Live Laugh Love

Winner's Circle!

Nathan's Cub Scout troop had their own Pinewood Derby last week and Nathan's car came in 2nd place!  Great Job!  The REAL Pinewood Derby is coming up next Saturday so we are anxious to see how Nathan's car competes with the masses!

First, Second, and Third place winners!

Nathan watching HIS car take off!

All the racing guys

The Evolution of a Pinewood Derby car

Nathan and Daddy recently spent a bit of time creating a cool car for Nathan's Pinewood Derby (for Cub Scouts):

The kit

 

The carved body (according to Nathan's design)

Primed car (see Daddy's Pinewood Derby car from the 80's in the background)

Painted

Painting some fire balls and flames

Instruction from Daddy on installing wheels

Nathan hammering

The FINISHED car WITH his design plan

Nathan likes his car!

9 MONTHS!

Wow- It is hard to believe that our little man is 9 months old- and he is every bit of that!  He LOVES to crawl and pull up on anything he can get his hands on.  If he could figure out how to walk without holding onto us he would!  (He did actually cruise from a large toy to the humidifier today so real cruising isn't far away).  He eats almost as much as his big brother some days, and is louder than either of his siblings, but he is also such a lover boy and still cuddles with us like a sweet little baby.  How we love you Samuel Lloyd!

Very contemplative

One second of thoughtfulness

Peek-a-boo! We love you!

I don't know how people get good photos of a mobile 9-month-old!  Samuel would only sit for about 2 seconds before he was off across the floor again... so I got a few photos of him seated, planning his next move, and a bunch of photos that look like this:

On the move!

These are just a few photos I took today- his "real" 9 month photos have been taken but we won't have them for a bit.

Nathan on Veteran's Day

We just found out that this photo is posted on Nathan's school's website!  How cool is that?  He was part of a Veteran's Day ceremony at his school along with several other cub scouts.

Nathan along with others from his school

Side 'o bacon anyone?

We went to the mall last night and while we were there, we discovered a new play area with a breakfast theme!  Nathan and Emma enjoyed playing on the cereal bowl, bananas, sausage, bacon, etc...

The kids on a bacon slide

Emma sitting on a banana slice

Rock On

For Christmas Emma & Nathan got cases for their "pet rock collections"... so last weekend Daddy took them to pick out their rocks... then on Monday we painted them.

Emma started strong but after a few she decided to just paint them one color with no faces or other "decorations." 

Emma's "cat", "cow", "blue octay", "pig" and "pink pink pa-pink"

Nathan took a little more time with his and still has several to paint another day.

Nathan has quite a collection of "pets"

Milestones

How can it be that our little Samuel is already moving all over the house, chatting up a storm (in his own language), eating more than we could imagine a wee one's tummy would hold AND this weekend he pulled up to stand AND moved into his BIG BOY car seat!   Whoa- let's slow down just a bit!

So proud to have pulled up all on his own

Nice & comfy in the only other car seat he'll ever need

He doesn't even look THAT tiny in this HUGE seat!

Tie Dye

After Christmas we did a little family tie dye project that the kids had been itching to do for quite some time.  Today we all wore our various items (Emma & Samuel are even wearing tie dyed socks!)

Tie Dye family

Snow Wonder

When snow falls, nature listens. 
~Antoinette van Kleeff

There are few things as breathtaking as snow covered trees

On a snowy day, beauty can even be found in an alley

If you look closely you can see a small black bird perched on the snowy bush

Great time for a picnic!

Night time sledding!

Last night we got to spend some time at our friends Scott & Chrissy's house and do a little sledding in their back yard after dinner.  It was extra cool because we were able to sled down the hill and onto the frozen lake!  The ice ended up being a great place to hang out and play as well!

Samuel was a great sport!

Emma & Mom, Scott & Lizzie ready to go!

Emma going down with Chrissy

Daddy & Samuel doing donuts- see the skid mark?

Emma & Lizzy having a ride on the ice

Emma really had a blast!  She is such a cautious child that we weren't really sure how she would like sledding in the dark.  She typically does things like this one time (i.e. one ride) and then decides to just do her own thing.  Not only did she go down several times with us, but she went with Chrissy!  Then she played in the snow, building a "snow castle", and sliding around a bit.  Later on Brian saw her working her way up the hill with a sled.  She had decided she was going down by herself (from a certain point part of the way up the hill).  She knew exactly where she wanted to be, how she wanted to sit, where she would put her feet, etc... and sure enough, she did it!  Then she did it a second time!  I guess that just goes to show that she knows exactly when she IS ready!
On the way home she asked me to look back at her and see what she was doing.  I couldn't see very well so I asked what it was.  She said, "I was thumbs-upping myself" (for going down the hill by herself).

Emma knows what she wants