Our 6th Derby

As I've been blogging for a few years now, I've learned how cyclical our family life really is. (not cynical!) For example, in late January/early February, what do I always write about? The pinewood derby, of course.

The difference this year is...AARON! It's finally his turn! He was 2 and 1/2 years old at Braylen's first pinewood derby. How he turned into a 7 and 1/2 year old in the blink of an eye is beyond me. But here he is, making his car with Daddy.

And here's Kaleb making his car.

Add some RED paint...

And what do we have here? All smiles with Daddy and his first derby car. :)

If you look real close, you'll see Aaron chose to put 3 holes in his car.
His uniform is all decked out with big brother's patches, but the beads are his. :)

Just a little "atta-boy" for my husband...Aaron chose to build the same car Kaleb built last year. And Kaleb chose a design that Braylen's made in years past. Derek could have very easily told them to use the cars we already have, but he didn't do that. He let them build new cars, which meant more work for him. I'm so thankful for my husband.

Kaleb and his bright orange car!

We have lots of memories wrapped up in these pinewood derby races. Some have been re-scheduled due to bad weather. Grandma and Grandpa usually come, along with my BIL and SIL and nieces. (Now Pam, I suppose you and Brandon are excused from attending 2008's derby...) This year we had great weather, and all of our in-town family came to watch.

Aaron salutes the flag during the pledge of allegiance.

Derek had the brilliant idea to bring police tape to the derby this year.
 It really helped keep kids off the track during the races.

Our cars never win first place, but to me what really matters are the memories that come from building the cars together with Daddy. And we rewarded the boys for their good sportsmanship with a trip to Dairy Queen. :) I was especially proud of Kaleb this year. For some reason, his car came in last place in all 3 of his races. He never complained, and he even congratulated the other boys. I want to be like Kaleb when I grow up. :) Tee hee!

I like to joke with people that the pinewood derby is the reason we enroll in Cub Scouts year after year. I wonder if anyone's picked up on the fact that I'm not joking! This really is the reason we're in Scouts!

Deer Season, Part 2

Over the years, I've learned there are two parts to my husband's hunting hobby: the hunt and making use of what was hunted. Early on, Derek took his deer to a meat locker for processing. He quickly learned how pricey that is, and our order wasn't even correct. Now he processes his own deer meat...with the help of his parents and our friend Shawn. For one weekend in late January, we had quite the party going on in our garage. I mean, in our meat locker. :)

They processed 250 pounds of meat!

Braylen was right in the middle of it all. :)

Even Derek's mom helped out. Did I mention they worked for 14 hours?

After the long Saturday in the garage, they put my kitchen to good use on Sunday. I continued to rotate sausages through the oven all day on Monday too! We now have more summer sausages, snack sticks, and jerky than we know what to do with! You might notice in these next pictures that Kaleb helped himself to samples of jerky...just to make sure it was good. :)

Yesterday I ran my oven through the self-cleaning cycle. Now we have full freezers, food to share with others, and a clean oven! Kaleb is most excited about the snack sticks. Since he loves breakfast and not much else, it's a challenge to find things to pack in his lunch that I know he'll eat. Ever since Derek made these snack sticks, I've been putting them in Kaleb's lunch. The other day he said, "I'm glad I don't have to eat sandwiches anymore!"

Even though it's a lot of work, I'm glad my husband enjoys his hobby. :) From the thrill of the hunt to the filling of our freezers...success!

Big Sister

Yesterday was my brother's birthday. I found this picture and just had to post it.

Who knew that this little girl would grow up and peek at her own sleeping baby boys? I guess God gave me some practice with my brother. :) I remember thinking he was a real, live baby dolly. How nice of my parents to give me a real dolly! He means so much more than that to me now...

As much as I loved skyping with him yesterday, I'm hoping that I'll get to see him IN PERSON very soon! And of course his adorable little boy too! I'm surrounded by boys!

Our Other Two

Okay, I admit it--my recent posts have been all about Aaron. Most of my pictures are of Aaron. With Aaron's medical issues notwithstanding, I find myself obsessing over my youngest son. Not in a scary way, but in the sense that I don't want to miss a single second of his little boy cuteness. It goes SO fast. So, so, fast. When I read my brother's blog and see pictures of my 8 month old nephew, I miss my babies. That is crazy, since anyone who knows me knows how much I love the independence that comes with having older children. But who can understand the mind of a woman? Or the emotions of one? Derek will tell you at the top of his lungs, "No one!"

Next month we will be giving our crib to Derek's sister. Why should this be a problem for me? I am content and very blessed with three children. I should be able to let go of the crib, right? I should be happy to let our nephew-to-be sleep in the same crib my babies slept in. And I am happy. We've been giving away baby items for years. But this is the big one. Giving away the crib seals the deal...we are officially done having children.

I tried to find pictures of my boys in their crib. After searching for 10 minutes I gave up. Apparently I didn't take any. The ones I did find were so close-up that the crib wasn't in the picture. So here is our pretty crib, with a dresser on the end and two large drawers beneath the crib mattress. It has so much storage, and I loved it. It will be fun to see my sister-in-law love it as much as I did. I hope she takes pictures of her son in the crib for me. :)

Honestly, when I started this post I intended to write about Braylen and Kaleb, our other two. Here goes...

Braylen is a texting machine these days. Yes, we took the plunge and allowed him to spend some of his hard-earned mowing money to buy himself a certain electronic gadget he's been wanting. The key words are "his money!" As our extended family recently discovered, they can now text with their grandson/nephew! They've texted during the NFL playoffs. At bedtime. When it started to snow. The list goes on... I'm all for strengthening family ties, so entering the texting world has been a good thing for Braylen! It's also been helpful during the few times Braylen's watched his brothers for me. Instead of receiving calls, I receive his texts. :)

Kaleb's been a homework machine these days. Sheesh! 4th grade sure keeps him hopping! When I start to think about all he has to do every day, my mind goes on overload mode. It's just too much. Yesterday he did homework from 3:30-5:30. I could go on and on about that, but I won't. All I'll say is Kaleb has a great attitude through it all, and I've learned to keep my opinions and frustrations regarding his homework load to myself. For now. :)

Our annual pinewood derby through cub scouts is this Monday. Derek and the boys have been hard at work. I will post more about that next time.

All 4 boys enjoyed lots of wrestling yesterday. It helps wake Aaron up during his sleepy time of the day--late afternoon/evening. And they all love it.

This is for my records...

{Today begins week two of Aaron's medication dosage increase. The seizures are not gone yet. But they are not as easy for me to see. Braylen had a weird fever from Sunday-Tuesday. 98 in the morning, 99 after school, 100.7 at bedtime, repeated for 2 days. Tuesday at supper he broke out in hives on his arms, hands, and face. An hour later they were gone. Complains of a frog in his throat, but otherwise fine now.}