Happy Father's Day Dad

Happy Father's Day to my dad. He's taught me so many things over the years, that it's hard to narrow them down to the ten top things that he's taught me, but here it goes...

10. Dad always said that if you can read, you can learn to do anything. So, I thank my dad for giving me my love for reading. Dad is a reader too -- and he likes to have books too. I love to be surrounded by books (I dream of one day having a library with bookshelves from floor to ceiling and one of those cool sliding-ladders hooked on so I can grab any book at any time. Of course, all the books would be in alpha order by author and/or subject.)

9. Dad also gave me a love for business and I probably got my business sense from him. Although, he would have loved for me to start my own business as a child (I remember something about making and selling lollipops when I was eight years old) or joined his business, I know he is proud of my career and my success in the corporate world (which is a hard world for him to get along in, the entrepreneur that he is.)

8. One thing that I always knew growing up is that I was very much loved by my parents. Dad would tell me many times a day that he loved me and that he was proud of me. When he was especially proud of me, he would slap my knee about five times really fast, and give me some great, enthusiastic words of praise. Although my knee would be numb, I would be happy knowing that he was so happy. I have incorporated this enthusiastic love into my parenting skills -- minus the knee slapping.

7. I learned from my dad's experience that it is a good idea to wear a retainer when the orthodontist says that you should. My dad had years of braces, then didn't wear his retainer, and now has crooked teeth. Thanks for taking one for the team dad, I wore my retainer night and day and have straight teeth.

6. I watched my dad be spontaneous over the years and I saw what joy it brought him. I'm not as spontaneous as he is, but the spontaneity that I have must come from him. Mom, remember when we were packing for that camping trip and you and dad went to the grocery store. Remember how he saw that ad for a boat for sale -- and you came home from the store with a boat to tow on our trip? I know that wasn't mom's idea. It had to be dads.

5. I really enjoyed spending time with my dad one-on-one when I was a kid. I can remember singing with him while he played the guitar, or hanging out together on Friday nights when mom came home late from the bank. I even remember helping him practice a lesson that he was going to give in a Bible Study class. From that, I learned that in addition to fun family time, it's special to spend one-on-one quality time with your children.

4. I can whip up some mean scrambled eggs, putting in whatever ingredients I have in the fridge and pantry. Dad's "mystery eggs" (as in, "can you guess what is in here?") taught me that it's okay to have some freedom when it comes to cooking eggs.

3. He taught me to "close the gate", which means that you need to finish the job once you start it. This phrase comes from a story long ago, when I was nine years old, and I was in charge of opening and closing the gate on Sunday night when my dad took the garbage down the driveway. The tricky part of this job was keeping our dog, Kruggie, inside the backyard. Well, one Sunday, I got stabbed by one of the wires on the gate and started bleeding and crying, saying I needed to go into the house, but dad told me that I needed to stay and close the gate. At the time, I thought he was mean, but not many years later, I learned that he taught me one of the biggest lessons of my life -- responsibility. And, for that, I am thankful.

2. When growing up, my dad would tell me and my sister that a happy marriage takes work. I heard it often enough that I would eventually just nod my head and say, I know dad. I know that he wasn't trying to say that marriage was hard work, but that one shouldn't take it for granted or take the person you're married to for granted. I'm thankful to him for showing my mom the respect and love that she deserves...which allows me to show my husband the love and respect that he deserves.

1. Finally, the number one thing that dad taught me is that Life is an Adventure; enjoy the ride and love the people that are on the adventure with you!

I love you so much Dad! Happy Father's Day :>

photo credit: my mom 2006

A Day at the Club

I don't think that I've written about joining a yacht club. Yep, that's right....a yacht club. You remember the story of M finding a reasonable price sailboat last summer, right? Well, last year we kept the boat on the little local lake only 10 minutes from our house. We joined the "sailing club" which didn't turn out to be much of a club at all. There was never any event in which the "club" got together. No club sails, no club races, no club potlucks. Basically, the "club" was another name for "docking your sailboat on really creaky, tippy docks." So, M looked for someplace else to dock our boat. After all, if there was no club involved, we might as well just dock our boat somewhere where the docks actually worked without fearing for your life as you gingerly walked on them.

Enter this oh-so-quaint yacht club about an hour away from us. It's absolutely wonderful. There is a beautiful old club house that used to be someone's lake house back in the 1920's or something like that. It has a big old family room and a nice sized sun porch. Upstairs are two apartments that members can rent for a week at a time each summer -- hopefully we'll be able to do that next year. There is a kitchen for the apartments, with two of everything - two sinks, two fridges, two stoves -- for the weekly renters. And there is a big kitchen for the club members to use when they are there -- and, of course it's used to cook the dinners and lunches that the club has too.

There is a little sandy beach (they bring in sand) with a grassy portion too. The lake only comes up to R and T's belly-buttons, so it's perfect for swimming for them. There is also a playground (albeit old, but still fun for kids.) Behind the house is a shed that has all sorts of water toys, which are available for the club members' kids...the boys sure love that! There is a whole bunch of picnic tables, patio furniture, and lounge chairs scattered around the beach and patio area. It's so quaint, it looks like a page out of the 1950's social clubs or something.

Oh yeah, and there are sailboats, docked on very nice SOLID docks. They race the boats a couple of times a month.

Okay, that's the backstory. Here's my real story...

Last Friday night, M had the opportunity to sail on Lake Erie, something he's never done before. We got a babysitter for Friday morning (I have half days on Friday's now that it's summer) because M had to be at the boat in Ohio at noon. His race started at 5:00 in the evening and he sailed all night, getting to the finish line around 3:00 in the morning. After a nap, he headed back home and we saw him around dinner time.

On Sunday, our club had a brunch. We had a bunch of things to do around the house, but we figured we should go to the brunch since we're new members. We want to meet other members and be social. We brought swim suits just in case we wanted to take a quick dip in the lake. As we were eating our tasty brunch, one of the other members asked M if he was going to race that day. M told him that we didn't have our sails back from the sailmaker, so we couldn't sail yet. "No problem, I have an extra boat you can race. It will be fun." M looked at me with excited eyes, and I said, sure why not? (I was to leave on a three night business trip the next day, but luckily had done all of the laundry while M snoozed the night before. All I had to do was throw it in a suitcase.)

These boats that they raced took two people to sail, so R was M's crew! R had a great time. They sailed three races that took four hours (from 1-5pm). Of course, R had on his life vest. Safety first!

T played on the beach -- he started off by himself, but then joined the other boys.


T had a great time splashing and swimming in the water and making sand castles, while I hung out on the beach watching him play in the water. I also got to chat with some of the other wives who were on the shore. T and I made a quick trip to the local general market to grab some food since we didn't plan on being there for so long. Here's a picture of M and R getting ready to get the sails up and head to the starting line. The picture below it is of the other boats getting ready to head out.


Here are all the boats out on the race.


M and R hung in there on the races, even taking a third place (out of 7 boats) for one of the races! They had a break in between the 2nd and 3rd races, so they came ashore. That's when T said that he wanted to sail too. So, M had both boys on the boat for the last race......which means...that I, for hte first time since having kids.....was able to read a book on the beach!!! One of my all-time favorite past times. How nice :>


All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a Sunday.

The Pros and Cons of Reading

Yesterday, after dinner at a restaurant, T and R had to go to the bathroom. I stood outside the one-potty unisex bathroom while both boys went in. R came out right away and said that T would be awhile, so I went in to keep T company.

Upon entering and taking a sniff, I asked T to flush once to get rid of the smell. He flushed and then looked a bit worried.

T: Mom, I'm worried about what to do with the toilet paper.

Me: What do you mean, T? What worries you?

T: Well, R read me that sign and now I don't know what to do with the toilet paper after I wipe. If I can't flush it, what should I do with it. It's gross.

I looked up and read the sign... you know the one..."Please do not flush santitary napkins or paper towels down the toilet. Thank you."

Me: Oh, T, that sign doesn't mean toilet paper. It means you can't flush other kinds of paper down the toilet. If you do, it will make the water rise up to the top (we just had an incidence of this at our house, so T knew what I meant.

T: What kinds of paper do they mean?

Me: Oh, things like paper towels.

T: But there isn't any paper towels in here, only that blower thingy.

Me: Yeah, they're serious. They really don't want you to flush paper towels down there, but toilet paper is okay.

T: Whew. That's good news.

I Didn't Know I'd Need a Kleenix

Here's the report on the Mommy's day at T's preschool last week:

It was SO much fun.... As I mentioned last week, T kept mentioning things throughout the morning that he would show me at his school. He was so excited to leave to go, but he did remember the little present he got for his teacher.

When we arrived, about half of the class was there with their moms. Now, the class only has 10 kids, but we barely fit in their little class room with the 10 kids and 10 mommies and 2 teachers. As soon as we walked in, T gave his present to the teacher with a big smile on his face. She squatted down at his level and opened it up and gave him a big hug with a thank you. All of the kids did a craft (glued tissue paper squares onto a cut out turtle) and then they had play time. T kept finding new things for us to play with. By the time we started with the blocks, he wanted to show me the puzzle box. When we decided on a puzzle, he wanted to show me the story nook. When we got down there, he wanted to show me the science corner. So many things to see with so little time!

Then, the kids had snacks -- yes, the highly anticipated donut hole (just one) and milk. Then it was gym time. Their gym is small and indoors, but fabulous. There is a jungle gym and stuff, but the highlight is the ROAD with trikes and bikes (with training wheels). Boy, do those kids go fast! It was great.

The highlight of the day was music time. T's class has music time with another class, so we had 20 kids and 20 mommies and 4 teachers crammed on the floor in this music room. The teachers had a little ceremony in which they gave out "diplomas" to the students. After this, they played a DVD that had still pictures put to music of the entire year. This DVD lasted more than 15 minutes -- there were lots of pictures, including about 8 or so of T. I and most of the moms had tears. The music was beautiful too, including "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong. The teacher passed around a kleenix box. It was great!

When I told M about the DVD, he called the school and is trying to get a copy for us... Cool!

Excited for Mommy's Day at Preschool

Today is Mommy's Day at T's preschool. We are very excited about it! For the past few days, every ten minutes or so, T will tell me something else that we'll see at his school:

"If you bring a coat, I can show you where to hang it up. Are you bringing a coat mom? I think you might need a coat. And if you bring one, don't worry, I'll show you where to hang it up."

"You'll need to help out at clean up time. Everybody has to help out."

"We won't really do art, but I'll show you our art table and stuff. Too bad we won't do art, huh."

"You'll need to be careful of the busy road in the gym. It's a road of really really fast bikes. I'll be on the blue one."

"We'll probably sing songs. I KNOW you like to sing songs. You can sit by me in the circle."

"I have a secret to tell you...we're going to have a really really special snack at snack time. Something we never get to have...donut holes! I think we each get two!"

I took the day off and we leave in an hour. I can't wait :>

A Walk in the Park

We went to GramontheLake's house this weekend so that the big boys (M, his brother, and dad) could start building Gram's deck. It was a big job just to get started -- including moving a deck's worth of wood from the front yard to the back yard and sorting it by type of lumber (support beams, stairs, railing...).

While the Big Boys were doing this manual labor, Gram, R, T and I played. R and T went to the park with Gram on Saturday and again with me on Sunday.

I was very impressed with the boys' social skills -- how the boys made new friends and how nice to them they were. For example, R met a boy (age 7) named Michael. Upon hearing his name, R said "Hey, my dad's name is Michael. That's a nice name." R suggested that they play tag, which they did for awhile. Then Michael said, "I don't want to play this anymore." R said, "Okay, what to do you want to play." Then they played a new game. R was so friendly and amiable. Made his mama proud.

T also made a new friend, a little 5-year old girl named Madison. He joked around that she was in his class because he has a girl with the same name in his class. She was cracking up as he was saying "are you in my class?" and "hey..you're not in my class, but you ARE in my class." Anyway, it was nice to see him so friendly (he has the potential to be so NOT friendly at times.)

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R and T were just having a discussion during bath time. Subject: Whether or not you can stop the world (a good example of the philisophical debates that they often have). So, after their bath, they asked their closest resident expert, me.

R & T: Mom, can you stop the world?

Me: No, I don't think you can.

T: I told you so, R.

R: We'l, actually mom, I do know of a way that you can stop the world. Well, destroy it actually.

Me: What is it?

R: Well, first you have to get one of those really big pogo-sticks. You know, the REALLY BIG ones. Then, you go into outerspace and start jumping towards the sun. And, well, you stab the sun and it burns up and goes away. If you don't have the sun, you don't have the world.

Me: Hmmm. If you jump towards the sun, you'll probably get burned up and won't be able to finish the job.

R: Well, you just start at the planet to the left of the sun and you'll be okay.

T: Oh, now I get it.


I'm glad he gets it........

Dinnertime Prayers

We take turns thanking God each night at dinner. Here are tonight's dinner time prayers:

Me: Thank you God for it being Friday.

T: Thank you for mom being a stay-at-home mom tomorrow and thank you for Mackinaw is so cute.

M: Thank you for letting me be so productive today and thank you for my beautiful wife (ahhh!)

R: Thank you for my brain and imagination so that I can pretend that I have the super powers of strength and speed.

There you are...another little glimpse into my life.

A Nice Smile

T was sitting in my lap the other day and we were chatting about all sorts of things. I said something that made him smile and I told him that he had a really nice smile:

Me: T, you have such a nice smile. You have beautiful white teeth that are all lined up in a perfectly straight line. It makes for such a beautiful smile.

T: Ahh, mom. Thanks.

Then T smiled up at me and started studying my teeth. He looked into my eyes, and said

T: Yours are nice too. I like the color green.

Spring Vacation Journal

When we were on vacation in February, R kept a journal. He asked me to transcribe it on the blog and he hopes to get comments about it. Here it is:

I'm going to Florida. I'm at the airport and waiting for my plane. In this airport it is quiet and my brother is coloring.
They have a lot of Spartans pictures. We waited for two hours.

We got on and took off. The sun is shining.
We are over the clouds. All I can see is clouds. We are in them landing now.

We got off on and ran to our next plane, but
we missed it! But we took another one right when we got to it.

We had lots of fun at the beach. We went to the aquarium and will be leaving for homethe next day.

Easter in Springtime

I know that Easter is always supposed to come in the Spring time, but here in the Midwest you just never know what the weather would be like. I've been told that there as sometimes been snow on Easter! This was not the case yesterday. It was beee-u-ti-ful! Seventy-four degrees and sunny -- a bit windy, but sunny nevertheless. Yahoo. Alleluia!

Our Easter celebration started on Saturday with lots of fun with Mike's folks and Uncle Dave (who came on the train Saturday night. The boys got spoiled with a whole bag each of Easter goodies from Gram and Gramp, including a "craft" of making their own candy necklaces -- which they loved making and eating...and wore every day. We also dyed Easter eggs, which is always a good time.


Setting the table with our china (my Gramma R gave me hers as a wedding present), crystal, and our silver was a lot of fun. We served Easter dinner on Saturday night because we knew we'd be too full the next day from our brunch to also have a big dinner -- spreading out the tasty goodness. We had a leg of lamb that M grilled, mashed potatoes, asparagas, and garlic cheese rolls. Yummers! Top that off with an Easter egg shaped cake and a couple of games of Pegs and Jokers and call it a night!

Easter morning started out with the boys looking for their baskets that the Bunny had hidden -- R found T's first (in the coat closet) and then with a little help from Uncle Dave, R found his own (in the drier). They both thought that the hiding places were hilarious, as in, "can you believe that the Easter Bunny hid my basket in the DRIER???!!!"

Then we got our Easter finest on and headed out to a great place for brunch (T wants to eat there every day!) and had a really nice time. Somehow, while we were gone, the Easter Bunny struck again and hid plastic eggs in the house full of quarters. (T suggested that we leave again to see if the Bunny would come EVERY time we left the house.) Too much fun!


The rest of the day was casual and a lot of fun -- including more Pegs and Jokers, with R playing and holding his own, joking around like he was one of the guys. Of courese, there was a lot of horsing around with Uncle Dave -- especially by R, who thinks that this uncle is is own jungle gym. We also hung out on the deck and ate appetizers at around 4:00 as our dinner. It was a great way to spend the holiday -- with family.
The Easter Bunny also brought a giant faux chocolate bunny, which still has a place of distinction in our dining room. Like the Veggie Tale song goes...The bunny, the bunny, oh I love the bunny...

A Successful Egg Scramble

M and I volunteered to be in charge of the Easter Egg Scramble this year. Nope, it's not an Easter Egg Hunt, because there is really no hunting involved. It's actually a mad dash (or may I say, Scramble) to grab as many eggs as possible until your basket is full.

To prepare for this big neighborhood event, we have been filling plastic eggs for a week. Every night, we'd stuff candy and little toys into eggs. M marked off the area in the grass across the street -- one area for the big kids (ages six and up) and one area for the little kids (five and under.) He moved two tables out there this morning and we all packed up the eggs and placed them in the grass. We had cookies and punch for refreshments when all the eggs were found. The Easter bunny (AKA, M) showed up and was ready for pictures.

We had a blast. Here are some pictures so you can relive the fun too...

Taking a page from my dad's book, M made sure that the kids had something to do as soon as they arrived to keep them busy until the other kids arrived. They decorated big Easter eggs to make as name tags. It worked like a charm.

Here are the big kids all lined up, waiting for the go-ahead to begin their scramble.

T did a great job keeping the identity of the Easter Bunny a secret. Before we went outside he said to M, "I can call you Dad now, but the minute we step outside you are only the Easter Bunny to me."

R thought that it was cool that his dad was the Bunny.

The whole family posed for a picture. Notice the greenery behind us. What? You don't see it? Well, you'd have to look really close to see the little buds on those bushes. The funny thing is, M placed the wicker bench in front of the greenest bush possible. I can't wait for Spring to get a springin'!

A Joke From R

Here's a joke that R made up and told to me at dinner time:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

Because he wanted to be hit by a truck and be flat as a pancake.

Get it -- flat as a pancake?

It's Not Just For the Birds

A couple of weeks ago, Mackinaw was going crazy in the kitchen sniffing at the door to the garage. She was whining and wagging her tail and sniffing away. M opened the door to the garage and saw a little mouse scurry away. "Honey, we have a mouse problem" he said. He must want to warm up from the cold outside.

Somehow, we forgot about it for a week -- until Mackinaw started the sniffing madness again.

M went out and bought two mouse traps and baited them with peanut butter. Two hours later, he went out to the garage and proudly said, "we've got it."

But, the minute he said that, he saw another one scurry away. Hmmm. It wasn't a mouse problem, it was a mice problem. So, he put on rubber gloves and disposed of the first corpse and re-baited the trap. We knew that if he saw another, there were more hiding somewhere.

The next morning, another mouse trapped.

This has been going on for days now. We've caught seven mice so far. Seven! Now you are asking yourselves -- what do they have in their garage that the mice want?

Birdseed. It's not just for the birds.

Sight for Sore Eyes

Do you remember back in September when I discussed all of the medical appointments that I needed to make? Well that was six months ago...and I can say that we've almost finished the list (just in time to start over!) We still need to go to the dentist -- that is, find a dentist and then go to the one we find.

But, that's not my story for today.

The story today is about the eye doctor. I never actually made an appointment for myself. But, when M was in for his followup appointment (yep, he's now had two appointments and I had none) he made an appointment for me. Cool. I was happy. So, all that I had to do was show up. Which I did.

It went a little something like this.

Me: I'm having some trouble with reading and working at the computer.

Doc: What kind of trouble?

Me: The letters get a bit blurry...like they have a shadow or something. And my eyes hurt after I've worked on the computer for a long time.

Doc: Okay, let's check it out. Lean into here and read those letters on the other side.

Me: You mean those itsy bitsy teeny tiny letters?

Doc: Start with the line above those letters and work your way down.

Me: Okay. (and I read the letters from both lines)

Doc: Okay, now read these letters that are closer up (as she moves some contraption in front of me with a little piece of paper with letters on it.)

Me: (I read the letters)

Doc: So, S, do you ever feel like you have trouble seeing far away?

Me: Nope, just close up.

Doc: That's funny because your eyesight is much worse for distances.

Me: Huh....well, now that I think about it, when my husband and I play a game of "who can read the freeway sign...well, he usually wins."

Doc: Your husband, M, who has a stigmatism (sp) and I just prescribed glasses for his distance vision?

Me: Yeah, that one. (Duh!)

At the end of all of the eye inspection -- taking a picture of my retina ("healthy and beautiful"), and looking right at my cornea ("great") -- the doctor said "You're eyes are very healthy, you just need some help seeing."

To the tune of bifocals. Yes, you read that right. BIFOCALS!!! Like, the kind that grandmas wear! Me, young me. Or not-so-young me!!!!

I went back a week later, and they fitted them to my face. At first it was weird, but I'm finally used to them -- four weeks later. I wear them all the time.

Stay tuned for more adventures of S's eyes when you learn about all of the things that I couldn't see before the glasses.

Everybody's A Winner

Last night was the big night...the Pinewood Derby Race for the cub scout pack. Believe me, it couldn't have come at a better time. Every ounce of energy and time in this house has been spent on preparing for the Pinewood Derby. It has consumed M for the past three weeks. R has been excited too (but I don't think quite as excited as M!)

We got to the gym at 5:45 because M wanted to get there early for the 6:00 race. Come 6:00 there were a lot of cub scouts and their parents there, but no race track. The track is owned by another cub pack and they rent it out to other packs as a fund raiser (pretty smart.) Anyway, the track arrived at about 6:15 and they began assembling the huge thing. I tried to keep the little first gradeTiger Cubs (our den) out of the way of the big Cub Scouts (big 5th graders) who were helping to set up all of the spectator chairs. This wasn't an easy job because 6 and 7 year old boys have A LOT of energy.

After the track was set up and tested, it was time for car inspection. The boys stood anxiously in line, each holding thier beloved car. There were cars in all sorts of shapes and colors. Some had a lot of parents' influence, and some were done by the boys by themselves (the older boys). Some had painted on numbers, and some had glued on drivers. They were all great.

The official inspection and weigh-in was very, very official. Once the cars were deemed legal to race, the cars were "impounded" and no one could touch them. As a matter of fact, during the race, no parents were allowed to touch the cars -- only the scouts and the officials. R had a clean car -- he was within weight and he had no illegal parts. The cars cannot weigh more than five ounces. R's weighed 4.9 ounces (M had wished that he had a really light weight to add to it, but he didn't have any light enough.) R's car was impounded, he was given the number Green #2, and told to sit down with the other scouts.

There were fourteen scouts there to race. They divided them into two heats and each car raced against every other car in the heat and in every position on the track. That means that we watched a bazillian races (yes, that's a technical term - bazillion.)

R was in the second heat. He was in the first race of the heat. His number was called and he quickly climbed the stairs to get up to the starting line of the track and put his car on. He and the three other scouts that he was racing ran down to the finish line. When they were situated down at the bottom, the officiant let the cars go. R's car was beautiful and shiny...and FAST. It whizzed out in front of everybody down the hill and maintained its speed on the flat part. His crossed the finish line first and a beautiful number 1 was illuminated above his lane. He won the race! Oh, you should have seen the big smile on his face and I know you can imagine how much he was jumping up and down!

He had to contain himself and go sit down in line until his next race. He had to wait for two more races before he was up again. His number was called and he quickly got to the starting line and placed his car at the starting gate. Confidently, he strolled to the finish line, eager to repeat the easy win that he knew his car could do. The race began and, again, his car sped down the hill in front of the others. Then, at the flat stretch, it slowed down, and slowed down some more...and he came in fourth -- last. But, that didn't bum him out at all. He got back in his seat with a smile on his face. The next race his car was, once again, the fastes down the hill, and he came in second, cool! Then, second again..okay, this sure beats last. Then, the next two races, he was looking at last again and again. Hmmm. In the end, he had one first place, two second places, and four fouth places. Crazy!

I over heard the two officals talking to each other about the "silver bullet" that they had named R's car. They were saying "that silver bullet is the fastest down the hill every time. It should be winning." "Yeah, but the wheels got lose and are wobbling on the flat stretch, so it loses speed."

Ahhhh, so that's what happened.

After R's seven races, he came and sat by me while the finals were going. Three of his friends in Tiger Cubs made the finals -- and two of them placed first and second in the whole Pack. We cheered them on. They're going on to "district" next month.

R was a bit disappointed, but said that he had a lot of fun. He was quite pleased to see that he (and everyone who participated) got a beautiful trophy. Upon getting the trophy, he said "I think I'll take this to school and show it to my teacher. She'll be really proud." I told him that I was really proud of him -- of how he worked hard with his dad to build it and I was proud of his good sportsmanship -- both when he won the races and when he didn't win.

Here are some pictures so you can feel like you were there.

R showing the intricacies of his shark car to his buddy.

Walking up to get inspected and weighed. Notice his very cool carrying case. M bought him a gun case with the foam in it and cut out the foam in the shape of the car so that it would be very well protected. He finished it off with R's name in metallic letters. Too cool for school.

R looks on expectantly as his car is inspected. Whew! He made it. He's good to race.

R places his car in the first lane of the four-lane track.

R proudly displays his beautiful trophy. As I was putting him to bed last night, I noticed that he put it next to his hockey puck and his autographed baseball. Nice.

Window Art

T is looking at his fun and colorful "window art" creations that he got for his birthday last month. The crazy thing is...both of his grandmothers gave him window art sets! He's in heaven :> (The bottom creation is a "colorful steam locomotive" that he designed himself. I call it the Partridge Family Train.)


This is a picture of all the window art we have on our window right now. (Notice the difference in weather outside? Hopefully, we're looking at the beginning of Spring right now.....I'm crossing my fingers...It's supposed to snow this week, but I hope it just passes on by.

He Says the Sweetest Things

Quotes by T yesterday.....

"I love you more than a quarter and stronger than a ship." (you gotta know that he LOVES quarters!)

"Isn't this the prettiest red you've ever seen?" (pointing to the paint on a bench)

"My hypothesis is that the pirate was already a bad guy before he became a pirate."

A Shark That's Ready to Attack

M and R finished the pinewood derby car today. They used two different colors of spraypaint so that the car would look "candy" (aka really shiny) and metalic (this paint has specks of metal in it). R actually sprayed one of the coats on it. Here he is getting ready to go paint:


Here's the finished car. Doesn't it look cool? The lighting is bad in the top picture, but it shows off the tail really nicely. The bottom pic shows the "candy/metallic" paint job. Now, we have to wait until the end of the month to see this baby race!

Picture below

I was able to insert the pictures of M's injury below.

In Sickness and in Health and in Sander Accidents

I can't believe how long it has been since I posted. Things have been a bit hectic around here. As you know, we had a fun birthday celebration for T the day after we got back from Florida, which was a lot of fun. Late that night, M started feeling really poorly. The next morning, he had a fever of 101 degrees -- poor guy. He was pretty lethargic with that fever. Besides the fever and the general feeling horrible, he had a nasty cough that "hurts my chest more than anything I've ever felt." That fever and cough lasted for four days, at which point I pushed him out the door to the doctor's office. (Luckily during all of this, his fever responded to Tylenol, when I gave it to him. Also luckily, I was able to come home at lunch time every day that week to bring drugs from Walgreens, or make soup, or just make sure he was okay.) On Tuesday, T came down with the same thing -- but he only lasted for 30 hours or so.

Back to M -- Although he didn't have pnemonia, he was pretty darn close to it. The doctor treated him for pnemonia because of M's diabetes. It turns out that there was a viral infection going around (high fever and bad cough) that had an incubation period of 7-8 days and lasted about two days. We think that M and T both got it on the plane ride TO Florida. But, M's turned into a bacterial infection because of his compromised immune system due to his diabetes. M started the antibiotics late on Thursday night and began feeling a bit better on Saturday night.

Wait until you hear what happened on Saturday night....

Okay. I was putting the kids to bed and I heard M putzing in the garage. He had been in bed for six days and was beginning to feel better, so he was a little antsy. So, of course, he decided to work on the pine wood derby car. As I was tucking in the munchkins, I heard, "SANNNDDDRAAAA!!!". I ran down the stairs, sure that he had cut a finger off. To my relief, all of his fingers were intact. HOWEVER, his right arm looked horrible. He sanded his arm. Yes, you read that right. He sanded his arm, meaning, he sanded the skin off his arm.

Painful. Gross. Yuck. Blood. Bruise. Ouch!

The poor fever-induced man wasn't at his full capacity when he was sanding the car. He needed a belt sander, but didn't have one. So, he put his other hand-held sander (I forget what it's called) upside down in a vice and was running the car over it. Somehow (I don't quite understand this part) his arm got caught and pulled into the sander.

Here's a picture of his arm minutes after he hurt it. (Yes, I did stop and take a picture after we knew it wasn't life threatening - -but before we put on anticeptic and wrapped it all up.) Can you see the huge, raised, bruise underneath the major wound? It took up almost all of his forearm. Yowzer! The picture doesn't really do it justice, but here it was -- ten minutes after the trauma happened.




It's getting a lot better, but has a long way to go. Here's a picture of how it looked yesterday:





Anyway, the rest of this week wasn't the best, but was okay. M is finally feeling better pnemonia-wise. His arm still really hurts -- it hurts if I touch it, even lightly, anywhere. But, it's scabbed up nicely and looks like he'll have a cool scar when it's all healed.