It's a 4 Ring Circus!

had to do it

more pinewood derby than you care to know about

 . . . but, the out-of-town dad has to be informed, so here ya go!

Last night, Josh earned his Engineer, Traveler, and Geologist awards.

He also earned his Webelos rank, and per tradition, is turned upside down to get his pin on (so that when they "do a good turn" they can turn it right side up).  Usually the dads do the upside down part and the moms do the pinning.  Our scoutmaster got a little panicked when he saw that Ryan wasn't there and started to ask for a volunteer to heft Josh, but I quickly assured him that I would have no problem.  :-D

Uncle Ben subbed for William's dad.

Sisters tend to find Pack Meetings a bit b o r i n g . . .

It was finally time to start the race!  We were a little nervous because Josh has not had great luck at previous Pinewood Derbies, but this year his car did really well!

He was awarded 3rd place -- woot!  Uncle Ben was a great coach.  (Ryan helped too before he left town.)

Josh also won the "Most Patriotic" award for his car design.

He went for a play on words with the current political atmosphere and the fact that he used pennies as weights . . .

Josh had a lot of fun with the whole thing, but between you and me, I'm glad it's OVER til next year!

her radar is not fine-tuned yet

Should I be worried?

Every time that we watch American Idol, Ava (yes, my 3yo) insists that she wants to marry Adam.  As in:

(Too bad for Ava, I'm pretty sure that he's not interested in the ladies.)

I have a feeling that the teenage years are going to be interesting in our house!

Also, if you like AI, you'll love this.

cuddle buddy

Josh was playing on the floor with his Legos the other day when he got a surprise visitor.  She loves her brother!

the look that slays me

beads beads beads

A couple of nights ago the kids caught me in a weak moment and pestered me till I agreed that they could get into my bead/jewelry-making drawer.  I wish I could now hire someone to tie the knots at the end of the stretchy cord that they insist on using to make necklaces for everyone.  And oh yeah, I'm supposed to mail these to their out-of-state friends when the project is done.  :-D

Amber, I just saw your post and realized that we are not alone in our bead adventures, how funny!

rally the troops!

You're pretty sure that today is going to stink?  Can't get up the motivation to deal with it?

Watch this clip, and you're set to go!

be speckled

scout terrariums

Josh and William got together last week to make terrariums for one of their Cub Scout projects.  I mentioned to Josh that a lot of times people put in little decorations, just for fun.  What do you think he found to put inside of his?  A LEGO Indiana Jones guy with a LEGO Chewie dude.  [eye roll]

In the process we discovered that our cat really likes spider plants.  :-D

Speaking of plants, I erroneously thought that all of my garden order was coming this week, when in fact all I have received so far is some garlic bulbs.  :-p  We've at least had some time to do some other garden-ish tasks, like giving our yard trees some attention.   I need to give the beds around our bushes some today, too.

Spring Break has been wonderful, though.  I'm actually really glad that we decided to not make any trips and just stay close by, because it has been really nice to spend time together with the whole family.

happy st patty's

Eat some chicken noodle soup today!

(yes, I have some cleaning to do that I'm trying to put off...)