Pinewood derby

A couple years ago, Emma made a car for the Awanas Pinewood derby and ended up winning the speed competition.  That came after winning second place the year before for the design of her car.  So when the opportunity came for her to make another car for the Awanas Pinewood derby this year, she was all over it.  The car had to have the exact same shape as the one she won with.  She was convinced that it would be the winning shape again.  Then Riah got to build one as well.  She decided hers needed to be the same shape also.   So once we got the kits we started shaping and painting cars.  I ran the saw to cut the shape.  The only difference in the shape of the 2 cars is that Riah wanted the edges to be rounded and Emma left hers square.  Then came the paint job.  I gave them some ideas, but they each decided how they wanted their cars to look.  

Here is the first Pinewood derby car that Emma made back in 2007.

 At the Awanas in Brownsville, where she was going in 2007, they provided the weights to bring your car up to the maximum 5 oz.  That way everyone has cars that weigh same amount.  They also provided lube for the wheels which made a huge difference in how fast the cars went down the track. 

 We tried her car out first with now lube and it stopped before it got to the finish line.  Once we lubed the wheels, it did a lot better. 

 It was not a really fast car, but she won 2nd place for the design.  Mainly due to the Bible verse stickers that she decided to put all over the car.

This was her trophy for the design of the car.

In 2008, still at Awanas in Brownsville, she was able to build another car.  Here is the story of that event.

Here is what her car looked like that year.

 It seems to be missing a wheel after being played with for the last few years.  But this was one fast car.  It never lost a race and she took home the first place trophy for speed!

Obviously she was very excited to win this event.

Now we are in 2011 and both the girls got to make a car to race.  They are now attending Awanas in Lebanon, and they do the race a little bit different than in Brownsville.  Now that we know that, we will be prepared better next time.

 Here is Emmas car for 2011.

 For weights, we just screwed some washers on the top of the car.  Other people were taping coins to the bottom of their cars.

We found a little bit of graphite lube, but it did not work that well this time.  Her car crossed the finish line every time, but she did not win any races.  She still had a very good attitude and had a lot of fun participating in the event.  I think the Bible verses are a tradition now, so she will have to do them every year now.

Now here is Riahs car for this year.  (I personally like the colors!)

 She not only followed her sisters design in the shape of the car, but decided to use the Bible verse stickers as well.

 The grey stripes are in the shape of a cross if you look at the car from the top.

Here she is ready for the races to start.

We thought after the first race that Riahs car was going to be just like Emmas was the last time.  This was the end of her first race.  She won and there are 3 other cars on the track, they just have not made it to the finish line yet.  But that was also the last race she won.  The lube evidently wore off after this race.  Oh well, she had a lot of fun as well.  Then at the end, she won 2nd place for the design of her car!  She was very excited!

Now we know how it will work next year and we will be able to prepare their cars a little better.  I always love getting to do things like this with the kids and I also found out that there is a racer category for the parents.  So it looks like next year there will be 3 Jayne cars at the Awana Pinewood derby!  Should I make  a car the same shape as theirs are?  We will have to wait and see.

Here is our current fleet of Pinewood derby cars that have been retired to the display shelf in the girls room.

 I think the Tornado here is wanting to get in on this action too!

Happy Birthday Riah!

Moriah, our 2nd born daughter, also known as Riah, Ry-Ry, freckles, Bob, and George, turned 7 years old today!  She is growing up way too fast.  I think I say that about all of my children, but it still seems to go by so quickly and seems to be going by faster every year.  We think Riah is going to be the tallest of all the girls.  She towers over a lot of the other kids her age, and most people think she is a lot older than she is because of her height.  

 How can anyone not love those freckles?  I love her freckles!

She loves to make things, especially to give them to mommy or daddy.  She is always drawing pictures for us.  Here was a gingerbread Christmas tree she made last December.

Here she is opening her stocking Christmas morning getting some new toys and other things.  She still loves playing with her toys, but also is always wanting to help me or Brooke doing different things around the house. 

 She was really excited to be able to take part in her first Pinewood derby at Awanas this year.  Her car did not do as well as she hoped, but she had a lot of fun and building the car with her was a great way to spend the time with her!  The picture above was taken just after her car won its first race, but then it was not as fast after that.  She did win 2nd place for the design of the car.  She was very excited about that.

Here she is hanging out on a tree at Nanas house.(My moms in Paisley)  I remember my dad planting that tree when I was in 5th or 6th grade.  It was never big enough for me to climb on when I was a kid, but now our girls get to enjoy it.

Our 2nd daughter is 7 years old.  It is hard to believe.  She is a great blessing to have.  Riah is very affectionate to Brooke and I and is always wanting hugs and kisses.  I love it when she just randomly comes up to me, gives me a hug and says, I love you daddy, for no real reason other than she wanted to!  She does this a lot too!

As God says in Psalm 127:3, "Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him" and we are thankful to God that He gave us Moriah!

So with all that said,

Happy 7th Birthday

Moriah Tristyn!

We love you!!

Leah to English dictionary

Just in case any of you end up in a conversation with out youngest daughter Leah and no one else from our family is around to translate, I decided to post a dictionary to translate Leah into understandable English.  Most of her words are just missing the first consonant, so I would tell you to just pick a consonant and add it to what she is saying.  However, one you see the things she says, if you added the wrong consonant to a word she is saying, there is a possibility of some minor miscommunication and misunderstanding!  So here we go.

EES = Please
Banky = Blanket
Uckle = Buckle
ock = Sock
BaBa = Milk
up = She wants you to pick her up
Hi, Hi, Hi, = She is telling you Hi
Dis = This
Ni-Ni = Goodnight
ByeBye = Goodbye
Ose = Nose
Ba = Ball
Hungee = She is hungry
Uppy = She wants you to pick her up, Please
Eet = Seat
Dat = That, usually goes along with pointing at something.
Air = Hair
owwn = Down
Nana = Food
Ooosh = Shoes
Bilk = Milk
OOkie = Food
At = Hat
gik = tickle
meou = mouse
ump = jump
ook = look or book

Thats about all for now.  She says some other words, but they do not translate into English.  They are unique to the language Leah speaks.  I cannot even get a good spelling on them so she may have some new letters that do not exist in English either!

More Quotes from our children

Well this was going to be quotes from all our children that entertained us, but Sarah seems to continually giving us so many entertaining sound bites that it was making a full post all by themselves.  So this is just all Sarah our 3 year old.

Here is Sarah, AKA the Tornado. She now is speaking in complete sentences.  Some of which almost make sense and are able to be understood.

Sarah speaking to Mommy very excitedly.  "Mommy, I forgot to buy monkeys when we were at the store today"

Sarah at bed time one night: "Daddy, I thirsty, I need a piece of water!" (I asked her if that was ice, but she said no.)

Brooke and Sarah had a conversation about a math book the other day.  Here is one part of it.
Brooke asks, "Sarah, what is 8 minus 1?"
Sarah answers, "NOT CHICKENS!"

Another conversation with Sarah
Brooke, "Sarah, what do you want to be when you grow up?"
Sarah, "A Bug!"
(pause here waiting for the laughter to stop)
Brooke, "What kind of bug do you want to be?"
Sarah, "A Fox!"
Brooke, "Thats not a bug!"
Sarah, "Not a bug, I want to be a little girl, this big."(She holds up her hand with her thumb and finger about .5" apart)

Today during dinner, Emma was asking Brooke about the movie Robots, which Emma had just finished watching.  Brooke said that she did not think she had seen the whole movie. Emma then asked her, "Which parts have you not seen?!"  We laughed and Emma looked a little confused on what was so funny.  So I said, "That is like saying, 'Whoever is not here, raise your hand.' "  To that Sarahs' hand shot into the air and she yelled "ME!".  So apparently, even though it looked like she was sitting at the table, Sarah was not here today during dinner!

The next computer programmer

Our 1 year old is already typing on the computer!  She can't even talk or read yet, but she thinks she can do stuff on the computer.  She usually gets in trouble for touching the computer but this time she looked as if she knew what she was doing so we let her stay there to get some pictures. 

It is always amazing and humbling to me to see the things that our kids pick up and learn just by watching us.  It just makes you think about the things you do to see if it is something that you want your kids to be doing. With Leah being just over 1 year old, not able to talk, and definitely not able to read, we had not spent any time teaching her how to use a computer.  She just climbed up into the chair and started doing what she has seen Brooke and I do.  So when God said in Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it," He was not just referring to the things we tell and teach our kids, but also our actions and behavior.  The things we do and how we act and interact with others probably teaches our children more about life than the things we tell them or teach them verbally.  Seeing Leah do this on the computer was just a big reminder of how much children pay attention and learn from us even when we are not aware they are looking.  So think about the things you do when your kids are around.  Is there anything that you do that you would not want your children to do?  I just thank God that it is not totally up to me, because I screw up all the time, I just have to ask for forgiveness and be thankful for Gods grace.