Pinewood Derby 2010

The Pinewood derby kind of snuck up on us this year. Howie joined the Pack at Church and was given his block of wood at his first den meeting. He had 2 weeks to complete it. We've been so busy, that we were lucky that Howard and him had time to complete it.

Howie drew the shape that he wanted. Howard cut it and did some sanding. Howie did the final sand and paint job. Howard taped off where the black stripes would be and Howie also painted on the black. Howard ensured that it was to its maximum weight. They spent a lot less time on the car this year, but it did surprisingly better.

One of many heats where Howie came in first.

There were only 2 heats that he came in second.

This was one of them.

The black car was ultimately the final winner.

Way to go!

Second place in the pack is pretty darn good!!!

Howie was able to choose which candy trophy he wanted.

He chose the third smallest one, so he could have his favorite candy.

He was so sweet and shared with everyone when we returned home that night.

He was also awarded "Best Design".

Luke was so tuckered out from a busy night he snuggled up to sleep on this nice patch of carpet.

I LOVE baby bums that stick up, they are just too precious!!!

My Lil' Scientist

We went to the Scout Shop today and Howie found some pretty awesome stuff he wanted to spend his birthday money on. He got started on his projects as soon as he was done with his chores. I love his interest!

Killin' me with those blue eyes!

5 More Reasons Why I Love Oklahoma

Oh how I love driving on the country roads near our home. Our neighborhood is right on the edge of the city and country. It truly is the best of both worlds.

5 Reasons Why I Love Oklahoma

Howard and I were mesmerized on our drive to church this morning. We had some early morning fog that frosted every tip of the frozen trees. These pictures just don't accurately portray the beauty of nature. Later in the afternoon I went visiting teaching, and I took my camera along to capture what God created. All of these pictures were within 2 miles of our home. I feel so blessed that we can live here!

My Little Ice Princess (and Prince)

Erin and Howie had so much fun playing in the ice and snow.

Erin enjoying her icicle pop.

Howie had fun knocking the ice off the side of the house.

Examining the ice together.

Erin slipping and sliding around in the back yard like a figure skater.

Sadly Luke, Jack, and I have all been feeling yucky the past couple of days, so we enjoyed watching the big kids play from inside the house while we snuggled in our pj's and watched movies.

I'm pretty impressed with my new camera. ALL of these pictures were taken through the windows!

Winter Wonderland

The ice storm came just as the forecast said on Thursday. Howard was released from work at 10:30am, the kids were home from school, and our appointments/activities were canceled for Thursday and Friday. Thursday was the ice and Friday was the snow. Many people lost power, but we were fortunate to be warm, dry, and have electricity!

This is the tree in our front yard.

This is a view of the creek/woods from the back of the house (over the fence).

The street sign behind us.

Our iced over fence.

Through the front door.

The Calm Before the Storm

The calm before the storm

Wednesday, January 27th was WONDERFUL! We had a high of 63F. I was so thankful the kids didn't have homework so we could all play outside after school.

Coming...

going...

racing...

borrowing.

It's Great to be Eight!

My baby is 8!!!!

We celebrated a day early since he didn't have school. We had a "family" party with our close friends the Gardner's. We kept things small and simple this year.

If you look carefully you can see Howard physically restraining Jack to keep him from blowing out the candle.

I know this is blurry, but it just shows the excitement of opening presents! I LOVE watching my kids faces when they open presents!

Luke was so happy to play with the trash.

More presents!

Normally we take the family out to dinner for birthdays, but this year Howie didn't want to go out. He wanted a T-bone steak for dinner! He didn't eat all of it, but he came pretty close.

His actual birthday was spent going to school, doing homework, and playing his new Wii game, Mario Kart. His baptism will be next month when my sister comes down for a visit. I'm really excited about that!!!

Howard's Talent

So I'm not quite sure what you would call this talent, but the kids have been bugging Howard to show them for a long time! He used dental floss.

Totally gross, but anything to make the kids happy.

"Ta-da!"

Pulling it out

It was covered in Howard slime...yuck!

Seriously though, the kids were hysterical and loved every minute! What a good dad.

Saturday/Sunday

Howard was still away Saturday and so the kids and I had some fun together. I curled Erin's hair in rollers, the kids had fun jumping, and we had a movie night.

Howard finished his Combat Readiness School on Sunday, but didn't get home until after church. I tried to get a nice picture of all the kids, but Luke just wasn't cooperating!

Isn't Erin's hair so beautiful?! It reminded me of when she was a toddler and had ringlets in her hair. (Yes, I know her glasses are crooked...I fixed them later on.)

Day Trip

Today we drove 100 miles north to a baptism of Howie's friend from Washington. It was great seeing the Brady family again (as well as the Romano's) and Howie had a blast playing with Ethan. I was also happy to take the kids to a baptism since Howie will be getting baptized soon!

Howie and Ethan the goof balls!

This was something cool we saw on the side of the road. It was 11 degrees this morning when we left and 21F on the way home. This was in front of a country store...can you guess what it is?

It's a frozen water fountain! It was so beautiful in real life, pictures don't do it justice!

On the way home (another 100 miles) Jack and Luke slept and Howie and Erin actually got along. Miracles do happen!

(Erin wears an eye patch to strengthen her weak eye, but we generally only do it at home or in the car so her friends don't see it.)

FINALLY!!!!

Luke is almost 11 months old and he has been my slowest eater (developmentally that is). He has been on stage 2 baby food FOREVER and it drives me nuts. We've been trying for a long time to move up to chunkier foods, and table foods. We would put it in his mouth and he would spit it right out...SO FRUSTRATING!!! We wasted so much food trying to feed him and then of course he would cry because he was hungry, so we would pull out the baby food. For the past 2 days or so I've noticed that he's actually been eating the food we give him. He turns his nose up to baby food now and just finished a whole meal without any baby food fillers that I usually give him. I'm so happy right now! I've been really stressing out about it since I planned on weaning him in 4 weeks (his birthday). Now I just need him to learn how to drink out of a sippy cup better, but for now I'm so thankful for his new accomplishment!!!

Yum, yum, yum!

"I can't help myself, this is so good!"

"Look, look! Can you see my top two teeth?!"

One last cute picture. I found him here "reading" my magazine.