Kelly (I mean, Vincent) wins another Pinewood Derby Trophy!

In a previous post I listed a few things that had kept me busy in January - and I forgot to mention the Pinewood Derby! If you haven't heard the stories of our family and the derby cars, here's a basic rundown: Art is NOT the handy, woodworking, tool-yielding dad that many cub scouts have. He is the hardworking, bill-paying kind of dad. So when Vincent first joined cub scouts a few years ago, and came home with a box that included a piece of wood, 4 nails, and 4 plastic wheels, I had to go online in search of "how to build a pinewood derby car". To make a long story short, the first year Vincent won the whole shebang. And dads were coming up to Art, congratulating him on the car. And he had to bow his head and say "I didn't do it. Kelly made the car. I'm just the financier." The only bad thing about winning the first year is that Vincent now thinks that he has to get a trophy EVERY year. Well, this year we did it again, but not for the fastest car. This year we got the trophy for the "most original design". As soon as I can get the photo on here, you can tell us what you think. I'm glad that Vincent is fine about not winning for the fastest car, because that involves going to the district races, and Art and I pray every year that we get no better than 4th place for speed - because it's bad enough sitting through 2 hrs of pinewood derby races. SEVEN HOURS is more than any parent should have to endure. So trophies for original design are great, as we don't have to have another day dedicated to watching it race...

Who Murdered Marvin the Millionaire??

Hooray! I cleared off enough of the kitchen counter to find the disk with Vincent's birthday party pictures. Here's hoping I can get it on this blogsite! We had all sorts of suspects here - the butler, the carpet cleaner,Marvin's personal assistant, the martial arts expert,his limo driver, the doctor, the french chef. That's Marvin (aka Vincent) in the middle. So who killed Marvin??It was the LIMO DRIVER!!

What day is it? Where am I?

No, I've not really just woken from a coma, it only SEEMS like it from the lack of blog entries! I have always felt that January was my craziest month of the year, and now I have proof - not a single blog for the entire month. The sad thing is, it's been so long that I can't even remember how I changed the background to a Christmas theme, so now you're stuck with it until I can figure out how to change it back. I think I got a little ambitious. I'll be sure to choose a generic background that will fit my spring entries, my halloween entries, and next Christmas' entries!

Oh, yeah, I also can't find the little cord to attach my camera to the computer, so no pictures for now, either. Yes, I should get an "F" in blog updating, and be asked to remove my outdated drivel from cyberspace!

So, what has kept me so busy? Here it is in a nutshell - well, ok, a GIGANTIC nutshell:

December: On the road again - to Memphis, to Illinois, to Iowa, and back to Ohio. Lovely (not) weather accompanied us all around the midwest. Spent time with Art's family and Grandma Jo in December, and also had a quick visit with Karen (my college friend) while at the wedding in Iowa City. What a friend to drive up in snow for 2 hrs to have breakfast with me!

January: Back to preschool, and then off to Denver for the PC conference. Ended the trip with a fun but quick visit with Kim, my college friend. Spent the night at her house, and got a quick tour of northern Denver and Boulder! It was opening weekend for the National Stock Show, and Kim and I attended a reining event. Lots of fun, and a first for me!

January is also Vincent's birthday - this was his 10th! We had a great party, a Murder Mystery Party - and Vincent and his friends really got into their characters. They dressed up, and even changed their voices to suit their characters. Lots of fun.

Lots of PC hef work this month - the new incentive trip is to Disneyworld, so I need to get a move on to make sure we earn it! Our last Disney trip was with PC, too, and we can certainly tell the difference between a PC hosted trip and a self-funded trip!

Sad news came last week - Grandma Jo passed away on February 5th, late in the evening. As much as I miss her already, I was blessed to have had a nice phone chat with her just a few hours before she died. Would I have said anything differently if we had suspected it might be our last conversation? Happily, no. We had a chat, I told her I loved her, and would talk to her again soon. I have a really nice photo taken at Christmastime, I'll post it when I can. The upside to a death is that the funeral is a time to catch up with friends and family. Weddings and funerals bring us together, and this was no exception. I spent some time with my parents, and also had a nice pizza night with my cousins and their families.

Finally- the last big commitment I had was finishing three quilts for Vincent's school Fish Fry and Auction fundraiser. I finished the last one at midnight on Wednesday, and took it to school on Thursday. Nothing like cutting it short - but it was done, and they turned out beautifully. I'm anxious to know what they brought at auction.

On a positive note (a bit sappy, maybe) I have learned a lot about myself in the last several months. I have learned that I am capable of far more than I give myself credit for, and that if I push myself through the trying times rather than making excuses as to why I can't, I come through just fine. As once famously quoted, "If you think you can, or think you can't, you're right.".

I think I can!

And I promise to put some pictures on here soon, too!

Merry Christmas!

Well, you can see why I don't do scrapbooking... I can't even keep up with a blog! Sorry it's been so long since the last post. And I'm only doing this one now so that I get one more in before the New Year! We are off to Memphis to my parents', and then up to Illinois as Art is in his friend Kevin's wedding on Saturday. They are getting married in Iowa City. So we'll be making a big circle this year- hope it doesn't snow!

Here is our Christmas collage this year. As years pass, I get a little less particular about holiday decorations, etc. I used to make gingerbread from scratch, then assemble the pieces, and decorate for hours until it was perfect. Now I get the kit at Michael's (with my 40% coupon, of course) and the kids go to town. What you CAN'T see on this year's house is the back side - which is decorated with a game of icing hangman. I guess the kids got tired of decorating, and decided to play a game instead. Oh well. They had fun with a bag full of royal icing...

Vincent now decorates the tree himself. I put it up, and toss on a few strands of lights, and the rest is up to him. He has a ball, and I don't have to do it, and deal with my near OCDish way of making sure all ornaments face the right direction, are evenly spaced, and are placed according to size and color. So now we just turn the lights on and say "great tree, Vincent!"

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and find your own way to simplify a bit! Please remember to keep Christ at the center of your CHRISTmas celebration!

A fond farewell to an old friend....

The neighbors are jumping for joy, but Art is still having a hard time accepting that his old blue car has gone on to a better place - the junkyard. The fact that it was 19 yrs old, (he got it BEFORE we were married!) and had well over 200,000 miles on it proved it was well loved and well used. Gina took several photos of it before it was towed away on a flatbed. I think we are the only ones left in America (well, maybe besides Paul and Christine) that actually drive a car until it just can't go another mile. We like to get our money's worth, that's all!

Wow! Harrison Ford looks GREAT for his age!

Forgive the red eyes- I corrected them once, but now they're red again! Apparently Indiana Jones has has some rough nights! Vincent LOVED cracking that whip, and I must have taken about 30 shots trying to get a decent one of him. He was making a grimace when he would crack the whip, and every picture but this one has a really goofy look. This one just has crazy eyes! :)

He loves action movies, and we didn't understand why he didn't want to see the new Indy movie at the theater. But as soon as it was out on video, we headed to the redbox to get it. After watching it with him at home, we figured it out - it is not as SCARY at home, because the lights are on, and there is other activity in the house. And it was a kind of scary movie at times!

Oh, and here is my commercial for Redbox - have you seen a big red box outside of McDonald's, Walmart, and many other places? This is the best deal ever. DVD's rent for ONE DOLLAR. And you can return them at ANY Redbox. So if you are traveling, pick one up on the way out of town, and drop it off at the McDonalds 300 miles away at your destination. Then get another one for your trip home. We love Redbox! (no, we do not get paid to say that!)

Indiana Jones and Penny Pingleton went Trick or Treating around Keith Drive! Being the thrifty mom, we waited until everything was on sale before purchasing anything. We found an Indiana Jones hat and whip set - missing the whip! Well, I couldn't get the sales clerk to give me more than 20% off (my reasoning was that 50% of the product was missing!) so we left the store with nothing but a $2.50 bag of raffia - which I braided into a pretty cool whip. We're pretty sure it was sturdier than the whip in the kit. A friend loaned us her son's "real" hat, and another friend loaned us a coat - so we were set! Gina decided to be Penny - her favorite character from our favorite movie, "Hairspray". A trip to the thrift store got a skirt and shirt for $2.50! So for $5 we had two homemade costumes. Art of course was the happiest of all...