1st Place ... But not the Biggest Trophy Ever

Hank won 1st place in the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby on Friday night. (aka Bain actually won 1st place in the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby on Friday night.) Hank brought his big, giant, oversized trophy home only to have BJ pull out and display three larger trophies that he (BJ) had earned in football. Oh ... the joys of brotherly love and support ... and of one-up-man-ship! :)

Snowy Weekend

We woke up on Saturday to some snow "dust" that cancelled Hank & Jackson's basketball games. So ... we didn't have anywhere to "be" until 3:00. Zoe had a b-day party at Jaiden's house and BJ had a basketball game - playing at Overton High this year.

Sunday, it was tough ... but we dragged ourselves to church.

After a "sloppy joe" lunch, Hank, Jackson and I headed to the skating rink. We were home by 5:30 or 6:00 and watched the Wild Card game between Green Bay and Arizona ... a really great game. Kids took baths and then we watched Season 5 finale of Deep Space 9. Richard hung out and tried to watch it ... Star Trek is very boring to him, though! :)

Ready to start our week ... back to school after all the snow days!

Day Two ... Snow Day without Snow!

Startin' off today with some homemade muffins ... Zoe-style. She loves to cook and ... she's SO smart for only four years old (I know, that is typical mom-talk).

On the agenda for today ... a conference call for me in about an hour ... Rocks and Ropes for Hank tonight (an overnight Scout event at the YMCA) ... watching "17 Again" this afternoon at home (a treat for Zoe since she has a crush on Troy from HSM).

Thought I'd also sneak in a picture of Bain enjoying the kids' bathtub after they abandoned the bubbles a few days ago. Don't tell him that you saw this picture! :)

Snow Day ... But Where's the Snow!??

Okay ... I'll take a snow day any way I can get it ... but this one's disappointing. First, we were expecting 5 inches of snow ... then 4 ... then 3 ... then 1 ... then just a dusting. Bummer! The snow machine just doesn't blow snow this far south any more! :(

Resolutions ... Just a Few

Yes ... I admit to wanting my "standard" resolution to come true ... lose weight, eat healthy, exercise. I think that I've made this resolution every year for at least 40 years. :)

But, this year, I wanted to dig a little deeper and pick out about 3-4 resolutions that are of a little more substance. So, after some thought, here goes ...

First, I want to be a better friend. Not sure how this will look ... still thinking ...

Second, I want to start/execute/continue more "family traditions". I'd like the kids to say someday ... "Remember how we always did SO IN SO every SUCH IN SUCH time of year?" Any ideas????

Third, I want to make a "spiritual goal" like reading the Bible through ... maybe I'll do just New Testament. Still thinking on this one, too ...

Here's some pictures for our first few days of 2010 ... So far, we've been lazy at home most of this year. It is SO cold! We ate out one night at Mexicali (BJ in short sleeves) and the fountain was almost completely frozen! Kids are back at school and we're SLOWLY getting into the homework routine. All three boys are playing basketball and we are going to the Y together for running the track and working out. Bath time has included MEGA bubbles because Santa brought a huge supply of bubble bath! Hot baths are great when it's freezing cold outside! BRRRRR!!!!

If It Ain't Broke ...

Its' January 1st and that means ... New Year's resolutions, of course! Seriously? I am about to make the same resolutions that I made last year and didn't live up to. In my defense, I have had a pretty rough year ... yes, I know, that I'm not alone here ... I'm sharing the "bad year blues" with about 200 million here in the US and another billion or two in the world.

My primary resolution? This blog. Last year, I made a New Year's resolution to start blogging again. For years, I had loved writing my blog ... It inspired me ... It made me see humor in my family that "in the moment" might have been tough to spot ... And, it recorded my kids' lives so we could easily look back and remember what we were doing last month ... or last year.

So, why quit? If it was so great, why did it disappear from my life? If it ain't broke ... ??? I guess you could say that I was juggling life quite well until the fall of 2008. Then, all of the sudden, the balls started to fall and I couldn't recover them. One casualty of the falling balls? The blog.

The cause? A typical case of basic human sorrow ... grieving for someone I love.

I would advise you to never underestimate the power of human grief in your life and in the lives of those around you. Believe me, it will knock your feet out from under you and you don't even realize that it's happened. If you've never experienced it, you can't understand it's power. It is paralyzing.

Anyway, part of my healing process is to make myself pick up those fallen juggling balls and to get back in the show. So ... a small step accomplished ... a blog post for the New Year!

I've posted a couple of holiday pictures ... We spent Thanksgiving with Bain's family in the Carolinas and Christmas at home without any extended family. Bain's family lost Bain's dad and Bain's brother this year. They decided it was time to get together for Thanksgiving - something that we haven't done ... well, maybe ever.

Christmas was lonely for me without Laura ... she always spends the week after Christmas here. But, it was fun and relaxing ... and I can't wait for some fun snow days with the kids so that we have more "cold weather" family times this winter ... maybe starting this Thursday and Friday! :)

New Camera

There is a certain blogger that I follow and I've been in envy of her photos for a year or more ...

So, when the kids broke my lastest "point and shoot" digital camera, instead of yelling at them and getting mad, I went shopping to buy the same camera that she has. I've never put a camera on 90-days-same-as-cash ... but for this one, I made an exception! :)

Here are a few of the pictures ... I'm just learning ... but having fun!

Back to School Has Begun

Tomorrow, Jackson officially starts full day kindergarten and all the kids will be gone all day ... Back to work for me - for real! :) I've been working during the summer some but between "hanging with the kiddos" and then my surgery and the recovery from the surgery ... well, you can guess that I haven't gotten a lot of work accomplished! :)

Last night, Hank started Cub Scouts. His den leader is just across the street! Bain goes with him ... and it looks like they got off to a very serious start! :)

Every kids' schedule is filling up ... This seems to happen even though you intend to keep their schedules light. For Hank, he's going to be in Scouts but he also is taking swim lessons and piano lessons. Hopefully, he has my mom, brother and sister's genes for music talent ... and not mine!

Boy Magnet

Our 4th of July fireworks are a magnet every year for the boys in the neighborhood. We usually end up with about 20 or so guys in our front yard ... from age 5 up to 65.

Bain - being forever a kid at heart - loves to shoot fireworks ... did I say loves ... he REALLY LOVES to shoot fireworks. Instead of a Christmas savings account, we have a 4th of July fireworks savings account.

His "show" is loud. Zoe hates it now. It doesn't attract many girls or women ... just lots of boys. Sounds like something Zoe will love as she gets older. :)

Father's Day Weekend

This week ... whew! It flew by. I worked every day and I have (at least if feels this way) a million things on my "to do" list. I seem to be doing a lot of "to do list" hopping, too. In other words ... I start one thing ... get sidetracked to another ... then, remember the first thing ... only to think of a third thing that I need to do first. Jumping, jumping from one thing to the next. :)

Last weekend, we had a nice Father's Day weekend celebration ... Some dinners out with all the kids and Richard ... We went to our fav Mexican restaurant and to OUTBACK! Yum ... We love the Outback ... but it's become a "splurge" spot for us.

Check out Bain in the pics at our dinners out ... He's losing weight. He's been biking a lot and has lost about 10 or 15 pounds. Unlike me, he doesn't weigh himself all the time and keep up with every ounce of fat that comes or goes - so he's not sure how much he's lost. :) You'll notice that B.J. is not wearing his glasses ... He got contacts and loves them ... except when it comes to putting them in or taking them out.

I've also included a couple of pics from Sunday morning when the kids bombarded him in bed to give him his presents ... shirts and some things for his bike. FUN TIMES! :)

Floaty Heaven

My school-friend is a saint today ... She took Jackson & Zoe along with two of her kiddos to the pool so I could work for a while.  (BJ & Hank are at Refuge sports camp together!)  

Zoe got some "floaties" for her arms from Mrs. W and she was in heaven ... swimming all over the pool.  A swim instructor had once told me not to give these to kids because it keeps them from learning to swim as quickly ... so I've never bought any.  Boy, I think that has been a mistake because Zoe really had fun with them and we didn't have to worry about her getting into water over her head.

I included one shot of Hank that looks like he's about to swim into the side of the pool.  He was playing "Hank the Shark" and going after the other kids.  Zoe was really mad at him and a little scared of the "pretend shark" getting her.

Thanks, Mrs. W for a day of fun!  Zoe is snoozing ... she said, "Mommy, I'm REALLY tired" and collapsed in bed as soon as we walked in the door!