Dying Easter Eggs

Okay, so I'm not one of those bloggers who dyes Easter eggs and blogs about it 5 minutes later.
It takes me forever to get pictures off my camera.

Thus, here are some pictures of a totally OVER holiday.
Is that even okay in the blogger world?

At this point, I am happy to say that we even DID dye eggs.
We don't do it every year.

But I don't know why not.
It's so easy. Food coloring, vinegar, water. And eggs, of course.
 And my kids love hard boiled eggs.
Especially deviled.
(Don't ask for pictures of those! I can't seem to peel an egg nicely to save my life. Although, I doubt a nicely peeled egg would ever save anyone's life. Unless you were some cook with a mean boss.
"Peel that egg nicely or I will KILL you!" ...not likely.)

Oh and a white crayon to draw some designs. 

I thought this taupe and blue one turned out pretty.
It probably wasn't the color she was going for, but it turned out pretty and so en vogue. :)

 Mickey!

 

That's a nice yellow.

and Mike Wazowski...

Pretty.




It was fun. 

 

The end. 

Rufus

This is Rufus.
He was my adopted Grandson for a weekend.

Rufus was Justin's Child Development project.
Rufas would cry and Justin had to figure out what was wrong. He'd either have to change him, feed him or burp him. A sensor in the bottle/mouth, diaper/tummy and back would register if he was doing it right. As well as one in the neck that registered if the head was being supported properly and if any shaking occurred. Another sensor on a bracelet Justin wore made it so HE was the only one who could take care of it.

He was quite a hit with the whole family. 



Justin got pretty worried a time or two when the crying went on despite his doing all three things to get him to quit. He was sure the computer chip inside was recording neglect or something. But I'm sure it's supposed to do that. He was just "fussy," I told him. But Justin was a bit of a basket case the whole weekend.

He'd even freak when he couldn't hear anything. "I think he's dead!"
 I heard that more than once.

Owen and Garrett thought Rufas was great fun.  

We had to take turns.

 

Even Justin seemed a little enamored. I was getting a little worried that, instead of teaching him that babies are difficult and one should wait until they are a married adult to have one, he'd think it was great fun.



But after a couple of nights of waking up every couple of hours and a few fussy episodes, I think Justin got the general idea that babies are a lot of work ...and stress.
 You should have seen the bloodshot eyes on Sunday morning. Hee hee.

Even though there's a lot more to caring for a baby than what this project entailed, I was surprised at how realistic the experience was overall.

Daniel and I got the biggest laugh when, coming home from a church meeting, we were passed by Justin on the way to his church meeting. Yeah... we go to a lot of meetings around here.  Anyway, we pull up to the stop sign to see Justin pass and wave, sitting in the back of his friend's car with that car seat next to him.
Ha! It was so funny. We had to laugh.

Daniel couldn't get over how seriously Justin took the project.



He had to give him a hard time when he'd find Rufus like this:



All tucked in with the blanket folded so nicely.
Justin made a pretty good parent for the weekend, I have to say.
Sort of miss the little nipper.
But I can WAIT.
and wait and wait....
and wait. :)

Who's 40?

I know! I know!

This guy!

Happy Birthday, Loverboy!

You are most definitely .......MY FAVORITE!

Owen

What would I do without this kid?

Don't even want to think about it.

Evening at the Park

January is not usually go-to-the-park-to-fly-an-rc-plane kind of weather here.
But this January, it has been just that.
So we took advantage.

It was a little chilly when the sun went down, but we had jackets. 

I love my kids.

They're cute.

And so is lover boy. 

Happy Winter?

The Pine Wood Derby

Garrett's first pinewood derby.

I have an aversion to the Pinewood Derby, which I am slowly getting over.

It all started when I was in charge of one as a mere wolf/bear den leader at the age of ...23 or 24. 

The Cub Master really set it all up and did it, but because I was the face "in charge" I got all the blame when the mean lady's kid didn't get to race enough. He cried and cried. 

And it was all my fault because of the way the Cub Master did the eliminations. 

Even though I didn't decide how to do it.

Even though I had no clue how to run a pinewood derby.

And I will never be in charge of a pinewood derby again. 

Okay, so...I don't like people to be unhappy. 

That's a problem for me. 

But I especially hate when kids are disappointed about their cars. 

You have the cars who have been carefully engineered by fathers 

in contrast to the ones obviously made by the boys. 

Then there's the whole race competition. I am not a very competitive person, so I don't really get this part. I guess it IS pretty fun to win.

 I do get that. 

But I don't like the disappointment little boys feel when their car is not the best. 

That's why I always give my boys the pep talk.
First of all, they are always proud of the way their car looks at home when they finish.
So I just make sure they remember that.

"Do you like your car?"
They nod.
"That's because it is so awesome. Even if it ends up being the slowest! Right?"
They nod.
"I want you to just expect that every other boys car is going to be cooler and faster."
They nod.
"Let's just think your car will be the slowest one of all. Everyone else's is super fast."
They nod.
"You are NOT allowed to be disappointed because this is an awesome car."
They nod.

So far, they have been just fine. No tears for any of my boys.

Garrett decided on a school bus for his design.
Even after we showed him hundreds of pictures on google of pinewood derby car designs.
School bus won out every time.

And since he loves "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," I suggested we draw some of the characters in the windows. 

It turned out perfectly! 

It very GARRETT.

And he was proud of it.

And it wasn't the slowest, which is always a bonus. 

We all had fun watching. And I am convinced that we have fun because we go into the race with an attitude that this is all about FUN! 

The popcorn, nachos and cookies served during the races made it even better. 

And the Zinger Derby Cars were a hit.