Long Lost Pictures

While playing with our camera, I discovered that there were some pictures that had somehow made it onto the internal memory of the camera rather than the memory card. I was so glad to find them! There were a couple in particular that I specifically remembered taking, but could not find them anywhere and figured they must have been accidentally deleted from the camera. I was so glad they finally turned up!

It was also fun to see pictures with Emily so small again- I can't believe how much she's changed in just a year.

Her face in this picture totally cracks me up!

Pinewood Derby

Anyone who has ever been involved in scouting knows that one of the highlights of the year is the Pinewood Derby. I don't know who it's more exciting for: the boys, the families/siblings, or the fathers! The combined wards did a great job putting on a wonderful derby this year. I couldn't believe the turnout- there were 16 scouts competing, but there were many others who came just for the fun of it all. I loved seeing all the kids lined up along the racetrack- they were so excited they could hardly stand it.

The Saturday before the derby, Jeff and Jacob spent time cutting the car, sanding the wheels and axles, painting, etc. They got most of the work done, but for some reason we were still up late the night before finishing the last details. To add more weight to the car, Jeff drilled a hole in the back, then used his blowtorch to melt lead (fishing weights) and poured it into the drilled hole while I held the car-only slightly panicking. :)

The biggest issue we encountered was our spray paint. For some reason, the metallic silver spray paint that Jacob had chosen would NOT dry! It was originally painted on Saturday, but it was still sticky on Monday night. Despite my vote to sand it, and repaint, Jeff wanted to give it more time. Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon- just a few hours before the derby. I was in panic mode knowing this car was NOT going to dry! Jacob was at school, so I had to sand off all that sticky, wet paint and hurry and repaint the car. I then used my blowdryer to finish the drying process, added a clear glossy coat, and added some stripes using my craft vinyl. It wasn't quite the silver bullet Jacob had imagined, but it turned out looking nice and Jacob liked it.

When Jeff got home from work, he helped Jacob put the wheels on, I finished my cake for the auction and we were off! Next year, I'm going to make sure that car is done days ahead!
Luckily we were there about 25 minutes early, because there ended up being a slight problem with our wheels- apparently they were a little too far apart. So to add more stress to the night- Jeff had to quickly run home and reset the wheels. He made it back just in the nick of time, but it still ended up being a great evening.

The blue one is Jacob's car, the one in 2nd place ended up taking 3rd overall.

We were just hoping that Jacob's car wouldn't come in last place, but it quickly became apparent that Jacob's car was fast... really fast! It won every single race it ran, and not just barely- it was way ahead. In fact, in its first race, it shot completely off the end of the track.

They had a pretty good setup with the computers and everything, so we were able to see that in every race, Jacob's car ran a 3.06, 3.07 or 3.08 time.

Finally it came down to the 'championship' run with the top three cars. On the final run, Jacob's car came down in a 3.07, but there had been some mistake with another car so they removed the times and said they would re-run the final race. Unfortunately, something happened on that re-run of the last race. Jacob's car looked like it stuck for a second at the top, then came down in second place with a 3.14. The scoring was done was by averaging all the times of each car, and that 3.14 really hurt Jacob's overall time, giving him an average time of 3.0910 even though every race was a 3.06-3.08 until that last race of the 3.14.

Jacob didn't know any different- he was completely thrilled to have ended up in 2nd place out of a group of 16 boys! It was Jeff that was a little bummed about the whole thing, only because it appeared something had gone wrong on the last race and they wouldn't do anything about it. It was only a moment though, and he certainly didn't say anything to Jacob. We were also excited for Rowan (& Ewan of course) Black who ended up with a very well earned 1st place finish!

I was just thrilled we had a car to race! Especially with the stress I had trying to get that silly car painted just hours before the derby! I thought the whole night was perfect, and that 2nd place trophy was just the icing on the cake.

Speaking of cakes- the cake auction was a success too. We came home with Kristie Black's delicious chocolate cake with white buttercream marshmallow frosting. Many of the cakes went for upwards of $50, and the grand prize for highest bid cake went to Val Jensen for her 6-layer chocolate sunflower cake- that baby went for $150!

Jeff & Jacob, Ewan & Rowan, Dustin & Kyler

(Good work fathers...um boys!)

These three will have the chance later on in April to compete in the big area Pinewood Derby competition.

I definitely did my share of work and wanted in on the goods too!

(and remind me never to stand face-on to the camera in a striped shirt...wow)

Rowan and Jacob

Midnight Hunger Games

I don't know how I let myself feel pressured into midnight showings, but somehow I found myself at yet another late night movie. Karena, Mandy, Karalee and I went to the 12:04am showing of The Hunger Games.

I had already arranged a couples date night for about 8 couples to do dinner and The Hunger Games movie, but we had to postpone it until a weekend in April because of church activities. I just planned on waiting until then, but when I found out the other girls were going early, I couldn't wait and got a ticket at 9:30pm that night.

I get to the theater about 10 minutes before the movie, and distributed snacks to my grateful, hungry movie girls who had been waiting for a couple hours. I probably paid for the late evening over the next few days (I didn't get home till 3am), but it was worth it! The movie was good, and the company even better although Karalee won't ever let me live down the fact that I totally jumped and screamed and scared her far worse than the movie itself.

A Bobcat

It was an exciting first month of scouting for Jacob. At his first Pack Meeting, he received his Bobcat along with the progress toward rank, and a gold bead. They have a fun little ceremony for the boys who get their bobcat award- it involves their mothers and face paint! We get to do all sorts of markings on their face, but we better be nice because in return- they get to put a white stripe down our forehead as well.
Jacob was pretty excited that night. Although I've had moments of reluctance to fully immerse myself in the scouting program (it can take a lot of time!), I've been so pleased watching Jacob get so excited. Even in the short month he's been involved, it's been such a great experience for him. I'm grateful for our wonderful scout leaders and the scouting program. Lets see if I feel the same way when we get to that Eagle scout project!

Happy Birthday Emily

Happy Birthday to our beautiful little princess! It seems like just yesterday we were here with Jeff making it to the hospital just barely in time at the end of my 2-hour-total-labor to be with me during Emily's delivery.She came in a hurry, and it seems like she's still in a hurry- to grow up that is. I can't believe she's already 2 years old.

Emily- just born

1 Year Old

Now a sweet, beautiful 2-year old!

It's amazing how much they change in such a short amount of time.

Emily's birthday was pretty low-key. I had finished the shopping, so we pretty much spent the day playing at home and getting everything ready. Jeff had purchased some muffins at the store & that's what Emily wanted for breakfast, so we stuck a candle in it and called it good. I think between Matthew & Emily, we blew the candle out about 25 times.
These two were so cute together the entire day. Matthew was thrilled that it was Emily's birthday, and Emily just ran around singing "happy birthday to me" all day. I love birthdays and how excited the kids get- even if they just can't wait to open the presents.
Matthew and Emily also wanted to sit together all day, they love sharing a char. It's a good thing they're small enough that they both fit, I don't imagine they'll be able to do this for too long.
Emily just loved all the excitement and loved all the extra attention from everyone. Whenever anyone would ask her how old she was, she would hold up her hand and exclaim, "2!" For some reason though, she didn't want to do it for the camera.

I did some simple, but cute decorations. They always look better and more vibrant in person, but you get the general idea.

For Emily's little party, I made an ice cream cake, and we had cupcakes, brownies, and chocolate-dipped strawberries. I didn't get the pink juice and ice cream out for the picture, but we had those too. We had about 20 people over, plus our family, so I decided to have a variety of different things.

Emily was pretty excited about the whole setup.

After we had our family dinner, we let Emily open her presents. She was so cute and loved everything. The boys were so excited to bring all the presents to her, and I'm pretty sure we set some type of record for the fastest present-opening ever! Next time, we need to slow it down a bit. :)

I don't know who was most excited about Emily's new bike- Emily or the boys, particularly Matthew- I know he was already having dreams of cruising down the street on it in all it's pink glory. It's definitely time Emily has her own- that poor little tractor is just too small for both Matthew and Emily to be squished on together.

Emily with all of her gifts. Thank you so much to friends and grandparents for the cards and thoughtful gifts. And a huge thank-you to my friend Jordan for the amazingly adorable skirt! I had been saving it for over a month for Emily's birthday and it is so dang cute! I absolutely love it and have gotten so many compliments.

We finished the presents just in time for the big party to start. We invited a few families over to celebrate, and help us eat all those treats! Emily loved having so many of her favorite people over. Even though they shouldn't have, they all brought some cute gifts- sparkly purses, glasses, and dolls, which Emily could never have too many of. I loved watching her face while everyone sang happy birthday to her, she was so pleased.

We love this little girl!

We enjoyed the rest of the night playing, eating, and talking with friends. The kids had a blast and spent most of their time with the toys in the basement.

I missed a few people in this shot, but we sure enjoyed having everyone over and glad they could spend the night partying with us!

(Bassetts, Blacks, & Switzers)

Happy Birthday Emily! You are one loved little girl!

Preschool Field Trip

In March, Matthew's preschool class took a field trip to a local gymnastics center, and this time I was able to go. It was so fun to go and watch all the preschoolers. There were a couple gymnastics instructors who helped the kids get warmed up, stretched out, and ready for fun on all the equipment.
After showing the kids how to do all the fun different things, they got them going with an 'obstacle course' that included walking across the balance beam, swinging on the rings, jumping on the trampoline, crawling across 'parallel bars', jumping off the vault springboard, etc. The kids had a riot. It did make me laugh watching Matthew- someone he got a little confused on the order of some of the activities, so he just went around to whatever he wanted for a little while.
Emily loved watching the kids and would do everything the instructors told the kids to do. She wanted to be out there having fun too! She was a good little spectator though.

Earlier this month, Matthew was the 'Student of the Week.' I helped him make a cute poster all about him, and I was able to go in to his classroom to read his favorite story to the class. His favorite book was, "The Gingerbread Man" so we also made gingerbread man sugar cookies for everyone. The kids thought it was great! I love having any chance to visit his preschool class, it's so fun to see all the kids. Emily loved it too because she was able to play with all the fun toys while I read the story.
For some reason, I didn't get a copy of the class picture- probably because I didn't order the school pictures. I was, however, able to get a picture of the class photo sheet at Marjorie's house. I'll miss all these cute kids next year!