What's the True Cost of Participating in the Elders Quorum Pinewood Derby?

The Elders Quorum held a Pinewood Derby last week. This was the first time our family really got excited about building cars.

Kids:
Basic Pinewood Derby Car Kit ......$ 4 Each
Paint, Sandpaper, Glitter, etc ......Free (I insisted they use what we already had)

Travis got pretty excited about building his car, especially since they didn't have to follow the regular Cub Scout rules. Basically the rules were anything goes,as long as it was gravity powered (no motors, CO2 cartridges, etc).

He decided to make an "Agent P" car.

Travis:
Basic Pinewood Derby car kit ......$4
Special axles and barrings .....$40
Custom machined wheels ......$20
Coping Saw, Chisel, Epoxy, and other misc tools .......$30
Paint ........$4
Wood putty .........$4
Lead Weights ......$5
Can of Tuna ......$2
Googley Eyes ......$2
Hat .......$2

Watching your husband be as excited as a little boy while making a Pinewood Derby car......... Priceless 

(After all that, the wheels popped off on the first race and wouldn't stay put after that. The epoxy wouldn't hold. But watch out next year! He'll be back and he's car will be smoking fast!)

Right Now - Megan

Right now, you are teetering between worlds - sometimes you are still my little girl who plays Barbies and house and dress-up and sometimes you are so much more grown-up. We talk about friends and problems. We go to plays. I love the little girl side of you, but I am excited to get to know this older version as well. You still like me to snuggle you and sing to you, but you are starting to want to do more things with your friends and to be more independent.

Right now, you are full of nurturing. Kate thinks you are her second mommy. You take care of everyone. You have a natural talent with babies and little children. You see things that need to be done and you just quietly go about doing them.

Right now, you love hanging out with friends. You and Abby are singing in the Children's Christmas Choir together, and I think you love hanging out with her each week more than you love the music. You are always trying to arrange times to get together with your friends, and when you do get together, it's nonstop chatting and giggling.

Right now, you are getting much more interested in clothes. Every morning is an adventure as you try to put together outfits that express your personal style. But being modest is super important to you too, so you often bring me shirts that I know you love that are maybe a little too short or tight. I am grateful that you are paying attention and willing to monitor yourself.

Right Now - Kate

Right now, you are 18 months old and we all adore you.

Right now, you are having a language explosion. You are saying new words every day. A few of your favorites are: bubble, baby, mama, dadda, Megan (Muh), brother, birdy (anything that flies - birds, planes, bugs), bye-bye, hi, tutu, GO!, and bo (blow). You really understand a lot of what we say to you, and it is fun to see you learning more and more words.

Right now, you love to dress up. You wear the tutu I made you for Halloween all day, every day. You love to wear sunglasses. You bring me hats and headbands to help you with. You wrap blankets around you like capes. You put your shoes on over your footy-pajamas.

Right now, you wake up waaaaaay too early. I long for the days that my alarm wakes me up at 6:30. But you are so happy when you get up. You hit the ground running, ready to play.

Right now, you have so much energy! You love to climb on things. You climb up behind the couch and flip over the front and slide down. Over and over. You climb the entertainment center. Yesterday I took the knobs off the entertainment center cupboard doors because you open them and use the cupboards to give you a boost so you can climb up to the shelf where the TV is. You like to get up there to give the people on TV kisses, but I was afraid you would pull it down on top of yourself.

Right now, you are afraid of elevators. Your whole body tenses up, and you say "Bye-bye-bye-bye" because you want to get OFF!

Right now, you shower people with kisses and hugs. Me, daddy, Megan and Jared, people at church, and if we don't watch closely, random strangers. You have no stranger anxiety. You love to wave and jabber at people.

Right now, you think that you should kneel down, fold your arms, bow your head, and shriek at the top of your lungs during prayers.

Right Now - Jared

Right now, you are taking off with reading. You are so much more confident than you were at the beginning of the year. You love practicing your sight words and you remind me to read with you every day.

Right now, you are in to Harry Potter. You will get dad's chess set out and play "Wizard's Chess" for hours, using the pieces to battle back and forth. You turn everything (sticks, swords, silverware, etc) into wands and try to cast spells on your sisters.

Right now, your favorite show on TV is Phineas and Ferb. You love Agent P. You name things "inator". For example, the other day when Kate needed a diaper change, you called her a "Smelly-inator".

Right now, you love to tease your sisters. You are an expert at getting a rise out of both of them. It's kind of funny just how quickly you can make both of them mad (don't tell anyone I said so!).

Right now, you love to play football. I love that you want to be outside, running around with friends instead of inside watching TV or playing computer. As soon as your homework is done, you head outside to play, and only come in when I call you for dinner. You are loving the beautiful fall weather we are having.

Right now, you are losing the last of your "Jared-isms". I think the last funny things you say are "grow-niller bars" instead of granola bars and "Obrack Bam-oma" instead of Barack Obama. I will miss them when you stop, but I am constantly impressed with how well you express yourself.

Right now, you are growing faster than I can buy clothes for you. You outgrew your shoes I bought you in August, and most of your pants are too short. You are going to be taller than Megan is soon. And then you'll pass me up!

Present: Busy, busy, busy!

I've been living in the present, and not doing a great job keeping up this poor blog. It's been pretty hit-or-miss since spring, but I am determined to catch up. So prepare to be inundated with random posts and pictures that probably won't mean anything to anyone except me. :D

Mostly I've been busy taking naps. And eating chocolate. And laying on the couch. And trying to have the energy to keep up with Kate. And helping with projects and homework. And doing crafts. And drawing with sidewalk chalk. And reading books. And doing very little on the computer. And doing just about anything except cleaning the house or folding laundry......But mostly taking naps.

Just to let you know....

It looks like we'll be pretty evenly matched, two girls and two boys. Yup! We are having a boy.

We think we'll call him Mo.

Here's an ultrasound picture. You can see the profile of his face and he was holding up one hand in front of his mouth.

In other news, I went to Five Guys the other day. It was heavenly. I've been craving fruit snacks like crazy, thanks to the gummy vitamins I've been taking. And I've discovered that Ritters is the best cure for heartburn on the planet. Why don't they include that in their advertising? Why don't they include that in a pamphlet at the OB's office?

Oh, and I am officially addicted to naps.

First Day of School - 2012

Megan and Jared started school in August. Megan is in third grade this year, and Jared is in first grade. They were both really excited to start school - I think they missed their friends during the summer.

Megan wanted to ride the bus on the first day, but Jared wanted me to drive him and walk him to class. So we waited for Megan to get on the bus, and then we loaded up and drove to school. In previous years, Travis has always walked the kids to class on their first day, so it was fun for me to get to do it this time.

Kate was so excited to see the bus pull up in the afternoon and to see her big brother and sister get off. She missed them!

Jared, Summer 2012

Here are some random pictures and memories of Jared from this summer.

Jared continues to be fascinated by all things Star Wars related. He used some of his allowance and birthday money to buy Star Wars costumes for his Build A Bears. Together, they had many light saber duels, rescued the Princess, and saved the galaxy.

He helped me do some fun projects, including help me make these cool bubble snakes. (Easiest activity EVER! Get the instructions HERE. Literally took me 10 minutes and I had everything we needed on hand.)

I don't have many pictures from the pool this summer (keeping Kate safe and taking pictures was too much for me!) but Jared LOVED swimming. He started trying more things, jumping off the side, deliberately going under the water, etc. Last year swimming lessons were kind of a flop for him - he balks at being pushed into anything, so this year we just let him do his own thing and he made a lot of progress. I think he'll be swimming all over next summer.

Megan, Summer 2012

Here are some random pictures and memories of Megan from this summer.

Megan has the best taste in haircuts. She is fearless - I have been known to try and talk her out of cutting her hair, for fear that it won't turn out or that it will be hard to manage, but she has the attitude that it's just hair and it will grow back if she hates it. Here's a picture of her summer haircut.

Megan gave a talk in Primary. She wrote the whole thing without help and did a great job. I love hearing her share her understanding of the gospel and her testimony. Here's a link to her talk.

Megan has a natural gift with babies and small children.  She is a natural nurturer. Kate adores her. Lots of mornings they would get up together without waking me, and I'd find the two of them snuggled on the couch when I got up. I love her for that! It made dealing with morning sickness a LOT easier this summer. Every baby should come with an 8 year old!

Every summer, Megan takes part in a rotating playgroup for girls her age. Each week the girls meet at a different home, giving each girl in the group a chance to host. Megan wanted to have a fashion show when it was our turn. The girls were all very glamorous.

Our Trip to Utah, part 4 (4th of July)

We spent the 4th of July with Grandma Suzanne and Grandpa Mark and all the Mansfield cousins. The kids had a blast at the parade.

Our Trip to Utah, part 3 (Orem)

 We had a lot of fun with the McGees and Campbells too. It was so much fun to spend time with family and friends.

I got to spend a fabulous evening watching my friend and teacher Connie Jensen preform. She is amazing!

Kate adores her big cousins. They were all so patient with her. She loved "helping" Ben practice the piano.

And she commandeered Auntie Char's water bottle (that's the blurry orange thing in the picture - once she got a hold of it, you couldn't pry it out of her hands!)

We had fun at the park with David and Auntie Char.

Our Trip to Utah, part 2 (Bear Lake)

We spent a week at the Mansfield cabin at Bear Lake with the Mansfield cousins. It was so much fun to be up in the mountains. I miss that, living here in Houston where the tallest things around are freeway overpasses, and all the hills are man-made.

We rode four-wheelers.

We made giant bubbles.

We flew kites.

 We hung out with Grandpa.

We wrestled with our cousins and uncle Matt

We played. And played. And played with cousins.

We went to Bear Lake and played in the cold, Cold, COLD water. (Okay, it wasn't that cold, but compared to the water in the Gulf, it sure FELT cold.)

We "helped" fix Grandpa Gustman, who was cruelly stepped on.

We made Diet Coke and Mentos volcanoes and baking soda/vinegar volcanoes

And we had a treasure hunt, complete with a treasure chest pinata. 

As Megan used to say when she was about 3, "What a life!"

Our Trip to Utah, part 1 (Brigham City)

The kids and I spent almost a month in Utah this summer. We had such a great time seeing family!

We love our cousins! Spending time with them was definitely a highlight of the trip. It was fun to get to go to brunch at Great Grandma and Grandpa Greenland's home and see them all!

 We visited my dad and Judy in Brigham City and got to see the (then) unfinished Brigham City Temple and go on a tour of the Brigham City Tabernacle! I have been in the Tabernacle many times, but touring it with my dad and sisters and their families was a really neat experience. I learned lots of new things - like the time my dad spoke there when he was 8 years old during Stake Conference. And that that's where he proposed to my mom. Sometimes its fun to play tourist in familiar places. You never know what you'll learn!

We had a lot of fun staying up late, playing games with dad and Judy (although a few times we got so loud I thought we'd wake up Kate - I kept having to tell grandma and grandpa to shhhh! They were as noisy as the older kids!)

Kate discovered sprinklers while at their house. She had a wonderful time crawling through them, getting completely soaked in the process.

Who's Ready for Lunch at Five Guys?

Not me. At least not yet. But I think its coming. Soon.

Turns out, I'm pregnant. 10 weeks today. Due February 12. I got to see the baby today, via ultrasound. Its a wiggly little thing. Everything looks healthy and normal.

So, what does this have to do with Five Guys? When I was pregnant with Kate, I craved their burgers. It was almost embarrassing how much I craved them. I would have eaten them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I thought that this was just something I craved with Kate, but Travis reminded me that I craved burgers with both Megan and Jared as well (I craved Burger King of all places. Ewwwwwwww!). Not with the same intensity, but craved them still the same. Apparently my veggie-loving-self wants red meat when I'm expecting. (Maybe that's why all of my kids love steak as soon as they can chew it - it must be Travis's influence!)

So although I'm not ready to head out to get burgers for lunch just yet, get ready. I'm sure I'll be bugging y'all about going with me soon.

Hey There! It's Me, Kate.

Someone should really tell my mom to change her password to keep me from periodically hijacking her blog....Or maybe having me write my own posts is part of her plan....Hmmmm.....

Well, either way, I'm in control now and I'm gonna post a bunch of random pictures from summer to remind you all how amazingly adorable I am. Ready? Okay - here we go!

This summer I really hit my climbing stride. I discovered that I am a lot quicker than mom, and that I can get access to just about anything if I am willing to climb. You will routinely find me on top of the kitchen table,

 Standing on top of my rocking horse (should I worry that instead of getting me down, my mom went to get her camera?),

 and I even discovered that hiding on the bottom of my little table is a built in ladder. It's awesome just how much more access I have to all the cool stuff now!

My favorite game is peek-a-boo. I love to pull my blanket over my face and then pull it off  when someone asks "Where is Kate?" (As a side note, you'd think that as much as we play this game, they would have a a non-blurry picture! What a bunch of slackers!)

I don't remember what adorable thing I was demonstrating here, but it doesn't really matter. Because I am adorable. And that's all that's important.

I finally got to experience my first popcicle this summer. It was wonderful - cold and wet and sweet and sticky. They have been holding out on me all this time! (And yes, I may have thrown an all-out temper tantrum when I finished it and they took the wrapper away. But it was an adorable temper tantrum. Trust me.)

I still love food. Pretty much any food (except fruit snacks and jello. Those are just GROSS!). I was so cute at the restaurant, the nice waiter-person brought me my own bowl full of lemon wedges. Yummy!

Okay, I take it back. I don't like everything. I discovered that the inside of the banana tastes a lot better than the peel. (Again, I am wondering why my mom took pictures instead of taking the peel away.....Should I be worried?)

Okay, I guess I'll stop now. Don't want to overload you with cuteness. And I think mom just noticed that I am using her computer instead of napping. Until next time!

~Kate