Feelin' a bit...dare I say it?

o....l....d......  Well, it's not as if winter isn't tough enough to get through with all its gray glory, but to top it off I get to celebrate a birthday in the midst of it.  Perhaps it was an error in judgment on my mother's part to give birth to her seventh offspring in the mid winter months.  Probably she was just anticipating a good week's worth of sleep since she delivered back in the day where they kept you in the hospital for longer than 48 hours.

Feeling a bit frumpy and wondering when exactly did I become one of the BEFORE pictures of a stay at home mom makeover?  Clothes are boring and don't fit.  No time, energy or surplus money to shop.  Oh, blah blah blah blah.

I vow to pull myself up from my bootstraps and trudge on through February praying that that stupid groundhog does not see his shadow or whichever version thereof that gets spring here faster.

SUNSHINE!!

Just A Swingin'

Spent the morning swinging around Target and Toys R Us so that Kevin could get some work done.  Will had a grand time dancing to the valentine's musical toys.  If they didn't drive me to drink after the first few times of playing them, I might have purchased it for him.  Check it out.  Sorry about the quality.  Cell phone video apparently is not top notch.

Surf's Up Dude

Ben has always been full of stories and imagination.  He can entertain himself for hours playing cars, trucks, planes or organizing birthday parties for stuffed animals such as Longtail and Biscuit.  Here is what I discovered him playing the other day.  He had all of the Imaginext guys surfing on a boogie board.  He was pushing them throughout the house trying to catch a wave.  He's got some rad moves.

Our First Time

It was our first time.  We were new to the Derby. 

Friday night....8:00 p.m.  Pajamas on...everyone upstairs and into bed.  Pinewood Derby competition to be held the next day....weigh in is at 9:00 a.m. sharp.  One of the rules is that cars are not allowed to weigh over 5 ounces. 

Kevin and Ethan had been working on the car for several weeks...sanding, painting, and decorating.  On Friday night they added the final touches, the wheels and weights. 

The boys were in bed and asleep by 9:00 p.m.  Kevin and I settle in for a quiet evening.

Kevin places a call to his brother to chat cars  John has two sons of his own and a shelf of Derby trophies to go with them.  He is the go to man for Derby information.

Kevin:  Yeah, we're done.  It's painted, wheels on, graphite on the axles and tires, per your instructions.  What?  How much does it weigh?  Oh, we have it up to 3 ounces. (Long Silence) Oh.

Kevin ends the call and informs me, "John says we can't go to bed until we have it weighing 5 ounces."

The scramble begins.  We have no weights.  Quarters are heavy, but we don't have a drill bit to drill into the car without putting a hole through it.  My earrings don't weigh enough to merit dismantling them.  Batteries....no.   Magnets.....no.   Luckily when we purchased our house we also purchased a large cabinet full of random screws, nails and washers.  Therefore Kevin, power tool in hand, drilled screws and washers into the rear of the car.  It worked!!

The results...first place.  Ethan was so excited to win each race that I got a little teary eyed.  It's nice to see your child so elated that they are jumping out of their skin.  In each race, the car was so heavy in the back it almost did a wheelie down the track.  Everyone said, "Watch that blue car."

Here's to you Uncle John!  Thanks for the advice.  We couldn't have done it without your help. 

Parade of Champions

Ethan's Shuttle

Celebrating with Ben

Plans for the Day...Tuesday January 25, 2011

1.  Put away approximately 1,500 pieces of puzzles.

Very Puzzling Day

Ethan, Ben and Will spent most of yesterday completing every single puzzle in the house.  We tallied the total number of pieces as 1,469!  That's a lot of puzzles.  They seem to really enjoy doing them and it was fun to watch them work together and cooperate.  Woowie!  Write this day down on the calendar folks.

Disturbance in the Force

I awoke....things just seemed....dare I say it....out of sorts.  I was dropping things all over the place.   Cowlick standing straighter than normal.  Eyes puffy and dark circles circling.  Seven year old uncooperative in morning school routine.   Five year old unable to, well, the list begins....get pants on, get socks on, wipe nose, etc.  Two year old wants milk....milk is offered, then rejected in screaming fit only to be followed by orange juice offering,  water offering, etc.

 I wondered what could have caused these things to occur?  Planets aligned?  Full moon?  Sarah Palin in general vicinity?

A friend brought back some rocks from the west coast and shared them with me.  They were placed in a calm and inspiring arrangement on my kitchen shelf.  I've been searching for my Zen for many a year now and was excited at the prospect of finding it.

Zen garden with miniature orchid

I trudged my way to the kitchen to make my morning tea and then I saw it. 

On the kitchen counter my Zen was in shambles. 

Apparently K. had moved everything off the counter to open the window. 

Don't mess with my Zen man.   Rookie mistake.

Today the force has returned to normal. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh  Serenity now.  At least for the next few minutes.