tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-125839372011-04-21T19:55:35.040-07:00Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comBlogger351100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-86751911320110677752009-04-06T20:07:00.000-07:002009-04-06T20:11:15.256-07:00

It was an hour before daybreak and snowing hard. Our Moravia Odyssey of the Mind teams loaded a school bus, armed with pillows, snacks and excitement as we made our way to the state competition in Binghamton. I was too wired to snooze on the bus, so instead put pen to paper to reflect on the moment.“Going to states” is an honor. My team placed 1st out of six teams at the regional competition in

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-65431028140863384392008-12-06T19:48:00.000-08:002008-12-06T20:16:13.554-08:00

Today was the annual Christmas in Moravia event - chock full of all of the festivities of a Skaneateles Dickens Christmas, without it being, well...Skaneateles. Lots of fun, but I needed to write myself a schedule to keep up. Our 4-H club does a cookie decorating event every year during Christmas in Moravia at Coffee 'n Cream, my friend Sarah's cafe/gallery - where kids can come and decorate (and

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-71684941947361580682008-11-30T19:17:00.002-08:002008-11-30T19:31:21.799-08:00

Well, project momentum has slowed from the last newsletter report. I do not have nearly the successes to report. Part of the reason is time constraints and the other is that I injured my knee in September and have not felt up to doing much. But those are just excuses.I did make some improvements to the chicken coup; the old dog house that has been converted to a 4-star Poultry Bed and Breakfast (

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-83970035704768805902008-11-30T19:05:00.000-08:002008-11-30T19:17:17.455-08:00

Some of you may know that I was one of those kids that went trick or treating until I was...17?! I realize how insane that sounds...but the costumes and candy were so much fun! Now that I’m a mom...in Moravia, I’m motivated by other factors—namely—the Moravia Halloween parade and costume contest. It isn’t the prize (a big $5) just the inspiration of it all. We have a good time dreaming up

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-85439446139052326032008-09-18T12:52:00.000-07:002008-09-18T13:51:41.405-07:00

I'm still here in Indianapolis - at the Extension Galaxy Conference. In case you are wondering what the "galaxy" stands for - it refers to the fact that all of the Extension professional organizations are involved. So this conference serves ag educators, consumer family science educators, 4-H educators, natural resource educators...and there are even more. I think I heard that there are 2,400

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-28319542791987369392008-09-16T20:49:00.000-07:002008-09-16T21:00:55.340-07:00

I am here in Indianapolis at the NAE4-HA Conference. Indianapolis is a really pretty city...not that I have had much time to play :). Lots of meetings and sitting during the day but the nights have been fun. Last night we went to the State Museum for a reception - where there was an Imax movie of racing and the Mario and Michael Andretti, tonight we saw a screening of Secret Life of Bees with

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-32432622993407893992008-09-14T20:52:00.001-07:002008-09-14T20:53:40.345-07:00

Last summer our office began an educational campaign called Choose Health as an effort to promote childhood obesity prevention. I did a lot of the work developing the logo, taglines and promotional pieces...and I guess the messages began to slowly sink in. I started wearing a pedometer around (and realized that chasing a then 3 year old around isn’t really “active”), we began using sandwich

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-86898969885822261062008-09-14T20:51:00.002-07:002008-09-16T21:03:58.077-07:00

This year’s garden, thanks to the plentiful rain, was incredible! I don’t think that I’ve ever had such luck or such beautiful tomatoes. It was touch and go for a while—a sheer battle between me and the cucumber beetles, but in the in the end we both got to eat a lot.And recently I bought a neat little gadget called a Foley Mill that is allowing me no excuses for using up all of the nearly

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-36313473654567624532008-09-14T20:51:00.001-07:002008-09-14T21:29:55.914-07:00

This summer saw a few projects completed around the house. I re-arranged the wood pile and made it much more attractive - no more pallet walls with big metal poles sticking out. Shelley and I finally painted the master bedroom; almost two years since we bought the paint for it. I kept waiting for my sister Beth to help me - but she moved to North Carolina. Also, got to add new parts to the John

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-40845815647374187692008-09-14T20:50:00.002-07:002008-09-16T21:09:26.169-07:00

Some of you know that we found out this summer that Jeff’s dad was going to be busy undergoing chemotherapy for a soft tissue sarcoma (cancer) in his thigh. With this news and the outrageous price of gas...we thought this would be the year to stick closer to home.While searching for a place to rent, we were asked to be guests at Ashland, a cottage owned by the Newhart family. What luck! We loved

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-39821845545306246152008-09-14T20:50:00.001-07:002008-09-14T21:34:52.390-07:00

Jeffy had a great summer, with lots of highlights including his wiggly eyes (see picture), and his millipede bracelet (see other picture).His quote of the summer was, “I’m 4 and I don’t care!”. That sort of sums it all up anyway.He is playing soccer this fall. If you are thinking—”wow, a four year old playing soccer!”. You are quite right. It is, as I see it, a strategy to keep him busy while

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-12388220172968174682008-09-14T20:49:00.001-07:002008-09-14T21:25:09.177-07:00

I often say that I’d like to skip to the end of the book of life to find out what happens with my children. Some things do seem predictable.In Cara’s case, her pleasant persistence is what drives me crazy, but delights me at the same time.When she heard that the Jonas Brothers were coming to the NYS Fair she started saving her money, writing letters to Jeff about why she should go, making lists

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-42506909383232059772008-09-14T20:40:00.000-07:002008-09-14T21:07:51.216-07:00

The end of the summer means State Fair for our clan. Shelley, and now the two girls, spent 13 days and 12 fabulous nights at the 4-H Youth Building—working, playing, eating, seeing old friends, and meeting a few new ones.The girls worked in the incubation and Embryology exhibit where Anna got to hand out chicks and show small children how not to squish them. Cara’s talents for being a general fun

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-3875506922076285752008-05-08T20:02:00.000-07:002008-05-08T22:10:39.954-07:00

Another great day at the CYFAR conference. Followed by a little fun out on the riverwalk. Tonight I went on one of the riverwalk cruises with our CITY Project teens and adults - very cool, minus the obnoxious and loud tour guide. What I was hoping for was a river cruise minus the guide...just a chance to observe and chat with some friends. It was cool to see more of the city this way though. Sure

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-10340015060760036722008-05-07T20:26:00.000-07:002008-05-07T20:50:09.973-07:00

Today was the first official day of the conference. I was part of the CITY Project team that presented this afternoon. The teens that are with us did a fabulous job - I was very proud of them! I also learned more about a project called ACCESS 4-H a new web based initiative from National 4-H Council that is not quite ready for release yet - but looks really promising. There will be lots of

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-14394443711452077912008-05-06T21:26:00.000-07:002008-05-06T22:20:46.652-07:00

Most of today was spent in a video/podcasting workshop put on by this really awesome program from the University of Montana called TERRApod. The concept is exactly like something we are trying to get started in NYS 4-H -- training youth to develop short videoclips related to science. The difference is that this program has a foundation in creating documentary nature films.Montana State

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-29312917505644366752008-05-05T18:01:00.000-07:002008-05-05T18:31:25.765-07:00

All kinds of interesting things here in SanAntonio. Today I visited the Alamo and walked around the Riverwalk (beautiful and quite inspiring). I also enjoyed a little (ok more than a little) tex mex food & the best salsa I've ever had. This is a very beautiful city...with incredible landscaping. I thought the girls would be interested to see that many of the signs are in both English and

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-10671607051627659232008-05-01T19:28:00.000-07:002008-05-01T19:35:56.956-07:00

We welcomed 4 new gals to our humble (Cara likes that word) home today. Jaime, a student that is working for me, passed on four of her Mille Fluer Bantam chickens to us. They are so very pretty. Mille Fluer, I'm told, means "tiny flower". And they lay the tiniest eggs! (Beth - want to come blow out some eggs with me??? :) ) Like every other pet around here - they are expected to earn their

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-67112855104127012202008-04-30T20:08:00.001-07:002008-04-30T20:08:21.733-07:00

BK (Before Kids) I used to exercise pretty faithfully. Running, aerobics or biking...nothing for competition...but just because it felt good. After we started our family I always thought I'd get back to it "when the kids were old enough" - whatever that means. This January I realized that it has been 12 years - YEARS since I had done more than walk as a form of exercise. Yikes. And so it

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-68434400721032463932008-04-18T14:21:00.001-07:002008-04-18T14:21:08.813-07:00

Thanks to the NC and SC Carmichaels & Gees - for another fun family get-away! We had lots of fun and adventurous adventures.We slept at a Comfort Inn last night in Greencastel, PA. That is some of us slept - actually all of us - except Jeff. Someone's car alarm went off at 2am. Jeff thought it was ours (we don't have one) and went to check it out. Mr. Hoowiggins (the 80+ year old fella who

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-7660485230143779462007-12-09T18:20:00.000-08:002007-12-09T19:18:57.503-08:00

Fresh snow with a light layer of ice has just fallen on our little blue house on the hill, Christmas card designs are hanging throughout the kitchen, the kids are practicing their Christmas Pageant lines, the dog is waiting for someone to say the word “walk” despite the aforementioned snow and ice, the woodstove is cranking...and the pile of shoes and boots in the front hall is growing…’tis the

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-62560718145114800622007-11-01T20:02:00.001-07:002007-11-01T20:04:27.754-07:00

100_20121Originally uploaded by carmichaelceleste.Although I can't seem to pass my passion for oozy biology onto my kids, they do seem to love to go to Insectapalooza, an event at Cornell put on by the student entomology club. Cara even went this year without me. She is shown here with her pal Dakota. About 8 of our 4-H club went and had lots of fun. I heard that a bunch even ate grasshopper

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-68563312822960735362007-07-15T20:28:00.001-07:002007-07-15T20:28:37.541-07:00

Your friend, cjc17@cornell.edu, has sent you the following video: Uncle Matt and Jeffery31 sec - Jul 15, 2007 Description: Uncle Matt and Jeffery having a few choice words. Want to see more cool videos? Go to video.google.com/ Think you have an even cooler video? Add it at video.google.com/videouploadform If you're having trouble watching the video, try copying the following URL into your

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-33995650106485493892007-07-08T06:13:00.001-07:002007-12-09T19:12:18.010-08:00

The Gees have done it again! We are one step closer to the shed project being complete (thanks guys!). Terraced steps were added to the garden side entrance of the shed this week. Jeff, Beth and Matt made easy work of this labor intensive job. We finished it off with mulch this weekend, and will eventually landscape it. Looks terrific. Another DIY project :).

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-26060156873343813412007-05-06T20:50:00.000-07:002007-05-14T19:09:51.124-07:00

Welcome home ma & pa Carmichael! We are looking forward to seeing you and visiting Georgi. The girls are all excited about the Garage Sale. Both had invitations to b'day parties this coming weekend, but chose instead to be in Radisson. :)We had a fun time in Chicago this week. The windy city is a very beautiful city - rich with architecture and greenways. We had lots of fun exploring (and I

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-34469127362118201932007-01-28T19:00:00.001-08:002007-01-28T19:11:17.644-08:00

Hey thereHow is all going? Another Sunday night here...clickety clacking on the computer with Georgi on my lap. She runs to the computer when she sees me coming. Wish I could elicit the same response from the rest of the family.Jeff had the flu this weekend. Poor guy. "Bring me a cold towel." "Can I have some ginger ale?" "Did you put ice in it?" "Where is the paper?". I just kept thinking...what

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-7631233323091041702006-12-10T21:40:00.001-08:002007-01-02T21:23:52.402-08:00

A bunch of family pics are available at: , a fancy photo sharing thing. Type in Carmichael Moravia to find us.

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-61962389289298690692006-12-10T18:12:00.000-08:002006-12-19T06:15:15.812-08:00

Christmas Greetings Family & Friends!Hope this finds you well! This has been a good year here for the Moravia Carmichaels - though a busy one. Since I'm not as good as I'd like to be about writing or keeping up this page...thought you might like a little update on the gang.Jeffrey Paul Jr. is 2 1/2 yrs old already. He's figured out all the finer things in life...taking off his clothes, jumping

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1153747683002036212006-07-24T06:15:00.000-07:002006-07-24T19:34:58.626-07:00

I just finished reading Surprised by Joy, by C.S. Lewis...and it is still reverberating in my little head. It is the account of how Lewis went from being an athiest to being a Christian. Although that is what he was writing about, what I found most interesting was the account of his life and childhood. He lost his mom at an early age, was quite isolated from other kids, and distinctly hated

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1133152233713519322005-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:002005-11-28T20:30:22.380-08:00

Okay, the pics are old, but new to this blog, and I'm too lazy to go find my camera at the moment to download this weeks pics. Soon...Matt reminded me that I hadn't posted ANYTHING in a while. Ah, well...Jeffrey has been teething for the last 3 weeks, need I say more? The good news is that I'm not sure that he can possibly cut another tooth until he is 13 years old. The bad news is he got

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1128304378694688042005-10-02T18:41:00.000-07:002005-10-02T18:52:58.700-07:00

Carmichael B'day season is upon us! From mid Sept - mid Nov. we do seem to have the opportunity to consume lots of cake (not a problem :).Beth watched the gang this weekend (thanks Beth!), and we got to celebrate with her, as she became another year wiser. B'day wishes for this week ahead to Maureen and Mom R! Another round of cake please....

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1127697778436295732005-09-25T18:21:00.000-07:002005-11-28T20:22:52.606-08:00

The last two weeks have been full of fun. Last weekend I went with my sister Amy to Baltimore to visit my sister Karen and her family...including their brand new baby - Emily. I realize that Jeffrey is only one...but already I cannot remember when he was so very tiny. Little Emily is a precious package - so tiny and so sweet. It was a fun trip.This weekend my clan went for a quick trip to Lake

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1126455446962644812005-09-11T09:05:00.000-07:002005-09-11T09:17:26.990-07:00

Cara sliding down the slide at Emerson Park. Okay, not sure how to turn images once they are uploaded...:)Anna with her Beach House Gingerbread Cottage. She entered this in the county fair...quite inventive.Jeffy...trying to attack the photographer.

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1126442425851126572005-09-11T05:29:00.000-07:002005-09-11T05:40:25.856-07:00

The CNY Tomato Fest held a poetry contest this year. Since "contest" means "prizes" Anna was a little more than a little interested. She wasn't sure that she could write a tomato poem..so I told her that I'd write one if she did. I didn't realize that they would publish these in the Syracuse paper...but, well, I've guess that is okay too.Below are our poems. We are not quite Poe...in case

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12583937.post-1122350356139579092005-07-25T20:59:00.000-07:002005-09-09T17:04:47.613-07:00

Well, it happened. My daughter Anna read Are You There God, It's Me Margaret. Although I had previously been worried about the pre-pms thing, I let that one go when her moodiness broke (as I suspected she had beenin pain, suffering through two new teeth pushing out her baby incisors).Funny thing is - the whole point of Judy Blume's infamous book totally went over her head. I asked her what she

Celeste Carmichaelnoreply@blogger.com