Keagan's Cub scouts Pinewood derby & blue& gold

Keagan worked so hard on his car. He designed it, cut it out, sanded it, and painted. Dad only helped a little bit with adding the tires. He was so proud of it. It is orange.. Keagan's favorite color!
This was Keagan's 3rd and last pinewood derby in cub scouts. The past 2 years he hasn't done so well. (almost last) He is watching the races and can hardly believe his car is winning!

Handing off his car to race
Anxiously waiting to see the outcome.

His car is ahead!

Going so fast you can't even see it..

trying to not be too excited that he keeps winning.

Won again!

His number was moving up the "winner's bracket"

I love the excitement in his face!

He couldn't believe he got 3rd place overall! The great thing was that he did most of it all by himself too!

The boys getting their rewards.

Good job Keagan!

Look at that smile!

Keagan's name on the board!

We had to go to Dairy Queen afterwards to celebrate!

Melissa texting, what a surprise! Ha!

Whoops! Spilled on the uniform.

Flag ceremony at a pack meeting.

Keagan got to carry the flag.

This is the blue/Gold pack meeting.

Keagan played a 100 year old cub scout in the skit they did. He did a great job. It was actually pretty funny. He was so excited to do it. He used the cane that the kids got Ray for a gag gift for Ray's 40th bday and he thought it was hilarious to use the cane. He also made his own grey beard and was pretty proud of himself for coming up with it all by himself.

Here are the cakes Keagan made and decorated for the event.

fix it day

It seems like we hardly ever have a Saturday that we have time to do home improvement projects. We had fun joking around and doing family projects together. Keagan putting new knobs on the doors.

I love this one because he is concentrating and making a ......

Ray face!

Love it!

We tease Ray about making this face all of the time.

We painted a light grey in the bathroom. We painted a couple of months ago and still haven't put a second coat on. Someday I'll post the final project finished.....

Before the ugly bathroom cabinets and UGLY knobs...

Luckily Melissa is so tall so she can reach the skylight.

My Page

Melissa gets to be a page this week for the WA state House of Reps. She goes to work at 7:45 a.m. and finishes at 5 p.m. Some of her duties include giving the Reps. notes while they are on the floor, going to page school to learn all about the legislative process and delivering supplies. House pages are not allowed to use the elevators and she has to do lots of walking and climbing stairs. You have to be 14 and can't be older than 17. They have to wear black pants and a white shirt, with the black jacket being provided.

There are all kinds of other rules, too, but I don't know what they all are. I know there is a certain way they have to deliver the notes on the desks of the Reps and they can only address the Reps as Representative (last name) and never the first name. Even the children or relatives of the Reps have to do this.

With Ray working at the capital, this is something she has really looked forward to. This is her first year, she has been an honorary page before going for a half day, but not a regular page. She works for the whole week and even gets paid - a little more than $200 for the week. It also has been more exciting because last year and this year we have been housing pages, now she knows firsthand what they go through.

It is a special privilege to be able to carry the flags in right before they open for the day. (It helps that her dad works there) This is what she got to do yesterday. I recorded channel 23 (the local government channel) to be able to watch her and they only showed the senate side that morning.. grr. This is her and a fellow page on the House floor with the flags for the day's opening ceremony.

Valentine's Fairy?!

Did you know that there was a Valentine's Fairy?! Melissa dressed up for Valentine's day and spirit day combined. She likes to really get into it.. :) She even has some wings that she hadn't put on yet!
Melissa & Keagan (and Aurora) were really excited to go to school today because of the Valentine's parties.
Melissa's leadership classes were passing out candy grams that students had bought. She even bought one for herself... I asked her, Did you say it was from your secret admirer?! haha
Also, I get to go to Keagan's class later today for his party. He was really looking forward to it. Hopefully they are not too hyper. Every Friday afternoon I go into Keagan's classroom. It has been a lot of fun. I love to see who he sits by, who are his friends, etc.

It must run in the family.. a little, Aurora (her little cousin) had on heart pants and a shirt that said cutie in red/pink.

Happy Valentines day!

Snow Day - Dec. 14th 2009

The perfect snow day! It started snowing Sunday afternoon, snowed for a few hours, was cold enough to stay a little while to play in, and warm enough the next day to melt and go away. The kids had a 2 hour delay so we got to sleep in and not make up school at the end of the year. Ray does a small paper route at the capital and he takes the weekend papers their on Sundays so he doesn't have so many to do Monday morning. The capital campus is always beautiful, but the snow was so much fun to see there.

Keagan playing in the snow at the Capital.

Here are the lights that our youth put up for a service project.

It was sooo cold the week before that there was ice in the Capital Lake! The snow was sticking on top of the ice on the lake.

Someone wasn't very careful.. this is near our house, the corner of College ST.

Our house when it was snowing, I always seem to get the neighbors across the street when it is snowing outside, not our house.(usually because I don't want to go out in it)

Formal Dance

Aren't they beautiful! These 3 young ladies have known each other since they were born and have always been good friends! This was their first formal, A church dance at the Elma Stake center. They had a lot of fun. Leslie drove and went along for the ride, we had a load full of kids in her suburban and had a great time. Les & I went to the Rusty Tractor for snacks and visited while the kids were at the dance. I wish I would of gotten a picture of all the kids that drove with us.
I know I'm a proud parent, I feel like she's a baby again (still?) and every pose is just soo cute I have to post it! :) She finally smiled for me so I would stop taking her picture.

Love this one, the teenager look, MOM!!!

Mother!

Are you done yet?!

Isn't she beautiful?! I'm grateful that she is as pretty inside as out! :)

Computer problems

We've been having computer problems the last couple of months.. (sigh) Our (MY) biggest problem has been that the computer hasn't recognized my camera SD card. I never realized how much I use that feature and upload pictures. I went and got a SD card reader that plugs in the back of the computer, so now I will be doing blog overload to catch up on all of our fun December pictures. :)
Hopefully in the next couple of months we can get a new computer. (Before the old one dies, we did go get an external hard drive to back everything up in case it does). Any suggestions?