Pinewood Derby 2009!

Our scout troop decided a couple of years ago that they were going to take the weight restrictions off of the pinewood derby cars. They realized that many parents ended up making the cars - not the boys. They wanted the boys just to have fun with it and get creative. It has been AWESOME!


This year Lincoln had a clear idea of what he wanted. He worked on the car himself. He put the plaster on himself. He painted it himself. And it was exactly what he wanted.....a bus.





He had a great time and fun was had by all. My personal favorite? The bumper sticker on the back. Linc - you are a crack up!

Easter 2009

Easter is always one of my favorites. The kids rank it right up there with Christmas and Halloween. It is a great day.

I love that Emma wanted to do a family night lesson about the true meaning of Easter.

I love coloring eggs. (Tessa even tried drinking the egg color until we put a quick stop to that. That is when she lost her shirt as well. )

I love the egg hunt in the morning. I love the search for the Easter baskets.

I love the way the kids look in their Easter outfits.

I love Easter dinner.

I love the way Ted searches through all of the candy and is like a kid himself.

One added bonus? I love that it was sunny and warm yesterday - we haven't seen that in a while!

Happy Easter!

Do you need help with a remodel?

If you are looking for someone to coordinate your minor remodel job then maybe we can help. Of course, you need to be looking for our special talents. You need to spend more than you planned, you need to have it take nine times longer than you expected with no immediate finish date in sight, and you need to have to switch contractors smack dab in the middle of the project and therefore spend time trying to match what has been done before and pick up the pieces. As an added bonus you will become intimately familiar with what is in your cabinets because they won't have cabinet doors on them. You will also become limber and adept at reaching inside cabinets to push out drawers since there will not be drawer fronts on them.

If this is what you are looking for, then man oh man -- you are in luck. We are the people for you.

Don't get me wrong - we get that in the scheme of things this is no big deal, and we can appreciate that. That being said, if we never look at another cabinet door or talk to cabinet makers - that's okay with me.

Are we old enough to have a 12-year-old?

As much as we would like to deny being old enough - the answer is yes. We are old enough, and we do in fact have a 12-year-old. This year we were going to be in Utah for a quick weekend, so my sister put together a surprise party for Emma - and she loved it!! It is always a special treat to see your cousins, and she had gotten to spend the previous day with her other cousins and was thrilled about that, so to see them all and have all the attention on her made her ecstatic! What could be better? She really had a great time, although I think she about had a heart attack when she went downstairs and they yelled "Surprise!" It was priceless.

Although we see glimpses of true teenage behavior coming through - we are enjoying the attributes of this 12-year-old immensely! Here are 10 things about her:

1. Emma loves being in Young Women. She is so excited. I thought I would be sad to see her leave primary, but she was so clearly ready that I was actually thrilled for her. A few days before her birthday they all came and kidnapped her with a big poster full of candy bars and she was practically jumping out of her skin she was so excited. It almost brought tears to my eyes.

2. Emma is a great cook. She loves baking - not something I love, so the whole family is thrilled to have one cook in the house! However, I did make her a "soccer" cake, and at least she seemed to be able to tell what it was!

3. Emma is one heck of a soccer player (hence, the above cake). For years we have been telling her to play more aggressively. She used to run up to the ball, see that someone else was going for it, so she would stop and let them have first shot at it. Now we are trying to tone down the aggressiveness. (Truth be told....she plays like her dad! - although he will deny that)

4. Emma is a great babysitter. Our lives truly opened up the day we had a built in babysitter. We try not to abuse it, but man oh man is it great having a babysitter in the house!

5. Emma is one of the most thoughtful kids I have ever seen. She will, of her own volition, make gifts, buy gifts, or prepare surprises for her siblings and her parents. Sometimes it doesn't even occur to me to do such nice things. She never ceases to amaze me.

6. Emma is a great creative writer.

7. Emma loves to perform in singing groups and is looking forward to her solos in this year's spring musical at her elementary school.

8. Emma can roll her eyes like nobody's business! Okay, just a reminder that my sweet 12-year-old is in fact growing into a teeneager.

9. Emma and her dad are two peas in a pod. Sometimes I sit back in awe at the way they communicate - they just "get" each other.

10. Emma is always up for an adventure. No matter what it is, or how last minute, Emma will go for it, and what is more? She will be a good sport about it.

We love you, Em!

The sneaky leprechauns strike again!

Happy St. Patty's Day to all - the leprechauns worked their mischief here as usual. Whether it is the shamrock kisses on their hands, the shoes filled with candy, the overturned barstools, the upside down pictures, the green "gems" from kindergarten, or the green milk - the kids love it!

Lincoln told me this morning why he loves St. Patrick's Day so much. He said, "there's no calendar to count down so you are just surprised and excited to have a holiday the next morning....and you get candy!"

I guess that about sums it up. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

CANCUN!!!

And just to answer the question you are all thinking....yes - we really were the pastiest pale people on the beach!

Pros of Cancun:

• A beautiful beach.
• Water so clear that it is hard to believe it is real.
• Not cooking for a week.
• Swimsuit versus a parka
• No homework, scouts, Activity Days, soccer, piano lessons, etc., etc.
• No cleaning, laundry, or grocery shopping
• A week away with your sweetie
• A week away from the kids
• Traveling with a fun couple
• Sleeping in as late as you want - or even taking a nap!
• Reading a book that didn't involve flaps, hippos, or Dora the Explorer
• Did I mention being with your sweetheart for a full week!!!

Cons of Cancun:

• Being away from the kids for a week.
• Having to travel the roads with the virtually non-existant driving laws (I was seriously scared a couple of times).

Cancun was amazing! We spent time on a beautiful beach with perfectly soft white sand, went kayaking, snorkeling, sailing (thanks, Curtis!), ate to our heart's content, visited the ruins of Tulum and Coba (AMAZING!!), went on a zipline, visited a Mayan village - it was fantastic! We had to laugh because after we finished going across the zip-line over some water we looked down and there were alligators (or crocodiles? - don't know which) in the water. Oh well - another sign that we weren't in the U.S. anymore! The trip was wonderful. We missed the kids and were ready to come home after a week, but totally look forward to going again!

Thanks Liz and Curtis for a great trip, and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Wagner for babysitting the kids so that we could go!

We always knew Sammy had a great heart!

Last week we went in for Sammy's well-child visit and we discovered that he has a flow murmur in his heart. Although the doctor wasn't too concerned, he wanted us to have Sam do an echocardiogram just to be sure. I thought Sam would be nervous but instead he kept telling everyone who would listen how excited he was that he was going to have pictures taken of his heart. He couldn't wait! We took him in and he was a champ. He thought it was pretty amazing and the doctor printed out a couple of pictures for him.

The results are back and he is fine, but he is still anxious to show anyone he can the ultrasound photos!