Pinewood Derby

Today was the cub scout Pinewood Derby. We've raced for the second year now and once the year before at church. Our cars keep getting slower. This time Josh was able to do most of the work. He had a really creative car with Lego guys glued on it. He spent a long time planning how he wanted the pieces set up. It was really original and none of the other cars that the kids actually made were even close to as cool. I thought for sure that he would win the most creative. However, this weird looking red car won that. We had a fun time though and Josh led the flag ceremony. He got to get up front on the microphone and read to everyone what to do. He did a great job!

Spring Ride

Yesterday I got home and the weather was wonderful. We all got excited to go on a bike ride and Levi kept putting on Mackenzie's helmet. So I figured he wanted to go too. I got out his new helmet and put his seat on the back of my bike. We had 45 min. to get back so we could eat dinner and get to church by 6 for faithweavers. Mackenzie's stomach was bugging her for the whole ride which was tough because she still needs help on the hills. We rode up to the high school and around past the baseball field and football field and down to AJ's House(A kid in my bible study/ He's also my TA at school) We checked out a project he is working on in his backyard and then I called Joanna because I didn't think Kenzie could make it back. She was in the middle of dinner so I told her we would try.
We made it up the most major hill by the time she called back. but she said she was still coming in the van to pick up the little ones. We were running a little late. By the time Joanna made it to us we were about three blocks from home. We basically had one more somewhat tough uphill climb. Josh and I gave Levi over and raced for home. We ended up beating the van home and it was about 6:10 or 6:15. So, we were a little late, but we made it in time for faithweavers. Monday was busy too with Parent-Teacher night at school and tonight I taught an SAT prep class for 3 hours. Tomorrow is my bible study night and Friday is the cub scout Pinewood Derby. Whew. I thought that this was going to be a down week of sorts. At least spring break is coming up.

Grandpa Cobb's Visit

Joanna found Levi in the turnaround trying to get some food I guess. He had come all the way around pushing the shelf and was almost back out again with some applesauce.
Grandpa Cobb is back from Mexico and Levi was excited to see him. It was nice that he stopped by for a visit.

Levi's Surprise!

Today Levi got to play with his new sand and water table. It was finally a nice day and not so rainy. Oh boy was he thrilled. I put on his little boots and a jacket right on top of his pj's and sent him out. Mackenzie played with him and they were out for about half an hour. Then I brought them in for a bath. I stripped Levi down to throw him in the tub, grabbed him with one hand under his hiney and as I was lifting him into the tub I realized that I didn't check very carefully when I tore off his diaper. Man oh man. At least he was already in the bathtub. I thought that the water and sand table would be the surprise for the day, but apparently Levi had a surprise up his sleeve as well.

The Truth

I just watched about 15 min of the most ridiculous thing I've seen in awhile. Someone gave us this movie to watch called the Secret. Reading the cover, it seemed a little strange, but I thought I give it a go. It didn't even take a 5 minute span to discern how insane it was. I thought that I was going to watch a movie and I ended up watching new age propaganda. I watched a little more so that I could be informed about what they believe. They basically think that you can have anything you want if you think about it enough. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000. I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000.I would like $50,000. What do you think, is that is enough? You can have your cake and eat it too. But on the serious side watching the movie just made me feel sick. That's the best way I can explain it. I guess Oprah is promoting it. She does a lot of good things, but then brings in crap like this. What a crock. God provides for us and sometimes does it in unique ways and it really pisses me off that these people try to play it off like it's my thinking that creates my reality. The Secret is a gimmick which is evident even just by the name. They call it the secret so you will want to know what it is. You'll want to figure out the secret and be in the know. The Truth is the world doesn't revolve around you, or me for that matter.

Power Disc

Frisbee Golf. Yesterday Joshua and I went to play Frisbee golf with the high school guys that I do a bible study with. It was raining hard, but most of the holes were under the trees. We had played the first three holes and we were standing around talking next our Frisbees, we just were not into it. So I decided to get it moving a bit and told them I was changing the rules. After playing a few holes AJ came up with a name for it: Power Disc. Power Disc Rules: 1.Everyone begins at the same time and throws their Frisbee towards the hole, it's actually a little cage thing on a post about 50-100 yards away through the woods. 2.Then you run like crazy to your Frisbee, pick it up, and throw it again. 3.You may not run with the Frisbee in hand. 4.First one to get their Frisbee in the hole wins. 5.Anything goes. 6.Well, no weapons or anything.
There was some slight pushing, but it was mostly friendly. We were covering ground like crazy and finished 4 holes in the time it took us to do 1 before. On the fifth hole we came out of the woods and sideways up a muddy hill to the hole. I was pushed and it was all I could do to just stay on my feet. Another guy went down. He basically did a Pete Rose down the hill. His pants were completely mud on the whole front. The next hole was straight down the muddy hill and up a smooth incline on the other side. One guy fell on that hill. He went right into a slide in his rain pants and was passing people. Several others almost fell due to laughing. People saw us playing while we were finishing up and just stopped and watched. I'm sure you can imagine. Josh managed to stay with us. He would start before us on each hole and get mostly out of the way. It was a great time. I don't know the dude in the picture, I just got this one on the internet. :)

Bumper

My cute little niece Bella sent me her critter a few days ago right when I was really busy and I forgot to go back to my email and get it. I really like the animal choices. What a smart little girl. Bella picked these four animals to create Bumper: Seahorse, Gecko, Reindeer, and Frog. She looked in the animal book and picked them out and she and Mom created their critter. Her critter lives with Daddy in Adak Alaska. It comes from the far north, hence the reindeer! I wonder if Daddy will bring one home when he comes down from fishing in a month?
Nice work on Bumper Bella!

My Tooth is Loose Daddy!

Mackenzie is reveling in her loose teeth. She loves that they wiggle and come out. She's really tough too. She doesn't mind me pulling on them to help get them out. Someone else in the family didn't like that too much. Mackenzie's lost two now. Here is the proof. She also did her own hair in this picture. I think it looks great.

Midnight Musings

So here I am at 12:30 AM entering grades on my computer. I enjoy staying up late with one requirement: sleeping in. However, I have to get up at 6 AM which will be no fun at all when it comes. I'm starting to feel a little delirious, but grades are due at noon which seems strange to me since we all have classes in the morning. I've had a ton to do lately and am not done doing grades early as usual. Not only do I have class, but I also have to teach the SAT prep class at 6-9 tonight after school. I needed a break so I decided to relax and write some stuff on here for a bit. Mackenzie was her usual intelligent self yesterday. She says stuff so quickly and surely about things you wouldn't think she'd know. Or at least things you would think that she had right there ready to say without really thinking about it. A subtle example of that from yesterday: We had breakfast for dinner and Joanna made 6 pieces of bacon. Mackenzie asked if she could have more than one piece. Joanna told Mackenzie that there wasn't enough and the kids could have 1 piece and the parents 2. Mackenzie said that we could just cut them in half and we could all have 1 and a half pieces. How could we say no to that. So, Kenzie split the extras in half and passed them around.
Joshua and Levi went with mom grocery shopping after dinner and Josh was a great help. Levi is really difficult to keep in a shopping cart. So, Joanna tried the car in the cart cart. Joshua hung out with Levi in the car and Levi was so excited that he was in there with Josh that he wasn't trying to get out at all. I love the picture of our serious little drivers. I just have a little more to do on my grades, so I'd better get at it. I'm aiming at sleep by 1.

Science Center (Grossology)

After church today we jumped in the car and went down to the science center. They have an exhibit right now on the human body. It's called Grossology. We (meaning I) really wanted to see it. While trying to find parking I saw the coolest USPS mailbox I've ever seen. So I made sure that our path from the car to the science museum went past it. When we got to it I had to get a picture, I think you'll agree that it's incredible.
Next we went on in to the Science Center. When we got there and went in they were having a demonstration on combustion it was pretty cool. This picture is a balloon bursting that has hydrogen and oxygen in it. The guy popped it with a poker that had a flame on it. Basically he blew stuff up and talked about combustion being a combination of fuel, oxygen and heat. From there we checked out the dinosaurs. Levi thought that they were great he kept pointing at them.We skipped all the main exhibits and went straight for Grossology. Each display on what the human body does was really well done. Josh liked this one on burping and Mackenzie liked the giant nose. Joanna took a picture of it, but there were so many people in the nose so I didn't put it up here. Mackenzie and Levi played in the nose and throat playground. Levi had a wonderful time crawling through the throat.I saw this sign and had to take a picture. I knew that every mom out there would just love to know this little known fact. Just think if you were not born here in the USA. Then we went and watched an imax on the human body. It covered basically everything and I was worried at one point when there were all these sperm swimming all over the place and it was explaining how the sperm and egg work. All Josh talked about was that the sperm were like little people because of something they said. I'll tell him a little more, but at this age I'm going to wait for him to ask. I know he'll ask me when he wants to know. He's just like that. Josh thought it was really gross when they showed the food inside the stomach churning around. Mackenzie wasn't really phased by any of it. She's got a strong stomach. On the way out we checked out the Whale's Tail sculpture and Josh helped Mackenzie get up by putting her on his shoulders. He then tried to run and jump up, but it was too high and I had to give him a hand. Mackenzie saw Josh slide down and so she followed suit.
After dinner we ended up passing this sculpture which was right by our car. Josh loved the idea of getting into the race.

Play-doh and St. Patrick's Day

Mackenzie and I had a great time this morning playing with our St. Patrick's Day Playdough. Mackenzie and Joanna made it yesterday. We thought anyone and everyone would enjoy checking out our creations. I hope you do. It's fairly rainy here, but we enjoyed a nice day yesterday. We went to Toys-R-Us today and were checking out the bikes for Mackenzie. Josh and I were trying out this caster board. It has two caster wheels on the bottom and that's all. The whole board twists and so it seems like you would point your toe down and then up. However you just need to twist at the hips to get your feet moving back and forth. I got it down pretty good. Josh was just figuring it out and a guy working there walked right over and picked it up saying you can't be riding that. They have a huge open area there that seems like it's for trying things out. They also had this one right in front of all the ones in boxes right there begging you to give it a try. How could we say no? We didn't pull it out of a box. We didn't disconnect it from the wall. It was just sitting there. Regardless, we were busted. Thankfully there's no fine. The guy went over and grabbed some zip ties from a drawer and zip-tied this board to the shelf. As he was doing this he made the point to say, "It's 1:15 now and when I come back by here at 1:45 it will be taken down again already." If that's the case, I'm not sure why he wasted the zip-ties. Anyway, if you get a chance to try out one of those skate board looking things that twists in the middle and has one caster wheel on each end you should give it a go. Just remember to twist at the hips.

Shots

Levi had 3 shots given to him today and he was quite a trooper. He cried after the first one a little bit like what are you doing to me. The nurse was really fast and after his third shot he was done being fussy about it. I was impressed. It was like he was thinking... (Ok that's over, now what.) We were worried about him being allergic to the egg whites they put in some shots. We try to stay away from eggs, but we're not sure if they are a problem for him or not. He was fine and didn't have a reaction. On a similar note, he has not had any major reactions. We're very happy about that.

Let's Ride!

Mackenzie and I went on a bike ride today. We went through the neigborhood towards the high school tennis courts. We watched a tennis match and then went around the back of the high school and made a pit stop at my room. Then we finished off the trip and came on home. It was great and Mackenzie did a great job riding. No spills. She's doing great on the bike.

The last video that I uploaded only shows 2 seconds. I guess google video is on the problem and fixing the videos effected. Hopefully it will get fixed and you can see it.

Ace Catapult

Joshua made a catapult today out of two chairs and an ace bandage. He first launched something across the room and then decided he need something to shoot at. As you can see, army men were the chosen enemy's. Mackenzie calls Josh Goliath because those guys are just so little. Enjoy.

Snousemoover.

Grammy Dee picked up on our little contest and sent over a nice verbal description of her "animal." Very clever. We particularly liked how it rests. I can almost picture it hanging there in the air. Or should I say in the antlers.Somehow in the mix up of e-mails at the cyber post office I lost the picture of the Snousemoover. Oops. Well, now I have it and here it is. Josh says, "ewwwww, two heads!" Great pic, it's not easy to get Josh to say "ewwwwww!"

Moobemoke

We all loved the "animal" that grandma Cathy drew. Josh told me, "Your mom is a good artist." I thought that was funny. Instead of Grandma is a ... My kids say things from time to time that are strange, different from what they would normally say, and make me laugh. Now when we play the game that Josh came up with we write about the animal we created. We have to tell were it lives and what it does.

Mohawk

It was about time to give Josh a haircut last night. Josh and I decided to give him a mohawk and surprise mom. He didn't realize that meant cutting the sides down really short. We were laughing the whole time and he wanted to keep looking in the mirror. I told him that I would fix it afterwards and he wondered how I was going to put the hair back on. I, of course, was talking about taking the rest off. I think that Josh looks great with short hair, but he kind of likes to have a little up their still. Now he wants to keep the mohawk so he will have some hair and not a buzz cut. I'll be shaving it off soon. I think he wants to show his friend next door. I had a mohawk once. I bet my class when I taught middle school that they couldn't raise $1,500 for the red cross after 9/11. One kid brought in a check for $500 and the rest trickled in. Therefore, I sported a mohawk. It was fairly awful on me. I don't know what is wrong with my hair, but I couldn't get it to stay up. It basically looked like a dead ferret on my head. yuck. I didn't keep it very long.

Bullets

At bible study last night with the high schoolers I put on this Wash. Bullets headband and forgot to take it off. On the way home I realized it and put it on the counter. It's good that I noticed it and didn't wake up with it on. Anyway, when I got home today Levi was playing with it. I took the opportunity to sneak it on his head and I snapped a few pictures. They were all pretty good pictures. Levi seemed to say, "I want to be a Bullet when I grow up." I think that's going to be a tough one.

New Game!

Joshua made up a new game today. He would write down four animals and then you have to create an animal that combined all of them. Then you have to give it a name that includes parts of the 4 names of the animals. He gave me Lion, Rhino, Eagle, and Horse. I named it Linoglorse. So here is my drawing. Then he gave Kenzie Unicorn, Penguin, Human, and Pigeon. It is called Pigcornguinman. Here is her drawing. So then I had Josh do one of his own. I gave him these 4 animals: Pig, Zebra, Anteater, and Porcupine. He named it Piterapine. Here it is: Now your challenge is to send us a drawing of your "animal." Here are the 4 parts: Snake, Mouse, Moose, and Beaver. Send to Kaleb_Allinson@verizon.net Good Luck!

Mackenzie riding her bike solo!

Mackenzie and I got a little more bike riding practice today and I wanted to show off her progress. It was a great day to be outside. The girl chasing Mackenzie is her neighbor friend Julianna.

Loose Tooth!

Today when I got home from Men's Advance Mackenzie had a lose tooth. Over the past few months Mackenzie has had many "loose" teeth. She thinks they are loose because she want's them to be loose so bad. Today it really was loose. She complained that it hurt, but kept wiggling it. Josh lost his first tooth when he was 6 and didn't want Mackenzie to lose one because she's only 5. She kept wiggling and wiggling it and then used a quilt that used to be grandma Jeanne's to get a grip and ripped it right out. When I think about that quilt being grandma's, I wonder about someone else in the family doing the same thing years ago... Mackenzie is very happy about loosing her tooth and is talking about the tooth fairy. For Josh's first tooth the tooth fairy gave him a batman action figure. Then for subsequent ones he's gotten a dollar. Some kids get ten or twenty dollars I hear. It's nice that he's not at school hearing about the money kids are getting from the tooth fairy. It seems a little excessive. The tooth fairy has gone through some pretty intense inflation since I was a kid, but I guess not in our house. We had got her some buld-a-bear shoes for a deal, so she'll probably get those for her tooth. I'm sure she'll love it. It seems strange to me that we give kids stuff or money for their teeth. If I was getting $20 a tooth I think I'd be knocking them out myself.

Men's Advance

I'm going to Warm Beach Conference Center near Stanwood this weekend. Joanna's watching the kids and I get to go have fun and listen to some great speakers. I'm going with a bunch of other guys from my church. So, I will not be posting until Sunday at least. Have a great weekend.

Snow Day!

We got up this morning and found out that schools were closed. Snow Day! First we had waffles and eggs before getting all decked out in our snow gear. We tried making a snowman but the snow wouldn't pack after sitting overnight. We could still make snowballs, especially with bare hands. If you don't remember how that feels, it's really really cold till it burns. Kenzie was the first to come in because her gloves came off and she couldn't keep them on. Josh sat on the chair in our backyard that was full of snow and called it his snow throne. We threw snowballs for awhile. I hit josh in the face twice and he got me right in the shoulder/chin once pretty good. It wasn't good sledding because the snow was melting and the road was really wet. Joanna encouraged us to go outside one more time as this would be, baring another miracle, the last snow of the year. We tried to make a snowman and found that since the snow was starting to melt it was sticking well. There was so much snow that it really made it easy to make a snowman. We keep making them until we had our whole family of snow people. Then we came in, had lunch, and played with the wooden trains. The sky has been beautiful all day and there were only tiny flurries for a few minutes in the morning. I heard that it's possible we'll get a little bit more snow tonight. I had heard that New York got around 10 feet of snow recently. I can't even imagine what kinds of problems that might cause. Could you even go out and enjoy it???? Well, we made it through yet another snow day this winter and still have had no incidents with yellow snow. Thank goodness.