Pinewood Derby

My computer has been acting up and I got out of the habit of getting blog posts on here because it was such a pain to upload pictures.  Anyway, it is working pretty well right now, so I'll write about the Pinewood Derby.  These guys took it pretty seriously again and were working on the car when they could.  Allie made a car too and painted it to look nice.

Whenever Mike is trying to get something done, he gets all sorts of friends there ready to help too...

The night of the derby came and Jake was pretty happy with his car.

Nate brought Jake's old car to play with and Jason found one to play with too.  He didn't care that it was totally slow, it was fun to watch.  Kids love a track to zoom cars on...

There were only 4 cars competing this year and as it turned out, the only fast ones were Jake and Carson's cars.  I thought this was funny because Carson was so nervous on the first run down that he couldn't watch.

They all got down as close as they could so they could tell whose car was really winning.

I pulled this thing out of the nursery so Jason and Nate would have something to do while we raced.

Carson and Jake tied a few times and then Carson won best out of 3 so he is the undisputed champion.

Allie's car did great in the races after the official derby.  She beat Jake's old car and then with a little nudge from our officiator, she beat his new one too.  She came away happy.

It was a fun night.  We won't be doing this again till Nate comes around.

Conversation with Nate...

Nate:  Mom.  Can I have a snack?

Me:  Maybe.  Did you eat all your lunch?

Nate:  Just say "yes" Mom.  Just say "yes".  Don't say "maybe"

Me:  But I'm not going to give you a treat if you didn't finish your lunch!

Nate:  I know, but just say "yes".  "Maybe" means no, so don't say "maybe".  Just say "yes".

Me:  "Maybe" means "no"?

Nate:  Yeah.  "Maybe" means "no" and "probabwee" means "yes".  "I don't know" means "yes" too, so you could say that too.

Finally!

Allie's teeth are finally coming in!  She lost these two teeth within a week of each other at the beginning of the school year.  Eight months later the replacements are finally poking in!  Yay for teeth! 

Some thoughts...

Today, Nate asked if he could play the wii while Jason slept.  I told him he could and then sat down beside him for a minute to help him out.  He wanted to play Donkey Kong.  It hasn't been easy for him to figure out, but he's getting it.  Anyway, as I sat there, the music reminded me of the days that Jake used to play the game.  He'd come home from preschool and then kindergarten and play for a little while until Carson got home and then they'd go out to play.  I was pregnant with Sam and had pretty bad headaches almost every day.  I'd go in for a nap when Allie napped and I could hear the music from Donkey Kong in my dreams.  I smiled at the memory.  Then, I realized that Allie and Jake were Jason and Nate's ages right now when I was pregnant with Sam.  They are both a few months younger, but still really close.  I am totally blown away at the thought.  I thought Allie and Jake were so much older when we were going through all that Sam stuff.  It seemed like they understood things on a different level than these little boys are capable of.  I remember having long talks with both of them about Sam and his little heart.  Allie in particular seemed way older than Jason.  She was such a huge help to me and my emotional state at the time and it's hard to believe she was only just turning 3.  I remember having real conversations with her.  Jason and I are no where close to having a real conversation...unless it's about things that poop, and where monsters live.
It makes me think of the tender mercies of the Lord and the timing of everything in my life.  I would never have wanted to have a child die, but if it had to happen to me, I'm so glad that I had Allie and Jake to help me through it.  Then for Jason and Nate to come and bring me even more joy.  By then, I had learned so much about what really matters.  I don't think I would be as patient with the craziness that has accompanied these boys if I hadn't had Sam first.  These two littles are wild and crazy.  They just came that way.  I'm not saying that I am the most patient and loving mother out there...in fact, I have much I need to improve.  But, if Jason and Nate had come before Sam, I think I'd be out of my mind...and "mean mom" would come out a lot more than she does now.  Instead, I have the new perspective of what really matters and I try to be more patient than I used to be.  Even as I type this, I have guilt that I am not good enough, but how could I be a mom without guilt...I don't think such a woman exists.
I am rambling.  I guess I just wanted to say that I am so grateful that things played out the way they did.  Heavenly Father can see the big picture and can see things in a way that I can't see with my mortal eyes.  I am so grateful for each one of my kids and as Mother's Day comes up, it makes me want to re-evaluate myself and better myself as a mother.  I hope I can be the mom that these kids need.  I hope Heavenly Father can continue to mold me and help me to be a better person.  I am so thankful for the role that each one of my kids play in making me a better person.

Conversation at Bedtime...

I was snuggling Nate right before bed and he said "I need some music".
I told him I didn't have anything to play music on.  Then he said "you have your mouth."  I laughed and then sang him a few songs.  It's a good thing he loves my singing.  He drifted off to sleep to the out of tune Primary songs with a smile on his face.

Baby Animal Days

We never go to the Heritage Center for the official baby animal days.  I have heard that it's really crowded and chaotic.  We go later on with my book club friends and their kids.  We've done it that way since Allie was a baby.  I checked the olders out of school and we all went to pet the little animals.

Jason said "e's sooo fluffy!" in his Despicable Me impersonation about a thousand times.  It was so cute!

Nate loved holding the baby chicks and ducks and was thrilled when they'd wiggle around in his hands.

Jake was just a regular 10 year old boy.  He liked to hold them all but didn't get too excited about the cute and fluffy aspect.

They all loved the goats.  Jason and Nate followed them around trying to pick them up.  Sometimes they'd succeed.

 Allie wanted to take just about every animal home with us.

 Jake got to try his hand at milking a goat.  So did the other boys who were there...that poor momma goat...

 We got to see pigs up close for the first time.  They were so cute!  They were also fast.  The kids tried to catch them and it was a squealing, giggling, crazy few minutes and no one came up with a caught pig.

 You can see the determination in Jason's face and he tried to pry this animal away for his very own.  He wanted to hold them all, love them all, and give them squeezes.

Here's Jason and Jake feeding a sheep.

 I still love that picture I have of Allie when she kissed a baby duck when she was a baby.  She kissed these ones too...gross!

 We had a great time checking out all the cute babies.  Then my friend Natalie invited us over to her place to check out her baby animals.  She has goats and these fluffy bunnies.

 Allie begged and begged to take one home.  I said we'd ask dad and we weren't in the door for 5 seconds before she was begging him.  The poor unlucky girl was born into a family that doesn't want to take on any more chaos.

They sure are cute though.

The kids have to do two jobs a day.  One of the choices is to clean up Jason's room.  It doesn't take much, you just have to put the books back on the bookshelf and pick up his toys.  It's usually one of the easiest jobs, so when Allie was in there for a really long time on Saturday, I wondered what was going on.  I came in to find her making things look great.  

 She even organized his cow to hold his other stuffed toys.  I thought it was really cute, but knew it would be trashed the next day...so, I took a picture.  Now, at least, the moment will live on forever.

A New Friend

There aren't very many kids Nate and Jason's age in our ward, but there is a cute little girl who has been in nursery with them for a little while.  She got to come play with us a few times in February and March.  She is the cutest little girl and I loved having her over.  The boys love her and looked forward to having her come.  They got to where they'd recognize her car and run out to meet her.  It was certainly fun having a little girl around.  

Allie introduced her to nail polish and showed her how great it is to be a girl with beautiful fingernails.

She introduced the boys to little ponies and tea parties.

She sure is cute and made life even more fun around our house whenever she came.

Bread

Nate likes to help me make bread sometimes.  I usually let him make his own loaf.  

He mauls it for a really long time and adds at least another fourth a cup of flour to it because it gets too sticky.

Then he crams it into a pan...

...and proudly checks on it every few seconds to see if it is rising.

He's always quite proud of himself and loves to eat the bread he made with his very own hands...no one else is going to eat it :)