Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Dad weekend

Well the kids and I were left to fend for ourselves this last weekend as Trina attended the women’s conference for our church in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Friday evening we had to prep for the Pinewood Derby the following day. We weighed our cars (Reggie, Ainsley, and myself all entered a car) to get them ready for the big race. The legal weight is 5oz and because we shaped Reggie’s car the way we did we could only get the car up to 4.5 oz’s. Our cars weighed in right around 5 oz. but we could have weighted the car at 8 oz. each because parents and siblings have different rules. The next morning we got up played a little in the morning and then made our way to the derby. Reggie’s car was in the middle of the pack, holding his own. I truly feel if we found a way to add the half ounce we might have had a shot but still we had fun. We also finished in the middle of the pack and and that was without an extra 3 ounces of weight. Even though we didn’t take home the gold this year (Reggie won the entire thing last year) Reggie did get a trophy. He won 3rd prize for best design for his Mario Car. Admiring the trophies: Happy to get a trophy:
After we finished we came home and the kids played for a couple of hours while I mowed the lawn in our beautiful weather… Reggie found a couple of scrap pieces of wood outside and decided he wanted to make the American Flag out of them. I gave him a box of nails and my hammer and he did the rest. We did have a meltdown however, during this project. When painting it he ran the colors together on an accident and because of this he absolutely lost it. He’s a perfectionist like his daddy and when things don’t go how he expects them to go he has a hard time, like his daddy. Anyway, we had to take a break from building the flag to head to the movies. We went and saw the Lorax from Dr. Suess. What a great movie! Good message about how important it is to take care of our environment and especially our trees and how we shouldn’t cut
them all down because they help our air quality. The kids managed to eat two full boxes of popcorn each and were asking for more. They must get their appetite from their mother. After the show we headed to Menchies (frozen yogurt) and pounded some treats before heading home for the evening. Back to the flag – Reggie wanted to show Ainsley his beautiful flag. He showed her and then roughly 20 minutes later I heard frantic screaming and crying. When I went to check, Reggie told me that Ainsley had ruined his flay because she rubbed the white stars into the blue backing and smeared it. After asking Ainsley, she told me she had nothing to do with it. Later that night as Reggie was still having a breakdown I began to take off his jacket and noticed that he had white paint smeared all down the front of it. I found the evidence to convict. I took his coat off and showed it to him and asked him who messed up his flag? In a weeping response he admitted to it (I truly don’t think he knew that he did it as his jacket brushed up against it when he was moving it around to show his sister). We learned a lesson that night that he can’t blame his sister for e
verything that goes wrong and that he has to take responsibility.
Sunday morning we got a late start because of the time change but still managed to make it to the 9AM service. After that we headed home and spent the next hour cleaning, doing laundry, and getting the house straightened up for Mommy’s arrival. We had a lot of fun but missed Trina and were happy to see her Sunday afternoon.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Fun times with the cousins

Reggie
was a bit bummed because he had to go to school while everyone else got to play. We headed out on our bikes to the park. It was slow going because Ainsley was riding her bike. We finally made it and had a nice time running around. I think Maggie and Spencer were just so excited to be outside! Maggie kept saying how nice and warm it was :o). We didn’t do anything too exciting….I
think everyone was just so happy to be outside.
I think Wade and Liha are going to have to invest in a bike trailer and IBert:
Friday
we had a play date that was surprisingly smooth. 3 five year old could have been a disaster,
but they did great. And Spencer had a little buddy to play cars and trains with. Sophia still asks about Spencer…she really had fun too. Later that day I took Maggie on another bike ride. We had a great time while Spencer napped. Poor guy had a nasty cold. He sure is a happy guy, even when he is sick and sleepless.
Sat. we went to the Oakland Zoo. The kids ate the entire time….I think they ate the entire time Maggie and Spencer were here! The highlight was the train for Reggie and Spencer and the gondola for Ainsley and Maggie. We had never done the gondola before, so it was new for all of us and a really cool thing. It has been a couple years since we went and there were some new
exhibits and a baby giraffe :o).
Spencer curled up for a nice nap. No that isn't BO in my arm pit-it is Spencer's drool and snot!Playing at the zoo:
Maggie on the gondola:
The train gang:Merry-go-round at the zoo:
At some point, we put up the bounce house and even Spencer enjoyed that! It has been awhile since we took it out, so they were jumping like crazy! Sat. night we had a cub scout dinner for Reggie. We ended up leaving before the meeting because Reggie thought he was going to die...doubled over because his stomach hurt. We got home and he bounced his tummy on the ball and he was good to go, thankfully it was only gas.
Sunday was our last day for fun. We went to church and then for another bike ride, but the weather really took a turn. It was cold and windy and we were frozen by the time we got back. Amazing what a few degrees can do. I’m pretty sure they left with their vitamin D levels at a much more normal place :o)!