Pinewood Derby 2010-WINNER!

Today was our Pack's Pinewood Derby. Brett's Hershey bar design was clever--and a winner! He took 1st place in his Den and then beat out all the 1st place Den winners to take 1st place in the Pack! Way to go, Brett! He won a huge trophy and a lot of satisfaction. He also will compete in the District Pinewood Derby this May.

I am sad to report, however, that there is a downside to being the overall Pack winner. The overall winner has to STORE THE TRACK until next year. Sigh. Time to clean the basement.

 

 

 

 

Pi Day

 

A little past Pi Day--but better late than never. Here's Brendan and his friend Z, having a "Pi-Off" where the recite Pi one digit at a time between the two of them. Fun stuff. The other thing we did to celebrate Pi at the boys' school was to have interested kids write out Pi to as many digits as they could. Brendan took 2nd place for his grade with about 80 digits memorized and Brett took 3rd place for his grade with 25 digits memorized. Not too bad, boys!

Asleep At The Wheel

 

Bryce actually fell asleep in his high chair the other night. He'd had a rough afternoon--a short nap, didn't want to eat dinner (didn't like what was served!), then spent a good hour or so crying over ???? Brad put him in his seat to see if he'd eat something and he folded his arms, layed his head down and konked out. Poor guy!

Bryce And His Babies

Here's the cute boy, posing for his photo-crazy Mom.




















Showing off his 2 babies:





















Giving them kisses:






















Taking out the binky:





















Trying out the binky for himself:






















Showing me the baby's bellybutton:





















And shooting 2 with the baby. He is, after all, a boy!

Very Canadian

(hum "Oh, Canada" while reading this entry)




















Those of you who know Brendan know of his interest in curling. For years, he's wanted to learn to curl. Lucky for him, the curling club had an open house where you could have a curling lesson for $5-kids, too! Both boys (and Brad) took a turn as Skip. Brendan was the most successful, Brett had trouble getting his rock anywhere near the House, and Brad fell over trying to just get down in position. Brendan is now hopeful that with the interest in curling during the '10 Winter Games, there will be enough kids for him to join a junior curling team next year--and now Brett wants to curl. They are on a wait list for next season. It's chess on ice combined with a little physics. Big time hit with both boys.














Brett attended a birthday party at a local environmental interpretive center. The main activity??? Sap collecting and syrup making! How fun is that?! The kids learned which trees give sap for syrup making, learned how to tap a tree, how to cook it down--all the proper skills to make REAL maple syrup. The kids got to enjoy their work, having fresh made syrup on their ice cream with the cake.

Another New Doctor For Bryce

I think we've finally settled with a pediatrician that I like and who also understands Bryce. Recommended by the nurse practioner we usually see, this doctor's youngest child has severe peanut allergy-so she "gets" the food allergy thing.

Byrce had an appointment with her this week for an ear re-check from his ear infections in February. It was lucky that we had this appointment with her as Bryce had started getting sick 2 days prior and developed pink eye-AGAIN.

She said she thinks he has adenovirus which is why he got instant pink eye, that he has 1 ear badly infected, the other looking not so good and that he's likely a good candiate for tubes in May. She suspects that his ears aren't clear from when he got sick the end of January and the new rules for tubes involve 3 mos of ear issues. She also agreed to no antibiotics and a wait and see approach on the ears/pink eye/drippy nose. Poor kid.

She also wants to take over his low iron situation. It looks like she believes the last doctor didn't run all the necessary tests to put him on such a high dose of iron. She's going to speak to the GI doctor and likely order new bloodwork for him next week. YAY! That iron is nasty stuff.

While Bryce is sick-drippy, goopy, stuffy and not himself, it's nice that we might be finally moving ahead to a solid diagnosis AND potentially a treatment. We're all for tubes if it will prevent the recurrent ear infections and the constant drippy nose and the "Insta-Pink Eye". (he's had pink eye about 8 times since October!)

Keeping our fingers crossed for now.

Gorgeous Morning in Hines Park

Hines Park. Once a place so nasty and dirty we weren't allowed to go near it. It was full of trash and the water was so polluted from the factories that dumped waste into it. People had fallen into the Rouge River and gotten very ill-some died. My entire childhood, it was not somewhere we ever went. I never thought it would be a nice place to spend any time, much less take my children to it.

Well, we had a day off of school this week and as it was a gorgeous Spring-like day, I thought a tromp through the woods would be nice. It was. The kids and I hiked along the Rouge, watched squirrels and listened to birds. Bryce's favorite activity was being allowed the freedom to roam through the woods and run through fields. All three boys enjoyed throwing rocks into the river. It was a good day.

Baker Brendan

I found an easy beer bread recipe-easy enough that Brendan whipped up a loaf and we were eating it 90 minutes later. I think it looks great--and it tastes great, too.



Here's the recipe, from Bargains To Bounty :(a couponing blog I follow)

This bread complements a warm bowl of soup or a roast beautifully – and there’s rarely any left after the meal! It’s also delicious as an appetizer with spinach dip. It’s a very frugal alternative to boxed mixes and most people say they can’t taste any difference!

BEER BREAD
3 cups all-purpose flour*
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup sugar
1 (12 oz) can of beer (or other carbonated beverage)
¼ cup melted butter (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients with one 12-ounce can of beer (or any other carbonated beverage).
Transfer into a greased 9×5” loaf pan.
Optional: pour 1/4 cup melted butter over batter.
Bake 50-55 minutes, until loaf is golden brown and pulls away from sides.
Remove from pan. Cool 15-30 minutes before slicing.
Variations:

Add 2 tablespoons dill, Italian seasoning, or garlic powder.
Try it with ½ – 1 cup cheddar cheese mixed in the batter.
Use an orange or cherry soda for a sweet twist!
*NOTE: You can substitute self-rising flour for all-purpose flour. When using self-rising flour, OMIT the baking powder and salt.

Mix up the dry ingredients (minus the beverage) and put them in a nice bag tied with a ribbon for an easy gift idea or gift basket addition!

Snowman Snow

The weather has finally warmed up and made our snowpack good for making snowmen. I sent the crew outside yesterday with instructions to make a snowman, and I think they did a nice job. No, the older boys aren't wearing coats. It was bright & sunny & about 44 degrees, so no coat needed. The snowman was later decapitated by a shovel-wielding Bryce and the boys rebuilt him.