Birthday Time

My birthday came and went - I had a lot of kind deeds done during the day. One that is so cute is Christopher: I asked him to unload the silverware from the dishwasher while I went to dry my hair. When I came back, he had unloaded the WHOLE dishwasher. He neatly organized the dishes on the counter and with the BIGGEST smile on his face he said, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! I unloaded the whole dishwasher for you!" It's moments like those that make my day!

This morning we road our bikes to school. There are only two ways into our neighborhood. We ALWAYS go down Blackstone. So, on the way home I explained to him in the simplest English how we were going to go down Del Largo (the other entrance) just for a change of pace. He said to me, "I know. I know. I know that there are only two entrances into our neighborhood Mom. I already know that!"

So, as we turned into our neighborhood (to go down Del Largo) he says to me, "Mom, are we still in Frisco?" :)

I love that boy!

Beautiful Creations!

There was the possiblity of a school closure this week - due to ice pellets one morning! It never happened; the temps have been in the low 40s for the past week (20s at night). A bit brisk. The trees look pretty dead!

This afternoon when the temps got up to nearly 65, we were all playing outside when this friendly neighborhood cardinal came soaring into our backyard (click on the pic). Glenn says that he has seen him before; I sure hope so. He is so beautiful and has a lovely song to sing. I hope he makes a home somewhere near!

The Derby Results

We went down to the church building as scheduled on Saturday night. The Derby started promptly at 5pm - with dinner! WHO WANTS TO EAT DINNER at a moment like this!?!? We ate our tube steaks and had quiet conversation. There was much hush hush talk about car structure, weight distribution, etc.

WE THOUGHT we had it made in the shade. Race #1 (or should I say Heat #1) featured Benjamin's Daytona Dreamster (complete with a Lego driver)... Ready, Set, Go! He won! The Daytona Dreamster continued to win and win and then there was a few losses but then more wins.

The Scout Master had hired this "handy dandy" computer system that came along with the track. It would keep track of all the heats and tabulate the data - SO WE THOUGHT! (More on that later!) Each car would run 8 races and then the 4 slowest times would be dropped from the results. The remaining 4 times would be averaged! PRESTO - the car with the fastest time would be declared the WINNER!

Up next was Zach's Maroon Indy Dragster. It was a sharp looking racing machine! It was sleek and stream-lined. He too won and won and won! There was one or two losses Zachary had, but most likely by Ben's Daytona Dreamster.

We were getting into an hour or so now... racing, racing, racing... There were 12 Cub Scout cars plus about 5 additional cars (leaders, siblings, Dads). We were down to the final race and I was called up to the table by the Scout Master to fill out the Certificates Of Award.

The last race was won - I looked at the man running the computer system - and I knew I knew there were problems. You could see it in his face. Then he frantically began pressing buttons, shaking his head, muttering under the collar. I was looking at our Scout Master - wondering how this would be handled. Of course, I wanted to blurt out - WHAT! YOU LOST THE DATA! DON'T YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING! But since we are the newest family on the block out here, that would be really really unacceptable and I didn't want to embarrass our family!

The man running the system looked at our Scout Master and said that this had never happened to him before. He continued to press keys as the Scout Master looked at me. He said to me, "Well, we will just have a run-off between the 5 fastest cars. The cars that will race will be the Johnson's, Jensen's, your two sons and the Slay Boy." I agreed and at that moment, the man running the system butted in - "I have some results. Here are your winners!"

Well, Ben & Zach came in at 5th and 6th. We didn't even make the TOP 3! BUT - we did learn that sometimes life has its ups and downs. Sometimes things get messed up and we have to just show our best side. What was kinda' hard to see though was Ben and Zach's faces - a bit let down! But... they showed great sportsmanship and we still all had a great time - WE DIDN'T COME HOME WITH THE FLAT TIRE AWARD EITHER (though it might not have been such a bad deal)!

Zachary, till next year...

Flat Tire Award

Who's coming home with the Flat Tire Award tonight at the 2008 Pinewood Derby?

NOT Ben or Zach!

We only volunteered to bring it!

Zach's car is to the left (red).
Ben's car is to the right (blue).

The Preparations are Underway...

Every year, the cub scout ritual of PINEWOOD DERBY MANIA hits, culminating in a high pressure, intense battle for the top spot. That epic battle is tomorrow.

We've been preparing Ben and Zach for what could be a match between the two. "Remember, its just a competition. The cars are what win or lose...you guys are both winners because you have cool cars that you created!" (Okay, it is still nice to win though. :-) )

If races in Texas are anything like last year's competition in Mesa, it should get interesting! And judging from how the cars are turning out...watch out!

This year, Zachary chose Ben's "The Rail" model from last year, with a couple of modifications to strengthen the front wheel struts. Benjamin decided on "The Racer" - a sleek looking dragster with a spot for a Lego-man driver.

They weighed them today to see if they need more or less weight. Zachary's is .2 oz overweight. Benjamin's is .35 oz overweight. Looks like we'll be drilling out some of the lead weights to lighten the load.

More on this developing story tomorrow :-).

Back In The Saddle

Well, the 3 month vacation is all over... we are ALL up and running, back into school activities, after-school sports, church callings and just LIFE in general.

When we left AZ in November I felt like we were very very very busy. It was a bit of a breather when we landed in TX. There was NOTHING to do and NOWHERE to go!

Now the schedule is starting to fill up. BUT, there is always time for a bit of a fruit smoothy in the sun BEFORE the brothers come home from school (and the forecast has snow flurries on Thursday)!

Once they're home - Nick goes to gymnastics 2x a week, Ben and Zach have Scouts 1x a week. They also have chess club after school 1x a week. Baseball will kick-in the end of February and there are three boys that want to do that! (We are on two piano wait-lists.) Chris and Emma do a gymnastics class in the morning once a week. NO MORE LAYING AROUND!

We are getting out to see Texas and meet the people of Texas (that aren't really Texan)!