A Surprise Knock

Last Sunday Glenn and Caleb went to an introductory planning meeting for a First Lego League that is starting up here in Syracuse thanks to a grant that one of our neighbors up the street got from work. Caleb came home very excited about the idea of Lego robots and they got online to look up how much they were. They were pretty expensive so we tossed around the idea of saving up for it and maybe getting it as a group Christmas gift at some point down the road.

Caleb was checking the mail at the same time as our upstairs neighbor, Bruce, the other day and he saw that he got his Lego magazine and was thrilled and was showing it to Bruce and started telling him about the Lego Robotics group that he was going to be involved in. Bruce told Caleb that he had one of those Lego robots that Helen had given to him for Christmas one year that he never played with. Caleb asked if he could check it out sometime and Bruce said sure.

This afternoon while we were getting ready for lunch there was a knock on the door and it was Bruce and he had the robot that he decided to GIVE to Caleb, not just lend. We were very surprised and Caleb was very excited! We weren't even sure if they were going to let Caleb borrow the robot but GIVE it to us? Wow!

Thanks Bruce and Helen for your generous gift and thank You God for going above and beyond supplying our needs but furnishing our wants as well!

To find out more about Mindstorms and Lego Robotics you can check out the Lego website: mindstorms.lego.com Below are some pictures of Caleb with his new robot. I took one video of him with it but it didn't do what he thought he programmed it to do so I will try to remember to post a video of it later when it actually does what he wants it to.

Working on his robot

Making some adjustments

Lets see if it works!

Check out that happy smile :)

Free Food Weekend

I haven't posted in a long time. I am sure that there are things that need to be posted here but I am going to just post about this weekend which included some yummy free food.

Yesterday we went to a furniture store that was having a sale and offering free food. We were looking for a new couch and are interested in getting a new mattress as well. We didn't decide to buy anything yesterday but we did get free hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches.

Today Glenn went to a conference from something about family physicians and was fed at the Genessee Grand Hotel. While he was there I took the kids and their little friend whose mom works a couple of doors down to a community fair a few blocks from here. It was a lot of fun. Some of the free things there included soft serve ice cream cones with sprinkles, cotton candy, flea circus, hot dogs, hamburgers, lemonade, snow cones, bounce house obstacle course, caricatures, face painting, mini golf, velcro fishing and live music. Score! It was a lot of fun!

Then tonight our whole family was invited to the party for the family practice thing at Glenn's advisor's house (who was the president of the organization this year). It was catered and there was food everywhere - starting with cheeses, meats and crackers, then various salads and fruits, then roast beef, finger potatoes and veggies, then a delicious berry shortcake for dessert. We love free food and Caleb was super excited that he didn't have to do dishes :)

Thanks God for blessing us with free food this weekend!

Curb Dives

I am not even sure where to begin with this one. I haven't kept an annotated list of these lately (which I probably should have). This is the time of the year to find stuff (if you can get it before the scrappers do). We have been blessed by the curb this spring. I'll have to work on this more when the kids are awake to have them remind me but here are a few things that we have picked up the last week or so:

- a shoe rack (that fits perfectly in the little entryway of our new apartment that I had no idea what to put there!)

- a spiral bound atlas of the Syracuse area

- a tall 4 shelve metal shelving unit that we'll put in the basement to store stuff on

- a 4 shelf thing (I am not really sure what it is or what we'll use it for) that I got today from a girl that I saw that looked like she was frustrated and crying on the side of the road and I stopped to help her fit stuff into her car

- we have also found lots of good books (as if we didn't already have 25+ Baxter boxes packed full of books)

- a shipping crate that we're planning on painting and lining with contact paper to make a toy box for the kids

- an office chair (missing a wheel but Glenn thinks he can fix it)

- a stack of xbox games (most of which we'll be taking to EB Games to change into games that we actually want/ will play)

- a fun orange desk chair

- a pretty lamp

Baseball Gloves

On Tuesday night we went to the softball game of two girls who live on our street. As the kids and I sat and watched the game I started thinking about the fact that we only have 2 baseball gloves, mine and a left handed one that we had bought for Caleb last year. I realized that my kids didn't know how to play baseball or how to throw or catch with a glove and it is a skill that they should have. It's another one of those things that I am not sure when they start doing in public school but I just hadn't gotten around to doing with my kids. I told God about it briefly on our walk home that I would really like to get some gloves to play with the kids with and that it would be nice if there would be some at Salvation Army or a yard sale sometime soon.

On Wednesday mornings I have started going to a Bible study at Eastern Hills Bible Church because I really wanted to go to a Bible study and they have a program for home schooled kids during the Bible study which is so great. (A few of the ladies from our homeschool book club told me about it.) Anyway, there is a free table set up at the church during the Bible study for people to get rid of things they don't need and pick up things that would bless them. When I got there on Wednesday morning what was on the table but 2 little kid baseball gloves. I was stunned. Why was I surprised? I really don't know God is like that, he loves to bless me. As I stood there staring at them I told my friend that I had just asked God for baseball gloves the night before and I think that she thought it was weird but I am thankful. Yes, they won't fit the girls' hands for long but they will work for this summer. God, You are so gracious. Thank You for blessing us with baseball gloves that someday we'll be able to bless others with!

Homeschool Books

Not long ago a friend of mine (whom I hope to someday meet) who is the wife of a friend of mine from long ago contacted me and told me that God had impressed on their hearts to bless us by buying us some books for our homeschool. I had shared with her previously about my children's handwriting and we'd talked back and forth about homeschooling. She called me one day and we talked about homeschooling and she told me about some books that she wanted to buy for me. Over the next couple of weeks I was overwhelmed by the packages that came to me in the mail. Many of them were used books that she'd found online and shipped to me but several of them were new. I am so humbled at God's generosity and the willingness of this couple to be used of God to bless us like this!

This photo is missing two books that arrived after I took the picture:
Life Skills for Kids and Your Left Handed Child.

Thank you God for blessing us through C & S with these books that will be such a tremendous help to us!

Bananagrams

Today after American Girl Book Club we stopped at Barnes and Noble for their homeschool information session. As a homeschool family we get an educational discount for anything that we buy there. I still don't have a card yet but that is a nice feature. It was neat to hear about what programs they have there. I was able to pick up some information on different books and series that they had gotten from publishers for teachers. I was just in time to sign up for the drawing and won Bananagrams. It looks like a really fun game. I took a picture but again, it will be loaded later. I am excited to play it with the kids as they start spelling better. It is small and we can bring it with us for fun times. I was not expecting to win anything so that was pretty exciting!

Thanks Barnes and Noble for the game and the resources. Thanks God for unexpected surprises!

19 Cent Bananas

I went to the Syracuse Real Food Co-op on Wednesday because that is what we do. Wednesday is cheap coffee day. If you bring your own mug it is only 15 cents for a re-fill. If Glenn is around it is sometimes our little date to walk the two blocks down to the Co-op for cheap coffee. On Wednesday it was such a nice day and the kids desperately wanted to get outside, so much so that they agreed to take a walk to the Co-op for recess. The little neighbor boy from across the street came with us and we walked down to get coffee. While we were in the store I saw that they had a box of their organic, fair trade bananas on sale for 19 cents a pound because they were going bad. I was super excited but I had only brought 15 cents and my coffee mug and 5 kids. I decided we'd have an extended recess so we walked back up the hill to get money and a couple of reusable bags and then back down to the Co-op where we bought about 12 ½ pounds of bananas for less than $3.

Thanks God for cheap coffee and cheap bananas :)