Pinewood Derby

Our little scout recently got the chance to participate in a Cub Scout tradition.  He got to make a pinewood derby race car and then race it against others from his pack. 

Biju and Ajay got the car started at one of the scout meetings a couple of weeks ago.  They used the tools provided and cut out the shape Ajay wanted and started sanding it.   Then the rest of the family helped him finish it up when it got closer to racing day.  I showed him the paints we had available and he chose his color scheme and pattern.  He originally wanted blue and red circles on the top to look like police lights but in the end went with the stripe pattern.  I used a stencil to paint the stars where he wanted them and then he used an edged brush to paint in the stripes that I had outlined.  Biju stopped at Hobby Lobby and picked up a weight so we could get as close to 5oz. as possible without going over. 

To be honest, it was actually a bit difficult for our organized adult minds to let him do all of the painting.  But I knew we couldn't go in there and clean up his outside-the-lines paint job because that would just tell him that what he did wasn't worthy.  So I went to the living room while he painted the red and blue.  I think it turned out fabulous and I know Ajay was very proud.  He even had a couple of kids come up to him when we walked in with the car who told him that it looked "awesome!"

The Scout and his little brother waiting for the races to begin.



Ajay's car next to a couple of others.



The cars.  And some kid I don't know



The race "course."

Ajay's car won the first round.  He went up against an orange car (you can see it in the pic with all the other cars).  It had two passengers - Star Wars characters in Lego form! 

Ajay putting his car into position for the second race.  Which he lost.  Boo.

After losing his second race he was able to race for 4th place overall.  Alas, he lost that one, too.  He was none too happy about not being able to race his car anymore.  We had to do a bit of consoling and explaining that there was only one winner and this time it wasn't his car.  And now that we all know a bit more about how this all works we'll be more prepared to build an even better car next year. 

Hello, out there.

I've been a slug about posting on here lately.  Amazingly enough, I've still got traffic coming to this blog.  I think this blog averages about 25 people a day.  Some days there are 40+, some days there are only 4.  I've got my "regulars" and then I've got the people who stumble upon my blog via Google or some other search engine.  The main reasons people come here are to look at the "gender predictions" I posted about while I was pregnant with Aren.  As you can see in the "Top 10 posts in the last 30 days" list in the column to the left, the top two positions always have to do with predicting gender.  The people are Americans, mostly, but you'd be surprised (as I was/am) how many visits I get from other countries.  (The main reason why I try to be very careful to use generalities when it comes to who we are and where we live!)

I do like to hear from my readers, so please, if I know you or if you're just swinging by, leave a comment and let me know what ya think.

And here are a couple of random photos from the last month. 



I didn't have it in me to make cookies at Christmas-time so we made cookies after the New Year.



The boys were excited to decorate the cookies - and couldn't wait to start eating them!

 

We didn't go overboard.  More like under-board!  Not too many cookies but enough to have a taste.  They weren't all that pretty but they sure tasted good!



Here are the boys again in their ski masks/monkey caps that I made.  Remember I told you I'd show you pics of them with their hats matching their coats?  Ajay looks less than thrilled and Alex looks an awful like my brothers in this shot! 



Alex got a big alphabet floor puzzle from my parents for Christmas.

A really big puzzle! 



Alex was in the bathroom the other morning - I thought he was brushing his teeth.  He called out "Mom, I think you should come here."  He wasn't brushing his teeth, he was SHAVING like Daddy.  But he didn't shave up and down, he shaved side to side, which resulted in these cuts on his chin. 

 And a little story about Ajay.  I don't have pics.  I was too angry at the moment (even though I understood at the time that would eventually laugh about it.)  I was making omelets for the boys' breakfasts the other morning.  I usually let the boys pick out and crack their eggs.  Alex cracked his and I started making his omelet.  Ajay picked out his egg and was waiting with it at the table.  He then told me that if we warmed up the egg it would hatch a baby chick.  I informed him that that wouldn't be possible with these eggs.  I continued working on Alex's omelet and barely registered that Ajay had left the room.  Next I heard "Uh-oh, Mom!  I sat down too hard!"..... I looked in the living room and he was staring at a basket full of clean clothes waiting to be folded.  Turns out he had used the basket as his nest and he sat on the egg to warm it up.  Alas, he sat too hard, and cracked the egg.  (Luckily, only the top 3 pieces of clothing got egg on them.)

Feeling better

Aren got sick last week.  I assumed it was just a typical cold with cough and fever but Biju suggested we call the doctor to see what his opinion was.  I'm so glad we did - it turns out he had viral pneumonia and an ear infection.  The pediatrician gave us a prescription for Amoxicillin (for the ear infection) and we were told he would get worse over the weekend.  He did, but not nearly as bad as I was afraid he'd get.  He spent quite a few nights sleeping in our bed plus most of his naps in our arms. 

We were going to spend Friday evening with some friends for an early New Year celebration but had to cancel.  We were disappointed but we knew that Aren would be happier cuddling with Mommy and Daddy.

Aren just wasn't himself.  Finally, on Monday, the fever stopped and we were able to coax a little grin from him.  Tuesday was even better - more grins!  Today (Thursday), I was able to get full on giggles from him as I tickled his belly.  We also got the "okay" from the doc to go to a playgroup - which did us all a bit of good!  He's back to sleeping in his crib with a cool mist humidifier in his room. 

I'm so glad to have our happy-go-lucky fella back and I'm super grateful for modern medicine.  I don't think prescription drugs should be used very often but there are times when they're necessary and in this case they sure did help! 

Happy New Year!

We wish all of our readers a Happy New Year - we hope 2012 proves to be a joyous, healthy and lucky year for everyone! 

We are still here, I just haven't been doing as much with the computer.  I haven't kept up with our blog and I've barely kept up with reading the blogs I like to follow.  Of course, being that we're out of space on our cameras (which means not many new photos) and our computer caught a cold (grr, virus) it was difficult to sit down here and post something. 

But to get caught up a little I thought I'd scrape together a few of my photos from the last week or so.  (I'm guessing some of you have done this - scrolling through all of the photos on your camera's card deciding which photos can be deleted to make room for juuust a few more pics?)  I didn't get any photos at Christmas.  Can you believe that??  Aren's first Christmas and I got nuthin'.  I think Biju got one or two shots on his phone and my aunt got some pics on her camera so I'll have to ask her to send them my way.

This isn't a holiday photo but I thought it was cute, anyway:


"Mom, what is this thing my brother has placed upon my head?"

After we got back from visiting my family for Christmas the boys wanted to play with some of their new goodies (of course!).  Alex is putting together the puzzle Santa brought, with a little help from Daddy; Ajay is putting together his Lego motorcycle from Nana and Papa and Aren is playing with his new soft blocks from Aunt Theresa.

Notice Ajay's green yarn necklace?  He crocheted that himself on the van ride back home the day after Christmas.



(He's also wearing his new Amber Teething Necklace from Mommy and Daddy.)

 I crocheted a couple of gifts this year.  I tried to do something for each of my nieces and nephews but I ran out of time so I'm hoping to work on them throughout the year and they will be 2012 Christmas gifts!  Here's what I made for the boys (they actually chose the yarn colors without knowing what the yarn would be used for):

Orange and Red yarn crocheted together, to match his orange winter coat.

Green and blue to match his blue winter coat.



Red (which doesn't show up well in pictures, apparently) booties to help keep his feet warm.

Maybe I'll take new pics of the red things when I get more space on the camera, see if we can get rid of that glare.  

Happy New Year!!