Down and Derby

We went to James's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby this morning. Everyone had a great time.

Here are the cars lined up at registration:

Here is a close-up of James's classic wedge (red, white, and blue):

Here is James having just lined up his car for one of many races:

And here is James with his awards at the end:

The certificate he earned was for Best Wedge Car. And it was the best wedge car. What you might not have also noticed was the ribbon and medal on his uniform:

That happens to be the award for First Place! Yes, James won the Pinewood Derby! I never had a good car when I was a kid, and I was always upset about it. James is a good boy and I knew he would handle this well. But today, he didn't have to, because he won all the marbles!

On the car, he did almost all the work himself. The most dangerous stuff (chisel, belt sander) was done by me, and Tracy and I offered minimal help on other things, but he built it almost independently. I'm so happy that he had fun building what turned out to be a fast car.

Girl Scout Cookies

I asked Amelia if she wanted to sell Girl Scout Cookies to the neighbors (the orders are due tomorrow) and she said "Why would I want to sell cookies and make someone ELSE rich?!"
I explained that her troop would get some money for field trips, etc and she was okay with that.
If any of you locals are interested in cookies, let me know TODAY and I'll order some for you, with home delivery at the end of February.

James Revolutionary Idea

In school, James has been learning about ancient Mali, where the salt trade was very important. On the way to cub scouts last night, he said to me something like this:
I think I need to consume more salt. Salt is a preservative right? If I eat more, I will be able to preserve my energy.

So there you have it. If you are low on energy, eat more salt.

On a side note, last night was my first night as Wolf Den Leader. I've been assistant for a few months now. For the closing activity, we were supposed to do this cool button on a string trick, where you wind the string tight and then pull and the buttons spins and makes vibration noises, etc. I tried at home and couldn't get it to do anything cool. I passed out the buttons and string and told the boys- I'm counting on you to make it happen. I want to see the cool trick. We tried and tried and aside from a compliment on the quality of buttons, nothing happened. The boys were good sports about it though. When we were pulling into the driveway, James politely asked "Next time, can we do something that works?"

Another Celebrity

I can't believe my luck! I have another famous relative, this time on the opposite coast. Uncle Bruce can be seen here,
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/san_francisco&id=7228226
about 30 seconds in, when they show the boat head on, he is the one walking across. I sure miss seeing Bruce in person, so am glad to see this glimpse.

Celebrity!

We're related to a celebrity! Uncle Dave is currently serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, so it was quite the surprise to see him on this video!
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-395656?ref=email

He appears in the 29th second, on the left hand side! We at the Kiddodiddo Ranch are so proud of him and the service he is rendering. The kids were very worried about him, when they heard about the earthquake in Haiti, but we explained Uncle Dave is in Florida, teaching Haitians, not in Haiti itself. We are so excited to see him at the end of the year!

Birthday Wishes

Amelia announced this morning what she would like for her birthday: a pet and a goatee.
I think I'll get her the goatee.

Simon's Hand

Here's Simon's hand!


He saw me scanning mortgage documents and wanted a turn.

The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 4)

< The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 3)

We are now approved on paper by both banks to complete our short sale purchase. It turns out that one of the banks did try to foreclose on the current owner, but her agent talked them out of it for now. Now we're getting busy signing things, copying things, and e-mailing things.

I guess it could still fall apart, in which case it would probably get foreclosed. So it's a good thing we saved all our boxes...either for packing or for building a new house, or both.

Overheard

Jonny and Simon are watching a potty training video- it's one they happen to love it features "The Pocket Snails" and has a song at the end where the diapers sing and dance and say good bye.
Today when the dancing diapers appeared, Jonny cried out "Oh no! Here is the evil diaper and his minions!"
I happen to know that phrase does not appear in the video!

Total Blackmail

Today I decided it was time to sort out my pictures for 2009 and get them printed.I found this little gem that I am sure will come in handy in the future!
(In case you didn't know, that's Amelia in 3 pairs of pajamas and card board glasses that she made and decorated herself.)

The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 3)

< The Short Sale Shimmy (Part 2)

Good news! Both banks have verbally approved our purchase of the home. I'm not going to rejoice too much until we see something on paper, but unless someone's flaming trousers are suspended from a telecommunications cable, we are going to own this house. Huzzah!

Christmas Greetings!

I remembered how well things went when I tried to take a nice picture of the kids for a Christmas card, so this year, I thought I'd get each one individually.

Merry Christmas, from the kiddodiddos to each one of you! We love and miss you!

Simon wanted to sing "go, go Joseph" because he made up his own words. Also because he was Joseph for the Joy School Christmas program and got confused on which biblical Joseph he was. He actually got the other Joy Schoolers to sing "Joseph, Joseph is it really you?" over and over during rehearsals. Maybe next year he'll get it sorted out.

What you see here is take 18 and that's as close as it got. When we were done, she shook her head and said "I tried my best." I think she improved it.

The videos turned out cute, so I thought I'd try all the kids together. Here's what happened, the kids insisted I put this one on too :

Yep. That's Simon punching Jonny in the face because he started saying "cheese" before he was ready.

Long live the king!

Last week, we had an ultrasound to check on the health of our new baby. The baby is healthy, growing well and scheduled to be born in mid May. I am grateful for the news.
We did also happen to find out the gender of the baby and here's what our kids had guessed:
Simon: girl
Jonny: boy
Amelia: boy (but I really want it to be a girl)
James: boy
Jonny and Simon were at a friend's house during the ultrasound, so they didn't find out right away. When Gary and I picked them up, we talked about the baby for a little. Jonny said "if it's a boy, I will play with it and if it's a girl, I will take care of it" (actually he may have said that earlier in the day.) So when we told him the news, he was prepared to be happy either way.
In order to tell the big kids, Jonny and I made and frosted cupcakes for a special snack, with the frosting color being the clue as to which gender the baby is. He had fun with that, especially licking the knife when we were done.
The kids were a little late coming home from school, because the stopped to play on the way home from the stop. They were trying to chip off an icy patch on the side walk, but they only had pencils for tools. It took a while. When they came in, they took the cupcakes, but were more interested in telling me their adventures with the ice patch than anything else.
I told them, that their cupcakes were a clue to something Daddy and I learned today, and Amelia said "that's nice" and kept eatting. James got huge eyes, looked at his pink cupcake and announced "it's a girl." He was right and he kept munching. Amelia started screaming and jumping up and down excitedly. When she was done, Jonny said "I have more exciting news: we bought King Vitamin (breakfast cereal) at the store!" That cleared the table. Suddenly, all the boys were jumping up and down and screaming for love of the King and his crunchy goodness. Amelia was equally excited.

Here she is!

I liked this shot best because you could see the whole profile, including lips. And check out that arm... I think she'll give Popeye a run for his money!

The Future

Yesterday, I asked the kids to tell me 5 things they would like to do in the future. They didn't come up with 5, but here's what they said.
Here is what they said
James: don't know
Amelia: invent a time machine, learn a foreign language, invent a new kind of food
Jonny: be a turtle with weapons... and a blue mask
James: yeah- I'm with Amelia building a time machine. That would be cool.

Kid Speech

There are a few sounds Jonny hasn't figured out yet. /r/ mainly, but /ch/ and /sh/ also give him some trouble. Normally I think it's pretty cute, unless he's asking for Chex cereal at the store (you can use your imagination.) Today I had to grin when he asked me what a "wino" is. I had to stop myself before answering "It's looks like a hippo with a tusk on it's nose."

One I Haven't Heard Before

When you are big and fat like a termite mound, then the baby will be born!
- Jonny, age4

I am Thankful for Sharing

I thought my 300th post would be profound or thoughtful, but I guess that's not really the KiddoDiddo Way. Because Gary is blogging from the library and I am at home, it turns out that my 300th post is this:

I am thankful for children who are learning to share. After breakfast last week, I found Simon's pal Chicky's beak stuffed with Wheat Chex and raisins and I was glad that he was caring for his little friend.

PS The kids did get over the Swine Flu. Glad that's done!

Google StreetView at Hersheypark

The Google StreetView trike has photographed one of our favorite places: Hersheypark! Check it out!

A Few Photos

Here's a few photos of Gary and James in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat. They did a great job. Watching my sweethearts perform was a huge payoff for all of the nights away at rehearsals.
I didn't take these photos, I had Jonny and or Simon on my lap and couldn't do a camera too. Milan was kind enough to share the photos he took with the cast and I sorted through hundreds to find ones with my guys in them. Thanks for sharing!

Here's Gary popping out during the Jacob and Sons song that introduces all the brothers. He was Levi.

This is Gary whistling to start off There's One More Angel in Heaven. It has a western flavor. The guy who had the solo for this was really good, sorry no pictures of him, he's not in the family-diddo.
Here is poor Joseph, stuck in jail. The children's choir came and sang that song with him. They sounded really pretty. James is in the red, second from the middle on the left. Simon got really excited to see him on stage.

The children's choir sang to wrap up the intermission. It was a song called All God's Critters Have a Place in the Choir. It was really cute. James is in the red, to the right of center in the front row.
Gary was invited to be in the Horus Chorus and here he is, 6th if you are counting from the left. I don't think he prefered this costume, but he did sound nice in the group.

This is Those Canon Days, a comical French sounding song. Gary is all the way to the right. He had solos to start and end this song. He did great. The whole scene was very well done and was a reported crowd favorite.

The whole play was really well done. I am grateful they got the chance to explore their talents and try new things.

Oink! Oink!

Just found out we've got the Swine flu floating around the house. James had it last weekend. Jonny and Amelia came down with it this weekend. Poor Gary is out trying to get some Tamiflu, as he is coming down with it today. Me? I'm fine. I had my Swine Flu shot weeks ago, thanks to a my thoughtful obstetrician.
Lest you think I am uncaring, hogging all the vaccines for me, James came down with swine flu the very day he was scheduled to have the shot. Amelia got the shot, but got sick anyway (though she was only REALLY sick for 24 hours.) Jonny and Simon were to get the shot today. Simon got the shot, Jonny (already sick) got the nose culture to prove once and for all what has been knocking out our family one at at time.
Please keep our family in your prayers.