Jonah's first Pinewood Derby

Jonah's car has been sanded, painted, sanded some more and painted and painted. Finally after weeks of work by both John and Jonah the car weighed in at exactly 5 oz. Perfect! They applied Cars stickers and Jonah named his car Lightning and put on a #95 sticker just like Lighting McQueen. Jonah's car is the red one in lane 3.

Our stake has the aluminum pinewood derby track with a sensored finish line. They have a computer program that tracks the cars and rotates them through each of the four lanes 8 times for a total of 59 heats. So by racing different cars each heat, we got to see how well Jonah's car was doing. We were hoping to place in the top 10 out of 29 cars because of how good his times were.

At the awards ceremony Jonah's car placed 2nd in his wolf den. Yay Jonah!! Overall John thinks that his car was between 5th and 7th fastest. I think that's pretty good for a 1st timer.

Proof positive of #24

Have you seen my random list?

Keira ran by our 100's day project and tripped on the glue gun cord. Of course it was a big wild amazing connection of cheek and gun as both flew through the air and connected in true slow motion movie magic. Lucky us the burn isn't horrible... but still was painful if you ask Keira. I am hoping for no scar.

25 random thoughts, goals or things about me

I posted this on my facebook page... I thought it might make a nice addition to my blog since not all of you are facebookers.

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

1. I really like gardening, seeing things grow. I feel sad when my plants die, like my Christmas cactus.
2. I would love to feel that burning motivation to be organized and then actually BE organized.
3. I am working on up-keeping two blogs.
4. I learned on Sunday that wishing for a better tomorrow is not as satisfying as appreciating what you have in the here and now. I want to apply that more in my life. It was a good reminder.
5. I am glad to be a stay-at-home mom. Thank you John for being a good worker bee!
6. My favorite colors are green and blue.
7. I like the number 3, probably because my birthday is on the 3rd.
8. I believe that big backyards help compensate for a small house.
9. The tv show LOST ... BLEH! It's such an aggravating show.. who can watch it?
10. I have a birthmark on my arm shaped like Australia.
11. I tend to make up words and use them in everyday settings. Such as: melty, sneezy, dustpanner, huggles, squeezy or speedy as in speedy fast
12. Sometimes I'll change the definition of a word that others don't understand. Such as Hefty: meaning strong in my world... but most people think I mean heavy or chunky. Example: I need a hefty guy to come lift this heavy box. You've seen the Hefty bag commercials... Hefty hefty hefty... Wimpy Wimpy Wimpy... Makes sense right?
13. I worked a sub-contracted mail route for 4 years.
14. I really like donuts... it's hard for me to not eat many at a time.
15. If we are having a conversation and you say something and I give you an example of a similar thing about me or someone I know, I'm not trying to one-up you... I'm trying to relate with you the best I can. I think many people in my life misinterpret that about me.
16. I really like instrumental music from movies. The Lion King, the man from snowy river and Armageddon are a few of my favorites.
17. I really liked seeing Celine Dion and Josh Groban in concert. Their voices are divine!
18. I've been to more Chicago concerts than you can guess.
19. Sometimes I vent in the way of complaints... I'm trying to have less complaints, and more thankfulness.
20. I appreciate my many AWESOME friends. A few which I've had for many many years.
21. When I was younger, I used to dream all the time that I could fly. In my dream, I could actually feel the physical elation like I was actually flying. You know that feeling when you go over a hill a little too fast and you get that tickle in your tummy...or that first second of a drop on a roller coaster? something like that... I can still remember the feeling.
22. If I could have a special super power? It would be to find things that were lost. (or fly)
23. I have been a sleep walker my whole life. It drives John a little nuts sometimes.
24. When using a hot glue gun someone always get burned, no matter how careful you are.
25. I am durable.

How is it?

I'm not sure how it happened, but after Keira took her bath, had a clean diaper and pajamas put on and then was running around playing with the other kids 1 hour before bedtime that she ended up back in the bathtub fully clothed! I was filling up the bath for Sariah when I stepped out of the bathroom for just a moment. Then a concerned call from Sariah alerted me to a problem... Keira back in the tub. I don't know how she did it, but boy was she soggy and surprised.

Now I have a baby running around in just a diaper while her jammies tumble in the dryer. How is it that things like this happen? Hmmm, it makes you wonder what is going through her mind moments before the big splash. Silly, Silly Keira.

Recipes

I would like to put together a cook book filled with easy yummy recipes. It would be great if they didn't use a ton of ingredients, and if they used food storage items it's a bonus!! Please send along any recipes that your family loves and wouldn't mind sharing. Thanks! You can email them to me at sherryanne77@sbcglobal.net

New Year's Resolution

My resolution this year is to be more organized. This I can apply to just about any catagory in my life so it works well as a goal. So far I am on track with my goal and making progress. Wahoo!

Christmas in Arizona

This year around August, John came home and said he couldn't get time off for Christmas. After a talk about gas prices ($4.00 per gal) the lack of vacation time and a tight budget, we came to the decision that this year we'd have Christmas here at home instead of traveling to John's parents home in Arizona.

Of course plans change. By mid November gas prices had dropped by about half and John found a way to get time off. Then came the phone call that John's parents were moving to Washington and this would be their last Christmas in Arizona. Washington is pretty far, too far to drive most years. So we made the decision that we'd do our best to afford the trip this one last time. So off we went the weekend before Christmas, again driving all night and arriving early early in the morning. Then the fun and festivities began. Read on for the complete details of our Christmas Vacation.

Snow and a trip to the YMCA

The kids were extatic about the amount of snow on the ground when we arrived. They played and played until they were cold, wet and exhausted. Then after a drying off period did it all again. Jonah made a snowman, Katie John thew snowballs and Sariah made snow angels.
The YMCA is a yearly tradition. The kids LOVE to go to the YMCA with Grammy, they dream about it all year. Here is a picture of the swimmers. Keira, her cast and I sat on the sidelines for a bit snapping pictures and watching kids & John go down the water slide. We always have such a fun time.

Gingerbread Man Army & Word Search Delight

A favorite activity for the kids was decorating gingerbread men. They love to frost, sprinkle and eat them. It takes a while with only 3 kids and a Grammy... but it sure was a delicious and productive activity.

Jonah has recently discovered the joy of word searches. His primary teacher at church would send home lesson themed searches each week. At Grammy's house Jonah was thrilled to discover that she had a new word search delivered to her house everyday in the paper! What a fun thing!

Here he is happy as a clam, completing today's word search.

Snowy, slippery climb up Thumb Butte

Here we are at the top of the of the Thumb Butte climb. In the background you can see the big "thumb". There sure was a lot more snow than we'd expected. Pat and I did our best to keep our footing on the slippery slopes. The kids seemed to have little problems, or if they fell it didn't seem to bother them. The view from the top was great... we could see for miles. After our rest at the top (and realization that we should have brought more water) we started down. We decided on a shorter route (because the sun was sinking fast), but it had more snow thus more icy slippery. The handrails were very helpful on the steeper switchback filled decent. We made it back to the car with only minutes of daylight left. What a fun adventure we all had climbing Thumb Butte, next time we'll climb with more water and less snow. On the way home we stopped to see some Christmas lights before we went home to eat dinner.

Birthday Girl! Katie John turns 7

The long awaited birthday day finally arrived. Katie John was very excited when she was able to see the very cute cake her Grammy made for her. It was decorated with 4 princess on each castle tower and Princess Katie John in the center. Uncle BJ & Kara, Uncle Danny, Grandpa & Grammy were just some of the guests. The rest of the party went well, as she opened each gift with such happiness. Katie John loves being seven years old.

Christmas Eve

After grandpa read the "Night Before Christmas" to all of us, I got a quick shot of the kids' excitement before going to bed.

Christmas Morning & Dinner

To ensure a Christmas morning that didn't start at 6:00am... we told the kids that they couldn't wake us up until 7:00am. We had a half of a Christmas movie recorded on the dvr that the kids could finish watching and Jonah knew how to find other little cartoons in case the movie ended before the specified time. Sure enough.... it worked!

Here are the anxious kids waiting at the top of the stairs to see if Santa came!

Katie John checks out her stocking and finds a princess memory game along with new toothbrush and toothpaste and shampoo and conditioner.

Jonah grinned from ear to ear when he discovered santa brought a Star Wars lego set... He also got silly putty and a chess set. Santa hit the nail on the head this year with him.

Sariah shows off her stocking filled with coloring and activity books. Santa also brought her Snow White toys.

Keira seemed only interested in the candy cane she managed to unwrap (with help). What a cute picture!

Sariah is demonstrating how to eat scones with powdered sugar and butter, the classic Christmas morning breakfast.

Katie John was chosen to be Grandpa's gift helper this year. As a "trainee" she learned the tricks of the trade this year crawling around the tree fetching gifts for Grandpa to hand out. She did a really good job.

The whole gang at Christmas dinner! Yummy!

Our 4th trip in 2 weeks to Orthopedics, 3rd cast

On Monday Keira had an appointment to get a replacement cast because her ankle swelling had gone down and the cast was loose. So we get a cast (not as cute as the last) and off we go. About 6:00pm on Tuesday John picks up Keira to hold her and whamo bamo her cast has fallen mostly off! This of course was a perfect ending to a stressful day of learning that John's car was broken beyond reasonable cost and we'd have to replace it. Anyway... I wrap her leg with ace bandages and call Kaiser. Of course they tell me that the safest course of action is to take her to the emergency room for a splint... but if I chose to just wait until morning to get an appointment probably nothing major would happen. So of course I chose the most reasonable action and just kept her from putting any weight on her ankle and called orthopedics this morning.

So off we went to get a new cast --hopefully from the good cast guy who did our first cast. Of course this morning was the coldest so far... BRRRRR so we practically ran into the building just to keep from freezing in place. Fortunately the good cast guy (Dave) was available and got us right in and took extra effort to ensure a good cast, and of course with a cute candy cane wrap. He also gave us a walking boot just in case it fell of while we are in Arizona (no Kaiser there). We really appreciated Dave, he gave the kids graham crackers to keep them all distracted, Dylan from his wild poopy diaper that at the moment I couldn't do anything about and keira from her castless ankle. What a nice guy! We are now at home, kids napping happily and a Mom with slightly less stress, still wishing for calm.

A long list with a lot of almosts...

I am a list maker. Here we are in the week before Christmas scrambling to finish all the things that need getting done. We leave for Arizona at the end of the week and my list still has many things left to do. Our tree is up, cookies made... but not yet put on the tree. The present list is almost finished... but not yet shopped for. The sewing machine is out... but the baby blankets aren't made yet. The laundry won't fold itself and keeps multiplying. My bananas are almost ripe for holiday bread... but I'm running out of delivering time. Life at Christmas time is often hectic and hurried almost beyond my sanity. I am wishing for calm this year. Maybe I should put that on my list...