TV BEST Robotics Competition

On September 15th,

Austin started a six week project with several

other students from his school.

They competed in the 

Tennessee Valley BEST

(Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology)

Robotics competition.

Six weeks ago they were given a box of parts and shown

a "playing field" of objectives that they needed to design a robot

to be able to accomplish.

Last Saturday, October 27th was their competition...

There is a lot more involved than just building a robot.

In order to compete for the BEST award,

they have to prepare an Engineering Notebook,

a CAD/Solidworks Notebook,

an Oral Marketing Presentation,

a Marketing Book with also includes an

Interview from the judges

The picture above is of our marketing booth.

Kayla and Ashley were all dressed up for the 

theme of the competition...

Warp XX

The inside of their booth looked like the inside of

a Space Elevator.

The kids named their robot ASTRO.

It is an acronym for something, but I can't remember 

off the top of my head what it stands for.

In the picture you can see the 10 foot pole that the

robot had to climb.  There were "game pieces" on the floor that

the robot had to pick up and carry up to the top and

put in the bucket on top.

Here is another shot of ASTRO trying to make the bottle

exchange.  Overall the kids did an outstanding job!

There were a lot of robots that could only climb up and 

down the pole, but not play any of the game pieces.

Some robots never even made it off the ground.

At the end of the day the kids racked up with awards.

Here is a list of their accomplishments:

1st Place Oral Marketing Presentation

1st Place Mascot Dance Off

2nd Place Project Engineering Notebook

2nd Place SolidWorks/CAD Design Award

2nd Place Game Day T-shirt Design

3rd Place Exhibit and Interview

3rd Place Most Photogenic Robot

3rd Place Most Robust Robot

4th Place Overall Robot Performance

and the big one of the day

2nd place BEST Award

All of their hard work paid off and the kids

were so excited!

They will advance to the

regional South's BEST Competition

at Auburn University in December.

Serving Up Some Halloween Fun!

 Halloween is fast approaching and I am 

falling so behind...

I thought I better set a quick table before I have

to pack these away in a cabinet until next year!

Come take a look and see what we are serving up

some Halloween fun on today.

I just set a table with some old favorites and

a few new things to scare up a fun dinner for the boys.

I used my old stand by white dinnerware 

with a scalloped edge, but today I took a walk

on the wild side and turned my

salad plate on an angle...

daring, I know...

But I have to admit...I like it a lot

better when I turned it a little.

Looking back, I feel like I use these plates for everything,

so I was trying to switch it up a little...

The little appetizer plates were a find from Zulily

I have bought several clothing items there for Jackson, but

every now and then they throw in some housewares.

This little set of 4 plates was $12.99.

After looking around the Internet and seeing a set on 

EBay on a Buy It Now Auction for $39.99,

I grabbed the set for $12.99 and did a little happy dance!

Each plate has a different scene in the middle.

Too Cute!

The little Spider Web napkin rings were a find at the Dillard's Clearance 

Center this past summer...for a mere .25 so they came home with me.

A couple of them had little spiders attached to them,

but they gave me the creeps so I took them off.

Black glasses were a find from Old Time Pottery this summer also.

Placed the dishes on some ruffled black place mats

from TJ Maxx and we were ready to go.

Orange Cambridge Flatware was also an Old Time Pottery find

last year.  I used it in my very first little tablescape...

You can see it here.

Little Pumpkins sit on their spider legs ready to light the table

when night falls.

I used this little spider web cupcake stand for a centerpiece,

but had to snap this picture very quickly...

my little helper came in and was sneaking my 

cupcakes off the table.

Hope you enjoyed looking at my

little Halloween table.

Hoping I can scare up another table or two before it is 

time for us to 

Trick-or-Treat!

Thank you for stopping by,

come again, anytime...

I'll be visiting with the lovely ladies at

Between Naps on the Porch
and
Let's Dish with Cuisine Kathleen

Have a wonderful weekend!

Cruising for a Cure

Last Saturday, Scott, Jackson and I took off

to Lawrence County for the 

annual Joe Wheeler EMC

Cruising for a Cure.

Every year where Scott's brother works they have an

antique car show to help raise money for the 

American Cancer Society.

Unfortunately, this usually falls right in the middle of 

Austin's Robotics season and we are unable to go...

but this year we snuck off.

Austin stayed at practice and got lots of 

things done for their competition coming up

in a couple of weeks.

The only problem was...

Scott can only drive one car...

which means I had to drive one...

YIKES!

While technically, one of the cars is mine...

I never drive it...EVER!

We headed over around 8 o'clock 

and made it just fine.

Everyone drove their cars into the shed out back where they usually

have all of their work trucks.

It was a beautiful fall Saturday morning

so it was nice to be out and about.

I snapped a few pictures but for some reason

completely forgot to take a picture of my car...

oops!

Scott has worked really hard on his truck and I think it is 

just beautiful.

Mama and Papa found a car like he had when they were dating.

We also found one for Austin.

He has now caught the restore fever and is ready to find

an "old ford" and restore it.

He keeps going back and forth from a

Mustang to an old truck...

We found this red one for him and it was even for sale.

I thought this was funny...

he apparently couldn't find him a second driver so 

he just hauled it behind him!

One of the things they had there for the kids was 

riding in a bucket truck...

Scott and Jackson got all harnessed up

and took off.

Up, up and away!

He took them all the way up.

I think they were about 60 feet up in the air.

Jackson thought it was so fun!

When he was back down on the ground he said

"That was fun...not scary even a little bit!"

We had a lot of fun and won a couple of door prizes,

but didn't win the big prize.

We headed back to Athens around 2 o'clock

and then headed up to check on what the kids had done

that morning at robotics.

We had a fun day and I was

glad that Scott was finally able to show off all

of his hard work he did on his truck.

Front Porch For Fall

We spent a little time on Sunday afternoon

dressing the front porch for Fall.

I had bought a few mums and some seasonal

veggies to plant on the porch 

to surround our new friend...

Take a look...

Pretty mums just ready to open fill the urns on the porch...

I filled the long box planters with a mix of 

cabbages and mums and stacked them on the 

pedestals that go under a set of urns.

and on the other side we have a new friend...

and a couple more urns of mums...

Last year, there was a store in town that sells granite and tile

that had these ADORABLE pumpkins and every time they would

get in a shipment...they would sell out almost immediately!

Well...this year I got one!

Scott said he will not look so cute on the porch in July, though...

this bad boy is HEAVY!

There will be no storing him in the attic with the

rest of the holiday stuff.

As I sit here posting these pictures...

I realized I forgot my wreath...

better go and get it!