Pinewood Derby Baby!

The annual Pinewood Derby for our ward was Thursday night. It was quite the showing by "Kyle Jones". Let me back up a few days. We, well, Jake- because really this is his department- waited until the very last day (uh Tuesday night) to put this car together, regardless of several reminders from his wife. So they preceded to "finish" the car. Kyle was so excited and kept telling me, "Mom I think it's gonna win. Do you think it's gonna win? Maybe 2nd or 3rd, but I think it might be 1st". He was cute and so confident in his "car". Now I am not going to lie, I am going to go ahead and say what I really did say, to myself of course and maybe under my breath to Jake...... "What the heck is that? That is the lamest pinewood derby car I have ever seen."
Jake had YM Wednesday night, which just happen to be weigh in for the cars. So I pile all 4 rug rats in the car, haul 'em to the church. We get to the church and there is about 12 boys there with totally tricked out cars. Carved into aerodynamic shapes with racing stripes, flames, numbers and all this stuff. OK, if you can't see Kyles car, it is the original rectangle block of wood with the nose sloped down, THAT IS IT. I was so ticked. His 1st pinewood derby and my kid, my Kyle, had the lamest car there. He blew off the few negative comments that were said, but I was so mad. I was going to let Jake have it when he got home! We go into weigh his car and it is 2 oz. over the limit. Well you would have thought the Wall of China was coming down. He had sheer panic written on his face and my expression was the about the same. Now what am I suppose to do, all the weights are drilled and glued in there? Jake was not even reachable - he was on the ski slopes. Again, sheer panic. This was his first pinewood derby, his car was over weight, what do I do? What do I do? For those of you who don't know, Kyle being my first, everything is magnified by 10 when it comes to him. Sorry its true, it's psychotic and wrong but that's me. I'm working on it. Okay back to the story. Our dear friend came to the rescue. After a lot of drilling and re-gluing, Ky made weight!

I will spare you the details of the conversation that happened at home, but I am sure you can imagine.


So Thursday night comes, I'm nervous for my boy. It will be fine, he won't win, but that's okay we will take it as a learning opportunity. Kennedy and Cole are at the end of the track, so excited for their brother! They had no clue what was going on, but excited nonetheless! Race starts, race ends................ "Lane 2 - Kyle Jones". Wait......what? It took a couple minutes to register. He won, he won the race. I looked at Jake, Jake looked at me and we just busted up laughing. Kyle was elated, to say the least! I thought to myself it was just a fluke, he would be eliminated soon. HOLD UP! The next race, Lane 1 - Kyle Jones, than Lane 4-Kyle Jones, and Lane 3-Kyle Jones. You get the picture. 8 races and my boy won every single race with his "lame" pinewood derby car!

It was a photo finish!

Ok so now when am I going to eat crow you are asking? Oh I did, believe me. I took back everything I said and apologized immensely. Who would of thought a slanted piece of block wood would win! We headed to Dairy Queen for the after party and had some freezing treats to go with our freezing weather! I am not sure who was more excited that Kyle won, Jake or Kyle, but Jake was a proud papa!

I have started taking a parenting class again. I took it for about 3 years ago for the 2 previous years and absolutely loved it. It changed my life. The teacher, Sister Tanner is one of the most inspirational people both emotional and spiritually that I have ever met. She has really given me a lot of tools and suggestions to help me in the toughest job of my live - being a mom! I thought that I had heard it enough times that I could implement it and adapt it to my life. Well not so much. After all she did say that it took her 7 years for her techniques to become habit - and here I am thinking I could do it in 2!!! So we are back - yup Jake is going with me! I am so excited to get some more ideas and tools in the never ending quest of "being a good parent". Not that I even know what that means but I sort of have an idea how I would "like" it to be! Anyhow she puts together a syllabus that has the outline of her lesson, quotes from the prophets, scriptures, stories and poems. I came across this poem and it made me think of my last post. Even though I try and most of the time fail, having a clean house is not where my high should come from.

Maybe one day I will get it!

Excuse this House
Some houses try to hide the fact
that children shelter here.
Our boasts of it quite openly
the signs are everywhere.
For smears are on the windows,
little smudges on the door.
I should apologize I guess,
for toys strewn on the floor.
But I sat down with the children
and we laughed & played & read.
And if the doorbell doesn't shine
their eyes will shine instead.
For when at times I am forced to choose
the job or the other.
I want to be a housewife,
but first I'll be a Mother.

Something about a clean house..........
this is truly my obsessive compulsive disorder manifesting itself in full light! Seriously, a clean house really does it for me. It is exhilarating to me...sick I know. The smell of cleaning supplies, the vacuum marks in the carpet, the dirt you see on the white rag...okay maybe not that, that kinda tells you how dirty your house really is!!! I can't quite figure it out because it is such a brief moment in time in my life right now. It couldn't be that I am a control freak or my organization compulsion, could it?!# I used to be so good at cleaning my house. Every week it got a good cleaning up and down. Well I am not sure if I am slowing down with old age, finding more excuses to put it off, or just getting lazy. The weekly cleans aren't happening that much anymore. But every time I do manage to pull myself together and get it done I wonder each time why I waited so long to do it again. Its like I don't get it, like I can't remember the high it gives me from the last time I did it. Okay wait, this is starting to sound like a drug addict......maybe I should try drugs. Maybe that could help my situation. Anyhow, I usually start downstairs, do the main living area, the areas people see so they can think I am a good house keeper, then upstairs to the real mess- the rooms. I get to all the bathrooms, all the floors, all the dusting, all the vacuuming EXCEPT my room. What is with the master always being the last to get cleaned. Seriously, I have had this conversation with several people and they say the same thing, the master is that last to get cleaned. It makes me so mad. Seriously, why is that? So I started something different. I cleaned my master FIRST! I did eventually get to everything else in the next two days and there was a brief moment in time (10 mins max) that my WHOLE house was clean. It was so nice to walk from a clean house to a clean bedroom. Why didn't I think of this sooner, duh? So why am I blogging about this you ask. Because I just wanted to blog about something nonsense and leave all the heart felt,life changing stuff to my other blogging friends! So there you have it, my silly OCD moment. Happy cleaning.:)
P.S. So wish the picture was the house I had to clean!

IT' S OVER??????

From Collages

What......it's over? Already? How can that be?

Weeks of preparation, endless shopping trips,

returning, exchanging, buying it again, wrapping.

And it is all over with.....

Christmas has come and gone.

Although our kids made out like pirates with their loot

it always seems so sad when it is all over.

All the hype is over in such a short time.

I love putting up my decorations.

It makes it feel so festive and so fun around the house.

For some reason any other season I decorate for

doesn't quite have the same feeling.

I dread taking it down.

It is so much work and it makes my house

feel so empty and so boring.

I wonder if I kept them up all year if that feeling would continue?

Naaaa, probably not!!!

So another year done and gone.

Where did it go?

Today was not a day I was necessarily looking forward to.

I hate birthdays - well my birthdays.

I do not like the idea of getting old.

Yet it keeps happening, faster and faster.

My husband is out of town

My kids didn't even remember when they woke up

nor did they say Happy Birthday when I did tell them.

I had a full day scheduled, hopefully to keep my mind off "the day".

Volunteering in Kate's class room

Deliver a few treats.

Clean the downstairs so that I can walk without sticking to my floor.

Finish teacher gifts and friend gifts.

THEN..... my phone started going crazy!

Texts, voice mails, emails, phone calls,

all for me! All my dear friends and family were thinking of me.

Not how old I was but just thinking of me on this day.

My dear girlfriends rearranged their schedules to eat lunch with me.

And oh was it good. mmmmmm!

I came home to numerous bags on my porch,

numerous messages on my machine.

Again all for me! More friends and family thinking of me.

My birthday night plans were mocked a bit by many,

but I was trying to make the best of it.

My kids wanted to take me to Carl's Jr. for my birthday.

I had several offers to watch my children so I could go out.

But I thought a lot about this,

who am I am going to go out with?

Who is going to be able to be pulled away from their family?

Of course I want to go to Carl's Jr with my kids.

They were so excited and

I was excited to be with them, ALL of them.

Life is so crazy and so busy,

I don't have them all to myself very often.

This dreaded day made me realize a lot of things.

I have A LOT of people that truly care about me and love me.

I will take Carl's Jr. with my kids on every birthday.

No one really cares how old I am anyway.

They say age is only skin deep and

my girlfriend was telling be about this anti aging product. (he he!)

So bring it.

Bring on the wrinkles,

bring on the grey hair,

bring on the not so toned body.

THANK YOU to everyone who delivered birthday wishes, in all forms.

I felt very loved, very humbled and very blessed today.

So it has been awhile since I have blogged .....uh ya think? The busy season is upon us and I can feel the anxiety creeping up my chest into my throat trying to choke me with stress. I try every year not to get myself in the same position I find myself in AGAIN this year. Too many cards to make, to many neighbor gifts to put together, the teacher gifts, the kids' friends gifts, gifts for my parents, gifts for Jake's parents.......... it never ends. I really really really was going to try to enjoy this time with my kids and try to have everything done. Yet here I am up until midnight every night making crap that no one really cares about anyway and "creating my own crisis" as my husband tells me. So it is December 10th and I have exactly 8 days to be finished with EVERYTHING because I AM going to enjoy Christmas break. I feel my children's childhood slipping through my hands and I just want to sit down and cry and make it all stop. So I guess I better stop blogging and get going....8 days and counting!

From Collages

HALLOWEEN! My absolute favorite holiday of the whole year! I love dressing up, yes even I sport a costume, but especially my kids. Kyle informed me that last year was the last time that he was going to do a "group thing". I was so sad,I had great hopes for the Scooby Doo gang this year, but he wasn't having it. So we rumaged through the dress up box and this is what we came up with. Not that anyone will see them...... it is 47 freezing degrees here. Seriously, what's up. Your coat is not suppose to be worn over your Halloween costume. This is also the one time of year that I truly loath Idaho. Never fails, Oct 31st it turns cold as a witches....umm....a witches...how does that saying go? Anyway it's COLD. While my family in California is running around in the 73 degree weather with their kids trick or treating, I will be sulking and freezing with my children trick or treating. Good thing we have a small neighborhood.

When black cats prowl
And Pumpkins gleam
May luck be yours
on HALLOWEEN!