Wahoo!  It came!  Josh is now officially out-of-his-mind excited about going to Italy. 

Really!  He just looks like that because I have to use the still camera in our video camera and even with a basic point and shoot I am a less than talented photographer.  With this particular, er, tool, I am stunningly rotten at photography.  The above is the expression you get at photo number 34.

This is what you get on photo number 79.  And doesn't he need to clean his room!  I might just do that while he's in Italy (insert evil cackle here).

As one of the end-of-the-year outings for robotics, Rebecca's FLL team joined their JFLL team at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta to view the Weather Rocks! show going on there.  It seemed fitting as this year's theme was Climate Connection. 

After the show the kids toured the museum...which Rebecca termed "creepy" as the puppets randomly jerked about.

And then took a turn at making their own creations:

Rebecca ages out of FLL (First Lego League) this year, but luckily her coach is starting an FTC (First Tech Challenge) team, so she is all agog to get started. 

This afternoon we went to the Georgia FTC Championship at Southern Polytech State University and got our first taste of the higher level of competition.  Wow!  You have to be a good team player because every match has new alliances and new opponents and you have to be flexible enough to work in tandem with everybody  The robots were really cool, too.

This one generated a lot of excitement!  These young men from Tennessee had a unique conveyor belt that could spit out the hockey pucks.

Of course, there was plenty of down time to enjoy a good read as well.  Actually, the three hours that we were there was pretty much a hurry up and wait kind of experience, perfect for enjoying a good book.  I should have been so prepared!

I wish this would have been around when my children were younger.  Rebecca has gotten so much out of participating in FLL, I'm sure Josh and Elizabeth would have enjoyed it just as much.  Especially Josh.

Tonight I took Elizabeth and her friend, Nikole, to another Dancing Grits activity.  I also finally found out what Dancing Grits means!  Grits is G*d Rocks in the South.  Pretty cool.  We were a tad late, but with a theme like pajama party, well, things were a bit informal.  The dance instruction had already begun, so the girls RUSHED through registration, slapped their nametags on and dove into the fray!

An instructor demonstrated the steps and the kids practiced them, boys on one side and girls on the other so the boys could learn the lead steps and the girls could learn to follow (something Elizabeth found VERY hard to do!).  Then the boys and girls paired up and the music started.

After about an hour of instruction it was time to eat!  I stayed on to help prepare and serve.  I made toast.  A lot of toast.  The theme was, of course, breakfast foods for dinner, so I"m glad I didn't get stuck with oatmeal or, this being the South and all, GRITS!

After food the kids headed back into the hall and for a devotional.  First there was some critique on table manners.  It was quite humorous.  Then a very nice young man bore his testimony.  It was touching.  After that it was back to more dance instruction.

There were more girls than boys, so after each practice dance the instructor would have all of the girls who hadn't had a male partner to come to the front and then the guys took a partner from that group first.  They were a very nice bunch of kids and everybody had multiple times to practice new steps.  I noticed very little wall hugging!  Well, maybe a little wall leaning...

Tonight the kids learned the tango and Elizabeth picked it up pretty quickly.  She confessed to DRAGGING her partner through some of the steps, however.  Perhaps she should have used her LASER EYES to direct the poor guy!

Last night Dan took the girls camping and then went caving today at Pigeon Mountain.  They had a grand time even though it was extremely cold (20 degrees).  I stayed home and slept under my electric blanket set to 9.  Here are some snaps of their adventure:

The night before:

Breakfast:

The group before entering the cave:

The pancake:

Going up:

Lunchtime:

The group after caving:

Needless to say, there was a major rush to the shower upon arriving home this evening!

This afternoon I got another call from my friend, Martha, who had another last minute opportunity for the children to attend a dance.  Josh had to work and Rebecca said, NO WAY (and I couldn't get her to budge with either bribes or threats!), but Elizabeth was game for the adventure. 

It was supposed to be a spaghetti dinner and then some dance instruction and then time to dance, but when Elizabeth got home she said she didn't know why, but the spaghetti didn't work out and they had steak and mashed potatoes instead!  She had a great time and, though I gave her my cell phone complete with camera, of course she didn't take any pictures. 

I'm really having camera withdrawals and we didn't do the whole clean-until-we-find-the-camera thing because Josh had to work and I wanted to maximize school time today.  RATS!

Yesterday Inkheart was released in theaters and Rebecca has been talking about this film since we saw previews for it months ago, so of course we went.  We didn't make the first show because Elizabeth has guitar on Fridays at noon, but Daddy did come home early and so we attended the 2:30 showing. 

I tried to get photos of Rebecca on the way into the theater, but the child has developed a strange aversion to being photographed.  I have no idea why that could be.  That being said, I had my camera out when we walked through the theater doors and were greeted by this monstrosity:

I think that my dear husband saw the hole for a face to be stuck through and not the theme of the poster because I don't think he would in reality be grinning so nonchalantly if this beast were truly strangling him. 

Elizabeth's expression is a bit closer, but she kept bursting into laughter which kind of wrecked the mood.

Josh, of course, got into the swing of things, but he, too, had a hard time not lauging. 

Of course, Rebecca wouldn't get behind the poster and I'm sorry to say that this is the best picture I got of her on the outing.  It beats a shot of her right ear or her left shoulder which were the other choices I had. 

I've decided to keep posting these avoidance shots in hope that she will just bow to the inevitable and pose for my blog properly. 

Tonight our church had another youth dance and of course Elizabeth wanted to attend.  Joshua went to a friend's house to  hang out and Rebecca decided she preferred to mope stay at home.  At the last minute I decided to push a little and she dragged herself along as well.  I might as well have left her at home, however, because she spent a total of about five minutes in the gym!  The rest of the time she spent with me, in the van, watching old DVD's.

Elizabeth had a great time:

This is a picture of my goofy girl on New Year's Eve...what a goose!

 Our church holds dances for the youth once a month.  It's generally a laid back affair where the only dress code is simply be modest (what you could wear to school in our conservative county).  Mostly the kids dress up a tad, some in dresses/nice slacks and others in jeans.  The one exception is the New Year's Eve dance which is held from 9:30 until 12:30 and the dress is....well, dressier.  Some of the older kids wear their prom outfits while others wear church-type dresses.  The boys wear a shirt and tie. 

This was Rebecca's first opportunity to attend one of these dances and she was...let's just say....apprehensive.  She has a tendency to be shy and somewhat introverted, but often regrets not joining into these kinds of activities afterward.  I pushed her to attend and she finally agreed when I told her I would wait in the parking lot (which I normally do anyway) with the mini-DVD player and a few MASH episodes so if she were bored or uncomfortable she could escape to the van. 

She went along reluctantly, refusing to pose for a blog shot.   

This was the best I could do and since the others were in a rush because we were running a tad bit late, this was the only shot I got. 

Rebecca went in gamely enough but was back outside in about 20 minutes.  She claimed she couldn't find anyone she knew that she wanted to hang out with.  Most of her friends at church are a bit younger than she is and can't attend the dances yet, so this didn't surprise me. 

We watched an episode of MASH and then I suggested she go try again.  This time she was gone about 10 minutes and we watched another episode.  After that Rebecca got out of the van with no encouragement and went into the dance for the duration.  They had a balloon drop at midnight and a couple of final dances and the kids came trickling out slowly, Josh being last as he was the only one who had an actual "date". 

Elizabeth is an old hand at these dances now and has a bevy of buddies to meet up with.  Josh's attendance has been more spotty, but when he does go he generally enjoys himself.  In the end, Rebecca decided it was worth going, but she wasn't exactly boiling over with enthusiasm.  It will be interesting to see if she requires any encouragement this month.