Pinewood Derby

For a ward activity our ward is doing a pinewood derby. Everyone who wants to, can make a car and enter it. We made 4 vehicles this year and everyone has high hopes. We've had lots of fun and I'll post more pictures this Saturday after the derby.

Jacob and Samuel

Andrew and Joshua

A 1/2 Birthday Celebration

Happy 1/2 birthday to Andrew. Because Andrew's birthday is so close to Christmas we chose to celebrate with presents, etc. in June. He had a fabulous day. Complete with a party, presents and a treat from the ice cream truck.

Birthday breakfast of Lucky Charms.

So, we did what I call a Smart Mom's (or Lazy Mom's) birthday party. We invited everyone to the lake and let everyone play. I didn't plan a single game or have to worry about anyone being entertained. I brought some snacks to serve along with the cupcakes and the whole thing couldn't have been better. We had 9 children at the party with no mess at my house and everyone had a great time.
A cupcake birthday cake. We decided that since the party was at the beach cupcakes would be the easiest. It's not the best decorating job, but I invented a new frosting that tastes great and is easy to decorate with. It will make things a little easier in the future.

Jordan Taylor

Andrew and Trevor Jones

Logan Schulz

Adam and Samuel using teamwork to contribute to the massive construction project happening up on shore. It was a beautiful day for a party.

Paul Revere

Meet Paul Revere (aka, Joshua). He had a "biography" to do about Paul Revere and as the presentation he had to do a speech and pretend to be Paul. Costumes were required and we felt pretty good about this effort (not a stitch of sewing involved - thanks Jody and Grandma). Andrew and Samuel loved practicing with Joshua. Andrew has even memorized some of Joshua's speech. We have the speech of video, but it's too big to post. Joshua did a great job and felt great about his performance.

First Saturday at the Lake

We were so happy to spend a Saturday evening at our favorite summertime spot. Two Saturdays ago we met some friends from church to have a bbq and play in the sand. Since it was only in the 60s (and hasn't gotten much higher all year) we figured the water would be WAY too cold. Obviously, Andrew either has no feeling or the water was just perfect.

Remember to take time to smell the flowers (or eat them).

We have beautiful lilac bushes in our yard that smell fantastic! I called Samuel over to smell them and after smelling he decided to eat. I hope they aren't poison.

It's gone!!

I am relieved to report that after sitting in our front yard for more than 6 months we are finally rid of the debris from last December's ice storm. We investigated many ways to get rid of the pile ourselves but in the end it always ended up costing way more than we could spend or, requiring equipment we didn't have (like towing capacity). Plus, the city has been promising since January to take care of it. Anyway, today it is done! Hooray!! If you click on the pictures you can see them better. I love how both boys are standing there with their hands behind their backs. As if to say, "I won't touch - I promise!"

School Projects

I know most of you are wrapping up your school year but we, thanks to some crooked politicians, still have an entire month left. The boys have both come home with major projects to do and here is the first of the two. Jacob was asked to choose a famous American and do some research about him. At school they made puppets of their person. Jacob chose Theodore Roosevelt because he was fascinated by all of his safaris and experiences with wild animals. The children made the puppets at school and then had an open house last Friday.