Sunday, February 11, 2018

What a Day

First, let me apologize for not visiting anyone yesterday.  I had just started on my day, checked in on a few people, showered and started to walk the dog when I got a panicked phone call from Anna that she and Ryan had both forgotten their name badges for the science fair.  So I rushed up to the mall to drop those off and the rest of the day was a blur.  I went around to visit all my students and had lunch with my science teacher friend before coming back home to gather everyone up before going out to dinner before the awards ceremony. 
Special awards are first on the agenda.  Anna had a brand new project this year, and she was worried that she didn't know it as well as she knew her stuff from earlier multi-year projects.  She moved into engineering this year though, which is such a great field for women.  Some of her judges were seriously trying to convince her to change her major into biomedical engineering.  We were so hopeful for a SWE (Society of Women Engineers) award.  We didn't know anything about though a Mainstream Engineering award which was given to a someone from the senior and the junior categories.  Anna was just walking off the the stage with hers when they announced Sydney's name! 
 So Anna turned right back around and gave her little sister a great big hug.  I was in the audience crying like a baby.  As much as sister's can bicker, it is awesome to see them support one another. 
Then the place awards.  Sydney first in junior environmental engineering.  Ryan second in robots and programing something.  Anna first in engineering.  We were all so happy.  The kids had all kind of sleuthed the places out ahead of time  based on who the best of show judges visited on the second day.  They are all so sneaky in their spy craft.  I must say, they were all pretty accurate in their predictions.  We were all happy and ready to round it up when they started announcing Best of Show and called Sydney's name as runner up.  Boy were we shocked!  She had a nice simple little middle school project, but she sure knew her stuff. 
Then the main contender for best of show in the senior division got runner up and we were all stumped.  When they called Anna's name for best of show I thought her head might explode.  She was so shocked that she could hardly get up to walk across the stage.  Best of Show comes with an automatic bid to the International Science and Engineering fair in Pittsburgh.  I have never seen a kid so darned excited about a trip to Pittsburgh.  I'm still not sure she has completely come to terms with the idea.  I think I have her convinced that they didn't give the award to the wrong person by mistake.  
Here they all are with their ribbons at the end of the awards ceremony.  
 And all of us together.  What a night!  I'm sorry to go on so long, but I am so proud of all of them!  The next few months will be busy with follow up contests and next level fairs.  All so exciting!  Today I am a soggy mess of nothing.  We filled out lots of paperwork and tried to catch up on laundry and normal weekend things.  Honestly, it has not been a productive day in any way. 
I do have a few new hexies to add to the mix.  It was fun to dip into some darker purples and think about how the setting might work.  I really kind of like the idea of the little triplets of white for linking.  No need to decide now though.  I think I'll do some more prep work while the cross country skiing continues on the Olympics.  I would have loved to watch figure skating last night, but it is still fun to watch all the festivities, no matter the sport.  I will go now and peek in on the posts of yesterday and see what everyone is up to on Slow Stitching Sunday.  Nothing special in the scrappy category this week for Oh Scrap!  Not that there is much in my repertoire which isn't scrappy.  It is fun to see all the Squared Away blocks showing up.  Here I am as a proud mama again.  Now I think my head might be the one ready to explode!  Happy Sunday everyone.  Thanks for sticking in there with me through the non-quilting stuff.  I'm sure real sewing will happen again someday!

42 comments:

Libby in TN said...

You have a right to be proud! I personally loved hearing about the kids' accomplishments.

The Joyful Quilter said...

HOORAY!!! for So Scrappy SCIENCE kids. Congrats! to all three of them (and to their proud parents, too.)

Katie said...

Congrats to all your kids and you and the hubby, too. Without your support (and chauffering), they wouldn't habe 5 done neatly as well, I'm sure. Quilty blogland will be here when you're done.

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

Congratulations to everyone!

LIttle Penguin Quilts said...

Congratulations to all of you - that is wonderful news! We know how hard parents work to help their kids be successful. Thanks for sharing with us, Angela!

Marti said...

That's wonderful! Congratulations to all of them. Have they decided what fields they want to go into? My daughter first thought she wanted ChemE, but after a couple of engineering camps, she changed to MechE.

Deb A said...

You all deserve a day of rest after all the festivities and winning done at the science fair! Great job to the kids and the parents that support them through it all. Enjoy the slow stitching and Olympic viewing today.

Sara said...

Lots of reasons to be proud of all 3 kids! Congratulations to them!

Ellen said...

Congratulations to the kiddos and to you and your husband - you absolutely have bragging rights! As an engineer my husband was so hopeful that our sons would follow in his footsteps but they had other plans. ;) They both took what my husband considered 'artsy' programs. :) The youngest graduated from university with a finance degree and the eldest is getting his Phd in English.

Chris said...

"Soggy mess of nothing" says she. You certainly deserve to be a soggy mess. What a great achievement for all your kiddos! And your purple hexies look great.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Amazing and super wonderful. CONGRATULATIONS to everyone!!!!!!

chrisknits said...

Congrats to your kids. Our daughter is waiting to hear if she has made it into Purdue for their bio-med eng masters program. It's definitely an exciting field.

Crystal_235 said...

Congratulations to your kids!

Crystal_235 said...

Congratulations to your kids!

Cynthia Brunz Designs said...

Be proud Mama! Shout it from the rooftops!! Great to see your daughter looking at Engineering. Definitely need some bright women going into that field.

Kristi said...

I was involved with SWE all through college. Wonderful organization!! I just love engineering! To me the main difference between science and engineering is that Science seeks to learn about how the world works (wonderful!) and then Engineering seeks to solve real world problems with scientific knowledge. You can't really have engineering without science. But the problem solving is what hooked me. So rather then being on 'research' teams, I'm on 'design' teams. So much fun!

Magpie Sue said...

Oh, huge congratulations to the whole family! I know you've all worked hard to achieve an accomplishment like these awards represent. Well done everyone!

Cathy said...

First of all, congrats to Sydney, Anna and Ryan!! Way to go! And congrats to you proud parents too - you’re obviously doing a lot of things right! My DH is a retired biomedical engineer (worked for Robert Jarvik on the artificial heart and myriad other projects). He’s now “retired”, but works for the local STEAM museum as their Resident Engineer. He represents the museum at local STEM and STEAM fairs, etc., and is a great women’s advocate. I read him your post and he really enjoyed hearing about the kids’ awards. What were their respective projects? I hope you’ve “come back down to earth” now, LOL. We’re away on vacation, but I wanted to check in with the RSC. So glad I did. Again, congrats all around! xo

Karla (ThreadBndr) said...

Give our congratulations to the kids! They all have something to be very proud of.

Angie said...

It's always great to hear wonderful news! Congrats to the kids (wow - pictures from this weekend really emphasize how much they've grown up over the years!) and to you and your husband for nurturing their talents!

Teresa said...

congratulations to you and your children

Ivani said...

Be proud Angela!
Congratulations Sydney, Anna and Ryan!!!
Well done!!!

Jean said...

Thank you for sharing all your stories about your wonderful productive children who have very supporting parents. It has been fun watching them grow over the years.

Suzy said...

Congratulations to everyone! Looks like your kids are going to be very productive, successful adults. You should be very proud! :o)

MissPat said...

You have every right to be proud. What accomplishments. Congrats to all of you.
Pat

Beth said...

So much to be proud of! I love hearing about this, and seeing the pictures is great. Thanks for sharing.

Louise said...

Congratulations on your BRILLIANT children winning so many awards! Yay!!

Deanna W said...

Proud momma for sure and with good reason! Engineering and women..a great combo. My daughter is in Electrical technology...so there are many doors for them to be able to open in the future!
You can catch up on sewing another day!!

Emily said...

Congratulations to all! That's a lot of ribbons and a lot of awards! And I laughed when you got to the part about her being so excited to go to Pittsburgh! And congrats to the proud mama, too!

Sandy Panagos said...

You just go on as long as you want! You have every right. Congrats to all.

Sue said...

Congratulations to all 3 of your children. You have the right to be so proud of them. If you aren't on for a while we will all know you are running them around. We will still be here when you get back.

Katie Z. said...

That’s so awesome! Congrats to all of you.

PugMom said...

Congratulations on such a wonderful achievement! Kudos to you and your husband for all your hard work in raising such great kids! It takes a village, you know!

Hope you're still floating with success.

Pugs and kisses,
Nancy

Monica said...

Well, this is fabulous. Congratulations to all! I always say the quilting gene is a science & engineering gene. Thanks for all the detail, I can feel the excitement!

sunny said...

Congrats, proud Mama! How exciting for you as well as for the kids!!!!

Lynne Stucke said...

How wonderful for ALL of you!!!! And, pul-ease! You have a REASON to go on . . . I'd still be writing if it was one of my children! (Did I mention my daughter addressing . . . never mind! ;o) ) Congratulations!

Frédérique - Quilting Patchwork Appliqué said...

I'm so happy for you and the kids! Congratulations, and yes, what a day ;-)

Elizabeth V Kelbaugh said...

Congratulations to all the kids for their projects. What a day! You sure have a lot to be proud of.

Cathy said...

Very impressive!! Congrats to all!!

Kate said...

Congratulations to all! That's a pretty stunning showing from the three. Congrats to Anna on her trip to the International Science and Engineering fair. That is so cool.

Angie in SoCal said...

WOW - we're all so proud of them and you and your husband.
Congratulations all around!

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