Pinewood Derby

We made it through our first pinewood derby on Friday night. My goal was to make it through without any tears and we did it, despite Noah's not winning any races. I think he may have fought it by being a little on the apathetic side, but he was trying really hard. I can't believe I forgot to have him wear his uniform. It just got crazy right before we went out the door and we were still figuring out who to take and when because.....

.....because Ammon's eyes started to look a little irritated the day before the I took him to the Dr the morning of and yes, he did have pink eye. We have never dealt with pink eye--all I know is the first word that comes to mind is....very contagious. So it was a hard decision. Trav needed to be there because he's the Dad and he helped Noah make the car, and he was leaving the next morning for SOS and would be gone for a few weeks. I needed to be there because I need to be learning what in the world is going on in the scout world, and I had assignments and things I needed to be doing. But Trav almost stayed home with the 2 youngest anyway, but at the last minute we decided to take Ammon and confine him to the stroller. He didn't mind that. I don't think he was feeling well at all by then and he fell asleep before the races started and we just stuck him in a corner. The Dr had assured my that it is very contagious if he rubs his eyes and touches things, but if we could be confident of him not touching anything, it would not be a problem at all. So. That's what we did. Poor guy though.

Each car got to race 3 times. Noah's came in third twice and second once (when the third place car had a wheel fly off....). He handled it remarkable well. It's no joke though, that some families (dads) get really into this and know all the tricks and secrets and take it a little bit seriously =).

Just some pictures

Ammon and his friend Taylor. Every time I try to rake leaves, it's just a big playground.

They are so darn cute...

Bleh

Here is our quote of the week--It sums up our week pretty well and made me laugh when I heard it.

Travis: "Noah, what are your shoes doing here by the sink?"
Noah: "Micah threw up on them, so Mom was washing them."

He was right. It seems to be working it's way through our family. Only Kaden hasn't gotten it, and Micah took on the worst of it. Poor little guy. I don't like to see my kids sick, but luckily he is mostly acting as happy and boisterous as ever inbetween.

Virginia?

Well, everyone has been telling me we would get a big snow this weekend, and somehow I ignored them and didn't really believe them. But they were right. It snowed all day yesterday and it is so beautiful. I was mad when they were talking about it, because although it IS January, this darn weather constant teases and tantalizes, freezing you one day and then suddenly feeling very springlike and nice. So then I start to think it's finally warming up, and then comes the cold and wind. I love to be warm. But once the snow was here, and I remembered how I love snow when there is a lot of it, I was very excited. It would have been child abuse not to let the kids play in it, so we played and played, and now I might still get turned in for child abuse for letting my 2 oldest, who I worried a bit less about, get frostbite....Noah and Kaden

Ammon

Micah lasted about 20 minutes, but he was very mystified and elated in that time. Then he gloves fell off and I didn't see it until he came to me crying, so I took him in for lunch and naps.

This is only early on in the day, there was more to come...

We decided to make our own little hill to sled down. Trav is always good at figuring out the logistics of these things.

Here is the child abuse issue I am dealing with. Both Noah and Kaden had so much fun and stayed out a long time. Kaden told me his feet were cold early on, and then said "But that's okay". I figured it was just the initial cold always feel in my feet and fingers until I get my blood circulating. And he never complained again, until he came inside. Then I took off his boots and discovered that his boots were full of snow (I only put one pair of socks on him and they were ANKLE socks, so it was right against his skin.) Yes he is a very big 6 year old and the biggest snowpants I had were 4T, so they were a bit short also. Anyway, his poor little legs did not look good and I was pretty worried. They were that gray white color with red around the edges, and raised and swollen. He sat at the edge of the tub for an hour or so while we tried to slowly warm them. And Noah's cheeks were pretty red with the center a bit white, and they felt funny also. His warmed up fine and went away, and today Kaden's legs look almost normal, but are a little itchy. I feel horrible. Yes, I do have a nursing degree and yes, I was raised in Idaho. But I only had to keep myself from getting frostbit there, and I thought they were all bundled nicely. I also imagine them complaining at the least bit of pain and assumed they would not allow snow in their boots. But THEY weren't raised in snowy Sugar City....Anyway, you live and you learn. And hopefully keep all of your limbs in the process.

Anyway we still have all of the beautiful snow today and church was cancelled, so we have been relaxing and somehow all of the boys have just been playing with each other all day with much less fighting than I anticipated. They are not as stir crazy as I would have thought. It's been nice, except that I AM a bit stir crazy....

Micah loves all of the attention he gets from his brothers. And each of them is so flattered when he wants to play with them and hug them, that they will do anything he wants. The latest is all of the piggy back rides he demands from Noah...

Ammon just does not have friend his age, it seems. We are always having older and younger kids over, but no one just his age. I don't know why! I feel really bad for him. This is his friend Taylor from the bus stop. We finally got to have her over to play for a bit last week. They had so much fun.

Younger every year

Aging is such a weird thing. I never realized as a kid that most of the adults around me still felt like they did as 18 and 20 years old. So here I go, continuing to have birthdays every year, and looking to all the young folks to be an old fogie, seeing little 18 year olds going to college, who look SO young, and I feel a bit like I'm in the twilight zone. Oh well. But I had such a fun birthday this year. The night before my birthday a friend called to see if I could watch here little boy for a couple of hours the next morning. I had not other plans, and LOVE Lincoln, and that makes my day better to have a fun friend for Ammon to play with, so of course I said yes. But as I told Trav, he got kind of quiet for a few minutes and finally told me I ruined everything. He actually took leave for 2 days, and had talked to 2 different friends to arrange babysitting so that we could go to lunch and a movie, and the later go to dinner. He has never taken leave on my birthday, and I have to say that was the best possible gift ever. It was a very fun day of minimal cooking and lots of alone time with my best friend in the world, and it was great. We went to the 3D IMAX of Avatar, and that was also very cool. I have never been to a 3D movie ever, and I think I may have been to the IMAX once as a child for some documentary or something. I really liked the movie (although I wish I could plug our clearplay dvd player into the big movie screen--we got that at Christmas and I love being able to watch movies and not have to feel uncomfortable or irritated at all the horrible stuff they put in the movies). Anyway, it was a great day. My older boys were so excited that is was my birthday, and Ammon wondered how many days, and weeks and minutes until his birthday again, and Micah was just cute and clueless.

Big day for Kaden

All summer long I felt so bad for Kaden. We don't have sidewalks here. In Mt Home, I used to just let the boys ride up and down the sidewalk in front of our house while I cooked and did dishes and watched them out the window. Then we came here and I just can't let them do it without being there with them. And then I was just a slacker and didn't do it much with him. He was using training wheels, and asked a lot to ride, and when he did he leaned so hard on those training wheels that they both bent up and then he started to tip over and not be able to balance even with the training wheels. So I started to ask Travis to please fix his training wheels, so I could finally let the poor boy go practice. Trav said he wasn't going to fix them, that instead he would show Kaden how to ride without them. My response was--first of all, Kaden is not close to being ready for that, hence the bent training wheels, second of all, Trav is not often home at the right time to teach him, and it would be impossible for me to teach him while having to keep all of the kids away from cars and danger. Anyway, a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, I asked Travis if he would either fix the training wheels of teach Kaden. So he said yes. And he taught Kaden. Just like that. Well, they were outside for about 30 minutes before he came on got me to watch. And I was so excited and happy to see him doing it! (Which was not half as excited and proud as Kaden was). Once again I was very glad Trav was the one with him, though, because he was doing it, but still didn't know how to stop very well, and his handle bars were wobbling wildly back and forth and he crashed regularly when Trav wasn't there to catch him. So it makes me tense. But just in the time I was out there, he improved and learned and was a pro by the time I went inside. What a big day!