Pinewood Derby--Crayon car

Collin's idea to make his pinewood derby car into a crayon shape turned out to be a BIG hit.

This was definately a team effort. Collin had a very original idea.

Ross spent a lot of time with the wood working tools to get the shape just right.

And Grandma came through with vinyl lettering decals

to give it that right out of the crayon box look. Collin painted it.

That's big yellow on track 5. It was an awesome computerized track. Every car had a chance to race on each of the six tracks and then the times were averaged to find a winner.

The overall results out of at least 20 cars show big yellow came in fifth overall. We were all very pleased and somewhat surprised, that the theme car would also place in the top.

I'm pretty happy and pleased that Ross and Grandma

would take so much time to help Collin have a good experience.

Especially since last year we didn't even do a car because of the stress from the first year.

After three years of cub scouts I think the Pinewood Derby

will now be a good memory for Collin.

Surviving and Beyond

Ok, so my sister and her 5 kids moved in with us last week. It's a temporary stop for them while her husband starts a new entreprenuerial dream of his in a town very far away from where they used to live.

So we now have 11 people under one roof, 12 tonight, because JD is home for Memorial Day weekend.

When Courtney asked me what she could do to make this a "win-win" situation somehow I was able to come up with a few answers.

I wanted to have help planting a garden, because since we've been in this house I've only put in a few tomato plants in containers, or next to the bushes, but nothing I thought of as a formal garden. Now we can cross this one off the list, because today we were able to make a container box from wood we bought and have already planted tomatoes, zuchinni, green pepper and sweet pea. Somebody wish us luck with this. I'm hoping my thumb turns green quickly in the few months.

My other win would be to have a house of order. Courtney and Jd and incredible parents when it comes to teaching their children discipline, respect, and work. Their kids are nice to each other too. Infact, I've already seen Courtney sit them on the couch next to each other and have them sing together once when they weren't getting along. See, this is the kind of stuff I want help with.
I realized though, that as much as I'd like Courtney to do the hard work of getting my children to behave as well as hers it's still my job and I'm stuck with it. So I guess I'll be living and learning for the next few months in hope that I can get some really great habits.

Preschool Graduation

When Breanne told me, "Today was my best graduation ever!" I knew the word graduation had lost some of it's meaning. It's not really Breanne's fault that she's been to two previous years of Joyschool graduation, and now one for Preschool. It really is more of a year end party where parents come to see their little ones highlighted for the day.

The best part is when the teacher shared some of the answers from when she asked the kids questions like, What do you want to be when you grow up? or What makes a girl pretty?
I'll share some of the answers because they are darling.

Breanne, for example, wants to be a farm mom when she grows up. We've actually gotten a lot of mileage out of this at home by explaining she'll really need to do a lot of work around the house and the farm. She loves helping out when she imagines that it's preparing her to live her dream.

When asked what makes a girl look pretty she said, "jewels, and necklaces. " (I'm glad the teacher didn't ask if her mom was pretty.) What makes a boy handsome? "A church suit." If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? "Virginia, because that's where I was born."

Her friend Anna had an even better answer when asked, if she could go anywhere in the world, where she would go, "A hotel."

Living My Dream or Today I Played Tag

I just got back from Connor's school where I volunteer for 1/2 hour of morning recess on Friday morning. I've been a somewhat unreliable volunteer this year because sometime this winter I got "busy" with "stuff" on Friday mornings and missed every other week or so. This Spring I got my momentum back and today I had an especially great time playing tag with the kids.

Every once in awhile I get the feeling that I ought to do something really "important" with my life. It's one of those nagging feelings that says "there's more than just this." Today while playing tag I had the opposite feeling. It was one of those moments when I felt really fulfilled and happy, so I'm writing it down quick so that I can remember. I think going in to Connor's school for recess is one of the more "important" things that I do. It gives me a chance to meet his friends, play tetherball, fill my volunteer hours, and most importantly show Connor my love.

Today he showed me a new game, line tag. It's tag, but you have to stay on the lines painted on the playground asphalt. My heart raced as I ran from the kids, I lauged out loud when they tagged me, and my adrenaline rushed as I ran away. I found myself smiling the whole time. In short, I felt like a kid again and I felt connected to my own kid.

Yesterday I read a post by Leslie Householder, author of the Jackrabbit factor, from emails that I get through her thoughtalive program. She mentioned that her "dream" has been to be a stay-at-home mom. Now as she lives her dream, folding laundry, helping kids with homework, making dinner, and cleaning the counter she fills fulfilled and happy. http://tinyurl.com/4tm59b

It was a great reminder to me that I'm also living my dream. I've been cleaning house, worrying about children getting along with others, deciding how to proceed with piano lessons, hoping my kids will finish math assignments etc. It's all worth it. All the "problems" I have are exactly the kind of problems I want. Sure sometimes I wish I didn't have problems, but that kind of thinking doesn't help me much. Life=problems or else we couldn't be happy and grow. I'm learning that being grateful for my problems stengthens me.

I'm especially grateful today, because today I played tag.

Camping

We took the kids camping over the weekend to Utah Lake State Park.

It must have been several years ago when we learned our kids are happiest when throwing rocks into water and playing on dirt mounds.

So, for about 24 hours we had some pretty happy kids.

Of course coming home was a whole different story, because we were all tired, but for at least a day we had some good experiences connecting with each other, as well as enjoying air, earth, water and fire.

Of the four elements, the kids enjoyed fire the most.

Who doesn't love roasting marshmallows

and eating smores?

Preschool coming to a close

Isn't the body's ability to heal itself amazing?

We are so pleased with how well Breanne's face is healing. If you like children's books look for this one. It's called Fancy Nancy. I wish I remembered the author. It's a darling story with great illustrations about a little girl who likes to do things "fancy" even though the rest of her family is "boring." I was touched by it as I read it to Breanne during Moms and Muffins last week at preschool. (They invite Moms to read with the kids and have a snack the last 1/2 hour of school.) I don't know if I was so touched by it because it's a "girly" book and so much of the books we've collected at home over the years are not...Or if it's because I see my little girl growing up and going out on her own leaving me with no one else to read stories to for awhile... Or if it's just one of the new classic stories that everyone will love (perhaps all three.)
Ross also had a great time at Dads and Doughnuts the next week. Who is this skinny faced man?