Pinewood Derby

First off, sorry for the sideways video. Not so technically savvy am I.

Justin and Elliot, mostly the former, spent the weekend working on a sweet derby car. They consulted an expert, our home teacher Brother Swinton. He offered some sage advice and they were off. Sort of. Once the sawing became tedious and was yielding no results, Justin was ready to be done with the whole experience. So they headed around the block to the seek Bradd's wisdom and proper tools. It's amazing what the right tools will do for morale. They were off again. After much sawing, sanding, 2 paint jobs and lots of duct tape #3 was ready to race.

We were convinced it was going to be a long night and prepared Elliot for the worst. He heard lots of, "It's about the experience of building something with your dad." Or "It's just fun to participate." After all, this car was literally duct taped together. Justin split it several times trying to install the wheels and weights.

As I running to the church from the park, where Charlie had just hit a triple, I got my first text from Bradd that Elliot had won his heat. What the?! After I arrived, he won his second and third. This continued until he won the whole thing. Seriously. Hysterical. That car was almost thrown away several times because it's builder was so over it.

#3 also won the "sportiest looking" award. Which, lets face it, might mean more to the both of them than anything else. We have to give a big shout out to Bradd who put graphite in the wheels before the race. Pretty sure that was the game winning move. I don't even know what graphite is.

Princess Tea Party

Lucy was invited to a princess tea party at Ruby's. She enjoyed little ham sandwiches, mini cupcakes and marshmallows dipped in pink icing. She played kiss the frog and enjoyed the company of the other princesses.

Happy birthday to her bff, Princess Ruby.

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Papa Flies to the Opera

As you can see Charlie was a mummy in the opera. He was very believable. Helped, in no doubt, by the sweet costume hand-crafted by his uncrafty mother. He was also a "bad" Egyptian and tomb raider. All three characters were trying to stop the eagles from building a nest along the Nile. Eventually, everyone became friends and the eagles were allowed to stay in Egypt.

Bravo, Charlie!

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Biker

Lucy is officially a biker. She has been begging for months to have the training wheels taken off her bike. Yesterday, we finally obeyed. It only took a couple of times with me holding on and running beside her before she figured it out. She practiced last night at the park during Charlie's baseball game. There were a couple of close calls with some pedestrians. She learned that leaning away from the pedestrian doesn't work as well as steering away from the pedestrian. She also learned that learning to ride a bike means you will fall down. However, it also means you're old enough to be tough. Messages received. Today she looked like an old pro.

To celebrate her new found independence she picked out a pink helmet and bike bell at Target. Go Lucy, go!

Belated Art Show

Dear Nana and Grandpa,
My mom rushed out of the art show right after my performance to go the gym. Sheesh! But today at school she took a picture of me with my drawing. It's a goose with her gosling. Nana, I thought you'd appreciate it since you're a birder.

I love you.
Elliot

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Art Show

Dear Nana and Grandpa,

We had our annual art show at school last week. We both performed with our classes. Elliot even danced during a song about bills becoming laws. Weird.

In the picture is one of my creations. It's the space shuttle.

Love,
Charlie

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The Arts

Charlie's class had "paint day" to create the scenery for their class opera. Mayhem would be an appropriate word to describe 25 first graders painting in unison. Diet Coke would be the remedy to relieve a headache created by the mayhem.

The finished product was spectacular! Can't wait to see "Papa Flies to the Opera" in a couple of weeks. I love, love, love the kids' school!

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Geared Up

I thought all you needed to play America's past time was a ball, bat and glove. Apparently not.

According to these two you need Nike cleats with removable swoosh colors, a baseball bag, batting gloves, batting helmet, a hat and a titanium necklace. The necklaces arrived on the slow boat from China in time for their first games. Consequently, their balance has never been better. Now the baseball hat has to look a certain way. FLAT. Oh brother.

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Minor

Charlie is a baseball fanatic. Who knew? I guess we should have started him sooner. As soon as he gets home from school, he grabs his mitt and heads outside to toss himself popflies. As soon as Justin pulls in the driveway, he begs him to go to the park so he can hit. It's nonstop. Luckily his games started last week. And luckier still, there's 2 a week.

In his first game, he struck out both times he got up to bat. He later told me he "stressed" himself out trying to hit a homer. (It doesn't help his entire team is chanting homerun whenever he steps up to bat) We now TRY to focus on getting a base hit. It seems to be working. In the last 2 games he has got on base and hit 2 homeruns. He also loves to play shortstop and first base. Yesterday he helped get 4 outs by fielding at shortstop and throwing to first base. After each out he got the classic small Charlie smile. Super excited, but doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself. Love it.