Pinewood Derby

The pinewood derby was a little early this year which means Matthew got to do it one more time before turning 11.  It works out 'cause with all the moving he had only done one other pinewood derby before moving here.  Then he got to do one last April and one this year just before turning 11.  The Webelos leaders helped the boys make the car which was nice.  Here's Matthew with his car.

Scott and I waiting for the races to begin.

The pack committee went all out.  They had fancy decorations and quite a nice cake!

Everyone was excited about cake.

Matthew with his Webelos leader post race.  After the races Matthew got to race all three of his cars from the past years.  We found out last years car was the fastest.  :)  And now we are off the hook for pinewood derby races until Grant turns 8.  He'll be 7 in April.

And here are a few bonus pics of recent adventures.

Emma practicing her two wheel bike.

John scraped his knee and his face running home from the mail box one day.  Poor John.

Emma and Scott having time together.  We've started a new thing a few months ago where one week of the month is Dad's week and one is Mom's week.  Each day of the week one kid gets to spend 20 minutes extra with mom or dad (depending on who's week it is) doing whatever they want, within reason.  Most kids choose to play video games or watch you tube videos.  The kids get really excited when its their day.  Since we have five kids Matthew goes on Monday, Anna on Tuesday all the way through Emma on Friday.  That's also how we decide who says the prayer at dinner each night.  Scott does Sunday and special occasions and I do Saturday.  This extra time seemed like a good idea at the time but as a result I have played a lot video games with the kids lately at their request.  And I have to endure such comments from them as, "hey mom, you didn't come in last this time!"  I'm not a big gamer.  :). But I'm trying to not worry about that and enjoy the time together learning about something they are interested in.

Scott and I have spent lots of time cleaning the house lately.  Cleaning up the office was a big task.

Here is the after.  Still kinda cluttered but much better.

Scott and the kids work on puzzles sometimes on Sunday afternoon.  We have church at 9am now which I am happy about.  Better than 1pm.  Scott and I are still teaching the Sunbeams (3 year old kids) and we have Emma in our class this year.  We have about 4 other kids and Emma is pretty well behaved most of the time.  More adventures to come...