Pinewood Derby Time

For those that are familiar with Scouts, every year the Cub Scouts have a Pinewood Derby. The boys get to make their own car, paint it, add numbers to it, whatever they would like to make it their own. Since this is Ethan's first year of scouts he had that opportunity. With Woody's help, they worked on his car for about three to four weeks trying toget everything just right. They sanded and painted and added weights, spun the wheels in graphite, etc. The car itself could weigh up to 5oz. and I think they had it at 4.9oz. Ethan did a great job and I'm glad Woody got in to help him because I probably would have been fine with a box car and a little paint. Race day arrived and there were 28 boy scouts with cars to race. The event actually went fairly quickly considering each one raced their cars eight times! They even had them connected to a computer which kept track of the times and all. Ethan's car appeared to be racing very well and was taking first in almost all of his races. Well, when all was said and done, Ethan actually came in 5th place out of 28 boys. He was pretty happy about that.However, I was more proud when he told me that he tried to cheer up a boy whose car wasn't doing so well. We had been reminding Ethan the weeks before the race that he may or may not win but to just have fun. I think that he did and Woody did also...he's ready to make his own car next year so he can race one. I'm also grateful that Ethan took the time to think about someone else. I've only got a few shots of the race because a boy kept popping his head up just as I would take the picture. The car was named "The Flamer".

Benjamin Hits 5!

To start off the year we celebrated Benjamin's 5th birthday. He was so excited! It was hard for me because for a while I've tossed around the idea of having birthday parties with friends every other year instead of every year. Itried to throw that out this year, but I was simply outvoted. So, the Monday prior to his birthday I quickly made up some StarWars invitations for some of his friends from church and drovearound with Ben to deliver them. That was the first hurdle. Then there is the games, party favors, decorations and of course the cake. Thank goodness for Woody's help with the decorations! With the Star Warstheme that Ben picked out he asked for a Clone Trooper for his cake. I think my boys are making this harder every year!I managed to pull it off however and even used marshmallow fondant, which I've only done once or twice. It looked great and everyone was happy.

The party was fun for all. I think we had a total of 7 four and five year old boys running around the house which was a little crazy, but they had a great time. I made some foam light sabers and played games with asteroids (foil balls) and even had glow in the dark straws for the green punch. This was Benjamin's first birthday party with friends over and he had such a great time. We were so happy that he could enjoy a fun day with his friends, especially since it was such short notice. He got some great toys and other fun things to enjoy. Grandma and Grandpa Pariera also came over to enjoy dinner and more cake with the family. We were also able to set up Skype with my brother Thad and his family so they sang to Benjamin which was great. We are so happy to have Benjamin in our home. He is our little love bug. He loves to sit in your lap, give hugs and kisses and just be around you. We love him so much and he's growing up so fast! It's hard to believe it's time for Kindergarten this fall.

Welcome 2011

Well, it's now 2011 and it's been over a year since I've posted on my blog. Not because I didn't want to, life just seemed to keep on ticking by and updating my blog was not usually in the picture. So, I hope to do better this year so that someday I can look back and have something to help me remember all the many things that are family does, especially the kids. Rather than try to catch up over the last year I'm going to start with some recent stuff and maybe later I'll go back and hit a few highlights of 2010. Hopefully this year will be another good one.