Easter Candy

Being that Brendan was 9 months old he could not have the traditional Easter Basket his big brothers got. There was a chocolate bunny but it got confiscated by one of the boys, probably Evan. His basket consisted of mostly large hard candy like ring pops. Ring pops with there high amount of sugar should probably not be gave to a child let alone a baby but he holed it! And it turned him blue.



He had peeps in there too. He loved them. He stuck them in his mouth with such a serious determination to eat them. Soft, sugary, marshmallow delicious. Yummy. In all the pictures he he was focused, intent and loving peeps. My boy for sure.



But at 9 months old you don't really need an Easter Basket. You just need love and big brother who like to be with you even if they put you basket on you head.

What fun is silly string

A week back I had the privilege to spend the day with my boys. It was a fabulously warm spring day. The sun was out early and the weather perfect. It was one of those days that just leads its self to an impromptu silly string fight.



Gregory shook up the can and fired away.



He felt the need to include his baby too. Brendan was covered by the end.



But I helped them both defend my youngest while I ambushed my oldest.

A third taker for our cozy coupe

If you had to guess what is Americas best selling car what would you think? An Accord, Taurus, Outback? Who do you think is the maker? Would you believe it is Little tike's with the Cozy Coupe. Yup that's true for 31 years the cozy coupe. And now we have our 3rd son taking his places as a cozy coupe driver too.



Yes that's right Smiley is crazy about being able to hit the green road. He fits in so well to his little automobile.

No worries about the high prices of gas for him. Or the fact that he can not reach the ground to make his car go, he has help. A few push and this environmentally friendly duo work together.



As far as his big brothers. They are not sad they can no longer call the coupe their main source of transportation. They have moved on to bigger and better.

2010 Pinewood Derby Race

A few weeks back Gregory competed in the first AWANAS pinewood derby race. What a day. He had been looking forward to this race for so long. Ever since they started handing out wooden block car kits at church the pinewood derby race was an exciting topic at our house.

The date was March 13th. We grabbed the car that Gregory had painted, Dad had cut out, and Pepa had instructed them both on how to build. We hurried along to the church. We arrived to a full gymnasium of clubbers, brothers, sisters, parents all waiting to cheer on there loved one.



Gregory checked in and registered his car. It was not a fancy design but it is green. Green like Zelda just what he wanted. We were hopping this design would lead to victory for our little one. He ran his car in the test weeks and it was doing great. It was the right size, right weight, and keep winning. We were hoping this would hold up for today as well.

The children had the chance to take their cars and modify them after the test runs. We did not do anything but keep it out of the kids reach sitting on the shelf waiting for today. When they ran the test runs Gregory was doing real well but he was only racing against the children his age. Today he would race against ALL the clubbers.

The trophies sat there and he noticed them right away. My boys are so into trophies. He saw them and told me he will put it on the fireplace and then in his room.



The trophies were going to be gave out for best of show boy and girl, and fastest boy and girl. There was no division in age for the fastest boy and girl and longer just 1st, 2nd, 3rd. He was ready.

It seemed like forever before they called his name to race. There were 4 tracks so each kid raced four different times once on each track and it seemed pretty random who they were going up against. They placed each time they raced. Then took those scores dropped the lowest ad averaged out the remaining three. So it did not matter at all who they were going up against. They were all competing against each other.



Gregory's green car ran and the smile on his face could only be topped by the the cheering and jumping that we all emitted when his car took first in that race and a new track record!



I was so proud. His dad was beaming too. Gregory and Evan continued to cheer and jump. And it continued. Every time every race Gregory was placing first. He did not loose once. Our only question was are there any other clubbers that were doing the same. Well as it turned out...no.

Gregory took first place! He was the fastest boy. It turned out he was even the fastest racer there.



He gladly accepted his trophy. Still cheering, we all cheered for him and all the other winner. They did a great job.



Nearly a month later a big red car trophy still proudly sits on the fireplace.