pinewood derby

So, our family is cursed when it comes to the pinewood derby. Our cars never make it to the end (Ethan says his made it once, but Chris and I are pretty sure that's just wishful thinking). Luckily we've only had to do it three times now (once for Ethan, once for Ashley, and now once for Josh).

 Josh's is the third car (truck) from the left. He designed it himself, Chris had a friend at the museum cut it for him, Josh worked hard for days sanding it down, and he chose blue spray paint and then drew a guy in the window (which you can't really see).

 He was so proud, and he just KNEW his car was going to win. Or at least reach the end of the race.

 As you can see, the first time down, it stopped far from the end. Josh fought back his tears, and then gave Chris and I a few dirty looks because we'd warned him that the cars we help make never make it to the end.

BUT! The man kept racing Josh's car, and at one point, his car slowly...slowly...rolled to the finish line. It was great because everyone threw their hands up and cheered when it made it to the end. 

 It's a blurry picture, but this is Ethan and Josh watching the car slowly go toward the finish line.

 He won the award for the Best Design, and proudly accepted his red pinewood derby hat! Even though he didn't win, he was so proud of his truck and had a fun night anyway.

All the winners lined up for a winner's picture. He broke our family's curse, and I'm pretty sure he'll proudly wear that hat for a long time.

See Us Shine!

 The 5th grade put on a patriotic American Idol play, and Ashley was the only girl who auditioned for the Betsy Ross part. She did a great job reading her lines in a clear, non-monotone voice.

 These boys are so sweet, before the play started, Thomas Jefferson said, "Let's pray before we go on." So the three of them said silent prayers in their heads. The morning play went really well. Then Ashley said before they put on the play again in the afternoon, Abe Lincoln said, "Let's pray again." Thomas Jefferson said, "No, we already did that earlier." (Which Chris joked was something Thomas Jefferson might say...) So they didn't pray, and the microphones didn't work and nobody could hear the kids with speaking parts. Ashley thought that was interesting. And it made me glad I chose to watch the morning play!

Ashley with one of her friends, Brooke.

the many faces of my family

 Boxy Darth Vader face

Brace Face!

 Pie Face. Activity day girls got to make their own little pies and cook them at home. Now Ashley wants to be in charge of all pies at home.

 Snowball Fight Face.

 Ashley went out in flip flops and said, "It's not that cold, Mom." She came in a few minutes later and said, "I need snow boots!"

 Proud to have made the first snowman of the season out of a small sprinkling of snow Faces.

The snowman's face shows how my face looked when I had to go buy sweaters and boots for my freezing cold body that can't get warm. Hashtag happynothappy...(just kidding...I don't hashtag.)

 World Domination Face, because Josh apparently has his sights set on taking over the planet.

VIP face. My brother invited us to a party he was helping to host for work in a VIP theater. Josh didn't like the movie, but he liked the free popcorn (and the rest of my milkshake).

 Art Face. We had parent conference the other night and Ashley was excited to show me her self-portrait. Too bad she's not wearing her glasses in the picture, or else they would be so similar we couldn't tell them apart. I might have left Ashley hanging on the wall and taken home the portrait! ;)

flash and dash mustache bash

 For Family Home Evening last night, Brett's family invited our family to join them in the 3rd annual Flash and Dash Mustache Bash. How can you turn something like that down? Especially because it was only a 3/4 mile race, and they also gave out hot scones with honey butter and hot chocolate at the finish line. And neon mustaches!

We started in the parking lot of a running store, ran down the busy street in a herd of glowing people,

and ended with a lap around the high school track. Brandon and Brett ran the 3 mile race, so they didn't get to be in our finish line picture. But they ran it pretty fast.

Even though it was chilly outside, the kids loved it. Brett might just convince them to become runners after all. But only if the race is less than a mile and has scones and hot chocolate at the end...

off track activities

We've never attended a year-round school before, so having the younger kids off track for a few weeks was kind of a fun new thing for us. Unfortunately we filled it with long-overdue doctors and dentist appointments. Josh didn't have any cavities (for the first time ever!), and Ashley actually had a small cavity (for the first time ever!) and had it filled a few days later.

But we did a few fun things in between.

 We went to walk around the mall, and found Macy's already set up their letter's to santa mailbox. So Ashley and Josh wrote a letter.

 Josh watched the Believe Meter as he slipped his letter into the mailbox, to see if it went up. I don't think it did.

 We took Ethan to his new Orthodontist to talk about braces. He gets them this Wednesday. But the orthodontist had a wii in the lobby, so Josh was happy to wait while Ethan was examined.

Josh had to go to an allergist to check out how allergic he was to nuts, and also which nuts he is allergic to. Still totally allergic to Walnuts, and then pecans, and then hazlenuts. Poor guy. He asked me to take this picture so he could see what it looked like. 

The doctor also wanted him to get his blood drawn to test the exact levels of allergic-ness, and also to look at a few other foods. You can see how excited Josh is about this as we wait in the lobby for more needles. But he did like the cool hospital band they strapped around his wrist.

Ashley and Ethan also both had to get glasses last week. Strangely enough, Ashley's eyes were exactly the same as Ethan's old prescription, and so we didn't have to buy new glasses for her yet. She was sweet and said she didn't mind wearing his old ones. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of Ethan's new (and totally expensive...) frames.

 One of the days during their break, Ashley had to go to school to do her Math Olympiad's team practice, so Josh and I went to a nearby park to hang out.

 Hey, look! I was there, too.

 We also went to stroll around Gardner Village, and Josh and Ashley loved it. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that I bought them a piece of homemade taffy, and also a doughnut, and let them buy a toy with their own money in the cute little shops.

 They loved it so much, they asked if we could go there every week. I was a nice mom and said no.

 Ashley wanted this sign from the furniture store. Too bad it cost $50. But I took a picture for her to remember it forever :)

 And I also took a picture of my dream table. It's totally expensive, but it's rustic and solid, and has such an amazing finish that it wouldn't be destroyed by water or homework or kids. I want it...

 Since Halloween is over, the shops all had their halloween stuff on sale. Ashley got this cute pirate costume for her American Girl for a few dollars, then came home and dressed like a pirate herself.

 This is a yellow, yellow picture. But the kids begged to go check out the Lego store, so we went a few days ago, and Ethan decided what he wanted to spend his birthday money on. An architecture set of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. The other two bought themselves little inexpensive sets, too, and everyone spent the next few hours building and playing with their new legos.

Tomorrow everyone will be in school again, and I think I'll miss them more than they'll miss me. But maybe I'll be able to save some money now that they won't be home to go to the doctor or dentist every day.