This past weekend was the PWD. A great time was had by all. B ended up fifth in his division and 9th overall. I think there were close to 50 boys racing.
Here are two pictures of B's car (the black one with number 9)

I am always amazed at the creativity with all the cars. A few more pictures.  The pink lego piece and the butterfly in the back

Here is a blackhawk helicopter, a herbie car and alligator in the front.

Check out this one with real snake skin and rattle

I like the lego guy and the great paint job.

We also had a visitor for the weekend...Bubbles

Bubbles is Jbird's class mascot.  Every weekend he spends with a different child.  I love the baseball hat J put on him.  Him and JB are both very found of Bubbles.  They had lots of fun, but Bubbles also loves to play hide and go seek.  We spent about half the weekend looking for him because his hiding spots were so good!

I am finding much joy in my kitchen these days.  Jbird just loves to eat, especially breakfast.  His favorite - eggs with syrup.  He can eat a couple of pieces of toast, bacon and 4 scrambled eggs, preferably with cheese on them.  I just love to watch him eat and get such satisfaction out of what he is eating.  Now serve him something he is not interested in, forget it - hardly a smile, but when it is a favorite of his, look out.  He can eat.

I have been experimenting with a few new recipes.  One called for 3 T. of paprika.  Did you know that Cayenne Pepper looks a lot like Paprika?  It does and in my cabinet, they are in similar size bottles.  Fortunately we have a member of our household that loves spicy!  Another recipe called for 2 T of sugar..yep bet you can guess what I used instead....salt.  Fortunately it was the homemade pizza, so we did not have a real hard time getting that one down.

J stayed home from school today - said he was not feeling well.  Just the coughing and sneezing.  He has not missed a day of school yet, so figured we would see how it goes.  I know JB loved having him home but it sure was hard to keep him 'still'.  I tried hard to emphasize 'you are sick, you need to lay low' but had a hard time with it.  At least I know he is not too sick to go to school tomorrow.

It is Pinewood Derby time. I meant to take a picture of B's car before we turned it in today! (After the race they will keep them for several weeks). Last year he won a big ol' trophy, but we have prepared him for less than that this year - although he might do really well. No one really knows-there seems to be no science behind the cars, other than how fast and straight the wheels turn.

B finally got his popcorn prizes (for selling Cub Scout popcorn)! One of the things he got was a really cool little toy cross bow. It shoots the arrows like 45 feet. They are very heavy duty and it makes me nervous when they accidentally swing it my way when it is loaded. They have yet to break something.

The last couple of weeks when I have been taking the boys out on their alone time (date) with me, have been trying to build into their lives. We have focused on doing for others - a random act of kindness thing. When I was with B it was really cold out. We saw a homeless man. I don't like giving money to the homeless but we decided to get him a hot chocolate. It was getting late in the day and the sun was quickly disappearing. So, we swung through a close coffee shop then drove over to give him the drink. B rolled down his window and handed it to the man. As he walked away, I was disappointed. I made the comment to B that the man did not seem very appreciative. Then I caught myself and said that it did not matter what his response was. We did something nice for him and we did not do it to receive anything back. As long as we did what we felt was right, that was all that mattered. I went on to explain to B that there will be people in his life that will not be able to appreciate when a kindness is done towards them and that is okay. Our kindness should not be dependent on what we think we should expect in return. We found a few other 'kind' things to do that evening and as we were heading home, B told me that I was right, it does feel good to do nice things for people. That is when you smile as a parent. They are catching it. How does the saying go - better to be caught than taught? Them seeing you live it out.

JB is progressing with the potty training. He wanted to wear underwear to preschool today for the first time. The teacher said he did great! We are working on several things with his language but one is trying to transition him for the 'me want' to the 'I want'. We are still working on colors - he does not seem to recognize them. The audiologist was recently in the school and tested his hearing. He flat out failed in his left ear. She was able to see the ear tube that appears to have worked its way out of the ear drum and is 'stuck' on the outside of the ear drum. She is assuming that the tube was bouncing everything back and that is what caused him to fail. It so happens that we have a follow up ENT appointment in a week, so will check with the Doctor then to see if he agrees.

A goal for me this year is reading more books. Books that will challenge and encourage me, give me insight and wisdom and sometimes just bring a smile to my face. One such book that I just finished is Unglued: Making Wise Choices in the Midst of Raw Emotions - by Lysa TerKeurst. (I have also decided when I read a book to take notes so that it is more likely things will stick and good reference points later on). One reason this book interested me is that I found I was at a place of suddenly exploding (or imploding - depending on how you look at it) with the boys and I did not like it. An early theme in the book is that "I have a choice of whether or not to give the other person power over my emotions. When I react by flying off the handle, I transfer my power to the other person." This really made me stop and think as to whether I wanted a 3 year old to be in control of my emotions. It's amazing how I escalate situations when I come unglued.

Another big point in her book is how you need to go from attitude to gratitude. "If _____ is the worst thing that happens to me today, then it is still a good day. Don't look at what is wrong but praise God for what is right. My circumstances don't change, but the way I look at circumstances changes." So, when I have to wash sheets for the third day in a row because of a night time accident, I can at least be thankful that I have a washer and dryer instead of grumbling about the task at hand. This perspective sure makes it easier to face all of the 'inconveniences' of life.

So many other good principles that have really helped to bring a calmer environment into our home. I also know that by my reading more, I am silently encouraging reading more in the boys (of which B will have logged over 20 hours for his school reading log this month).

Been a quiet week and weekend. We continue to stay healthy as we watch other families around us fall to the flu!

I have been picking up rental cars for several weeks now. Fortunately they only have 3 that I am responsible for. They originally wanted 5. I don't know how in the world they keep track of everything. This company has a taxi service, rental service, limo service, along with all the property management. Vehicles coming and going all over the place. The only down side to it is trying to vacuum out a car when it is zero degrees. It does not matter how warm you have the inside of the car, that nozzle is just cold and trying to do it with bulky gloves does not work. It takes me only 45 minutes or so to run them through the automatic car wash and then get them cleaned out. It has turned out to be very flexible though, which is nice and only about 6-8 hours a week.

Off to get the boys in bed...just a quick hello.

Sunday was my birthday. We all headed to the local hot springs. The boys have not been in the water since this summer and wanted to make sure Jbird was still comfortable with his swimming. They had a lot of fun. It was very cold outside - probably 5-10 degrees. There are lots of pools inside but one outside. Every time the door would open to the outside, steam rushed in. It sure took your breath away when you walked outside, dripping wet into that cold air. But the nice hot pool was nice.

Then we had lunch. Tried out a new diner and the food was pretty good but the portions were huge. JR was not able to finish his! From there we dropped JR off at home and headed to some friends house - fun to catch up with them after a few years.

Later that evening, JR was working so the boys and I had cake.

The boys wanted me to have a lego cake, so they took the liberty of adding some decoration.

My boys and me!

Seems some of them were eager to blow out the candles, so Jbird was keeping them from doing so.

I still have some celebrating to do. Meeting a friend today for lunch and another friend tomorrow for lunch!

One of my goals this year is to learn to use the settings on my camera. I recently learned a new trick to soften the flash (until I figure out how to set things so I don't need the flash - which is the ultimate goal). If you place a white business card at a 45 degree angle in front of the flash (prop it up in the hinge) it will diffuse the light. The picture of the boys and I were taken using a business card and the picture of the boys was taken without a business card. Amazing the difference something so little can make.

Took B back to the orthodontist. Seems his mouth appliance was beyond repair, so another impression had to be made. The ortho did say though that it appears it was not his fault, but just not made real well (assuming that means I don't have to pay for another one). We have been working with this appliance now for about 3 months and it has yet to be tightened. I am ready to get things rolling!

This weekend was Jbird's turn to head into town with me. As expected, he chose his IHOP coupon.

Before eating we went to Target to look at toys. Not surprisingly, we spent 40 minutes in 3 aisles of the toy section. I just love to watch him and listen to all the commentary. I got a long list of 'wants' from him. It was a cold night to venture out - when we got home, the outside temperature was -11 (yes, below zero)! It was all worth it though.

This week has been a 'tv free' week. This morning instead of being greeted with the standard 'can we watch tv', the boys headed downstairs and we all painted and played tic tac toe. B has told me he has actually kind of liked not having tv. He keeps a reading log for school and this week alone, he has read over 7 hours. He has been reading the Super Fudge books, Magic Tree House, some biographies and I found some Hardy Boys. He will lay in bed every night with me and read and read and read. I usually have to convince him to turn out the light. He just reads and laughs and reads and laughs some more! Jbird on the other hand has been my early riser, so he and I boil some water and he drinks hot chocolate and I drink tea while we read his devotional book.

Being intentional has already paid off in many ways over the last two weeks and I look forward to seeing what other changes will unfold. There is just a calm environment in our house and I am one that thrives on calm. Another one of my goals this year is to be consistent in practicing one of my 'musical instruments'. The ones that have moved with me for many years but never get any playing time. I talked with a friend and she is going to give me a piano 'lesson' once a week. I think it might be more of me bringing all my questions to her and her making sure I am not picking up any bad habits, but it is a start.

Time for me to go curl up with the boy and get warm and read!

We hit the ice recently! Met some friends out there who were learning how to skate with folding chairs and a family that had brought some extra hockey sticks....

Another great, fun, safe day on the ice!

The new year has gotten off to a pretty good start. My word for the year is intentional. One of my goals is to take one boy out each weekend. I thought through why I have never been consistent with this in the past (yes, I have tried) and it is because of several things. Yes, our weekends get busy, but it was mainly because when the weekend rolled around I could not always come up with things to do (seems like we can always think of things that cost money though) and often times the cash had dried up and no money to spend even if I wanted to. So this year for Christmas I made up 17 coupons for each boy. Then I determined a dollar value for each one and went to the bank and got money for each coupon and stapled the money right to the coupon. 95% of the coupons were 2 or 3 dollars, so it only cost me $158 for an entire year of dates with the boys. The coupons are things like a trip to Costco to look at toys and get some ice cream, a trip to Barnes and Noble and a soda at the gas station or a trip to the library and a Gatorade from the store. The emphasis is more on the doing. Fortunately my boys love 'window' shopping and can spend a great deal of time wandering the toy aisle. Any little treat is exciting for them! So, they each have a stack of coupons with money attached. Plus the coupons are tangible, so the boys don't forget. I printed up a spreadsheet to keep track of who goes what weekend (another downfall was when we would skip a few weeks and then I forgot who I last took out.

On Saturday B picked the only high dollar coupon there was (I figured he would). It was for a meal at IHOP and a trip to the local sporting goods store. We were gone about 3 hours and had a lot of fun. Our last stop was Home Depot. I am trying to think through some projects around the house so we went to look for ideas and colors, as well as try to price some things. We got lost dreaming in the appliance section. He had to open all the refridgerators. I think this was his favorite non-food stop. We did go to the sporting good store and also bought him some new snow boots (something he desperately needed. While at the sporting goods store, I took the opportunity, yet again, to point out to him poor customer service (remember the pizza restaurant...). We were in the shoe department about 20 minutes and were never approached by an employee - although there were 2 college age employees within ear shot of us. All they did was converse with themselves. I asked for a manager as we left the store. B listened to the conversation and as we walked out, I told him how important a good work ethic is. (I just wish we would have a really good experience sometime so I could teach him about praising people for a job well done!)

B has another appointment this week with the orthodontist. His appliance fell out over the weekend, so I am glad we had this one scheduled. JB has received praise from all those at school and his therapists. Seems the break has been really good for him and they have seen a lot more fluidity and ease with his words! Jbird went out hunting with JR over the weekend. They were able to track a fox! Pictures to come!

We have a quiet week, as I think our weeks are going to become more quieter, or maybe I should say calmer. I have decided to start clearing my plate with a lot of things. I feel that God is preparing me for a quiet season of my life and time to really focus on the most important things.

New Year's was quiet around our house. We had pizza and then we lost JR and JB to the bed around 8pm. So, B, Jbird and I brought out the good stuff.....

The boys were a little surprised when I told them to try a squirt.

Of course we probably ended up with more on the floor, but it was a party, so we had to have a little fun. Had a few other fun foods. Took the boys to the dollar store that day and let them each pick out something to snack on that night.

Not pictured was the Funyons and Bugles...I don't recommend eating either of them in large quantities while consuming large quantities of chocolate, all in the same evening.

We found a movie on Netflix. I got to pick it out - okay I did not give them a choice, I told them it was my movie or nothing. (I do have a good track record of picking out never heard of, funny, well liked kids movies). We watched some hilarious, slap-stick type humor movie about a summer camp. Never had even heard of it, but not too bad. We now have some family jokes from it all. Also had some great laughs...you know the laughing so hard that you lose control of bodily functions...yea, that would have been one of us - who remains unnamed but IS under the age of 18!

We finished off our night with this guy!

B somehow managed to stay up until about 11:15 but of course I was awake long after that with all the fireworks.

New Year's Day we went to a sledding party.

Here is JB all bundled up, going down with a friend.

Jbird was going to try the snowboard approach. He did not get very far though.

He started going down on his knees. I had several adults tell me what a natural he was and absolutely fearless.

The best part for me, was the huge bon fire!

All the partying is all over now...kids are already back to school. I must say, the break flew by. Usually I am ready for them to go back to school, but not this time around.

Another year!  Sometimes I look back and wonder where the time went.  Other times I wonder what difference I made in the life of those around me.  For several years now I have had one word that I have wanted to use to describe my life and that is 'intentional'.  Yet, as I look around, I am not very intentional.  However, I am hoping to really change that this year.  After following a blog for several years, I have been inspired to finally put some realistic, attainable goals on paper.  Like she says "if you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time".  So, I have come up with financial, relational, spiritual, personal and family goals.  As the new year unfolds, I hope to chronicle some of those goals in hopes of keeping me accountable to them.

I have started on t-shirt quilt #4.  My second oldest niece graduates from High School late May (which will be the overall reason for Summer 2013 road trip).  I have finally gotten smart and enlisted the help of a friend who quilts quite a bit (she obviously has grown kids!).  She has her own sewing/quilting room.  I went over there the other day to officially get started.  Boy, she had lots of advice for me.  She was just cracking up..I am sure she wondered how someone could get things so catty-wompus (however you spell that).  She saw the last quilt I did and although it was fine, to a quilter's eye, it needed some help.  So help she has provided!    Interesting how those that are great at what they do have lots of little tid-bits of advice that make things so much easier.  Not that it saves me time in the here and now, but will save me lots of time in the long run.  After all, it is easiest to put a quilt together when everything is precisely measured (I mean, does a 1/16 of an inch really matter).  So, Steener, am excited to see how your quilt will turn out!

Recently went through the boys clothes and paired down some more.  My little J-bird just cracks me up.  He has decided that the only 'church' shirts he likes are button down.  He does not like the pull over collared shirts - only the button down, you know those that usually require ironing!  I know well enough not to try to pick them out without him.  So today we ran into a store and found 2 that he really liked.  (He had several long sleeve so he just wanted short sleeve - for the warm weather that will be appearing in a few months.)

Speaking of pairing down, one of my unwritten goals is to pair down even more.  The less I have, the less I have to take care of.  The less I have to take care of, the more time I have to devote to those things that I enjoy.  I recently read about a family that logged everything they had and decided to do the math and get rid of 25%.  In the end, they did not even miss the 25%.  I am hoping to get rid of 1,000 items this year.  That might be a stretch, since I am not a huge pack rat, but if you consider our 14 'rooms' plus a garage and crawl space, that is less than 60 items per room or about 85 items a month. When I think about stuff I have had for 8 years and still not used, clothes I have not worn in over a year, toys that have not seen daylight in 4 months, stuff that has been put in the crawl space and not touched for 3 years....It just might be do-able - the key though is not to bring other things back in.  (I will have to update throughout the year on this one too)

I have been talking with the boys about Maycol (our World Vision adopted child) and how he probably lives and what he lives without.   They were amazed to think that he probably has not ever played, much less seen a video game.  That it is possible he does not even own crayons or coloring books.  I want them to become mindful of how blessed we are and how much we take it for granted.  B wrote him a letter today and wondered if he should sign in 'your friend' or 'your brother'.  How I wish a relationship like that could develop over the years and miles!

(I seem to have rambled again...maybe that is a new direction the blog will take as I become more introspective and seem to want to share things.  Maybe a balance of pictures and fun stuff and my ramblings. Who knows but I know I have lots still rolling around in my little head and pictures waiting to be downloaded!)

Happy New Year and believing God's best for you - regardless of how that appears to the human eye.  God's best is not always 'pretty' in the short term but it produces something beautiful in the long run if we will let it.