Pinewood Derby....done!! (And a little birthday fun too)

   So this weeks first big event would have to be the Pinewood Derby which was Isaac's first.  Now I'm not going to lie, Greg spent the most time putting this car together, but Isaac did help some and was quite excited for the whole event.  Now I'm not going to go into details because I don't have that kind of time but the winning car was bought on line so even though it won all the races we know in our heart that the official ranking should have been our neighbor, Mason, as number 1 and Isaac and another boy as 2 and 3.  The ranking at the derby was the "illegal" car first, Mason as number 2 and Isaac and the other boy tied for 3rd.  Now the majority of the boys were happy regardless but you can imagine the discussions that went on amongst the adults during and after the race.  The rules clearly stated you had to build your car from the kit that was provided to the boys by the ward and that wasn't adhered to by everyone but how do you tell a young boy his car can't race?!  You can't!!  Anyway, here's a few photos from the big day.

Isaac waiting with the other boys for the races to start.

One of the twenty races that were run.

Isaac with his awesome car!

Isaac and the other boy with their third place ranking!

In motion!

   So that was fun and on to the second big event of the week, we had a birthday boy. Carter turned 7 on Thursday and even though we were super busy that night we managed to show him a little love first thing that morning and later today we'll be having a birthday celebration with our extended family for both Carter and Mark.  Mark's birthday is Monday and he'll be turning the big 1-2.  He's currently on a scout trip to Moab after getting special permission from the Bishop to be able to go without his dad even though he's not officially a scout yet.  I hope he'll be home in time for the birthday celebration.  Here's a few photos of Carter's big day.

Our cute birthday boy with one of his two gifts.

And again with the second gift.

And the gifts have been revealed!  He was pretty happy.

Of course he had to test drive his car before heading to school.

   So that's about it.  Of course there was lots more that went on, baseball games, yard work, house work, etc., etc. but these were definitely the highlights of our week. 

The Little Houdini!

   There's nothing more scary then walking into the nursery Sunday to hand the roll to the teacher and then ask where McClane is only to realize he's left the room without anyone knowing and is now out the WINDOW!!  That's right, McClane climbed out the window in nursery this last Sunday.  The main nursery leader, who is fantastic, had opened the window to help with the odor of the room and while she stepped out for a minute to get something the mother helping in the room just thought McClane had gone in the corner to play where she couldn't see from her spot in the room so when I came in and didn't see him and asked where he was she told me he was in the corner but all I saw were two little chairs by the window and no McClane and then I heard this slight bell ringing (we'd attached a small bell to the back of his shirt to help the nursery leader keep track of him per her suggestion.) and walked over and there he was just kind of walking back and forth in front of the window probably deciding what he should do now that he was free.  Thank goodness he didn't take off right after climbing out or who knows where he would have ended up but to be honest I really wasn't that shocked that he did this.  He'd be the perfect baby to help baby proof a nursery room or house for a family because he can get into and out of ANYTHING!  I think squeaker shoes will be our next purchase to see if that's a little better help at keeping track of him, at least during his time in nursery each Sunday.

If only he could stay this sweet and contained all the time.

So we also had our first baseball games this week.  Both Mark and Isaac had two games each but unfortunately Mark missed his first game because he got sick but at his second game he played fantastic.  He got a triple, hitting it out the fence and a grounder the second time and even got one run in.  His team won by quite a bit which was fun to watch and keep score for.  Because I'm keeping score for Mark's team I'm not able to take photos unless Greg's with me so I don't have any pictures of Mark but here's a couple of Isaac who had his first two games and played pretty well for never playing baseball before this season.

   Isaac had a little upset at his game yesterday.  I won't go into details but lets just say he took a long walk and scared his Aunt Kristin and parents half to death but hopefully after a weekend of being grounded to the house he'll not react so rashly next time he gets upset at his coach. 
    So this was our week in a nutshell with a few other things going on but nothing blog worthy.  Now on to birthday celebrations and saying goodbye to my sister.  Happy and a lot of sad!!

Happy Easter!

   I know Easter was nearly a whole week ago but here's a few highlights from ours.  Just a simple Easter Egg hunt in the backyard but the kids were thrilled, especially with the "Pass of All Passes" for each of them.

All ready with their baskets.

Brock was a little distracted with what was actually in each egg.

Carter wasted no time collecting all and more then he needed.  (Look how involved Greg is, NOT!  That's ok, a nice garden is a worthwhile activity too.)

Mark found all he needed.

And McClane did well but needed a lot of help from big Sis!

Isaac made out pretty great as well.

He needed a break from all the running around Kayli was doing.

Looks like enough eggs/candy to me.

All done, now it's time to find the real prize in one of their eggs.

    So after they found out they'd each got a "pass of all passes" they of course wanted to get to Trafalga fun center as soon as possible so here's a shot or two of that little adventure.

Here's Brock on the airplane ride.

And Mark got a shot at the one and only go-cart they had running that day.

   Just in case you're wondering a "Pass of All Passes" is a ticket into three different fun centers in the Utah Valley area, access to two water parks nearby, ice skating and several sporting events.  These passes are totally worth the $30 dollars each we paid for them.  Unfortunately they sold so many that the places are generally pretty crowded but over all the kids love it and it'll be a great place to spend our time throughout the whole next year.  There's even fun stuff for McClane who is absolutely free, bonus!! 
    This week was also our Spring Break and it was pretty nice.  I actually got the kids to do a chore or two each day and one of those chores was washing all the windows inside and out and miraculously Mark did this without much complaining and I only had to do a little minor backup cleaning after he was done.  And Kayli actually spent some time nearly every day going through her closet and discarding a few items.  Obviously I would have found a few more things to donate but she did pretty good considering her "hoarding" tendencies.
    And to end my week Greg let me talk him into seeing "The Hunger Games" with me which was great and he's actually looking forward to seeing the next one.  I told him he could read the books right now to find out what happens but apparently that's not as appealing as a movie.
    So that's our week in a nutshell.  Now on to birthdays, and a little help moving my sister half way across the world.  (Which will not be fun but I'll help anyway.)

Only a few weeks left!

   My sister, my FAVORITE sister, is moving way far away and I'm not that happy about it.  I'm excited for her and her family but totally bummed for myself.  I'm not going to lie, I don't see her like every day, or even every week for that matter, but it's always been comforting knowing she's just a few short minutes away if I want to go visit or if she wants to come visit me.  Now we'll mostly be relying on Skype, which is not my favorite form of communication, but it's better than nothing.
    So this week she came to see us and I managed to take a couple shots of her and the girls.  I'm still not sure if Jovi can make the move, the girl wouldn't even go down the slide with a few flies on it but maybe she'll get use to all the spiders, cockroaches and lizards she'll soon be living with, or maybe she'll have to stay and live with Aunt Shirley.  (Just kidding, we have flies on our slide so that wouldn't work either.)

Jovi, Jackie and Shae

   This was the highlight of my week, plus a temple trip with Greg's family but obviously I don't have photos of that.  Anyway, I do wish my sister the best of luck on her adventure but don't judge me if I hope she doesn't love it there and they decide to move back sooner than later.