her tiny voice warmed my heart and brought a tear to my eye. IShe has changed and grown so much since the recording was made... and I can't help but wonder about all of the things that her future holds.

To hear her squeaky voice, click below. Enjoy!


Monday, December 11, 2017

Annika's 1st Robotics Competition


Yesterday, Miss A and her fellow Cybernetic Sisters participated in their first robotics competition and did a great job!!

For months, they worked on programming their robot to accomplish set tasks put forth by the Lego robotics league. Their robot had to do things like pick up a certain item, press a specific lever, etc. There were three rounds and the teams received a score for each round. The best of the three scores was the team's final score.

In addition to the robot tasks, each team had to solve a water-based problem. The Cybernetic Sisters created The Firequacker, which is a duck decoy that is enhanced to alert firefighters and helicopter pilots to good water sources when they are fighting wildfires.

The girls learned so many poignant life skills during the robotics season, including researching, interviewing, public speaking, teamwork, and collaboration. The coaches acted as resources for the projects and gave an insane amount of their time, but the girls are the ones who drove the project and their progress.

The Cybernetic Sisters placed 17th among 34 teams, and we parents couldn't be more proud of them! It was a loooooong day and our kiddos proved to be excellent competitors and teammates.

Way to go, Cybernetic Sisters!!!


Cybernetic Sisters, Round 2

Friday, December 8, 2017

Conor's Song Lyrics

A few days ago, Conor sidled up to me and said, "Mama? I don't understand a song."

I replied, "Which song?"

"The one about the sheep."

"The one about the sheep?"

"Yeah... blah blah black sheep. Why do we say blah blah?"

"That's baa baa, not blah blah. Baa, as in  what a sheep says."

"OH!! That makes more sense. Baa baa, not blah blah. Got it!"