Pinewood Derby!

Ethan got 6th place out of the 18 cars racing in the Wolf Group. They race your car three times, once in each of the three lanes. Your three race times are then averaged. In his three races his car "Blue Thunder" won one and came in second twice. It was fun watching the cars go down the track! There is a picture of one of my favorite cars, the Hot Dog... This was our first Pinewood Derby and Ethan did great!

Party!

Tonight Ethan made a wise retreat and high-tailed it to his friend Josh's house. Rachael had several of her friends over to spend the night and celebrate her birthday. Rachael doesn't like cake and had cookies with ice-cream instead. The cupcake in the middle is just to hold the candles... We had a fun night!

Happy Birthday Rachael!

Today is Rachael's Birthday. She was born on 1/21/99 at 12:16 am. She was 21 inches long and weighed 9 lbs 7 ounces at birth. Now ten years later she is almost 55 inches tall! Happy Birthday sweetheart! We love you!

Good Morning!

To bad it isn't "Crazy Hair Day" at school. Ethan would have it down without doing anything. :) Of course Rachael and Katie always look beautiful in the morning.

Happy Birthday Holly!

Blue Thunder 2009

Ta Da! Announcing "Blue Thunder" Ethan's Pinewood Derby car for 2009. The competition is on January 31st. We will post how it does soon after.

What a weekend!

It has been one busy weekend! Friday Ethan's Cub Scout Den came over to our house for their meeting. We had seven boys here doing scouting stuff. Rachael escaped the boys and went to see a movie with her friend (her mom and little brother as well).

Saturday morning we woke up to a chilly 60 degree house. Our heater was not working. Thankfully the guy was able to come out and had it fixed by 11:15 am. In the morning Allen took Ethan to finish getting their car ready for the Pinewood Derby. I will post a picture soon. Saturday night Rachael went to one of her best friends' slumber party. In exchange we picked up her little brother who is one of Ethan's best friends who spent the night with us.

Unfortunately the 60 degree house was too much for Ethan's Beta fish Buttercup. He was dead before we woke up in the morning. Today we did a short ceremony for him and he is now swimming in a larger bowl.

Happy Birthday Rich!

Sorry we missed your birthday party.

What the dogs do while we are not at home...

I should have bought bread while I was at the grocery store. I came home and the dogs decided to help themselves. They opened the drawer we keep the bread in and ate a whole loaf of bread that I took out of the freezer this morning and the ends of another loaf! They are now in "time-out" in the backyard! No wonder they did not come greet me when I came in the door. They knew they were in trouble.

Katie says "Hi"

Hello!

Rachael's Webkinz

Rachael has gone Webkinz crazy. Here she was posing her Webkinz for a picture she used on her Birthday Invitation. She spent 20 minutes taking different pictures of them.

(that is a panda, sea otter, duck, snowman and dog)

December 29, 2008 ~ Build A Bear

I forgot to post this. Rachael really wanted to spend some of her gift money at Build A Bear. Ethan was there for Rachael until he saw the Black Bear. He picked, stuffed, put a heart inside and bought Blackie with some of his gift money. Here he is using the "dryer bath" on his bear and own hair...

(Rachael bought a cute white bear, put the heart inside, but skipped the air bath.)

Happy New Year!

It is a little early. Not even 7 pm on

December 31, 2008. Yet here I am saying...

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Wishing everyone a healthy, happy and

successful year.

The last night.

The last candle has burned down. The last of the gifts have been opened. There is still chocolate gelt and wrapping paper scattered about. Chanukah may be almost over but the reason we celebrate it lives on. I told the kids Chanukah is important because if the Maccabees did not win years ago, our lives now would be different. I explained that our actions now shape the future. Ethan thought more about recycling and our environment which was not where I was going with the conversation with them, but it was good so I went with it. Rachael then related it to being kind to others and standing up for what you believe in. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Another tooth came out!

Ethan lost another baby tooth this week! The upper left next to his front tooth. Now he has matching gaps on either side of his two front teeth.

5th and 6th nights of Chanukah

Aunt Julie, Sabba and Bubbe visited us for a few days. Here they are lighting the Chanukah candles with Ethan and Rachael. On the sixth night of Chanukah I hide clues for the kids to work together and figure out where their gift was. The last clue was hinting if turned on their gift would be warm... (They looked in the fireplace, oven, dishwasher then finally where their gifts were, inside the clothes dryer). They now want all of their gifts hidden with clues.

December 25th

Bubbe, Sabba, and Aunt Julie are visiting us for a few days. Here are pictures of Sabba, Ethan, Miles and Katie enjoying the sunshine.

December 23rd, Rachael's Star Award

Rachael received a "Star Award" at school today. The theme for the month was something about a positive attitude. That's our girl :) The awards were presented at an assembly during school by a "guest presenter". It was also "pajama day" so she did not forget to get dressed that morning...

2nd Night of Chanukah ~ December 22nd

Here is a picture of the kids lighting the menorah on the second night of Chanukah. They are so serious and carefully with the candles. The third night of Chanukah we tested out a new video camera which we had technical difficulties with (it was a deal to good to be true). We had friends over and a fun evening, but no pictures... Oy!

The first night of Chanukah

Sunday evening was the first night of Chanukah. Jewish people celebrate winning a war against Antiochus to regain their religious freedom. The story says that when Maccabees reclaimed the Temple there was only enough oil to burn for one night. A great miracle happened in Israel and the oil lasted for 8 nights. We light our menorahs to remember this miracle. Each night we add a candle, hence why there is only one (one main candle and the shamas, the candle we use to light the others) on the first night. Our friend Neola came over tonight to help celebrate the first night with us.

Rachael

Here is Rachael in her American Girl pajamas that match Allie's pj's. She also received the Webkinz Sea Otter she named Wonanee (girl with big eyes from Island of the Blue Dolphins).

Ethan and his Chanukah Gifts

Ethan received the Bakugan game and the Webkinz Bat for the first night of Chanukah. I don't think I have seen him this excited in a long time. He was jumping up and down with a huge smile on his face.