The cottage life is a good life!

We stayed at a cottage on a lake for a whole week and had a blast. We had lots of boats there -- sail boats, kayaks, and even a motor boat that pulled tubes. There was also a lot of fishing going on there. I had my scrapbookingall set up for the whole week and even got some pages done. (I think I got about 20 pages done -- I'm up to the summer of 2005 now.) This cottage had no tv and no phone -- it was truly an escape even though it was only an hour from our house. We stayed with another family who has an 8 year-old girl and a 10 year-old boy. It's never totally easy sharing space with another family, but we did pretty well. (This cottage has two suites upstairs -- each with three bedrooms and one full bathroom.)
It was so nice just to wake up and see the beautiful lake sparkling out the window and have nothing to decide except what fun thing to do that day. We all got a good dose of fresh air, nice sun, and lots of time in the water. Here are some pictures so you can feel like you were there too :>

At first T wasn't so sure about baiting his own hook, but that's the rules -- you gotta dig deep and figure out how to bait your own hook.


Then he got the hang of it and didn't mind stabbing that squiggling worm to death!

He caught the biggest fish of the day - a catfish. He also caught about 15 sunfish and blue gills that day. It was all catch and release.

I can't believe how ugly that thing was!

R wasn't allowed to have his Nintendo DS with him on the trip, but he could bring his Leapster because it's educational. He looks pretty good chillin out on the wicker divan, doesn't he?

M and the boys having fun on the lake. R's kayaking in my kayak, while T jumps off of the float.

I asked R to smile so I could take a picture and this is what I got. What a ham!

T was pretty good at kayaking considering the paddle is way to big for him.

M and the boys fishing off the pier. Just hangin' with the boys.

This is my scrapbooking table all set up in the sun porch, with the beautiful lake for a view while I scrapped.


We had great weather, with beautiful blue skies and 80 degrees everyday, except one day of off and on rain. It was wonderful to watch the storm across the lake. Check out the sunset behind the thunder-clouds.

Industrious Young Men

The garage sale was a success! And we were able to shut down at 1:00 pm, an hour earlier than my 2pm deadline. We sold all of our "big ticket items" (jogging stroller, bike trailer to haul toddlers around, and indoor tunnel and fort set.) Everybody in the family earned forty bucks. After we closed up, we loaded up the truck and took the leftovers to the Good Will drive-thru -- very easy and painless

R and T did a great job at their lemonade, water, and cookie stand. They sold about 20 bottles of water and three pitchers of lemonade. M took the opportunity to teach the boys about business -- how important location is (they were right at the end of the driveway); the key to timing (selling cold drinks on a hot day); and marketing (the sign has their products -- water on one side and lemonade on the other with prices). He also taught them about the cost of doing business. The boys had to pay for the ice and bottled water out of their sales. They didn't mind this at all, since they were solidly in the black. I think that they made about thirteen dollars just from the refreshments that they sold.

They sold a few cookies, but not much. As T said, "people don't like to eat cookies when it's hot." The boys waved to all of the cars going by, and after one stopped and "ordered" one water from the car window, R declared "we have drive thru too." R was the hawker, yelling "get your water and lemonade Heee-ear" to each car that drove by and each person that walked by. M and I were amazed that anybody could pass up these adorable boys! But some just drove on by. There were plenty of folks that made up for those drive-bys -- like the man who declared that the lemonade "was better than any he's had before" as he paid for a second cup. And there was the lady that asked how much the lemonade was, after hearing that it was fifty cents apiece (prices went up from twenty-five cents at about 11:00) she said to the boys "here's a dollar; buy yourselves each a glass of lemonade." T excitedly ran up to me and said, "can we really buy ourselves a glass, mom?" He was thrilled. About three people overpaid by fifty cents and told the boys to keep the change -- which the boys loved.

All in all, it was a successful day.

Getting Rich on a Garage Sale

Our neighborhood has an annual garage sale. We haven't participated it in the two summers that we've lived here, much to the boys' chagrin. Last year I promised them that we'd participate this year. For the past two weeks we've been scouring through toys, books, clothes, and odds 'n ends to find things to sell. All of the Rescue Heroes are going (sad, I know) because R's been tired of them for two years and T never got into them. That means that we're selling three command centers, five vehicles and about 30 action figures themselves. We have a lot more toys to sell besides those. The whole idea of garage sale pricing is lost on the boys -- they want to sell things for their brand-new retail value. We've gotten it down though, and price stickers are on -- action figures for twenty five cents, vehicles for one dollar, and command centers for five dollars -- we are priced to sell! It's supposed to be 93 degrees tomorrow and I want to be cleaned out by noon -- or two at the latest. In addition to all the stuff we're selling, T is running (with R's help) a lemonade and cookie stand. I had to talk him down from the one-dollar-a-cup price he was going for (we're down to a quarter a cup) and he's pretty excited.

For those who can't comment:
You need to open a Google account, just like how you opened a Blogger account two years ago. Blogger has sold to Google and they require you to get a Google email. Don't worry, you never have to use it and it's free. You just have to spend the two minutes to set it up and you're good to go. I miss hearing your comments :>

The Deal

R was waiting with his dad and T for me to finish shopping for some shoes a few weeks ago. They wandered into a video game store, where R played "the most awesome game ever!" He asked if he could use his own money to buy the game. After all, he told us, he had eight five dollars in his piggy bank. (I know, it's hard to believe that all of that birthday, Christmas, and other random holiday dollars add up to so much.)

M and I talked about it and decided that he could use half of his own money and he could earn the other half by helping out around the house. He was a tad bit disappointed at first, but then quickly warmed up to the idea. We also told him that in order to earn any money, he had to do the assigned job with a great attitude. He enthusiastically said, "sure, no problem!"

I must say that the next day was a blast -- he'd do anything that we said, and with a happy attitude. His video game will cost $30, so he needed to earn fifteen bucks. That first weekend, he earned three dollars and was thrilled -- "only twelve dollars more to go." He's been helping to clean out the toys in the basement to get ready for the neighborhood garage sale this weekend, he's cleaned the bathrooms, mopped the kitchen floor, vacumed a few times, weeded the garden. We don't tell him how much a job is worth, but award him what we think is appropriate based on the difficulty of the job, his attitude, and how good of a job he does. He doesn't always get paid: for example, today he was supposed to pick up sticks in the back yard before M mowed the lawn. It's a tough job because there are hundreds of sticks after the wind storm we had over the weekend. He didn't even get half of them picked up before he gave up and "got distracted, dad." So, he didn't get the money. What's great is that he understands that. I asked him how his day was and he said that it was good. "I earned two more dollars for cleaning the two bathrooms, folding the towels and putting them away, and helping dad move the furniture back in the living room. But, I didn't get anything for picking up the sticks because I didn't do a good enough job."

He's now only "a buck and a half" away from his goal. He thinks he can get there by this weekend. I think he can too.

Kayaks, Sailboats, and A Thunderstorm

Yesterday we decided to go to "the club" on the lake for an afternoon of fun. I packed up a picnic lunch (ham sandwiches, Cheez-It Twisterz, pears, and Rice Krispies Treats) and we headed off. It was a really hot day for this time of year (87 degrees) and we were looking forward to spending the afternoon on and in the water.

In the car on the way, R was telling us about a friend who has four video game systems, which R though was really cool and was a bit envious of. M talked to him about how that friend of his doesn't get to spend any time with his parents and they don't go on the adventures like we do. He explained that having things isn't as important as spending time as a family.

As we were driving, the sun started to disappear behind a variety of puffy white clouds. Then the clouds got greyer and greyer. Just as we pulled onto the street that the club is on, a HUGE THUNDERSTORM burst -- with rain pounding down on the windshield, thunder cracking and lightning lighting up the very dark sky. M and I looked at each other and started laughing "nice day for the beach" we said to each other.

We arrived at the club as the rain pounded even harder. So, M pulled the truck up to the lake and we had a "car picnic" in the truck while watching the storm on the lake. We prayed that the storm would pass so we could at least unload the kayak and put in on the stand (where it will stay for the season.) Luckily, the storm did pass and we were able to get out and about. R started riding his bike and T chased him around, stomping in puddles. M and I got the kayak up and M began putzing with the sailboat, fixing something or other. I grabbed a dry chair, put on sunscreen and sat on the beach for a bit (it was now completely sunny where we were.) However, we could still hear thunder all around us, so we didn't take the sailboat out.

After awhile, we didn't hear the thunder anymore, so I took the kayak out for a spin. After falling off four times while trying to get on (and being oh-so-dainty in the process!) I was on and went for a half-hour paddle -- nice! When I came back, M had the sailboat all rigged and the whole family went for a sail. It was a lovely time and everybody had fun and got a chance at the helm.

Just as we were cruising back into the dock, the skies got dark again and thunder started clapping. We got the boys ashore, while M and I docked the boat. Well, we actually didn't dock the boat as easily as we should have. I guess with the stress of trying to race the storm, we couldn't get our act together in rolling up the mainsail, so M tried to stand on our boat lift (something he's never tried before because he feared it wouldn't hold him) and we heard a SNAP and the boat and lift dropped about two feet. Uh Oh. By now, it was pouring rain and we couldn't get the boat tied up safely. M sent me to the truck to look for pliers. I didn't find any, but I did find some wire cutters and cable ties (I figured that you could fix anything with cable ties or duct tape.) M was able to use two cable ties to fix the situation and we got the boat safely secured. We were so relieved! And ready for a drink!

We went to the local restaurant, had a margarita, ate dinner, and were good to go. What a fun family adventure we had (that I'm sure beats any video game)!

Camping for Mother's Day

I know it's weeks late, but here is my second post about our Mother's Day. M asked me in February if I thought that it would be too cold to camp on Mother's Day; I told him that it would be great -- we have a heater and lots of warm blankets if it was cold. He knows that I LOVE to camp (been doing it all of my life.) With summers beeing relatively short here (compared to So Cal where I grew up) we end up having really busy summer weekends and have only camped twice each summer that we've been here. M and I figured that we could get a weekend of camping early and maybe we'd get to camp more this summer. So, after one of the busiest weeks in our household, we (meaning M) got the camper all ready to go. I went shopping and packed my and the kids' clothes. There are tons of places to camp within a mile of our house. We figured that we might as well go to one of them, since it would be too cold to swim in "the lake" (which is where we usually go camping in the summer time. We found a nice family-owned camp ground that has "day campers" as well as "seasonal campers". We took the truck (that's another story -- we have a truck) and M secured all four of our bikes in the bed of the truck.

What fun we had!! Campfires with S'mores, bike riding, playing on the beach, playing catch with a baseball and mitts, playing chicken feet dominos, and walking to the camp store for ice cream. Lots of good memories were made that weekend.

One of the best parts for me was on Mother's Day. I slept in while "the boys" made breakfast and set a pretty table. Here is M cooking an amazing breakfast of pancakes, eggs, sausages, corn beef hash (for M) and muffins.

Here's M's system for keeping the sausage and hash warm while cooking the pancakes -- it worked really well.

What a beautiful table I saw when I came out of the camper. The boys set it while M cooked.

A close up of the presents and flower that was on the table.

The boys and M insisted that I sit and read while they did the dishes :>

R, looking pretty happy and serene at the campfire. (We had to start the campfires when it was still light out. The sun is setting after 9pm here, which is waaayy too late to start a campfire with boys who are supposed to go to bed at 8pm! I think we got them to bed by about 9:15 both nights that we camped)

On Mother's Day, we rented kayaks and had a wonderful time kayaking down the river. We had two-seater kayaks; I had R with me and M had T with him. It was a really nice two hours spent on the river.

What a great weekend!

Mother's Day Program at T's School

I had the privilige of attending T's Mother's Day program on the Friday before Mother's Day. The program was an hour long, with the kids singing songs that they've learned all year. It was like a walk through the year, beginning with Halloween songs and ending with their Mother's Day song. T was featured twice: once explaining what his writing journal is and then, leading the class in "A Turkey is a Funny Bird" song. Here are some pictures from the fun event:

I asked T the name of this song and he said, "Hmm, let me see. Oh, we're all wobbling, that must be 'The Turkey is A Funny Bird' -- yeah, that's it for sure."

The ended with the song that goes, "A you're adorable, B you are so beautiful..."

It was a lot of fun!!!

Man of Many Talents

My husband is a man who can do most anything. As a matter of fact, my boss at the ad agency where we met used to call him "the man who knows everything." As in "call that man who knows everything and see if he has a solution to this problem."

So, that same man decided that paying ten bucks to get the boys' hair cut each time was silly, especially if they got crew cuts (which is an easy cut). Yep, he bought a clipper kit and gave them cuts tonight.

R wanted a mohawk and T wanted a crew cut.

Here is R's "before picture" with his cowlicks in full glory.


M is working hard at keeping the hair in the middle of R's head long for the mohawk.


And, the "after" picture -- R is so proud! He says that he looks like a rock star!

T's before picture -- his hair grows super fast, just like his mom's.

He did a good job of holding still for M, even when it tickled.


He is also very happy with his cut. He keeps rubbing it and saying how soft it is.

Bambi and Thumper Aren't So Cute Anymore

When we first moved here, it was wonderful -- a beautiful back yard with woods behind it. We'd wake up each morning and look at the cardinals and robins flying and look through the woods to see the beautiful deer prancing about. Remember, one day T and M even saw turkeys in our backyard. We thought we lived in a little bit of paradise.

Then, it happened.

The deer dug up and ate all of my tulips. My expensive tulips that I ordered from Holland. Two hundred dollars worth of tulips. This happened last year and I resigned myself to the fact tha I would grow daffodils and not tulips in the spring.

Last summer I had beautiful flowers -- hanging baskets, window boxes, a flower garden in the back yard and flowers in the front in pots and by the mailbox. It was great.

This year, my perenials came up, including these great Asters that the boys got from the Children's Garden and planted in the front. They were growing great and were about 10 inches tall and 8 inches wide with lots of leaves. Three nights ago, one got eaten down to the ground. I nearly cried when I saw it. But, at least we had the other Aster plant. I sprayed some Deer Be Gone (or some such name like that) around the whole front porch to ensure that nothing else would get eaten (and I chastised myself for not doing that sooner.)

The next morning, I saw that another beautiful plant got eaten to the ground. I forget what this plant is, but I ordered it from a catalog three springs ago and it's come up since. It would have had beautiful pink flowers on it, but it's gone.

And, yes, last night the other Aster got eaten. So much for the Deer Be Gone! AARGGHHHH!!! I was so mad I could spit! ARGGHH!!!

To top this all off, there were onions that were coming up in our vegetable garden and now all of their tops are eaten off -- I think this is the job of the new family of bunnies that are living down below our pine trees. I screamed when I realized that our great vegetable garden would be in jeopardy.

So, as I type, M is out setting two humane traps to catch those bunnies and take them to a field far, far away. He won't let the vegetable garden get eaten alive!

We don't know what to do about the deer, though. To bad that hunting season is over and that you can't shoot a gun in the city limits!!

In the 70's

We spent most of the weekend in the yard -- weeding, tilling, mowing, weeding, weeding, and more weeding. I planted some window boxes with hearty pansies a couple of weeks ago. We bought a bunch of flowers and were ready to plant when we learned that we are supposed to have a frost tomorrow night. "They say" to "never plant before Mother's Day" here. I was going to risk it until I learned of the frost. Argh! So, tomorrow night, we'll fill the kitchen table with all of the snapdragons, dalias, delphiniums, black-eyed susans, and hydrangea that I bought and cart them outside after the frost. I can't wait to get everything in the ground. I love to have beautiful flowers! Then, the vegetable garden...

Here's a poem that R wrote in school about Spring:

In the Spring you can ride a bike
Sometimes you can take a hike
Flowers are blooming everywhere
For everybody to share

It's in the Numbers

This might be a long one. Are you settled in for a bit of a saga? Here it goes: M and I bought a new bed when I was preggo with R (8 years ago.) We had been sleeping in a double bed, but when I was six months pregnant, there just wasn't room for me and my ever-expanding belly, the two regular and one body pillows that I slept with, and M. So, we got a bed. A big bed. A king-sized bed (California King, actually -- it's shorter in width, but longer in length than a regular king-sized bed.) We loved the bed and it loved us.

However, every night for those eight years (and even before, now that I think of it) M has complained about aches and pains about 10 minutes after getting in bed. I always thought that he mentioned them then because all was quiet and he realized that he had some pain. Some nights he needed Tylenol, some nights he didn't. He still slept okay, though. I, on the other hand, didn't have any pains when I got in bed, but often had lower back pain in the morning. When we both got up, we were like an old couple, hobbling around for awhile before we really got going. If M went upstairs to get the boys, he took the stairs very slowly.

We realized that we are too young to be acting like old folks, so M researched different beds for us and had it down to two kinds: the NASA created temperpedic foam beds and the air-mattress-like sleep number bed. We were always skeptical that the foam beds would last very long with heavy people like us, but we heard great things about them. The sleep number also got rave reviews by friends that had them.

So, last February when we were visiting my sister in California, M and I went to the Sleep Number store at the local outside, beautiful, I-wish-we-had-one-here-and-the-great-weather-to-go-with-it mall. All of the sales people were wearing pajamas in the store -- strange, but kind of cute. They have this process to determine your number.

M went first and layed down on the test bed (with a paper towel placed carefully under his head to protect him (and others) from germs, bugs, and whatnot.) The salesperson took him "all the way down to One" and then "brought him back up slowly" to where it seemed comfortable. M's number was 50 and he was in heaven. He didn't want to get up. Now, he had been in the bed long enough for the pain to set in, so I was pretty happy that he was so happy. Then it was my turn. She asked me how I slept, and I showed her how I sleep on my side. She took me all the way down to one. Going down to one felt like I was sinking into the bed. It was strange! Then she brought me back up to where I felt like the small of my back was supported enough (since that was my problem spot.) My number was 55. I was surprised that our numbers were so close together because generally M likes softer beds than I do. His number is firmer than mine, but not by much. The sales lady explained that even if we had the same number, it wouldn't feel the same to both of us because you set the number while you're in the bed and his body density is different than mine. I kind of get that.

Anyway, while the found our numbers, they took "pictures" of the pressure points of our bodies in the bed and compared a "before" (at the 100 number) to the "after" (at our sleep number). You could tell that the "before" had heavier pressure points and the sleep number "after" dispersed the pressure across our whole bodies. These "pictures" looked like a heat sensor-type picture.

So, we left the store and discussed it and slept on it a night (pun intended!) and decided to go for it (especially since it comes with a 30-day free trial). We ordered went back to the store and placed the order. "So you need any pillows?" she said, "Nope, we're set." we replied. We were able to order it in Cal and have the bed delivered to our house in the Midwest from the local dealer in the next town over. We were so excited to get our new bed. M's pain worsened on our old mattress, probably because he knew he'd be getting a better bed.

It arrived and we slept on it that first night. M was in heaven and I was just okay. After the third night on the bed, M woke up and bounded up the stairs (really) and was as happy as a clam in the morning, exclaiming that he felt more rested than he has in a decade.

I, on the other had stil had a bit of back pain and now even had some neck pain. We remembered that the sales person said to lower the number by five if we needed more support, so I lowered my number to 45 in the hopes that I would be as happy as M. OHMYGOODNESS I WAS NOT HAPPY. I woke up throughout the night in pain -- my knees hurt, my neck hurt, my shoulders hurt, my arms hurt, and my lower back hurt. How could all of this hurt from one night in a bed???? For goodness sakes, how can my arms hurt?? I couldn't believe the pain I was in and how tired I was. I did realized that I'm more of a stomach sleeper than a side sleeper and thought maybe this had something to do with it. M was distraught -- he was truly a new man and wanted me to be just as happy with the bed as he was. I wanted to be just as happy with the bed as he was! So, M got on the phone and called our salesperson, who was very helpful. She agreed that the problem was that I was a "cross side stomach sleeper" and we are the hardest to fit in the bed. (Great!) But, she did recommend a new pillow for me -- one that had to be purchased at a Sleep Number store because they're made especially for the way I sleep. She also suggested that we call the 800# and get our 30 days extended to 60 days of free trial, which M did.

Off we went to the store 20 miles away to buy a pillow -- a $50 pillow, mind you. A $50 pillow that is made out of hard foam and is flat -- totally different from my squishy, soft, down pillow that I scrunch up into a ball to fit right under my neck. I tried eight different pillows. They even measured my neck (very short) and shoulder width (not too wide) to find the pillow that would fit my body with my sleep position. Mind you, I was in tons of neck and shoulder pain from that fateful #45 night two nights before. But, this one pillow (that was recommended by this fancy little cardboard wheel thing that the salesperson spun around) did seem to be the most comfortable, even though I didn't really like it that much. We bought it (also with a 30-day free trial). I had some trepidations at using that pillow because it doesn't squish at all. I sleep on my stomach with my left arm under the pillow and my head on the pillow on top of my arm. It didn't feel any better the next day. It didn't feel any better the second morning. On the third morning it didn't hurt quite so much and on the fourth morning it was a little better. Finally, on the fifth morning, I was a new woman (oh, how I waited for that day!) No pain, lots of good sleep, and I jumped out of bed. Yahoo. Alleluia!

Now we're both sleeping great, but there's one thing that kind of bothers us about the bed -- it's made of two big airchambers that are connected in the middle by foam. Sometimes it feels like you're climbing up over a mountain to get to the other side. So, things like snuggling and spooning are a bit tricky. We have to get on one side or the other or else one of us is on the foam (these are the things that you don't get to try out in a store.)

On Saturday morning, M and I were discussing the bed. We had 10 more days of our 60 day free-trial and that darn NASA foam bed was teasing M in his head. He really wanted to give that bed a try. I thought it made sense too, if there was a way to do it over night. And there is. There are a bunch of hotels that feature the temperpedic beds and we found one near an outlet mall that I've been wanting to go back to so I could buy shoes. M jumped up and booked a room for Saturday night, I called the kennel and they could take Mackinac, and we told the boys to pack their swim suits and pjs -- we were going on a mini-vacation. The boys were psyched!

We went to the mall and got me three pairs of shoes, and everybody else in the family got a pair too. We spent $32 on "snacks" at the Harry and David store (I got wayyyy carried away there!) and we drooled over the LeCruset cookware and gasped at the extorbernant "outlet" prices.

Then, off to the hotel. By the way, the hotel also had a really cool pool area that we had a blast in. We go into the room and lay on the beds (the boys had twin temperpedic beds too) and they felt pretty comfy. Then I laid down next to the boys and read to them for half an hour and my back started to hurt. Hmmmm, that's no good.

M and I both had a rough night. We both woke up like old people, with pains here and there. We looked at each other with a big grin...we love our bed at home! We're both so glad that we crossed that NASA bed off of our list -- we made the right purchase decision and have no regrets. Thank goodness!

Now, as a reward for reading that long story, here are some pictures of the kids playing in the fun pool at the hotel:

Spring Haiku

I was reading all of the Haiku entries at Chris' blog (Notes from the Trenches) and decided that I wanted to write one. I'd love to be able to write one praising Springtime, like this one:

Spring time is here now
Daffodils, tulips, and more
Rising from the ground

or even one like this one

The sun is now warm
Shining on me all day long
How I love the sun

or maybe this one

Beautiful weather
Bike riding, kite flying, Yes!
Spring time warms my face

But instead, I can only write:

Daffodils drooping
Bowing down to the cold dirt
Snow in April? Yuck.

Okay, the snow has just melted because we had a high of 40 degrees today, but the daffodils have melted as well.

By the way, the photo credit for this one goes to T (who doesn't understand why he can't have a digital camera of his own.)

Pinewood Derby

We had a super busy weekend one week last month that I haven't blogged about. Friday night was the Cub Scout's pinewood derby (which M was in charge of) and Saturday morning was the Hockey Banquet (which M was also in charge of). He's a very busy man! I'll write about the hockey banquet another time; this blog is dedicated to the pinewood derby on Friday night, in which R competed.

M was the Pinewood Derby chairman for the pack this year, which meant that he had to organize the whole thing -- reserve the track, set the date, get the rules and pinewood derby kits to everyone in the pack (representing about 25 boys in 4 dens), and MC the night's events. Of course, he also helped R with his car. You all may remember R's car from last year when he designed the cool shark car. This year he designed a spider car -- a black car with a green spider web on it. R sketched it out on paper and then on the block of wood and (with M's help) cut it out with a variety of saws. R also did all of the sanding and painting on the car. Too much sanding, if you ask R.

M knew that the car would be fast because he had been studying the physics of pinewood derby cars all year (don't think that I'm kidding about this...it's true.) M videotaped every step of the way so that he could show that it was all above board. Since M was in charge of the whole thing, he didn't want to be accused of doing the work himself and not R when R beat the pants off of the competition. He even went as far as building a track in the basement so that they could race different cars that they made (they made two this year, but only raced the fastest) to see which one was faster (testing two different theories on weight placement and wheel angle and alignment.) M explained to R that there was some risk in the design that they chose because the wheels were angled slightly (six degrees) which would make them faster, but could mean that the powder graphite might fall out at some point and they wouldn't turn as smoothly. After testing it over and over, they decided to go with the very-fast-but-slightly-risky car design,

The Friday night came for the big race and R and M were pumped up. I was in charge of taking pictures of all of the kids with their cars, which was fun. I did this while the kids waited in line for the official car inspection. Everybody was excited. R waited in line and passed inspection except for one thing: his car was too heavy by 2/10ths of an ounce. M anticipated this and was prepared to help R by drilling out some of the lead that he had melted (in a cast iron skillet) and poured in earlier in the week. I guess it's better to be slightly overweight than slightly underweight. The goal is to be spot-on 5 oz. Here is R's car being inspected with M and R watching intently:


After inspection, R led the flag salute. He's standing at the end of the track watching as a dad helps put the flag in the stand. Notice how casual R is, with his hands in his pockets.

Once R's car made weight, he gave it to the judges and couldn't touch it until his turn to race. Here are some of the cars wating to race:


He had to wait because he raced in the second heat. The first heat included the boys who got #1 and #2 last year. Both of these boys are in M's den and are R's friends. Each time they raced, the beat the other cars by two or three inches. They both did great in their heat and moved onto the finals (which would take place after R's heat.) R's heat was next and I think that I held my breath the whole first race (which isn't really that long because they go fast.) R carefully placed his car right in the center of his lane -- just like his dad taught him -- ensuring that his wheels didn't touch either side of the center raised track.
He ran down to the end of the track so he'd have a good look at the finish line.
Then the race started -- bam! He got first by at least a foot!! Twelve inches! The other races were won by two or three inches, but R's car was a good foot in front of the other cars. I looked at M and he had a strange look on his face -- proud, but a little embarassed. The next time R raced, the same thing happened -- he won by a foot. Again and again, it happened. No one really knew that he was doing so well because he didn't race every race (they had 8 boys in the heat, but only raced 4 cars at a time, so it was hard to keep track.) I was so excited!

Then came time for the finals. R raced against five other boys, three of them were from his den. Such excitement! R won his first race by about six inches; he also won his second race by about six inches. He won his third race by about four inches (do you see a trend here?) He won his fourth race by two inches. And then it happened....third place....third place....third place.... third place...he got 4 third places in a row. M and R knew there was a risk, and it happened...the graphite was gone from the wheels and the car slowed down. R was still excited because he got fourth place (about 15 places better than last year) but was disappointed because he didn't get a medal and didn't get to go to the "districts". I think that M was more disappointed than R, but he and R have talked and have decided that NEXT YEAR they will only angle the wheels by 3 degrees instead of 6 degrees! I'm convinced that if by the luck of the draw, R had competed in the first heat with the #1 and #2 racers, he would have knocked them into second and third -- or even out of the competition -- because R's car was so darn fast those first races. It was fun, anyway :> Below is R's den with the boys proudly displaying their trophies, ribbons, and cars.

Winter Again?

Remember that whole post about how Spring is here? Well, forget about it. We had a high of 36 and four inches of snow today. Give me a break!!

We had a very nice Easter despite the freezing (literally) cold weather. M's parents, brother and sister-in-law came over for a nice visit. We set the table with our china, crystal, and silver for a lovely table. M made the most delicious leg of lamb ever after marinading it all night in a wet rub of olive oil, garlic and rosemary. It was yum-oh! We also had roasted potatos, grilled asparagus (after being marinated in balsamic vinigar marinade), a cherry jello with mandarine oranges in it, and dinner rolls. It was simple and great. For dessert, we had strawberry cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles.

The kids went to bed and all of the adults prepared for the Easter Bunny to come (if you know what I mean) and played some pegs and jokers. M made his now famous french martinis and we all had a grand time. The only bummer was that M's youngest brother didn't make it -- he had all sorts of things come up that prevented him from coming.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early to make the 9:00 service. We got there in plenty of time to get good seats. The service was nice and had lots of music, including a trumpet and flute (which I love because it reminds me of the church I went to in California.) T got hypoglycemic because he had nothing to eat (I felt sooo horrible) and burst into tears saying, "I just don't feel good." He was shaking, nausous and felt hot. As soon as we got out of church, I gave him a banana and he felt much better immediately.

We all went to a lovely brunch where we all ate too much and had a great time. It was the same mansion on the lake that we had brunch at last year. Because of the snow, it wasn't quite as glorious as last year when it was sunny, but it was still beautiful.

It was great having family over for this nice holiday :>

Photograhic Hearing

I don't think I've mentioned my amazement at R's ability to remember what I've said or read. For the past couple of months, we've been reading the Narnia series at bedtime. Both boys love the series and we're on book Five (out of seven in the series.) Usually I read a chapter a night, but this book has exceptionally long chapters, so I just read until bedtime and then put in the bookmark.

The next night I kind of fumble around for a minute or so, reading parts to myself to see where we left off. If I happen to say out loud "now, where were we?" R ALWAYS knows right where we were. Now, he isn't looking at the book, because I have them lay in their beds these days while I sit in the chair in their room. You'd think he just say, "oh, we're at the part where the guy got hit in the head...blah...blah..blah. But, no...He tells me were we are by QUOTING the last sentence that I read. Tonight, it just wowed me. Here's a reenactment:

Me: Now, where were we?

R: It hurts like a billy-o but it's fun. I know exactly what you mean.

Me: What?

R: Eustace said, "It hurts like a billy-o but it's fun". And Edmund said, "I know exactly what you mean."

Me: Oh...(as I'm skimming through the pages. And this is what I saw:)

Eustice said, "It hurts like a billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away."

"I know exactly what you mean," said Edmund.

Can you believe that???? Amazing. No wonder this kid is such a good student. I'm still amazed. He often does this, but tonight it was so precise... and who can remember "it hurts like a billy-oh" anyway? I asked R what a "billy-oh" is and he said he didn't know but he thinks it means that it hurts really bad.

Amazing!

For The Smell Of It

I was just listening to the local country music station and heard a song that reminded me of an adventure that we had a couple of months ago.

Once a year in our small town arena, there is a bull riding contest. I've heard about it each year that we've lived here, but have never gone. I had heard that it was fun and asked M if he thought we should go. "Sure" he said "the whole town goes to it. It's called 'Rock n Roll Bull Riding' this year." R was excited and T wasn't so sure about it. We talked it up and got a partial agreement from T-boy that he might have fun.

It looked like parking would be a pain, so we parked at my office and walked across the street. We could hear the rock-n-roll music blaring and felt the excitement in the air as we approached the will-call window. R started jumping up and down (as he does when he's excited -- I can't wait to see him on his wedding day waiting for his wife to walk down the aisle.) But. T wasn't excited. T immediately covered his mouth. As we walked a few more steps, I realized why he was covering his mouth - the bull*poop smell. It was pretty strong. T started crying loudly and stopped in his tracks. He was sobbing and saying "I can't do it. I can't do it." I knelt down and told him that he'd get used to it. "No I WON'T!" he sobbed with big huge tears rolling down his face. Sensing the crowd behind me wanting to press forward, I got a little stern and said, "you'll get used to it, let's go" and yanked him a bit.

To this he responded by throwing up right in the entrance.

A large puddle of puke in front of us, I helped T get over the puddle. At the same time, I motioned to a worker that there was a puddle of puke that needed to get taken care of, and I moved T over to the side to clean up his mouth. Before he threatened to do it again, I got a moment of inspiration. I told him that our seats were way up high and that we'd be really far away from the smell. If we held our breaths and hurried, we'd get up there before our noses even knew it. It worked....and we were off.

Relieved to be out of that messy situation, we settled down to hear T say, "oooh, yeah, you're right Mom. It smells better up here." Whew!

Have you ever been to a bull riding contest? Well, let me tell you, there isn't really a lot of bull riding that goes on. Mostly a lot of waiting and a lot of falling-off-bulls. In order to get a score, they have to stay on for eight seconds. Seconds. Only half of them got scores. (Yes, that means that half didn't even stay on for 8 seconds.) After the less-than-eight-seconds of bull-falling-off-ness, it would take seven minutes to get the next bull and rider ready. Let's just say that now I can check watching a bull riding contest off of my mental list of things to do in this town and call it a day. Luckily the men in my family (even T) enjoyed it. They can go again next year and do some male-bonding while I stay home and do my nails, or scrapbook, or blog, or anything...

Oh yeah, I need to tell you about getting T out of there. He declared that the only way he would leave is via an enclosed elevator that he would enter from the top of the stands. The only problem with that great idea was, you guessed it, there was no such elevator. So, we did the next best thing. I told him to take a deep breath and run for it. He did and we kept him in sight as he dashed down the steps, across the arena, and out the doors -- never looking back.

Spring Fever

It was 77 degrees here today. Yahoo! I'm a'hopin that Spring is officially here, but you never know in these here parts....we could get snow next week. Cross your fingers and say a few prayers that it is a lovely warm day on Easter like it was last year.

Here are the Signs of Spring that I've noticed:

1. Daffodils are popping up (ours are about 4-5 inches high)
2. We're in the middle of a thunderstorm right now.
3. Our grass got really green over the past few days.
4. Motorcycles are out and about (I never noticed that there is a motorcycle season, but there is here in the Midwest. In California, motorcycles are out all year round.)
5. My grass allergies are acting up even with all the drugs I'm on (see #3 above)
6. The kids wore shorts to school yesterday.
7. The kids played outside all weekend.
8. I hear birds chirping in the mornings.
9. We grilled hamburgers over the weekend (one of R's favorite dinners)
10. The ultimate sign of spring -- I saw a Robin yesterday :>

We just got back from the boys' school conferences and they are both doing great. T needs to work on some of his numbers a bit (he gets 12 and 15 confused in writing -- it's understandable). His teacher says that he's a delight in class and she looks forward to his answers when he participates in class. He sat there looking totally embarrassed the whole time during the conference, which was pretty cute. R is also doing really well in class. He's reading at a fourth grad level (he's in second grade) and absolutely excelling in science. He's great at math and loves to write, he needs to continue working on his writing (he has an occupational therapist that helps him too.) It's so nice to look forward to these conferences! I hope I never have to dread them.

On the way home from vision therapy today, R confessed that he had to turn over his clip in class. This means that he got a warning - this was for talking when he wasn't supposed to. He cautiously asked me if I was mad. I told him that I wasn't mad because he's a good kid and does his best. I told him to try to remember to be a good listener when he's in class. He got a big smile on his face and said that he'd try harder. Then he said, "thanks, Mom. It's in the past now and that feels good."

He's looking like a Jack-o-Lantern

Okay, I've heard you all complaining about how long it's been since I've blogged. It's been two whole weeks. As you've seen, I'm having HTML issues. I'll eventually fix that...somehow. In the meantime, here's a blog posting for you...

R had four teeth fall out in 10 days.
#1 Fell out at Aunt Shari's coffee bar in California
#2 Fell out was knocked out by his brothers bony bottom (when he sat/thumped/crashed down on R's face while wrestling)
#3 came out while I was reading Narnia as a bedtime story. R kept working it and working it, then said, "here's another one, mom"
#4 Fell out at about 8:30 pm after R had been in bed for half an hour. I didn't know it was so close to coming out. Evidently, he did, since he spent that half an hour wiggling it back and forth in bed.

Now that he is missing four teeth, he can't bite into anything at all. Whenever I see him with his hands in his mouth, I say, "stop wiggling your teeth! You won't be able to eat anything!" R seems to think that is funny.

He went from being the "only boy in second grade with all his baby teeth in his mouth" to a crazy looking jack-o-lantern boy who is as pleased as punch (that's a saying that you start saying when you start getting old -- pleased as punch.) You'll see in the picture below that not only does his mouth look crazy, but he needs a haircut REALLY BAD. He is completely missing his top two teeth and his new ones on the bottom are barely coming in.



Just to prove that he has all of his baby teeth, here is T doing some sort of cheer on his birthday last month (maybe he was just excited that he got to have birthday cake for breakfast! After, of course, eating yogurt so his mom would feel like she wasn't a terrible mom for feeding her kid cake for breakfast.)

Testing

I seem to have lost everything on the right side-bar. This is a test to see if it's back.

How Can He Be Six?

Forgive the gibberish below...I'm having HTML issues!
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This is T's birthday week. He turned six on Monday. Actually, it has been his birthday month. It started while we were visiting my family in California. He got presents from my sister and my folks. He absolutely loves the dog quilt that his Grammie made for him (he's snuggled up in it right now.) He also got a fun airplane that he played with in the park in California.
Then, the next weekend was a trip to visit Gram-on-the-Lake for a whirlwind Saturday. Here's what we did:

• We drove late Friday night, put the kids to bed and visited with Gram and Gramp til past midnight.
• Woke up bright and early for a tasty breakfast: sausage, eggs, English muffins, and strawberries.
• The boys, M, and Gramp went out on the ice (M and Gramp shoveled the ice while the boys skated.) Gramp played goalie while R took him on one-on-one (and loved it!). T had a blast with the freedom of skating all over the frozen lake.


• We took off for lunch at a 1950's diner that has a miniature train deliver your food. T loved it until the whole restaurant sang "happy birthday" to him while the train delivered a birthday cupcake. He was mortified! And very angry at me that I told them that it was his birthday.


• Luckily, he cheered up when we went slot car racing at a great place that we had discovered the week before when we had two hours to kill before flying to California. It's also a throwback to the 1950's and was tons of fun.





Wait, the fun is not over yet....we also went to an AMAZING Children's Museum where Gram, Gramp and we all had a blast -- climbing, building, exploring, inventing, and playing with water were all on the fun-filled agenda.





Finally, we went to a New Orleans restaurant that had live jazz music. The boys especially loved the trombone and very tall bongo drums.


Then, we drove home....in an snow/ice storm. (That's a long story that I'll save for another day.)

All in all, a pretty darn fun birthday for an amazing SIX year old!