AHG Award Dance

Tonight was the American Heritage Girls Award Ceremony with desert and dance afterward.  This is Amber's first year in AHG and she's really enjoying the activities. Amber earned the following badges:

• Home Care and Repair
• Archery
• Horsemanship
• Daughter of the King
• Aviation
• Sign Language
• Insect-a Inspect-a 
• Social Skills and Etiquette
• Our Feathered Friends 

Being home-schooled helps (as many of the girls are) in getting lots of badges, since I can easily cater her curricula to meet the requirements. It also gives a focus to our extra-curricular activities, which is a win-win.

After the award ceremony, it was really special to see Lance and Amber dancing together, so sorry I forgot to take a picture, I was just enjoying the moment.  As a bonus, I too danced the waltz with my oldest son that night and Amber too danced with her handsome father.

Strange Weather

There is nothing stranger than North Carolina weather.  Last week we were in shorts laying the sod, then this week the kids were sledding in the snow Thursday and by Sunday, the snow was all gone and we were helping Miss Kathy move and doing a Scavenger hunt at the Arboretum in beautiful sunny weather.  I guess that just about sums up the week.  The only thing to add is that the Amazing Otto Family won the scavenger hunt, having an amazing time and earning us free tickets to the big plant sale later this year.

Country LIfe

Birdzilla laid another mega egg this week, her eggs don't even fit in our egg containers and our other eggs aren't small.

On Tuesday, we went to a really neat show called "Hillbilly Science Spectacular".  This had to be one of the most entertaining science shows we've ever seen.  What made it even more special was that Titus was picked to be his assistant.  You can watch the video at this link: Show

Each year in writing class during Valentines week, Miss Penny takes these silly pictures of the boys:

She also texted me the following after Chris picked up the boys at class today, "Funny story - When your younger kids were calling out to Lance and Jared after class from the car, Lance looked at me and said, "We're just fostering them.  We're not going to keep them." LOL

Saturday was the big day of reclaiming our backyard.  The yard had been a mud pit with not even many weeds growing through the wet fall and winter.  Now with the help of our friends in the S Family we have a beautifully sodded backyard.  It's such a joy to look out the window and see the lush green grass and ironically with many hands, it really took very little time to put down.

Happy Birthday Titus!

 

To celebrate Titus birthday we had the S Family over for a birthday bash, the Saturday before.  All the kids had a great time playing together.  Then today, his actual birthday, we celebrated at Goldfish with a different group of friends.  As luck would have it, he and his friends were the only ones in the pool during free swim and Lance was able to join-in and add to the fun.

Then this evening we had a third celebration at the home with our family.  Titus is such a great kid even three celebrations doesn't seem like enough.  LOVE YOU TITUS!

More Horses

I have a strange list of things my children should do before they graduate.  On that list is the ability to tack-up and ride a horse.  Lance and Jared became proficient horse riders in Florida but Titus was still too young.  As Amber had started taking lessons, I realized Titus should join so he did.  At previous lessons he had come along and helped groom Henry (Polo's barn pony buddy).  He took to riding really well, I think this is going to great experience for both of them.

Happy Birthday to Me!

 

The family really made my birthday extra special this year!  It's been a long time since I received flowers and these were gorgeous.  The kids made really pretty paper flowers to line the ceiling  I had lamented that I wouldn't see my birds in the morning anymore because the Oak was gone, my family listened and bought me a wonderful window feeder and as an extra bonus some beautiful stain-glass pieces (I love stain glass, especially blue stain glass.).

The amazing part is they managed to accomplish this while I took Lance and Jared to Writing class and did my Costco shopping run.  Chris had asked in the morning what I wanted for dinner,  I said "Lasagna but its Wednesday we don't have time for that."  I was wrong, soon as we left, he ran out the door with Amber and Titus, did all the shopping and started the lasagna.  It was taking a little long, so he texted Lance to drag his feet talking with people leaving writing class.  Then on the way home he came up with a false errand to run at the grocery store.  In the end everything was perfect, so thankful for my loving family that made me feel so special tonight.

Timber on Target!

 

We've feared for a while that the White Oak in the front yard was dying.  We didn't want to remove he tree because we didn't want to loose such a big tree and because of the cost.  However, another perk of our arboretum membership is to get free consultation from an arborist.  The arborist came by in the fall and confirmed what we feared; the tree was already half dead from a fungus.  Thankfully the fungus wasn't contagious to our other oaks (it must have been injured at some point and it enter the trunk that way).  We were hoping we could do something to save the tree, but alas we could not.  One of the many things I enjoyed about the arborist, is they don't remove trees as part of their business, so their opinion to remove, is not compromised by a conflict of interest.  I asked for a recommendation of who should remove the tree and he gave me a name.  Funny part is when I had them come out for an estimate, the owner of the company was surprised they had recommended them.  Apparently he didn't know the arborist was no longer competition.  We dickered back and forth a bit and he gave me a very reasonable deal (half what neighbors had paid) "since business is slow in January

When they came to take it down on Wednesday it was quite the event, school came a screeching halt, as did Chris' work day.  The tree is about 120ft tall and they had to use a large crane; taking it down in three 40ft segments.  The most amazing to me was they came, set-up the crane, took down the tree, mulched or carted it away in only two hours.  Toward the end, the gentleman you see up in the tree came over to us and asked "Why did you decide to remove the tree?".  We told him because we knew it was dying, then he said "It was so rotten my spikes were sinking in like it was mud.  I think it would have come down next wind storm."  Ironically, a week later we had that big wind storm, the tree had been only 15 ft. from the house.

Saturday, Amber's American Heritage Girl Troop went to First Flight Archery to earn their Archery badges.  Coach John and Leslie has tweaked the "Introduction to Archery" class to meet their badge requirements.  Since there was an open line, Titus was able to join in as well and get his introduction class done*.  All the girls had fun and earned their badges, we'll see if anyone wants to continue.

*No surprise, he shot the best out of the group, earned an ice cream bar but chivalrously gave it to the girl in second.

Horses on Target

Friday, Amber finally began horseback riding lessons.  Lance had met a young lady at dance class that owned a horse and today Amber started to learn to ride.  To say she was excited would be an understatement.  We've been looking for a place that was close and affordable for years.  The horse she rode is a Welsh Pony named Polo.  Brittan and Polo were the perfect combination of excitement and stability Amber needs.  

Saturday, Jared competed in both USA Archery and JOAD State Archery tournaments.  This was really long day of shooting. **Update:  He ended up placing 11th but considering it was his first time shooting in this age range (15-18) and he was technically still 14, I think its pretty impressive.

On Sunday, Chris posted this on FB "Dental care in the Otto house is becoming serious business", or it could be the bathroom has terrible lighting and my eyes are old LOL.

New Years Day Hike

This year for your New Year's Day Hike we chose Raven Rock Park.  This is one of our favorite hikes.  We like it because its a challenge and its a destination hike.  The destination is an area next to the Haw River with a long staircase down.  At the bottom there are huge rock formations along the river that the kids like to explore.  As an extra bonus, the trail is a circle, not an out and back, so the way home provides different scenery as well.

The kids were "Looking Amazing!".

Per tradition we also measured everyone. Lance still holds the title (by an inch) as tallest child in the house but I think he may have to relinquish it next year.

Hopping Around the Holidays

Per tradition, we put our Christmas Tree up on Thanksgiving (thanks to all who sent cards to decorate our tree with this year.)

A first for the Otto Family, was additional chore that day, decorating the outside of the house.  We were surprised when we found out decorating the outside of the house had been a long desired task by the children. Once we knew we loaded up with a Costco Starter Kit, the kids were happy to install on their own.

Then Grandpa Bob started the holidays right with a visit the first day of December.  As always, this is a much awaited trip.  He came loaded down with gifts and litany of stories to share.  The children in turn shared their stories from throughout the year; meals were shared and new memories made.  Jared took some time to update the Grandpa on shooting archery and Lance entertained us all with the new Air Grenade (a show he's put on for many throughout the season, thankfully our dear neighbors find my boys shenanigans entertaining).  With many a tear we wished him well till we see him again next year.

Each year I try to find a new way to celebrate the HOLYday season.  This year I got us tickets to "Duke at Candlelight", I had to mark the calendar a few months back to get the ticket before they sold-out.  The idea is they take you back in time to what Christmas was like in 1850s on the Duke Homestead.  All the lighting is candle light and there are reinactors that take you through the various rooms and activities.  We started in the tobacco barn learning how to do the Virginia Reel.  Everyone participated, it was such fun to finally learn and practice an old dance like we see in the period pieces we love to watch (Titus practiced his rolling techniques as his tripped and landed on his feet down the promenade).  Next we went to a room in main house to hear the Christmas story read, followed by decorating the Christmas tree with paper decorations and strung popcorn, singing of some Christmas Carols in the dinning room was next and finishing with cookies and hot cider by the fire with Santa Claus.  We rode back to our cars in a horse drawn wagon.  We had met the horses when they arrived back in the parking lot, two beautiful Percherons.  The wagon was a bit small for the group so I sat on Lance's lap to make room for the last couple (told him to stop growing).  This being the horses first run of the evening, they were a little spry but all made it back safely.  It was a beautiful night.

The following week, Chris and I had lunch with the owners of his company at our favorite restaurant downtown, Sitti.  They are a wonderful couple and it was nice to catch-up with them and hear the plans for the companies future.  We finished off lunch with a walking tour of the capital.

The day of Jared's Christmas play was filled with other activities as well.  Amber was invited to a Christmas party with friends and the boys went to perform at a nursing home and bring some Christmas Cheer with Footsteps again this year.  Chris took the boys and he said they all played beautifully.  I took Amber and she had a marvelous time playing with friends.

Then two days later we got the teaser.  It snowed!  Boys were hoping it would stay but no such luck. Christmas Eve Day arrived with no snow in sight.  But we had added a much desired bear to the family instead.

Christmas Eve we caught up on a few more house projects (another post on that) and watched much anticipated annual showing of "A Muppet Christmas Carol".  Afterward we quickly got dressed to meet our friends at church for Christmas Eve services where we enjoyed more singing.  On the way home, we took our traditional Christmas Light Drive.  We saw some new sights and visited a few standbys as well.  As this was the first year we had decorated our house it was fun to hear their comparisons along the way.

Christmas Day we started a new tradition, using Grandma Mary's China (Uncle Janet sent it too us earlier this year).  Chris made his first gluten free goat cheese lasagna (which was agreed by adults and children to be rather delicious).  We took the time to teach them some formal edicate, standing till the ladies are seated, how to use a fork and a teacup in a formal setting (they quickly gave up on the fork but had fun with the teacups).