Pinewood Derby...Let's just say it was a humbling experience

What a day!!!!! We had a MILLION things going on today and so we are lucky we were able to even make it to the Pinewood Derby. Last derby we did as a Stake and this one was with his pack. We had to clean the church the morning of the derby and so while I am still scrubbing away at toilets, Luke went in and handed in his car. One minor detail...he forgot to put graphite on his wheels before he handed it in. So let's just say his car wasn't exactly performing at it's top potential speeds. After about 3 times of coming in last place, I thought to myself - Man Luke has really grown up and he is taking his defeat like a man! But then I made the mistake of making eye contact with him and the tears started to flow. I took him out into the hall to have the "good sport" talk and we headed back in. The very next race he took 1st in his heat! That was great and all but he beat his buddy Grant and so then Grant was in tears! Needless to say Luke felt terrible for his previous tears and was trying to figure out some way to make Grant feel better. He ran over to me and asked if we could take him for ice cream or something :)

So this derby was a great lesson in sportsmanship, humility, and compassion :) Oh Luke did win the award for colorful car :)

CUTE.

You mean I can control my hands?

I LOVE when babies start to get the hang of using their hands. I remember walking into Eva's room a couple of weeks ago and she was concentrating really hard and would swat at the ruffle on her bumper pad in her crib. It was so cute to see the concentration and the amazement she was experiencing as she was using her hands. Soon she was able to swat at the little toy on her swing and now she is really get the hang of it. In fact as I am typing this she is grabbing my hands :) Everything I touch she immediately reaches for. She loves to chew on her hands and often as she puts them in she makes a little growl like a dog would as they are chomping on their bone. In fact she can almost put her whole fist in her mouth! My favorite is when she is laying on the floor and she grabs onto her feet. Or when the kids get close to talk to her and she grabs their noses. TOO CUTE!

Dangerously cute

This post WILL NOT contain a picture...Reason? I don't want Emma to even remotely think what she did was ok and taking a picture would encourage her!

Ever since we found out that I was pregnant with a girl Emma has been SO excited to share a room with her. She did not think it was fair that she was the only one in the family sleeping alone. Luke and Gavin get to share and Matt and I. So when Eva was finally old enough to move in with Emma she was thrilled. I knew Emma would have the urge to get Eva out of her crib when she started to cry and so I made it VERY clear that if Emma EVER got Eva out of her crib that she would no longer sleep in there with her. I have been very proud of Emma that she has controlled herself and has not attemptede to get Eva out. Well this morning I heard noises coming from their room. The noises of Emma busy with one of her plans. Plans that usually get her in trouble. I thought today was the day that Emma couldn't help herself and I was sure she had lifted Eva out. When I ran in the room I was totally wrong...Emma had climbed IN the crib with Eva! To be honest it did look really cute to have Emma and Eva laying together sharing the same pillow Emma had put in there. I had to contain myself and not let myself go and run to get the camera because I knew Emma would take that as permission to do it again because she would know I thought it was a little bit cute. :) I am sure those cribs are not meant to hold that weight, especially one that I put together :) So as cute and creative as it was, and you have to give Emma credit for being obedient and not getting Eva out, it was a little scary too. But you will have to just picture it in your mind :)

Go Magic!

Ok so I know I said that I was going to send Matt to the Magic game tonight with the kids...well as I was driving around town trying desperately to find Emma a Magic shirt to wear I got thinking....hmmmm these are really great and really expensive tickets. I wonder what this really means to Gavin, I mean was he REALLY set on going and excited or did he really not give a darn??? So I asked him "Gavin would you rather go to the game tonight with Daddy, Luke, and Emma or play at a friend's house?" He piped up and said "Well can I wear my Magic shirt to Cooper's house?" I said yes and he immediately admitted that he would much rather go play with Cooper! I'm glad I asked! These were very expensive tickets on the "Club" level of the NEW Amway arena and if he didn't really appreciate them, then darn it I would. So of course my dear friend Amy let Gavin have his wish and he got to play with Cooper and Eva got to stay with Kinsey and I got to go to the game with my husband and two cute older kids! It was such a fun night....of course I can't blog about it without including the very humorous moment that started the night off. If you know Matt then you know he LOVES technology! Yes he will even sing the song from Napoleon Dynamite "I love technology, but not as much as you, you see. But I still love technology, always and forever...." So if there is something very COOL and HIGH TECH he wants to do it. So as we are on our way to the arena and I am stressing over where we are going to park and if we will even find a place, he gets on his trusty phone (HIS BEST FRIEND) and RESERVES a parking spot for us in the nearby parking garage for a measly $11 . Hmmmm, I have to admit I was a little impressed because I didn't know you could RESERVE a parking spot. But I was a little doubtful....I thought I would get to the garage and tell the guy we have a reserved spot and he would laugh in my face. Well we got to the garage and had to laugh because parking was only $10 NOT $11 like we paid to reserve our spot. Well that's ok if we are getting a good reserved spot then fine I will pay an extra dollar. We pull up and I am expecting the parking lot attendant to laugh at me as I ask him if he has ever heard of someone reserving a spot? Here is our confirmation number and he says "Oh yes go ahead". So maybe Matt's technology is COOL and HIGH TECH. I had to humble myself and tell Matt he is indeed cool and impressive. So then we start going to the spot that the guy told us to go to: #5225. That's the 5th level...well we start going and by the time we get to the third level there are millions of empty spots. But no we had to exit the covered parking and go to our reserved level 5 spot where there are about 10 cars total and the spots are not even numbered. Ha ha ha....I guess Matt got scammed! An extra $1 for the worst parking spot in the lot :) he he he. Don't worry Honey I am still impressed that you can do so many things on your phone.

Well our seats at the arena were awesome and it was such a fun night. The Magic were playing the Trailblazers. At different times during the night they put camera shots of the different people in the crowd. Emma, Luke and I were trying to dance and be as crazy as we could so we could be noticed and make onto the "Big Screen". That was our goal for the night. Just as I was saying I wanted to have my camera ready JUST IN CASE, we look up and there's Luke and Emma!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND I hurried and got a shot before they turned the camera's away! How cool is that????

It was a great night, sadly the Magic lost but Luke said "At least we made it on the big screen!"

You might have to zoom in to see us

This picture made me giggle because Luke looks like he has crazy curly hair on top but in actuality it is the guys hair behind him :)

The YW Auction...everyone came out on top :)

To earn money for YW Girls Camp this year, we put on an auction. The girls have been calling and collecting items from the ward members to auction off and then they also made items. We had quite a few things such as Orlando Magic tickets, coupons for photo sessions, jewelry, a coupon for one of the ladies in the ward to make a custom prom dress, patio lounge chairs, a dutch oven, cakes, cookies, pies, bikes, etc. And then we had laser tag going on outside that they could pay to play. I was so excited because the girls ended up making over $1900!!!! Matt had given the kids each $5 to spend. That money was burning a hole in Luke's pocket. He was bidding on anything and everything and losing because things were going way beyond $5. FINALLY he found success on these "beautiful" "collectors" plates :) You know the ones you would find on those obnoxious infomercials. So now we are proud owners of our own set of 3 - hand painted from Hawaii. Actually not "we", LUKE is. He said they will go perfect in his room since he has a surfer room :) When we tease him about them he simply says "Hey it is for a good cause".

Then there's poor Emma...she was DYING to have this little Furry Friends play set that was in the silent auction. Her and another little girl were at war for it. They would go over every few minutes and out bid each other. Emma brought $27 of her own money, which we are still trying to figure out how in the world she got $27. Anyway she bought a teddy bear for $1 and then lost the bid on the Furry Friends because they got up to $27 :( Poor Emma...I was secretly cheering when she lost because this house does not need anymore toys!!!! Especially ones with millions of little pieces.

And then Gavin, he couldn't leave empty handed and so now he is the proud owner of the Hollywood Soundtrack. These songs go back to 1987 with songs from movies like The Bodyguard, Sleepless in Seattle, Made in America, and Boomerang. So yes the car ride around town is going to be full of nice tunes :) Matt got Eva the cutest little blanket (custom made by my friend Stefanie), I got CUTE jewelry (custom made by my very own BFF Amy), and Matt won Magic tickets (4 of them....which means I get a night ALONE with Eva when he takes the kids to the game tomorrow night!!!!! SCORE!) So yes there was fun being had by all :)

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess

The kid's school does a big celebration for Dr. Suess's birthday every year. This year they asked parents to come in as "Guest Readers" and they had a dessert contest. Last night as I was getting ready for my guest appearance to read Oh the Places You'll Go, I was wishing I had some kind of festive hat or costume to get in the mood. Of course I thought of this at 9:00 pm so Party City or any other place that MIGHT have something were closed. So instead I bought some red and white felt at Wal-Mart and made myself a hat and bow tie! I was pretty darn proud of my patternless hat :) It was so fun to read to their classes. I felt like a teacher with all the kids surrounding me as I read.


I was very impressed with the desserts! Talk about amazing! I was VERY glad I didn't volunteer to bring a dessert :)