The 2010 Pinewood Derby Champion

2010 Champion

with his "Green Machine"....

sparkles and all!

The Track

The results are in.

Willy edges out Josh by 2 one-thousandths of a second.

Ouch!

(especially since the 5th grader was outdone by a measly 2nd grader)

Plum tuckered out.

Now the real person you have to check in with is the Dad.

We are all wondering how much the dads were tweaking and fine-tuning their "boy's" ride.

Hmmmmmmmm. That's all I have to say.

I'm getting interference over the shoulder that the chief mechanic said all was A-okay!

Whatever!

Trophy pics coming soon.... for the chief mechanic.

geez, if a medal ain't enough!

Enticement for Papa

Look what I learned how to make!

Imagine it ....fresh out of the oven:)

... just for you Papa!

Happy Birthday Ezra!!!!

We realized that we had all of us together to sing to you, but our 7:30 is your 10:30.

Maybe you were still awake, but we thought it too late to call....

so this is for YOU!!!!!!!

We love you big boy!

9 years old .... whew!

Boys

Boys.

I choose joy in their creativity in their "set-ups".

I choose to cock my head and smile.

I choose to continue to smile as I find them EVERYWHERE.

Even those bleepity bleeppin' bullets.

It makes it all worth it when they see me smile

and request that they leave certain "set-ups" for me to enjoy for a little bit longer....

but CLEAN UP THE REST!

"YEAH!!!!!!" they scream....

and actually clean up after the first request.

Hmmmmmmm.

Gotta love 'em.

Monastary life

Our Monastic Moments:

A bit out of order, but you get the idea.

We were not really encouraged to take pics of the chapel or where the nuns live.

Jimmy's b-day

Party Favors!

The electronic propeller hat that Papa and Theo made.......

so loud Jim can't hear with it on

Jim's nephew Ben (left) turned 21 that night!

We were impressed he wanted to hang with us.....

but we took care of him!

Jim receiving his benediction from Papa.

Brian's masterpiece cake.......

it was a black & tan under the frosting

Good ol' Papa grilling in the pooring rain

Warren putting his feak on.

... and Peter in his dress again.

The 4 sibs

Things that make me smile

Will's card to his Uncle Warren, 

although we'll never call him Warren again.

This is among my other favorites that I choose not to correct;

naver, naverhood, myselth

and noospaper.

Just hangin' on as long as I can

Rosy the Riveter?

No..... It's  Lucille Ball's apprentice.

Thanks to Nana and Papa, 

Emma is enthralled with her new DVD for her 12th b-day!

Any mother seeing her child with a gun in his hand 

rightfully freaks at some level (me, at all levels).

But look at that grin.

William could hardly talk after his "Daddy's" weekend at the cabin.

He was smiling that cheesy toothless grin, re-living his bb gun lessons from the weekend.

Looks like it was a real chore for the dads. 

Wow..... is about all I can say.

Emma receiving her  "peer mediator" certification.

Emma desperately wanted to go to a girl's school this year.

One of the reasons besides just being with only girls (her most important reason),

she/we wanted her to have some good chances at leadership kinds of things and not to get lost in the shuffle. She didn't get her wish, but

God has such a funny way of working things out!!!!

He really does......

drinking beer at most of our school events puts a smile on this mother's face!