Pine Wood Derby

On Thursday night, Trent competed in his first Pine Wood Derby! I don't know who was more excited, him or his dad. :)

They only had one week to get 'Stinger' ready for the race, and they did a fantastic job.

He won 3 of his 4 heats and won an award for having the Sportiest car. They didn't announce an overall winner, it was one of those "We want everyone to feel good" things. Hmmmm....I don't know how I feel about that. (Don't get me started on how building our kids' self-esteem has backfired in our faces. That's a rant for another time.) We figured out that Trent would have gotten the third place trophy if they would have given them out! Way to go Trent, we are so proud of you!!!

Ouch

While at the park a few weeks ago, Rachel took a tumble. This is what she looked like the day after:

Luckily nothing was broken and the bruising only lasted a week.

What to do, Rachel is 2!

Our little charmer turned 2 on May 7th. We had a little party that night and she was terrified of her cake, see accompanying photos.
I still can't believe my 'baby' is 2. Since we've been here in St George, her walking and talking have exploded. I haven't posted much about her walking difficulties, but it took her until January to be able to walk a few steps unaided. We worked with Kids on the Move up north, and now we're working with TLC for Families down here. She walks totally on her own now, though still a little wobbly, and loves trying to keep up with the older kids. I am so happy and relieved. They've said she has low muscle tone, and we continue to work with her on strengthening her core. It's pretty tough to teach a two year old how to do pilates, so we just bounce her on a big ball and she screams the entire time. It's great fun; if you're in town, we'll give you a demonstration. :)
My laptop is on the fritz, and I'm crossing my fingers that all of my pictures from the last two years are still on there. Therefore, I can't make a nifty slide show like I did last year, but I'll give you a few photos of Her Highness from the last few weeks and her b-day.
We are so happy this little bundle of joy came to us. She was an unexpected gift that I am thankful for every day. We love the way she throws her arms around our necks and hugs us tightly. You would think the kids weren't going to see her for a week each time she goes to bed: they have to give her "Kissy! Huggy!" each time. She has the sweetest little voice and constantly makes us laugh with her cuteness. We love our Rachel!

While mom's busy, I think I'll......

Last Friday I was in the garage for a whole 5 minutes looking for a box. This is what I came back in to find:

No, that's not blood, it's my favorite shade of nail polish. This is only a little bit. I had wiped up most of it before I thought to get the camera. And this is what the culprit looked like:

She soaked in a bath for half an hour, and then after quite a bit of scrubbing, this is what she looked like:

Yeah, she looked exactly the same, like she had some sort of disease! Today the last of the nail polish finally flaked off her legs. Needless to say, she wore tights to church on Sunday and jeans this week. It's a good thing she's so cute; I was able to laugh about it the whole time I cleaned her up.

Great blog

Love this blog Debbie introduced me to!

http://themeanestmom.blogspot.com/2009/04/mothers-day-giveaway.html

Pictures

Here are some random pictures I thought I'd post.

Elise and Alyssa in the almost empty house. Seth and Miss Cathie.

In all the craziness, she can still make us smile!

Hailey cut her hair. She loves it!

Outside of house.

Easter morning. I think they look pretty cute!

At the Arts Festival.

Flying Easter kites.

Doing Well

No cockroaches or crickets have been spotted crawling out of drains since the bug guy came, so we're much happier around here.

We are slowly but surely getting settled in. The kids are in their fourth week of school and liking it. Hailey is adjusting well to the Intermediate school (changing classes, etc), and riding the bus. She's made quite a few friends already and hasn't had to eat lunch alone once! (Which was her big fear.) She likes YW and they have been very welcoming to her. I'm honestly a little surprised, I thought she would struggle more than she has. I think having email helps, she can keep in contact with her closest friends easily.
I am so proud of how hard Trent is working to learn new things and make new friends. The first day we walked him into class, a boy started waving to him and Trent got seated right behind him. He's enjoying it all so far. He will start Scouts again next week, and he loves riding his bike on some dirt hills near the house.
Elise was the one I was the least worried about, but this hasn't been as easy on her as I thought. She is such a social butterfly, I thought she would be fine wherever she was. She likes school and her teacher loves her. But there aren't as many kids here in the neighborhood. Maybe we just haven't been here long enough to know where kids live, but she misses her Giggly Girls so much, she cries all the time. (The Giggly Girls was what she and her three best friends were called. Greg loved driving them to school, they were so fun!) And she asks to call them at least once a day. I have faith things will improve for her.
Seth is bored most days. I am trying to find him a school for the fall and am glad the neighbors have a little boy close to his age to play with. He misses preschool and is always sad when the kids leave. I have been trying to focus more on him this week and not just the boxes.
Rachel has been walking a lot on the tile floors and we've been so happy. She is adjusting pretty well, but has become quite clingy. Hopefully it will pass as she gets accustomed to it here.
Greg likes being here full time to help his clients. He is very optimistic and has had a lot of business coming his way, which is great in this economic climate. He has a new mountain bike and has been enjoying his nightly rides with Trent. We like that he hasn't been traveling.
As for me, I am adjusting. I have been reading a great book called 'After the Boxes are Unpacked', and it's helped a lot. Everyone knows moving is stressful, but I forgot what an emotional toll it takes on me as well. I started it Monday and am happy to know I am not loosing my mind. The book talks about grieving your loss of family and friends and everything that is familiar. I was feeling so angry last week, and I couldn't figure out why. I now realize I need to give myself time to adjust, just like I am the kids. This will soon feel like home and I will make new friends. I didn't realize how much I would miss talking to the mom's when I picked up kids from school and the everyday interactions with my neighbors and friends. But I have faith that will happen in time.
All in all, we're doing well and making this our home!