George's 10th Birthday

George turned double digits on Monday! I had not been looking forward to that number as it feels like we are moving way too close to the teen years and I am not ready. He was certainly excited to turn 10 though!

On Monday we did a few things to celebrate and then after John's softball game that night we took him without his siblings out for custard. He was so thrilled to be able to have custard in a waffle cone. He always wants one when we go out but to keep the price down with 8 cones to buy the kids all get the basic sugar cone or a dish. So that was a treat. He didn't seem too sure about sitting in a booth with just Mommy and Daddy though. We do take him out one on one but he was getting antsy sitting and just talking to each other. I do think he enjoyed himself though.

Tonight was the big birthday celebration with family. As I type he is still awake at 10:30 p.m. too excited to sleep. He finished building every lego set he received and is now putting coins he has saved into his new coin collecting book.

His gifts. His siblings chipped in their money to buy him legos this year too. They were so excited to be able to do that. The shoes are a bit worn already as his Grandparents gave them to him early since he really needed them.

We had his traditional meal (he is so big on traditions -- I tried to talk him into going out for pizza but he looked at me as if I was from another planet). So it was kabobs, corn on the cob, fruit salad, and his favorite pasta salad. He really enjoys Lego Indiana Jones and so I found a picture of a cake online that I was able to use as a reference. It didn't turn out exactly as the picture but nice anyway. I frosted it and George put the decorations in place.

This is supposed to depict the scene from the Indiana Jones lego game -- Battle on the Bridge. I don't like how the waterfall looks on this picture.

Those are milk chocolate rocks at the base that looked so real. I used fondant for the vines. Pete and Re-Pete kneaded the color into it for me.

I am so thankful for George! He is my right-hand man and helps in too many ways to count.

Happy Double-Digit Birthday my sweet George!

2nd Race Weekend -- A couple hang-ups

John worked long and hard on getting his engine ready for the race a last weekend ago. (Yes, I know I am actually posting 3 weeks later but better late than never. I actually wrote this shortly after but never posted as I didn't have a picture. I am back-dating to keep in line). He was able to get a new head for the engine and in the past few weeks checked and double checked all he could think of to hopefully have his engine running as it should. As the season has not been what we have hoped for we pretty much were counting on the worst happening.

I was to drive our van and meet John at my parents house. He had taken the motor home to work with him and my parents were going to drive our van up the next day. I spent the day with last minute baking, etc. and didn't realize what little Missy Blue was up to. I had the children all finally in the van and ready to go. As I turned the key I hear a clicking noise and I assumed the battery was dead. I remembered then that the van alarm had gone off earlier as Missy was playing inside with the locks but I didn't think to check what she had been up to. It seems she probably had turned all of the lights on and they stayed on for most of the day.

I called John at work and he couldn't believe it but thankfully his car was home to use in jumping the battery so the boys and I went in search of the jumper cables. They helped me to get the hoods lifted and find the battery. (I did know these things but the boys insisted that I had no clue what I was doing). I was amazed to see how they flocked around the hood of the vehicles as if drawn to the engine. Must be a boy thing. John talked me through getting the cables hooked up as I had not done that for some time. Of course it didn't work at first and I kept rearranging until I did get a spark. John realized that the posts on his battery were corroded and so I needed to make sure the cables were really gripping it. That did it and the van started up. Thank you Lord! We can finally be on our way.

The rest of the weekend was a good one. John's parents were there as always and mine always come for the Bark River race. John raced on Saturday and it was an exciting one but he still had some problems with his carburetor causing him to be slower than he would like. It looked as if he would come in fifth place but at the finish line another car made a move to try and get ahead which caused his car to stall and John slid into fourth! We relaxed a little that evening with the kids swimming at the pool at my parents hotel but we went back and John took apart the carburetor and cleaned that all out finding a broken spring. He was tired out that night and his eyes hurt from trying to see those small parts. Racing is not coming quite as easy for him this year.

Sunday he got his car all ready to go and we headed to Bark River Bible church which we always enjoy so much. It was a beautiful day and John was ready to race. He started in last position and throughout the race worked his way to the top finishing in second! We were all so excited to see him back on the podium! It was a good weekend and this time John can relax a little more between races.

Show & Tell Friday -- Patriotic Tie Dye T-Shirts

We often get the children new flag shirts for the 4th of July but this year I thought it would be fun to have them make tie-dye t-shirts. We looked online for designs and ideas and they all agreed they liked a bulls-eye design. I bought white shirts and a tie-dye kit with an easy squirt bottle method. I don't know that this will be as long lasting of dye and the colors weren't as intense but it was easy and fun to do. I even let Missy do her own. The only thing they didn't like was waiting for the finished shirt which was 6 - 8 hours. They also would prefer a rainbow colored shirt but we'll save that for another day.

Pete and Re-Pete squirting the dye onto their shirts.

Even Missy could handle this and surprisingly with little mess.

The gang at the parade including my nephew who we also made a shirt for. We had quite a few comments that day -- I suppose we do anytime they are dressed alike.

For more Show & Tells visit Mary at Raising 4 Godly Men.

Fruit Fly Be Gone!

I returned home Sunday night after a race weekend to find bananas in our hanging basket loaded with fruit flies. Moving them made the flies swarm and it was bad! I recalled a remedy I read possibly on my "blog friend's" site last summer and so I tried it and it worked GREAT! By morning I had a bowl full of fruit flies, 65 to be exact (George counted). If you need to be rid of fruit flies give this a try.

1. Pour cider vinegar in a bowl.
2. Drizzle a bit of dish soap around on top of the vinegar.
3. Do NOT mix!
4. Let it sit and catch the fruit flies.

1st Race Part 2 -- Engine Problems

My memory being what it is (horrible!) the details of the last race are no longer fresh in my mind and so here is a brief “rest of the story”.

After leaving early that Friday morning we arrived at the race track in Crandon and set up camp. John planned on testing out his car during practice early evening. Last year he had the opportunity to test out the car weeks before the race season began which he thought was an advantage but this year it didn’t work out that way and so he was anxious to see how the car would run.

During practice he had a few laps and looked good and I got my practice taking pictures with my new camera.

Unfortunately, that was short-lived and a rod put a hole in the engine and that was the end of that.

The hole was in his back-up engine but yet that meant he spent the rest of the night putting in his new engine. The next morning though he was unable to keep the new engine running and ended up scratching the race. He was initially disappointed but honestly, I think he was prepared from all the difficulty leading up to this point. We enjoyed the rest of the weekend watching races and the boys and John had fun racing their rc trucks on the special off-road track. In the midst of that John was planning and getting things in motion to get his engine fixed and ready for the next race.

John taking a turn using Re-Pete's remote. He had to race something and that is actually how he got his start in racing -- racing RC cars. :)

Pete's truck is the blue and Re-Pete's is the white racing on the off-road rc track.

 

Show & Tell Friday -- True Woman '10

You may recall last fall I attended the True Woman conference sponsored by Revive Our Hearts. In the last few weeks they have announced that there will be three True Woman conferences in three different cities next year! (Chattanooga, Indianapolis, and Fort Worth)  It was a wonderful experience and I took many truths home with me from that weekend. I encourage you to attend a conference next year if at all possible -- you will not be disappointed. Registration opens August 1st and last year it filled up FAST!  View the promotional video below...

You can view more Show & Tells by visiting CanadaGirl at Raising 4 Godly Men.