This week was another STEM fair. This one was for the kids’ school. I was one of the volunteers so I was there for a little over six hours. David took the same poster he’d used for the previous Science Fair and had a display in this one, too.

We has many many exhibitors and student exhibits. This is before anyone showed up.

Jake helped out by manning the snack table for a while, too. Our kids found their friends and ran around all on their own.

Love these two.

Thankfully it was the one day it didn’t rain this week.

And here’s us. Nathaniel was running around so much that he wouldn’t even stop for a photo.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

This was the first year David got to enter the San Mateo STEM Fair. His topic was about electrochemistry. Building batteries with higher voltage and which metals are better for that. The fair was big and had a lot of topics all the way from 5th grade to high school. It was a long and arduous day where he had to do 2 hours of interviews with judges and then speak to the public for another an hour. He was on his feet in a suit all day Sunday. 

The little boy had some fun while the big boy was doing work. 

The event was all day Sunday. We worked and waited and worked. But in the end it was all worth it because David had a wonderful experience and he also came in third in his category/class so it was a bonus.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

We try to go skiing at least once a year. Ideally, we’d go two, three times so the kids can get enough time on the slopes and actually get comfortable with the sport. However, it doesn’t seem to work out for more than once a year. And this year, this weekend was our trip. Because of my new job, we weren’t clear if we would go until pretty close to the last minute so we did what we usually do which is to stay in Reno where there are always plenty of hotel rooms. And then we drive over the Diamond Peak in the morning and the kids go to school while Jake and I drive. 

This year, it was exceptionally cold and David didn’t want to take lessons for two days so both kids did one morning of lessons, Nathaniel also did the afternoon and the next morning but David stayed with us the rest of the time. After the first day, it was so incredibly cold that I decided I was not going to ski the next day. So I bailed while the boys kept skiing.

Little boy waiting for the teacher.

On the way back to the hotel after our first day. David fell asleep within 5 minutes of this photo. Jake had to focus really hard since the roads were very icy. 

Skiing is always an adventure and I will admit that while I like the skiing itself, I really dislike the cold and the inordinate amount of work (and money!) this sport entails. But alas, it’s a really fun sport.

And an adventure. 

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

The morning of the day I was scheduled to leave for Sydney was the magical line up of several rare occurrences. We got to have a blue moon (second full moon in a month), a red moon (full lunar eclipse) and a super moon (moon closest to earth) all at once.

The only downside was that this was scheduled to happen at 4:30am. Nathaniel was determined to see it and so we set our alarm clocks and went out to watch it happen at the crack of dawn. (or before really.) 

And it was magical. 

The red color was really amazing. So I had to look up why it’s red. Here’s what internet says:

The Moon does not have any light of its own—it shines because its surface reflects sunlight. During a total lunar eclipse, the Earth moves between the Sun and the Moon and cuts off the Moon’s light supply. When this happens, the surface of the Moon takes on a reddish glow instead of going completely dark. The reason why the Moon takes on a reddish color during totality is a phenomenon called Rayleigh scattering. It is the same mechanism responsible for causing colorful sunrises and sunsets and the sky to look blue.

David slept in until about 5:30 but still got to see it. When we were watching, it was red but not really super big. After the kids went in to have breakfast, I drove to get some coffee and when I was on my way back, I saw it huge and red and it was even more magical.

I love sharing these moments with my little ones. What a wonder this world is!

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

In our kids’ school, the mid-term and end-of-year conferences are student led. For the lower school the teachers are there and we also get a 20-min session alone with them and for the middle school, it’s our son and his advisors.

Today was conference day for both of the kids. It was Nathaniel’s first one since he started there this year. And he was very excited to play his part. He got to sit in the teacher’s chair and he told us how he’s been doing. It was wonderful to watch him deliver his results. It’s also wonderful to see the faith he has in his abilities. He’s such a wonderful little kid. And a total rockstar in math.

David’s conference was just as delightful. He has always been so self-aware and has a fantastic sense of who he wants to be. We are so proud of him as he excels in all of his classes and has been giving 110% this year in so many ways. It’s always a delight to listen to his reflections on how he’s been doing.

 We were both so grateful to be there and hear such positive feedback about our kids. We know this might not always be the case and we also know that it’s not something to take for granted. 

grateful.grateful.grateful.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.

I’ve been following Melissa Hartwig on Instagram for a while and I’ve recently read the Food Freedom Forever book, so the idea of doing a Whole30 has been nagging at me for a while. I’ve looked into the Whole30 before and decided it wasn’t my cup of tea for a multitude of reasons but this time I felt like I could do it.

So since January 1, I’ve been doing the Whole30. I’ve also quit caffeine just to make it more fun. 

I am traveling to Sydney on January 31 so I figured that gives me exactly 30 days. The way the program works, you’re supposed to slowly introduce foods back after the 30th and see the impact they have on you, so we’ll see how much of that will be possible considering flights and international locations etc. but I am trying not to worry about that too much at the moment. 

For now the plan is to keep going the 30 days and see how I feel. On the first two days, I had very strong headaches (likely due to no caffeine) but since then it’s been okay. I don’t find it to be super hard. Unfortunately the cafeteria at work cooks the morning eggs with rice bran oil so I can’t have it, which is a bummer. Other than that, I haven’t had a lot of hiccups. I’ll be on vacation for a weekend so we’ll see how it goes but I have faith that I can keep this going at this point (hopefully I won’t be wrong.)

I miss the coffee the most I think. Mostly for the ritual of it. And chocolate though I’ll say I haven’t craved it. When the kids toast bread, the smell triggers a bit but I don’t miss toast at all. If I cooked it would be a lot easier to have variety but I don’t so I end up making a batch of veggies, chicken and steak and then eat some variety of avocado, veggies, egg/meat for each meal. That makes for a lot of avocados in a day so I do need to curb that a bit. 

So far, I don’t have huge benefits. My skin is a bit better, but that’s about it. I’ll report back at the end of the month.  If you’ve done a Whole30 and have advice, I’d always love it.

Stories from 2018 is a year-long project for 2018. You can read more about my projects for 2018here.