The Pinewood Derby!!!

Last Saturday was the Annual Pinewood Derby & Corben's first time racing.  How excited was Corben for this race?  Well...about a year ago he was already planning his designs and got a test track as a gift.  He designed the car and then Ryan helped him cut it out of the block of wood.  Corben sanded it and painted it all by himself (I put the tape down to make the stripe, but that's it.).  Ryan then took the car to work & put the weight in the back so it would be just right.  Corben was SO excited the day of the race.   The wheels on his car somehow missed getting graphite on them  and he lost his first 2 races (the second one by less than half an inch) before we realized the problem.  They were nice and let us fix the problem and things went well from there.  Corben was a REALLY good sport.  He was really excited about all of his wins and handles his loses well.  In the end he won 2 awards: 3rd place for Originality & 3rd place for SPEED!!  He was on top of the world.  He ran over and hugged Ryan and said, "I won 8 races!!".  I am so proud of him.  I know he's already looking forward to next years race!

Mommytoons - The set up

Mommytoons - What NOT to say....(x2)

My husband is a jokester.  He LOVES to see the look on someone's face after he says something off the wall.  He, of course, is joking and after laughing apologizes.....but all the same, this is my life!

Now, in case you're concerned....He was joking and I did laugh....later....after I beat him with the scale....(just kidding)....kind of 

3 Weeks in Review - I think that's a record....no wait...there was December...oh well

3 weeks! Don't worry, it'll be the abridged version. Can you tell I'm sort of waning from these? I'm having more fun with more single event posts yet need these to fill in the gaps (more for myself). Don't. know. what. to. do. Torn. So anyway, you'll have to suffer with me as I go over what this crazy family has done for the last 3 weeks. I know...you were on pins and needles.

Mon Jan 5th - I finally made an appt. to go and get my hair cut. Not because I wanted it cut, because in fact, I LOVE IT! But because it grows rather fast and since I only get it cut every 5 or 6 months, if I didn't get it cut now it would be down to my knees in no time and that's TOO long. It was already getting in my way. So I had Ryan take some pics of it before, yet somehow we forgot to take after pics. Oh well. Anyway, during the "before" pics I also snapped a few pics of the girls after their baths and of my Ryan. He's Good Lookin'....and silly.

Here's my Lovely BEFORE pics. Just trying to show how long it had gotten. Don't laugh!

Monday, Ella came down with a terrible fever and complained of a headache. It was so bad that she was screaming and holding her head. It was so terrible seeing her in pain, but she was very cuddly and motrin brought down the fever and helped with the headache. Needless to say, she was in her jammies most of the week.

Wed. - I took Ella to the doctor and they said she just had some sort of virus and to just watch her.

Thurs Jan 8th - My mom & I headed to Kittrell to look at a log cabin for my sister & her family. We have official word that they are moving to NC the end of February!!! I can not even tell you how excited I am. My sister has been my BEST friend forever and I can't wait to have her so close!!

Thursday afternoon I called the doctor with the description of Ella's new RASH she'd developed on her face and stomach. Sure enough....Fifth Disease! You never know until it's too late and you've spread it everywhere. Luckily there were no pregnant women in contact with her and everyone she had contact with in the nursery Sunday wasn't ill. Must have been that trip to Walmart last week....always wipe down your cart! Thursday night, Ryan and I had an old friend over for dinner. It was nice to have someone over for dinner, it's been awhile since we've done that.

Fri Jan 9th - Corben was having a CVS day so he stayed home from school. Lucky for him it was our playgroups field trip to Petco!! I never have many pictures from these because it's impossible to hold a camera and manage Sylvie & Ella at the same time! It was a fun trip. The kids got to pet birds, snakes, lizards, cats, gerbils, chinchillas, ferrets, & see fish. Afterwards, Corben tried to make a deal with me to get a fish. I told him if he could keep his room clean for 2 months I'd get him one. He stated that that was impossible but that he thought he could go without fighting with Dade for 2 months instead. I agreed to buy him the whole pet store if he did....just kidding, but that's how much I find it likely he'll succeed....unfortunately. The funny thing is, it's been 2 weeks and Corben still thinks he's doing great in that department. He yells at Dade, "STOP fighting! I want a fish!!". That kid cracks me up.

Sunday Jan 11 - Our Family Party!! Since the Schneg's didn't get together in December we did the Family Christmas/Dec. Birthday party in January! As always, it was loads of fun.

	Ella got a fabulous new dress up kit. She has been in heaven ever since and wants me to help her "fly" by putting on her new wings!
Dade, learning the ins and outs of computer building from fabulous Uncle Mark!
	Sylvie, eating my new CD of Mindy Gledhill. I'd wondered how the case got cracked!

Tues Jan 13th we took Sylvie in to see if we should really be concerned about her bowed legs. The doc said that she should grow out of it by the time she's 4 and that she'd be fine. YEAH!! Now I can just go back to thinking they're cute!

Saturday Jan 17th - Ryan put in a long day of working on the house in the freezing cold. The big winds we had the last week blew the fan cover off the roof so we'd had a 2 foot hold in the roof all week. Ryan braved the steep roof and not only fixed the fan cover but finally was able to put our chimney cap back on (that blew off a few years back) so that we don't have to live with the Chimney Swifts this Spring, YEAH!!

And NOW, for the moment you've all been waiting for........SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The kids had Monday, Jan 19th off of school to celebrate Martin Luther King Day. They were MORE than happy to wake up Tuesday to find school canceled and SNOW everywhere!! Ryan still had to head out to work so we braved the day with out him. This was Sylvie's first real snow (there was a dusting last year) and the first snow the girls ever played in. They LOVED it!! Especially Ella. She went for over an hour after Sylvie gave up. Sylvie went as long as she could but her hands got too wet so she finally decided she was done. My brother, Jason, and his girlfriend, Britney, came over and played with us, it was SO much fun!!

When Ryan finally got home just a bit before the sun went down, it was time to start up a fire and do some sledding...sorry, no good pics. We did, however, make some GREAT slushies!! The kids had a fabulous day!!

I can't fail to mention here that today was also the inauguration of our newest president, President Barack Obama. Though I didn't vote for him, I, like so many, am very hopeful for the future of our great nation. I love this country, founded by God, and enjoy all the freedoms that I feel so blessed to have. May God continue to watch over and bless us.

Wednesday, Jan 21 - Yet another Snow Day!! I LOVE this kind of weather!!....Don't get me wrong. I HATE SNOW. BUT....I love it when the schools are closed and the "world" shuts down for just a while and we can all rest and not have anything we HAVE to do. I need a good Snow Day at least once a year.

So, now it's Saturday, Jan 24th and Ryan is off working on cars for 4 different families. He's such a hard worker. Dade is off on his camp out and won't be back until this afternoon. Corben has been working hard on his Pinewood Derby car that he will race this evening. He's spending the afternoon with my brother, Adam, and his family. They enjoy how well he plays with RJ so they've invited him for some fun today! Since I feel that the Derby deserves a blog of it's own I'm going to end here!!