Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Amy's New Skirt

A good friend has been passing down her daughter's clothes to Amy, who is just thrilled to receive them. She is especially happy about this latest gem, a precious skirt made by my talented friend. It's still a little chilly in the house, so I just found a long-sleeved shirt that wouldn't clash with the skirt. When the weather warms up, I'll have to find a better, more coordinating, shirt. Thanks so much, Kris!!!

Pinewood Derby 2010

This past weekend was our Pack's annual Pinewood Derby race. The boys worked hard on their cars and this year they even made two cars each, one for the regular race and one specifically for the Smash Car Derby. Surprisingly, this year the boys' racing cars were quite slow. Alex had a hard time with the fact that his car came in last every heat, especially since last year his car came in first overall for his den. Ironically, he even did his last year's science fair project on how to make a fast Derby car! But all in all, he took it well. He still came home with the "Coolest Car" trophy, and both boys came in first place in their division for Smash Derby. The pack did a great job to make it a fun event for all!

Nathan's car is the blue with stripes (second from right):

Nathan's Smash Car:

Nathan with his first place trophy for the Smash Derby:

Alex's car is the green one with center stripe (second from right):

Smash Derby - Alex's car is the one on the right with the yellow stripe and star

Alex receiving his trophy for Coolest Car:

Nathan and Alex posing with the Cubmaster:

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

New Hockey Fans

Saturday night the boys got a wonderful opportunity to attend their first hockey game. Both Alex and Nathan had filled out their order sheets when selling popcorn for cub scouts and were rewarded with free tickets to an Aeros hockey game. This was a special boy scout night and from what I hear, it was really quite something. Bill took them to the game and they sat as a group with a number of the leaders, moms and dads, and boys from our cub scout pack. Their seats were incredible! The game started at 7:30pm and didn't end until 10:30pm. It was a long night, but Bill said they watched every bit of it.






After the game, as part of the experience, they let the boys go out on the ice and let them try to make a shot into the goal - both Alex and Nathan got it in!





When they received their tickets, they were also given a set of trading cards, one for each of the players on the team. So when they got to meet some of the Aeros players after the game, it was the perfect opportunity to get some autographs.




They didn't get home until after midnight, but the joyful excitement they came in with showed what a great time they had and masked how tired they really were. I'm so thankful to the Aeros and their sponsors for giving my boys and all the other little scouts a very fun and memorable night!

Monday, January 11, 2010

A Visit to the Dentist

Today I finally got around to taking the kids to a pediatric dentist. We had one I liked before we moved and since then, I've neglected to make an appointment with a new one. (Yes, I know that means they've gone too long between visits... I'm a bad, bad mom...)

I was SO pleased with this dentist today. The office had a waiting area for the kids, where the staff keeps an eye on them. The waiting area has toys and video games, which made my kids so happy. The staff was super sweet and wonderful with the kids. Alex was a little apprehensive about some of the procedures, especially when they were going to apply sealants to some of his teeth. But with some smooth talk and a little laughing gas, he was fine. :) It was a pleasant experience for all, though I did get the not so encouraging news - just as the previous dentist had informed me - that each of my kids will need braces. I guess we'd best start saving!

Now if I could just get around to finding me and Bill a new dentist...

The UT Quilt

As many of you know, I took on a large quilting project the end of this past year. It started out as a plan to make a special UT lap quilt for my nephew, who attends the University of Texas at Austin. But after some persuasion from my mom, I decided to make it a queen-sized quilt for his bed at college. I've never ever made a quilt so big. And being the procrastinator that I am, I spent much of my holidays quilting. I managed to complete it just 2 days before Christmas Eve, which is when we celebrate with my parents, my grandmother and my brother's and sister's families.

I spent much time worrying over the quilt, unsure of how to arrange the blocks, what batting and thread to use, and how to quilt it. In the end, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I went with a simple block arrangment with outline quilting, used that new bamboo batting (love it!) and chose a variegated thread called "sticks and stones". Now Bill wants me to make a large quilt for our room... But I think for my sanity, I should tackle a few small projects before I take on another big one!




Tuesday, January 05, 2010

Holiday Recap

Has it been a month since my last post? Okay, so the frequent December updates didn't happen. Surprise, surprise. I have to smile, though. I did have good intentions, but what was I thinking?!? I don't even blog regularly when life is at it's normal pace. We were going at rocket speed through December! So once again, I have to update all at once.

We did our schooling through December 16th and then took off until Monday, January 4th. Boy was it hard to get back into our lessons after that long break! Amy actually complained the most. She whined and used the word "boring" over and over again to describe how she felt about starting back to school, which is so silly since all she does is a few pages in one little workbook and then sits and listens to me read to her for about 10-15 minutes. And she always enjoys it! But in reality, she misses her brothers while they are doing schoolwork, and that is why she complained. In the end, we had a great week back and everyone adjusted quickly to our routine.

Here is a look at our holiday adventures...

A cold night with cousins at the Festival of Lights:




Making a gingerbread house:



Making Christmas sugar cookies:



Christmas Eve donuts!





Christmas Eve at Granny & Paw-Paw's:





Christmas morning - Santa had come!


I made no-sew fleece blankets for Shelby and each of the kids; they've all, even Shelby, been enjoying them!

New Year's Eve Celebration (the kids got to stay up until midnight, and then we all camped out in the den):





I know it's a little late in coming, but Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!