First Day of school...of sorts

I've never been one who had a hard time with getting older, or age in general. I love seeing things change and develop, for the most part. Today marked another milestone that seemed so far away for such a long time but has suddenly slipped up on me...my oldest baby started college today. 

And true to form, it hasn't been an earth shattering change for me...it's been really exciting and thrilling and I couldn't wait to hear how her first day of school went. 

She is taking a Physics class, and English class, and an American Sign Language class. Out of the three it was the science class we were most worried about. Teagan is not a science person. I haven't been able to pique her interest in any of the sciences we have studied...astronomy, human anatomy, zoology, physical science...they were okay and had some interesting stuff here and there, but none of them ever got her heart pumping in excitement. So when I got a text from her today simply saying, "I love my science class! My professor rocks!" I was thrilled! Finally someone found a way to make science interesting for her! 

 Maybe it is the fact that she is only 15 still, or that she is doing a Running Start program that allows high schoolers to take college courses for credit if they can pass the entrance exams, but having Teagan in actual big kid college just seems like the natural thing for her to be doing right now.

Last night she was really excited to start classes but when we woke up this morning she was a little less sure of her confidence. As we got nearer to the campus and all that awaited her there she asked if we could walk her to her first class :-) So out piled all five boys and she and I and we traipsed four blocks from the nearest parking space I could find up to her first building. Emmett, ever my collector, picked up treasures along the way. By the time we made it to her building I had quite a little menagerie in my hands, each one chosen for a specific reason:-) I love my little collection critter!

Oh my sleepwalking boys are going to do me in!

I have a couple of sleepwalkers. They wander the house, they open doors and go outside to sleep on the snow, they carry on strange conversations with themselves, they have great laughing fits with eyes wide open while still in their dream, and they pee in strange places.

I don't mind the laughing fits or the funny one sided conversations, but all the other side happenings of being a sleepwalker are going to do me in!

Tonight while Owen, Teagan and I were playing a board game (Agricola) in the dining room Emmett and Duncan were in the living room watching Lion King. From somewhere in the back of my head I heard a oh-too-common sound of pee piddling on the hardwood floors. (Yeah, potty training is still going on around here.) I turn to see Emmett standing next to the kitchen trashcan and I can see his shirt pulled up a little, in the way boys do when they are standing to pee. This is what happened:

me: Emmett! What are you doing?!

Emme: *blank stare*

me: Emmett! What are you doing?! Stop!!!

Emme: *more blank staring as the pee bounces off the floor*

*I race to get out of my seat and run to him*

me: Emmett! Stop! Oh man, he's still asleep! I wish they'd stop peeing all over my house when they are asleep!

*That was a bit of an overstatement. This doesn't happen all too often, but I have followed my sleepwalkers into rooms only to find them with dropped drawers peeing on the carpet in the middle of the room or in the corner or the trashcan or basket places like that.*

*I walk Emmett back to the couch to lay him down so we can clean up his mess and then finish our game*

me: Emmett, are you awake?

Emmett: yes....*inaudible sentence as he snuggles down into the couch and closes his eyes*

me: Emmett, why did you just pee on my trashcan? *seeing his eyes glazed over still* Are you awake or not?

Emmett: I'm just playing...

me: You're playing?? Why did you pee on the floor, guy?

Emmett: *closing his eyes* I'm playing outside...*more inaudible sentence as he drifts off again*


He was asleep the whole time.

So Teagan and I cleaned up the floor and the can laughing about the situation and then we went back to our game and let him sleep on the couch until we were done.

Yeah, sleepwalkers are a barrel of laughs!

The Fife's are in the news again!

Okay, so it's been a LONG while, and I will try to catch up on everything, but I thought I'd throw a quick one up today in a spare minute I found lying around...

This is from an online version of a local newspaper, and while there isn't a picture of them, the kids are mentioned and they thought it was really cool. Here's part of that article:


Four local teams entered the First Lego League (FLL) robotic competition in Edmonds on January 18, 2014. Three teams from TECO and one Fife Family team (Dragon Ninjas) competed in a field of fifty-two teams.

Tutu Ninjas (L-R):Brianna Hammontree, Anna Beach, Erin Simmons, Kelsey Green, Sarah Churchward

According to TECO’s Julie Tapusoa, “While none of the TECO teams made it to the semi-final round, our all girls team, The Tutu Ninjas, were awarded a special Judges Award calling them ‘A diamond in the rough’.   The TECOBOTS were our highest scoring team and the Blizzard made by the LegoMiners was super impressive!!”
Tapusoa added, “We were excited for another Granite Falls team that did make it to the semi-final round which will be held on February 9th.  The Dragon Ninjas are comprised of brother/sister homeschool team from the Fife family.  They also took home the Robot Mechanical Design Award!”

Pretty cool stuff!


****update****

The kids' Lego League team made it past Qualifiers, winning with the Mechanical Design award, went on to semi-finals, and then on to state. They were 9th in state for the robot competition. It was a phenomenal first year for them; 9th out of almost 500 teams!