1st Place Moments

The Pine Wood Derby has never been something that I look forward to. Because it is a cub scout thing we have our boys choose their own design and help cut it, everything. It is suppose to be their car. However, due to the fact that neither one of us knows what we are doing our cars have never done very well in the races. This year we got help from someone else and worked really hard to make the car a winner! But to no avail. There were brothers who wiped everyone else out of the race. (Come to find out weeks after the race that they bought theirs already finished online!) Luckily our son has a good attitude and left the race disappointed in his car, but not depressed.

Then they announce at the next den meeting that at the next pack meeting there is going to be a cake decorating contest. The wheels in our head started turning. We could come back at them with an awesome cake! I was bound and determined to help my kid shine! This was all I thought about for weeks, planning the layout, finding all the right stuff and recruiting help where I was unsure. The day of the meeting this was all I worked on. It took my entire day! Lucky for me they were serving dinner at the pack meeting or my family would have gone to the soup kitchen that evening! This was our end result, the theme was the great outdoors.

Ev was so excited to take his cake in and let everyone see it. And I hoped that he would win. Well, the awards weren't the same as the Pine Wood Derby. No 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. It was most inspiring or best decorated prizes. Ev's got the best Cub Scout spirit award. I was a little disappointed for him. But hearing him talk about how we did it and what he helped with on the cake made me realize something. He didn't win a certain place with that cake. But doing this cake together gave him and me (and his siblings, we all helped) a fantastic time together. We still talk about making the people or the fire. That cake holds a lot of memories for each of us and that is far more important than a 1st place ribbon.

History has a way of repeating itself

Yes, I realize it has been a long while since I posted. You would think with all of our modern technology and conveniences it would be easier to have more time, but I don't. And this pregnancy really has wiped out my energy, not to mention preschool and 3 busy kids. But I really need to document this funny story, for history purposes.
When I was younger my family lived near some cows. They had a fenced area that was full of mud and other stuff (you know what I mean). Well, my brother got in there one day with some rain boots. It wasn't long before he was stuck. That muck just sucked onto that boot and wouldn't let go. My mother was able to get him out, but without the boot.

Well, 30 some years later it came back around. We have had a LOT of rain this past week and so our ground is very muddy. And lucky for us our kids have turned a part of our yard into a mud hole. No grass lives there, just mud. They even have a hole dug that they can sit in, they really like to be in dirt. Of course the rain filled the hole and made that area of our lawn absolutely terrible. Natalie had a friend over after the rain had passed and they were playing out back. It was so quiet, the boys were gone and I was really doing good on my organizing goals. Suddenly, the back door opened and a very frightened friend says, "Hurry, Natalie's foot is stuck in the mud and she can't get out!" Talk about a flashback in time.

I immediately thought how funny this moment was and wanted to get my camera. I started looking around for it and could not find it anywhere. Then her friend comes back and says, "Hurry, she's sinking deeper and she can't get out!" I stepped outside and told her she would be fine, I just wanted to grab my camera. Natalie looked at me, as she is tugging on her leg to pull it out. I could tell she didn't see my reason for wanting to capture this on film. She was starting to cry, so I went and helped her get out. As soon as she was unstuck she was fine and went on playing, muddy foot and all. She had on a pair of crocs, which have holes in them, so she had mud all over inside the shoe as well.

I wish I had gotten a picture of the moment, but at least I have written it down. She wasn't traumatized after the fact, at least I don't think so. Although her friend might be, thinking that her friend is sinking in quick sand and all her mom thinks about is finding a camera!
I wonder if this will repeat itself again for the next generation?

Naming a pet

We don't have a pet. But my kids would love a pet. So anytime that they get any sort of animal they name it. Natalie will give it a name that is relative to what it is. She got a pillow pet that is a dinosaur (I think) and she didn't give it a dinosaur name or anything like that. She named it "Pillow". Why? "Because he is a pillow." Her rationale is very plain and sensible. Gabe took Evan on a day trip today and Ev was so nice to bring back a souvenir for his siblings. He brought Nat a little bobblehead horn frog. She wasn't sure what it was so before naming him she asked Ev what he was. After telling her, she announced that she was naming him "Horny". Gabe and I just looked at each other and tried really hard not to laugh. And then she told me that she wants to take him to school tomorrow and show him to her class. How do you get your daughter to change a pets name?

Our April

Wow! April flew by and I got very little pictures from the month. Evan was looking through my camera and asked how come I didn't have any photos of him. I felt bad - they were all from preschool. I need to work on that.
Here are a few from April that I did get.We have spent the whole month, it feels like it, at the baseball fields. The boys are both in baseball and we are up there a lot. Natalie has been a true sport spending so much time up there. I love her hair here. It seems like it is always crazy. She calls it "crazy hair". The other day she told me that she was a boy. And she was dead serious. She said that only boys had crazy hair, so she must be a boy. (there is a little boy with super curly hair in preschool and that is where she was getting her research from) I know how you feel Natalie. It is a love/hate relationship. Better get use to it.


We let our pet fish and frog go free. Gabriel and I had been trying to convince our kids to let the critters go. The kids had lost interest in taking care of them and Mom was stuck with cleaning the tank and always taking care of them. They finally agreed. I think it will be a while before we get another pet in our home.


The biggest news of our month was the big storm that hit our neighborhood. There were winds up to 80 mph and it brought hail with it. It was about 1 am and amazingly our kids slept through the whole thing. The storm hit from the opposite side of the house from where their windows are. But Gabe and I could not sleep during the whole thing. It left its mark on our home and many more around us. Luckily we didn't have any windows break like many of our neighbors. We were very blessed. This is a lid that got left outside. All those holes are from hail. They had golf ball size hail reported. And it hailed so much when you looked out the window that night, it looked like snow had accumulated in parts of the lawn.



It also knocked down our fence on both sides of us. A LOT of fences are down here. The kids like it because now there are 4 yards connected and they have more playing field. It has been a little nice to have the kids all connected and together. And I have a feeling that it is going to be a while before our fence gets repaired. It also left a mark on our car, but I have no photos of that one. The insurance totaled the car, it would take quite a bit to fix it. There are blessings mixed in here, but mostly we are grateful our kids slept through it all and that no one got hurt.

Love What You Do In Life

There are two things that I absolutely love doing. I could take a break from them, but after a while I would really miss them. I only wish that I had figured out how much I love doing these things years and years ago!

1-I love being a mom. I love doing mom things, not house things, mom things. I love helping out at my kids school. I love seeing them stand proud when their mom is helping out in their classroom. I love seeing them work hard at something and then watching their face when they have accomplished something big. I love watching them play together and work together with the family. I LOVE reading with them, not matter how big they get. I am a little biased, but they are my kids - I have super great kids. So, why wouldn't I love being a mom when I have kids like these!?!


2- I love teaching preschool! I recently started teaching preschool out of my home, this is my 2nd year. It is something that I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. In fact I would go to garage sales or thrift stores looking for things that I could use in my preschool, when I was in high school. When I started, I did it more to help out a friend who needed an affordable place for her son and it gave Natalie something to do a couple days of the week. This year my class is double in size and it can get a little crazy at times. But today after they had all gone home I had the thought, "I love teaching preschool." I was so excited about teaching I wanted to call somebody and tell them all about it, but I didn't know who to call. It is so fun to see them get excited about little things that adults don't even blink at. They are all a joy to be around. Life is so exciting and simple in their world.

I hope that my children will be able to find what they love and go after that. It makes living life so much more fun when you are doing something that you have a passion for.

Spring Break!!!

It is spring break here, so hopefully I can catch up on my blogs. But I had to post what we did yesterday! They aren't personal photos, I forgot my camera. I always seem to forget it when I really want to capture a moment. I need to work on that.

We took the kids to an indoor water park for their first day of spring break. The water was a little colder than we remembered it being. But it was still fun. They have a lazy river that isn't so lazy for adults! The water moves pretty quickly around, you really get a work out in there. And 2 of our kids LOVE it!

The highlight was this guy (who is scared of trying new things)

tried this and LOVED IT!!!

He probably jumped over a dozen times. He absolutely loved it and now he wants to go back to all the pools we have been to and jump off their diving boards. He even got dad to try it once. We all thought that was cool to watch. Dad hasn't been on a diving board since high school.

We had a great day and ALL of us were wiped out after we got home. What a fun day!

Tongues

I have noticed the last couple of times that Natalie uses her tongue to color. She can always be found looking like this when she is coloring. It is adorable.

Last night you asked me to color with you. You found an activity book with a page for each number up to 19. You were bound to color each page before bedtime. I love your determination and desire to do a job good. You love to do school work and ask for homework when the boys are doing theirs. And you love to be busy. I hope you always aim high for yourself.