Pine Wood Derby

Last Tuesday was Spencer's first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. I was a little anxious that there might be tears. Spencer is a little bit of a Charlie Brown and a middle-child all the way. He is sure that life isn't fair and especially not fair to him. I worried in vain and he took first place. Does this mean we are exempt from all future derbies? Seconds after the final race.In other news, he finally got his Bobcat.

George's B-Day

On Saturday we drove down to Virginia to see George Washington's Birthplace. He sure picked a pretty spot to be born. The property runs along a river and even in winter it's gorgeous. In the 1930's they built some buildings to make it look like a colonial manor. Funny thing is that they didn't try to make it look like his manor, just a manor in general. (I didn't realize that til my friend told me that on church on Sunday.) Because it was his b-day weekend, there were lots of people dressed up in colonial costumes demonstrating how they lived back then-boy am I glad for technology!

I love Spencer's expression

We always have the kid's do the Jr. Ranger Program. Here's Eddie taking his pledge. He repeated each line after the ranger and was adorable.

"I'm a Jr. Ranger What's your super-power"

Big kids taking their pledge

Scott made the list

The list came out this week and Scott was selected for major. He won't actually be promoted until next year, so our lives don't really change. He's still by far the lowest ranking dentist. He does get to help get his fellow officers drunk. Woohoo! All those that made the list (I think there were 4) get to throw an open bar party at the officer club. It should cost us several hundred dollars. The idea is that you should spend what your raise would be. We don't even get the raise until next year, and if we end up getting out of the military, we'll only get it one time. All this could end up costing us $.

I think this is my # complaint about our armed services. He's always being hit up to contribute towards someone's plaque (I think the entire plaque tradition is silly. My dad has boxes for 20 years in the army and he's never hung up any of them, but that's another post). He also has to contribute towards baby and wedding gifts, but I can handle that. It just irks me beyond all that he has to contribute towards alcohol consumption several times a year. It's not like he forces people to buy him Ben and Jerry's or Pepperoni Pizza. I think he's going to start drinking, just so it's fair. (it would probably get him released from being EQ President too :).

Why Riley is awesome

Riley got really upset Thursday night, which ended in her being sent to her room. The next day I found a card w/ the following poem:


My words were for the birds
I’m sorry just love me

I’m sorry for the screaming
And the oversteaming
I’m sorry just love me

Thanks for sharing the laughs
And the chocolate halfs
Thanks for making me un-blue-I’ll just love you.


I'm not sure if I'm more impressed by her poem or her ability to apologize. She's a great kid and I'm lucky to have her for a daughter.

Valentine's is for Girls

Between my trip and the flu-I am not prepared for Valentine's Day this year. I waited until yesterday to get cards for the kids to pass out. Some years, I come up w/ cute and clever home-made cards (I think those might have been the years I only had 1 kid passing out cards), but this year I needed 72 quick and so I headed to the store. It was slim pickings. I was told to get one's w/ candy and I thought I did pretty well. I got Spencer Fun Dips, Riley Pixie Stix, and Eddie Crayola ones w/ lollipops. The boys were happy, Riley was mad b/c she gave out Pixie Stix last year, but I needed at least 28 for her class and 32 come in a box. This set off hours of drama with her being sent to bed at 7:00 and still giving me the silent treatment this morning (she's a tad stubborn). The drama!

Eddie thinks it's Christmas and keeps asking to go to Target and buy toys. He started up again on the way to school, and Spencer informed him, "Valentine's Day is for girls and married people." It made me laugh, but good he's figure it out now.

My baby

Eddie loves being the baby-particularly my baby. He needs lots of cuddle time each day-it's just one of his basic needs. It cracks me up a bit when he come up to me and announce that he needs some cuddles and then we of course have some cuddle time. He has a hard time when I leave town and I'll usually get a few crying phone calls whenever I'm gone. This past week he did great and I think he was a little disappointed that we came back so soon. I guess he's just not a baby anymore.

My Husband Rocks

I should write something witty, but I'm recovering from the flu, and this is the best I got.

We had the best week. Just being together w/out kids is always fun, but our week couldn't have been better. Here's a list of what we did

NYC Library

Chrystler Bldg

Grand Central Station

Empire State Bulding at Sunset

Central Park

Metrolpolitan Museum of Art

Boat tour

Momma Mia

Wicked (4th row)

David Letterman (front row)

Lunch at Hello Deli

Conan O'Brien

UN

NBC Studios

The Today Show

Fao Schwarz

Ground Zero

Wall Street

Trinity Church (didn't find any treasure)

Letterman was both our favorite thing. Scott LOVED Time's Square. Our hotel was only a few blocks away and Scott would use any excuse to walk through. Each time I would tease him about being fascinated by shiny things-I guess he's still a 10 year old at heart.

My camera has a setting for "self portraits". This is Scott's favorite setting. We probably took 50 over the week. I think the one of us in front of the Statue of Liberty is the only one that turned out. It's going to make a really funny few scrapbook pages.