Greg was beaming afterwards. Nothing makes a dad quite as happy as a Pinewood Derby win.
This is a summary for a little more than a weeks events but I wanted to get it all done in one post.
Lowden started baseball practice on a Little League Philadelphia Phillies team. His coach is determined that the boys will pay attention and they have to run if they don't catch a certain number of balls. I asked Lowden how practice went the other day and he said "I had to run 20 times" with a big smile on his face. I'm glad he is so happy about it because I think he will be running a lot for the next few months since he also just signed up for track. He and Greg have been working on his pinewood derby car in preparation for next week's derby event.
Parker turned 9 in the last week! He says he had a great birthday. His favorite part was "all the money" he received and says he is saving for Duck season tickets.
He also started baseball and is on the same team as Lowden this year. Yeah for us parents and a little economy in the face of soaring gas prices!
Grandpa and Grandma took him to dinner at Red Robin for his birthday. This is a tradition they are doing with all their grandkids that my kids really enjoy.
After the movie, I took him to the bookstore for our family birthday tradition. We always buy our kids a book for their birthday. He chose the newest Magic Tree House book "Dark Day in the Deep Sea".
Nothing screams blog opportunity like walking into Barnes and Noble and discovering a bunch of Star Wars folks standing around in the children’s section of the store. It was SO nice of the 501st Legion to come to the bookstore for his birthday, don't you think?
Parker is also working on his derby car with dad. He won first place last year...so we will see if he will smoke the competition again this year.Lauren had a special musical theatre class show at her dance studio. She did a really good job and had a lot of fun doing it. I had a lot of fun watching her and reminiscing about my old dance days!
"I won't grow up" from Peter Pan.
"Bushel and a Peck" from Alice in Wonderland
She had fun at a friend's birthday party at a local pool. She wasn't feeling super hot towards the end of the week but is feeling better now.
Bennett turned 4 in the last week! Wow can't believe our baby is that old now!
Happy Birthday Song to Bennett!
Sadly, on Easter Sunday, he got his finger pinched at church by a classroom door and spent some time at the doctor's office. He now has a splint of his hand because it is so swollen and needs to be straightened till it heals. Poor guy!
The Kids got the movie Enchanted from us for Easter. Hilariously, they have gotten several of the songs stuck in their heads, it's funny to hear, even our boys, singing "I've Been Dreaming of a True Loves Kiss" around the house.
Margaret has been taking a Photoshop Elements class she's really been enjoying and running everyone to their weekly activities.
Greg, as I mentioned above, has been "helping" the boys with their Pinewood Derby Cars. He's also been working very hard.
Bennett got this costume for his birthday! It has a fan in the back that makes blow up muscles. He's been enjoying it as you can watch in the video below.
1. Birthday Boys
10. Jackpot Winners
12. Something for the Younger Kids To Do
13. Something for the Bigger Kids to Do (Laser Tag).
Here is Lowden, Parker, Lauren, Olivia, and Morgan showing off their official laser tag membership cards. Dad and Martin played too. Apparently, it was a LOT of fun. They all came out sweating with big smiles on their faces. They were the Red team and they won twice.
Yeah for birthdays and parties and family!
Bennett has a surprising resemblance to the six flags guy in the picture above! And, the bottom one is Mr. Parker. They are Mystery Guys!
We all attended Parker's basketball game in the afternoon. It was Parker's last game of the season so it was extra special to have grandpa and grandma there.
One of the traditions my dad has when he comes to visit is "the coin drop". At home, whenever my dad gets spare change, he puts it in a jar. So, when he comes to visit he brings all the change he's saved up to share with the kids. The process goes like this. He dumps all the change in the center of the floor. Then, Bennett gets a handicap of one minute to grab as much as he can get. Then the other kids can grab away. They, of course, love this tradition.
Afterwards, the kids got to go swimming at the hotel pool. They had a great time especially since they hadn't been since last summer!
If you haven't noticed yet, we've been having an ongoing dance competition online.
First there was Jessie and Matt's smashing number and the corresponding number involving Matt's miraculous head.
There were some HOT kitchen moves by Bennett.
And NOW we have a winner of "So You Think You Can Dance" online!
I don't think anyone could top this performance from a few of our friends at our ward's talent show. Yes! The winners of "So You Think You Can Dance" are Brady Cottle, JD Wimmer, Sean Glazier, Luke Gambee, John Gambee, and Matt Bahen with a little something they call "The Lonely Goat Herders".
We mormons have figured out how to have fun with no alcohol involved. We truly are a peculiar people.
(Note: Anytime you see different colored text in my posts. That is a link to another place on the web that correlates.)
Parker was SO EXCITED when the Oregon Duck showed up at his basketball practice last night! His University of Oregon attending coach had some connections that scored them a visit and the boys were all in Sports Heaven for 40 minutes. They got to play Bump, Around the World, and a scrimmage with the Duck. This video shows Parker beating the Duck at the Bump game. The Duck wasn't happy about it.
I kept a careful watch on the Duck knowing how he beat up that other mascot earlier in the year. I've heard the Duck's been through some rehabilitation and couldn't harm a furry marmot now if he wanted to (although the Oregon sports teams could beat furry marmots any day.) In any case, I was prepared to show the Duck my moves if it came to that.
The Duck needs some more coaching in the "no contact" rules. Although, I think Parker enjoyed the spin around.
Parker had a lot of fun pulling on the Duck's tail. Um...hello! He should know better than to mess with the Duck. The Duck got him back...but I let it slide this once.
Poor Bob the Tadpole didn't live long. He brought much joy to Parker since joining us on February 17th. A few days ago he met his demise like many tadpoles do (apparently). He now rests in our backyard. May his little tadpole self rest in peace.
The kids have been enjoying the nicer weather. They've been happy to get back on the trampoline. Lauren did some somersaults on the trampoline and ended up with this fro. She looks a bit like a lion in this picture...a nice lion.
