A work in progress

....but it is progress! Here is the top of my work table! I am not done yet, but at least it is a workable space.

....and by the front door, between the entertainment center and the cubbies is my shelf. I like the games on the bottom. They are easy to see and reach, but don't look to cluttered. I love the books on the top shelf! I plan to rotate some of the pictures on the top. I will put scrapbooks that I have just finished and other fun projects there for a little bit when I am done with them.

That is it for tonight! I am going to bed!! Have a great night, and a wonderful Monday tomorrow!

Aiden

Aiden is 12 hours old in this picture. :) Isn't he so cute! He is just such an alert baby. I love the way he is looking at the camera already! I am sure he is a the smartest baby ever. I better get him on the list for Montesori School right away! :)

I took his little hat off.....look at all that hair! His head is getting better now. It was pretty lopsided after he was born, but it is looking so much better.

He is a cutie...

Baby Aiden has FINALLY arrived!!!

Aiden Lamen arrived at 5:25am on February 24, 2010. He was 8 lbs and 5 oz and 21 inches long!!!

Mom and new baby are tired, but doing great!

Aiden, Alyssa and Richard. Tired from pulling an all nighter! Alyssa went into labor last night around 8pm.
9 1/2 hours later......Mister Aiden was born! The nurses said Alyssa did really well.

Here I am with my first grandson. (Boy that was hard to type! :) ) Alexandra and McKenzie are very excited to be aunties!!! I am going to try to take them to the hospital later today to see him.

This is Mister Aiden at about 6am. They were checking him over and suctioning junk from his tummy before it got into his lungs.

That is as much of the story you get right now. I have been up since yesterday at 5:30am. I am going to bed!!

No baby yet

She just keeps getting bigger and bigger....but no baby yet. Alyssa has a doctor's appt this afternoon to check her again. The doctor told them that she was sure she would have already delivered by today, but the doctor is also just as curious as Alyssa is to see how big the baby is going to be.

I will keep you posted :)

Have a great Monday! I am going to try to!

Chess Club

My girls have decided to participate in Chess Club this year. They have never played Chess before. They have never shown ANY interest in Chess before. The paper came home for Chess club sign-ups and they both asked, "Please, please, please, can we do chess club?!"
REALLY??
CHESS CLUB??
Have you ever played chess before? Do you know what it is?
Nope, never played. Nope, not really sure what it is. Maybe like checkers?
Alright, then. We dug out our chess board, found somebody that knew what they were doing (Richard and Jay both know how to play) and they started to play.
Every Thursday morning before school (at 8:20) they meet at the school with about 25 other 2nd-6th graders and play chess. They have not played in a tournament because they are usually on Sat and I work (and they cost $$, which I don't want to pay until they love chess and are better at it!) but they do have fun.

Cleaning....

I am rearranging my living room. I was given a tv and entertainment center by a friend. In order to make it fit in my livingroom, I have had to move things around and get rid of some things. BIG job! I only have limited time to work on such a huge project and I am very proud of the progress I have made. I will be able to have daycare tomorrow even! Not a lot of room to play, but that should be better by the weekend.

This is the computer part of the living room. This is the most done part. My work table under the window is still a work in progress!

This is over in the daycare area. TOO much stuff, but I don't have time to go through it all right now. I will continue during naptime and later in the evenings.

That's it for now! I am off to get a couple of hours sleep so that I can be up and ready for daycare in the morning!

I hope you enjoyed your Presidents Day!

Enjoy your Tuesday!!

Math Olympiad

Alexandra and Emma and Leksi studying all the ribbons before Math Olympiad starts. So many colors!

When the Math Olympiad started, they called each school up and had them shake hands with all the "important" people there. The kids were pretty excited to do that because they were handing out FREE BIG MAC coupons from McDonalds! :) When it was Alexandra's turn, they handed out the last one to the person in front of her. Her face was totally funny! I could see her saying "Are you kidding me?! Where is my FREE BIG MAC?!?" They did have more and she did get hers, but it was a close call!

Here is Alexandra accepting her award for 2nd place in Individual! Yeah Alexandra!


The Math Olympiad was pretty exciting for Alexandra. She is not fond of math. She likes reading much better. When she was asked to participate in the Math Olympiad, she said sure she would try it. (I was very proud of her for trying something she felt she was not good at.) They meet before school every Friday morning. (School starts at 9:25 and they meet at 8:15!) She came home after the first day saying, "It is sooo hard!" I asked her how she liked it and she said "It was ok, but really, really hard!"
A few week later....they are getting ready for their first competition. She is really nervous. They will be competing against 5 other Ferndale schools.
They day arrives....Wednesday....February 3, 2010.....all the kids meet in the gym....there are over 200 kids! over 51 teams!....all competing for the same ribbons! They only go to 10th place! It finally starts....first they get there McDonalds coupons (most important for some of the kids!) Then they split up into their groups and off they went to start their tests......
OVER TWO HOURS LATER!!! They kids are finally done! They were treated to pizza and pop for a job well done! After they were assembled back in the gym....the awards started. You could feel the tension and nervouseness in the gym. They started with 10th place in the individual awards. As they started awarding the ribbons, you could see everybody hoping for 10th, then 9th, then 8th......and as they climbed higher, you could see some kids not as excited because they didn't get a ribbon. Some of her friends won ribbons. (Emma won 3rd, Marcos won 5th) As they climbed higher...4th...3rd.....you could see Alexandra thinking....well I didn't place (she was sorta ok with that because she thought she wasn't very good at math) AND THEN.......they announced there was a tie for second place! It was Alexandra and Ashlyn from Skyline !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOSH!!! Her face was SO EXCITED!!! She just beemed! Then they anounced first place, and it was Danny! Her, Emma, and Ashlyn were standing up front with their ribbons waiting for them to announce first place and they all agreed ...it would be DANNY! They were right! (Danny is one of Alexandra's good friends. Everybody agrees that he is the smartest oby in fourth grade!) After the individuals, they did team awards. Alexandra was hoping to place pretty high in team because her team placed pretty high in the individuals (Marcos -5th, Alexandra & Ashlyn tied for 2nd, and Danny - 1st) They were pretty excited to hear their name when they announced 1st place!!!!
After it was over...I asked her how the test was. Was it really hard? Did she have fun? She said it was fun and that it was a lot easier than she thought it would be. :)
They have to right in journals each week in class and bring them home for parents to read and sign. Her entry that week was:
Mom, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I am soo excited that I got a red and blue ribbon in Math Olympiad! I am better in math than I thought!
I let her know that I was very proud of all the hard work she put into it. Trying out for something she didn't think she was very good at. And having a good attitude about it! Being very happy and proud of herself! and also being a good sport about winning!
A very exciting day!!!
Next up....February 27, (Saturday) they will be back at it at the college this time. Competing against Whatcom county schools.......

Math Olympiad

Alexandra won (she actually tied with Ashlynn (behind her in the red)) 2nd Place Individual in the Math Olympiad for 4th graders.

Her team (on the bottom row) won 1st place Team for 4th graders. The second place team (standing) was from Skyline also. Overall, Skyline place very well in the Math Olympiad. YEAH SKYLINE!!
Her team is: Danny, Marcos, Alexandra, and Ashlynn.

Thank you to Mr. Diffley for coaching these kids each week before school!