MOTHER'S DAY OUTING

Rumor has it that a discussion happened several days before Mother's Day that sounded something like this:
"Do you have any good idea's for what we should give Mom for Mother's Day?"
"Well, on the radio it said that most moms like a day away from their kids best."
"But our mom isn't like most moms."
"That's true. . . hmm. . .well . . we could get her a new septic tank . . .

However, they opted for Dark Chocolate, a candle, getting one of my favorite chairs recovered, and a lovely trip to Meremac Springs Park.

It was a lovely afternoon that ended way too soon.

I actually would have liked a new septic tank.

As always, we were the last to leave.
Thank you for a lovely Mother's Day kids.

INTRODUCING . . . the NIZ-CURSION (or Niz-beast?)

We have been enjoying the new Ford Excursion that has replaced the Niz-Bus. It is comfy and with 4 wheel drive has been great to pull horse trailers, flat-bed trailers, etc.

The only place we haven't enjoyed having it is at the gas station; but fully loaded our mileage per/person/ per/gallon is better than a Prius!*

*based on two people in a Prius

THE NIZ-BUS ROCKED . . . AND ROLLED . . . AND IS NO MORE

We have been very thankful for the LORD's protection through several major events recently; in this case, it was the demise of the Niz-bus. Keith and 6 of the kids were on the way to rehearsal during a late winter storm, mixing snow, sleet, and rain (which created a nice SLUSH) when the van hydroplaned, slid and then rolled.

Thankfully, everyone walked away from the accident, no one even needed a band-aid.

John, who had just been released from the hospital was in the front passenger side. The LORD protected him, as the airbag did NOT deploy, which if it had, could quite possibly have re-collapsed his lungs.

John had gotten us such a great deal on the van (John is the head of our Purchasing Department) that
our insurance value on it was higher than our purchase price. In the big picture, money isn't important, but we appreciate John's careful shopping. We will miss the Big White Elephant . . . Niz-bus RIP.

The children were protected emotionally as well. After I commended Adam for covering Glory's face before her window broke completely apart Glory commented with dissapointment, "but then I didn't get to see everything." She didn't bear any emotional scars!

UNDEFEATED AT REGIONAL BOTBALL COMPETITION

This year's Botball team was extremely successful at the Regional Botball Competition in Edwardsville, Illinois. They were undefeated in the double elimination tournament, were awarded the Judge's Choice award for Outstanding Overall Design of a Robot among other awards.

The team included: Justin Mosher, Josiah Nisbett, John Nisbett, Kelsey Quittschreiber, Abby Hall, and Jacob Hamacher
(not pictured are Zeke Hall and Josh Riefer.)

Josiah and Jacob prepare the robot for a run.

The robot has to autonomously find these red cubes and stack them for points.

Grabbing the cubes also releases the orange ping-pong balls which our robot collects in a basket to gain even more points.

THE HIKE 4

Our annual Post-Production Depression Syndrome antidote, "The Hike", will commence at 8:00 am on Tuesday, May 10th, with much fanfare and jubilation (if Alyssa's facebook post is accurate.) Adam has once again set up a blog with a real-time map of our progress at: 20milehike.wordpress.com

We will be posting pictures of the T-shirts, the 20 miles of scenery, the happy hikers and more. Looking forward to the fun.

MORE SEUSSICAL ! !

Not only does the Seussical plot line follow Horton, but also the loveable, mischievous Cat in the Hat, and JoJo from Horton Hears a Who.
Joel Nisbett as Mr. Cat and Jorin Larsen as JoJo. These two face many adventures together. . .

. . .including facing the "Hunches" (that tap-dancing, black-light sensation), from a "new to me" new favorite Dr. Seuss book Hunches in Bunches.

Joy Nisbett, Alyssa McCluskey, Abby Hall, Jenny Williams, Justin Mosher, John Nisbett, Adam Nisbett, and Benjamine Wegner.

The Cat and JoJo also meet Fish and Beach Boys during "It's Possible."

And all of this happened in the fantastical Seuss-world created by Set/scenic Designer Adam Nisbett and Lighting Designer Josiah Nisbett.

SEUSSICAL THE MUSICAL, APRIL 2011

Working on Seussical the Musical was some of the best memories our family has had, partly because of the fun, excitement, and delight involved in the show itself, but actually much more from the friendship, deep comraderie, and love that we share with our Fine Linen Drama Family. This year's cast involved 62 on stage (and lots more behind the scenes.)

Seussical is a delightful compilation of 17 of Dr. Seuss's best books into a compelling plot with wonderful music. We follow Horton the Elephant as he saves the Whos , Hatches an Egg, and finally notices Gertrude McFuzz.

We were blessed with an 18 piece orchestra of the most talented people in Rolla! (directed by the exceptionally handsome Keith Nisbett.)

And we were all thrilled and extremely thankful to have John rejoin the Wickersham brothers on stage after his three week experience in the hospital following two collapsed lungs (more on that later.) The Wickershams are the cool Jungle monkeys who steal the clover sheltering the "Whos" from Horton the Elephant.

L to R: John Nisbett, Benjamin Wegner (Benjamin will be appearing at the Muny this summer in Singing in the Rain!), Adam Nisbett, and Justin Mosher.

Mayzie LaBird with the Bird Girls:

L to R -- Kelsey Quittschreiber, Rebecca Grow, Kayla Brown, Jenna Light (as Mayzie), Megan Riefer, and Tess Hamacher

INTRODUCING THE CHARACTERS

The world of Seussical includes several vastly different group. Amy did a wonderful job of costuming them to reflect their character and roles. This is the Jungle Group, which are set in the Jazz Age to reflect their "hip" status as they ridicule and mock Horton for his conservative stance on several issues: "A person's a person, no matter how small" and "I meant what I said and I said what I meant; an Elephant's faithful, 100 percent." They represent the antagonists in Horton Hears a Who, Horton Hatches the Egg, and The One Feather Tail of Gertrude McFuzz.

These are the "Whos", costumed in bright (rather extreme) turn of the Century-style Americana, from Horton Hears a Who.

And a third group: the Cadet's from General Schmitz's Military School referencing "The Butter Battle Book".

Keith Steele center with cadets: John Brown, Kyle Quittschreiber, Peter Cook, Ian Hamacher, Gabe Quakkelaar, Drew McCluskey, Zeke Hall, Nathan Goff, Adler Davidson, Cordell Williams, and Nathanael Nisbett.

Our loveable protaganist Horton with our heroine Gertrude and their "Elephant Bird".

Dan Goff, Glory Nisbett, and Amanda Engelke

WE'RE BACK . . .

We have been so busy having fun, experiencing challenges, and being blessed by the LORD this last year, that we haven't taken the time to record our experiences. However, we hope to fix that now.

So here goes . . . with a picture taken in the front yard -- of a tree frog in a bluebird house.

That sort of sums up our family's life this year -- making ourselves at home in a variety of circumstances, and being thankful for the LORD's provision (even if it isn't what we expected.)

THE ROLLA REGIONAL ROBOTICS TEAMS GO TO ARKANSAS

. . . and win ! ! We took three teams down to Mountain Home, Arkansas the first weekend in December for the FIRST Lego League's Regional Competition. Almost 40 teams competed in the "Body Forward" competition, which combined research about biomedical applications for robotics, presentations about that research, and programming and building a robot which would autonomously accomplish up to 16 different tasks during a 2 1/2 minute round. The "Green Team" won the single elimination tournament with the highest score of any team the entire day. Here they are with one of two trophies they received: Cordell Williams, Maggie Quakkelaar, Joy Nisbett, Devin Pittman, Anna Nisbett, Eva Quakkelaar, Jeremy Hanson (in back), and Kyle Quittschreiber (not pictured, who was meeting his new siblings adopted from Russia that day.)

Joy and Maggie during the last round of competition.

All the contestants from Rolla, during YMCA, which was a fun and tension releasing activity right before the final round of competition for the championship.

Part of the Red Team's presentation material.

John and Zeke, from the Blue Team, watching the Gremlin once again do strange things to their robot. It as a very disappointing day for them, as their robot had the potential to score 360 points (100 points over any score there that day), but kept having unexplained issues (I think maybe their robot was a female.)

The Blue Team waits for their next round. The Blue Team included:
John Nisbett, Gabe Quakkelaar, Zeke Hall, Peter Cook, Jonathan Cureton, and Mikayla Pittman, Kyle Pittman, Adler Davidson

Nathanael and Zach run a round. After the first seeding round, these little guys were in second place overall, and did very well. They were put out when one of the cords connecting the "brain" with the rest of the robot came loose. Nathanael diagnosed and fixed it on the spot, but they lost too much time to recover.

The red team included: Nathanael Nisbett, Zach Filla, Erik Davidson, Marcus Bauer, Ryan Williams, Malachai Quakkelaar, Nathan Widener, Tristan Hanson, and Cade Quittschreiber (who was also unable to attend since he was with his new Russian siblings.)

WE TRAVELED TO HOUSTON, TX FOR A LOVELY WEDDING

I thought I had posted this back in June when we got home, but it was still in my drafts file. It was fun to look again at all the pictures. And I think Matt and Belinda are still smiling!
We enjoyed the touching and joyful wedding ceremony.

The Bride and Groom were delightfully elated. We expect Matt and Belinda to establish a very successful (God-honoring) home and family. They are a lovely couple, inside and out.

Belinda's mother made the amazing wedding cake.

The Lake Jackson Church of Christ could hire themselves out as caterers. They put together a splendid sit down meal, prepared by the friends of the family. I was so impressed.