Sports Report of the 2012 Pinewood Derby

After a crushing defeat in 2011, Will Hales vowed to come back with a vengeance in 2012.  Throwing out the usual plans of making a car that looked it had been made by a father who was trying to relive his Pinewood Derby dreams, Will designed a tough-looking armored vehicle intent on crushing anything in its way.  His thought process was simple: it needed to be aerodynamic, all black, and fast.  With their design in hand, Will and his father went to a friend's house to use their bandsaw and carve out the prototype.  To their excitement, it turned out perfect and they returned home where Will spent hours sanding it down to be as smooth as his little brother's bottom.  After sanding, Will painstakingly painted the car black while his father ground the axles smooth.  The wheels were applied, armor glued on, weight added, and the project was declared complete.  But the question in Will's mind remained...could he compete?

Will's father was absent at the weigh-in, but his car was nearly at weight.  With the addition of a nickel from Corrie Nichol, Will's car made weight.  He took it for a test run down the track and everything looked good.  That night he lay in bed dreaming of the derby the next day and telling himself that this was a new year, a new race, and a new car.

When the day of the race arrived, he dressed in his best (and only) cub scout shirt and grabbed his coat.  The whole family arrived and milled about excitedly as the preparations for the race were in their final stages.  Will took an early lead, winning his first two races.  In his third race, he lost in a rematch because the first race was too close to call.  His mother, who was a line judge, ruled against him in the close race despite repeated promises to keep his room clean.  She could not be bought off!  Will won his fourth race followed by a series of disappointing defeats.  Could this be the beginning of another 2011?  When all looked lost, he applied more graphite and came back to win his last race.  The judges began their tally....

The cubmaster stood to announce the winners.  The first place winner was announced, followed by a tie for second place and still no luck for Will.  Third place was then announced as another tie between two competitors.  The first of the third place winners was announced, and then, to his utter astonishment, Will Hales was announced as the other Third Place winner and the winner of the Toughest Car award.  He had done it!  He had beat the odds and returned from 2011 to be not only a competitor in 2012, but a force to be reckoned with.  In his winning speech to his family in the minivan on the way home he said, "I wanna thank my mamma for believing in me and Dale Earnhardt for watching over me from above."

However, 2013 portends to be an epic year as Will's little brother Matt will make his inaugural debut in the Pinewood Derby.  Will it be a match between friendly competitors or an epic civil war.  Time will tell...

I can finally make good dinner rolls.

This is big news around here.  We all love rolls, but for years I honestly thought I couldn't make them.  I stopped trying because I didn't like spending hours in the kitchen to end up disappointed in the end.  A few weeks ago I tried a new recipe and was very shocked excited when they turned out.  An added bonus is that they're also very quick to make.  The only thing I didn't like was that the rolls were made with only white flour.  I wanted to use my wheat to make healthier rolls, but I still wanted them to be quick and I wanted them to turn out just as yummy.  I finally found a recipe that turned out just as good using wheat flour.  It takes less than an hour to make these tasty, healthy rolls!  I've been making them a lot lately. So much that when I started making some today William looked at me like I was crazy.  But of course he's not complaining.  He pigs out on them as much as the rest of us!

Anyway, I thought I'd share the recipe in case anyone is interested.  Yes, I have it memorized.

Quick Whole Wheat Rolls

4 tablespoons yeast

2 1/4 c. warm water

2/3 cup oil

1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. salt

3 cups whole wheat flour 

3-4 cups all-purpose flour  

butter (optional)

Dissolve yeast in water. Add oil and sugar. Let stand 10 minutes. Add eggs, salt, and enough flour to form a soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic, adding remaining flour as needed. You can do this by hand on a floured surface, or use a mixer with a dough hook attached and let it do the work for you!  Once the dough is smooth and elastic, divide into 24 pieces, shaping each into a ball. Place about 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rest 10 minutes. Bake at 425 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  After taking rolls out of oven, spread some butter over the top, if desired

SNOW!

The kids were excited to finally play in snow yesterday.  They climbed to the top of every huge pile of snow they could find, slid down, and even made snow angels.  When Rachel finished her snow angel she looked back at it and said, "Wow, it's beautiful!"

Normally the kids could play like this right in our own front yard.  Yesterday they couldn't, since we still don't have any snow.  We have freezing temperatures and our fair share of really cold wind, but no snow.  So we headed to West Yellowstone to visit the Grizzly & Wolf Discovery Center.  Owen has seen snow before, but didn't remember it and was completely fascinated!  He toddled around and squealed like crazy, it was so cute!  Unfortunately we didn't get a great picture of him because he was in constant motion.

The wolves were very playful and there were even two adorable bear cubs that are less than a year old.

This last picture cracks me up.  It's one of the only pictures we were able to get of Owen and the look on his face is priceless.  He was busy exploring and I was rude enough to pick him up and carry him for a minute.

Perfect project for 5 degree weather!

I have a habit of starting a project and then getting distracted with another project before completing the first.  So I was excited when I actually finished a project during Owen's nap today.  It was a good day to finish it too, since it was 5 degrees outside when I took the kids to school this morning.

This project was perfect for me because it was quick, easy and cheap!  It used just one skein of yarn and only took a few days of working on it for an hour or so at night.

You can find the free pattern here:  http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/70603AD.html?r=1&r=1

This picture shows the actual color.  I love it!

Ballerinas and stinky diapers

Rachel has wanted to take dance lessons for a long time.  She was a ballerina for Halloween just so she could wear the tights, leotard and tutu.  When I took her to see The Nutcracker last month her interest in dancing skyrocketed.  After quite a bit of searching I found a class I felt would be perfect for her.  Today was her first day in class and she spent all morning asking if it was FINALLY time to go dance.

When it was time to go I grabbed a bunch of snacks for Owen so we could stay with Rachel throughout the whole class.  As soon as Rachel's class started I noticed a smell I recognized all too well.  Owen had filled his diaper and I had completely forgotten to bring diapers and wipes!  You'd think I'd know better after 4 kids, right?  Nope.  I thought about running home quickly, but knew Rachel was nervous and wanted me to stay.  So I tried to keep him away from everyone and hoped no one would notice.  Owen and I hung out in the hallway, right outside the dance room so we could stay out of the way but still see everything Rachel was doing.  There was only one other mom there.  I didn't say anything to her right away because she was quietly reading a book.  When a couple moms showed up toward the end of the class I was pretty sure they could smell it, so I apologized for the stinky smell coming from my corner of the hallway.  Of course they all thought it was funny.  The  mom who had been sitting there the entire time said, "I wondered what that was.  I started to think maybe there was a dead mouse somewhere."

Since Rachel and I were the newbies today I had to laugh at the idea that I might be remembered as the mom with the cute, but stinky kid.  Nice!  Wonder what Owen will do next week?!?