Olivia's Rube Goldberg Team Competition

Olivia's fifth grade class spent about three months designing, building, learning about, and writing about a Rube Goldberg creation that will fold a piece of paper (with a crease) in 10 or more steps (theirs had 11 steps) within a 3 foot space (height and width).  Their theme was Wizard of Oz, and while I am not completely familiar with all 11 steps they had, their final goal was accomplished by having a book shut with a piece of paper inside of it so that they would achieve the folded paper.  Olivia was then selected to be on the presentation team, which meant that she had a major role in resetting their contraption (her jobs were to raise the house and open the book at the same time) and had a minor speaking role in explaining their creation to the judges.  Her team tied for first at the Springfield regional competition - the first time a team from her school had ever placed first!  They beat out 12 teams to win the regional title, and that allowed them to move on to the "State" competition at the University of Illinois Engineering Open House in Champaign.  There were 12 teams that participated at the "State" level.  I was lucky enough to be a chaperone to the Champaign competition.  The following pictures were taken in Champaign.

Olivia with her teacher and Rube presentation team. 

The team practicing their contraption before their official presentation.  Olivia is not typically a nail biter, but I believe she did bite her nails quite a bit on this day!  They were nervous that the machine's first step became slightly unlevel in transporting it from Springfield to Champaign.  

Giving their presentation to 3 judges.  After they were done, the judges asked them multiple questions, and the team was able to answer all of them perfectly.  The students really knew their machine!

Olivia posing with the poster explaining the competition's goals.

In the auditorium anxiously awaiting the results.

The camera was ready to capture the moment when it was announced that the Marsh team had WON first place in the Rube Goldberg competition!  

The Rube Goldberg presentation team with their teacher and two engineers.

The kids all had fun posing with the trophy!  

After winning, the kids' mood went from nervous to ecstatic, and they then enjoyed the Engineering Open House interactive displays.

Celebrating with ice cream before heading home to Springfield!  Great job to the entire team!

Olivia Performs in Tarzan

In early March, Olivia performed as a "Jungle Creature" in the musical Tarzan.  She had a great time with this performance and loved her costume.  This musical had great costumes, wigs, and even had many of the main performers swinging across the stage 20 feet in the air!  It will probably be difficult to see Olivia in many of these pictures - sorry!

Olivia's first stage scene is when Jane arrives on the island.  Looking at the picture, Olivia is on the right of Jane, in the back.

In Olivia's next big stage scene, she and the other Jungle Creatures make a snake around Jane.  She loved the choreography that went into making this happen!  Her final scene did not photograph well, as it was a nighttime love song between Tarzan and Jane, and the Jungle Creatures surrounded them and went into the audience dancing with glow sticks.

I think Olivia's favorite moment is when she takes a bow!  She is the 3rd from the left.

The entire cast dancing one final song!

Olivia the Jungle Creature!

All of us are so proud of Olivia!  She rehearsed so hard for this role!

Olivia standing under the Tarzan advertisement.

We've Been Keeping Busy Since Christmas

Three months of activities have happened since the last post.  This post will run from snow pants to short sleeves!  

In early January we attended Cinderella at the Fox Theater in St. Louis.  We were lucky enough to get box seats, and they are so much fun to sit in!  Especially the special intermission dessert list of mountain high cotton candy (with chocolates on the bottom!  because you need more sugar after eating the cotton candy) and an enormous hot fudge sundae.

Both kids received a Superior rating at their Piano Festival.  They practiced so much for this rating!

In January we also attended our first Globetrotters game.  All four of us laughed the entire time, and the kids had such fun before the game in the Globetrotters meet and greet.

Our yearly Valentine's Day tradition of make your own pizzas and ice cream sundaes continues!  

We attended a 100 year birthday party for Joe's grandmother Josephine.  

Olivia had her final Owen Marsh music concert.  The theme was 80s songs, plus the fifth graders sang a fun song to their principal as a way of saying thank you for the fun times.

There was a perfect snow in late February - it snowed on a Friday night, it was a wet snow perfect for making a snowman, yet the day temperature rose to just at freezing making it so nice to be outside.  We built a snowman taller than Ethan, and it lasted about 3 weeks.

And with the snow came plenty of sledding at the local sledding hill.

Both kids had a fantastic time at the Marsh Skateland family night.  They were both moving so fast that I couldn't get any good pictures of them or their friends (Olivia is in pink).

And out come the shorts!  In mid March we had a warm Saturday and decided to spend it in St. Louis.  We had lunch at Jilly's Cupcake Bar, spent the afternoon at the St. Louis zoo (along with the rest of St. Louis - it was packed!), and ate dinner at Mission Taco in the Loop.  It was a perfect day!

Ethan with his favorite animal - the rhino.

A lovely picture of Olivia in the Butterfly House.

A zoo tradition for us is to take Olivia's picture with this penguin.  The very first picture required her to hold on to it since she could barely stand by herself.  Now the penguin doesn't even reach her knees!

Ethan in the reptile house.  For some reason, both kids LOVE going through the reptile house.

Ethan and Olivia having fun in Turtle Park.