It's Trivial, but Not Really
Each year for the last five years or so, our parish family at St. Teresa's has hosted a Trivia Night as an evening of fun for adults. It has grown in popularity and is a very well-done evening of social fun and entertainment, and despite the word "trivia", there is no real pressure to gear-up by cracking open text books and encyclopedias. There is a healthy dose of friendly competition though. It is thoroughly fun to see a wide variety of friends "let their hair down" and make an appearance that is not quite typical. I give you example No. 1:
It looked pretty good in the end, and of course his presentation must have been even better, because he won 1st place, and 3rd place overall. He has an uncanny way of winning people over with his personality when he presents things. We discovered this when he started doing book projects in 4th grade! He must get that from his dad!
All-in-all, we're very proud of him. I'm sure by the time we've repeated this process thirteen more times, it will become easier to be more hands-off and to encourage more timely organization. One can always hope!
The science fair is up and going during the open house for Catholic Schools Week, as well as many other displays of the students projects and work in the classrooms.
This was our team and has been for several years. "The Mamas and Papas". We don't dress like this on a regular basis...or occasional basis for that matter. (Totally makes me sick that Kimberly can still fit into her high school cheerleading uniform!!! :) )
We are friends connected by our oldest children being in the same grade in addition to multiple other common denominators. We are dressed like this because we are parents. ???
You know...we wear many hats as parents...COACH, RESIDENT MEDICAL CONSULTANT, REFEREE, CHEF, ENTERTAINER/JESTER, CHEERLEADER AND BIGGEST FAN, POLICE--ESPECIALLY HAT AND MITTEN POLICE, and TAXI DRIVER among so many others!
The evening was full of laughter and yes, we did actually use our brains a bit to answer questions in eight rounds of trivia...some categories much more difficult than others. It is amazing some of the useless knowlege we have stashed in our heads, not to mention the useful stuff too! However, in between exercising our brains, we unleashed some creativity too.
Two black garbage bags, 1 roll of tape, 2 scissors, 7 minutes, 2 designers, 1 model. The result?
The very latest fashion that will be hitting all the beaches in the summer. Hottest runway trend in sunbathing wear to hit...eww...small-town Nebraska? In the basement of a Catholic Church?? LOL!! We were heckled for having a "Hoochy Mama" at our table.
But, hey, we won 40 bucks for our team. I think that so many people have a better understanding of our children now that they've seen this side of Tim. Oh, wait, did I say this is actually another side of him? Let's just say he isn't afraid to be fun and funny...in the most appropriate way of course. I mean, he did leave his regular clothes on! :)
It really was a wonderful evening full of dedicated, respectable adults enjoying the opportunity to indulge in humor, food, drink, company and fun. (There were even some really blunt attempts by one table to bribe the judges with the most delicious looking gourmet chocolate cupcakes...our referee quickly stood up and whistled a foul on them!)
Another example of mindless fun...and great costume (Kojak)..."minute-to-win-it" games.
Some of the games were pretty intense...the blue cup started on the bottom and was to finish there too, but it got stuck and he barely beat the buzzer!
Additional "help" was provided!
At the end of the night, we fared pretty well, although not on top! The winning score was 70, so I think we did pretty well! Next year we'll have to try the bribery-route. :)
In addition to all the fun for us adults, the last couple of weeks have been filled with more serious and intellectual projects. The junior high has a science fair that Jakob has been preparing for in little bits and pieces since school began in the fall. (I've been looking forward to this since he was in 2nd grade I think--being the science nerd that I am)
It didn't take too much to pursuade him to think about combining science and baking...hey, baking is science! He loves to bake, so it was kind of a no-brainer. He did a great job of conducting the experiment on his own with a little help from me, but when it got down to the wire, I think it felt more like my science fair project than his as I helped him cut and arrange and glue.
I had to remind myself several times that I needed to let him do it...but at 10:00 the night before it is due, the perfectionist part of me kicked in and I just couldn't allow it to be slapped together in a hurry after all of that work he had done! Probably not the right answer to teach him the consequences of procrastinating, but I feel somewhat responsible for that trait in him!
In the end, we completed his display board TOGETHER...I just helped finesse it. :)
The science fair is up and going during the open house for Catholic Schools Week, as well as many other displays of the students projects and work in the classrooms.
This is Mathilda's Flat Stanley. He traveled to California for Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Stricker to see Aunt Alexis. It is fun to see where all the Flat Stanleys go, and what a fun project for the kids! Here is more from the kids...
This child happens to be much less of a procrastinator. He stayed on me to help him purchase a few things he needed and then he created on his own. There is a hole in the top of the box to view the ocean below (with the aide of a flashlight taped inside) to see some additional Arctic sea life. Not sure how accurate the Legos storm troopers are, but they are equipped for the cold. :)
Joshua's art.
Mathilda and Joshua's teacher...the Christ the King sisters teach at our school. We are so blessed with wonderful teachers and feel so fortuneate to be able to provide an education at a Catholic School for our children.
Benjamin's Penguin
It's not hard to see why we feel right at home at our little parish. It is truly a family-friendly community and they all feel like family to us.
