Pinewood Derby

Well, the derby went alright, but John & I were so busy getting things ready & checking cars in, we didn't get a chance to add graphite to Colten's car's wheels, which apparently is pretty key to doing good, and so he didn't do so well. However, I think he had a really cool jeep! In fact, I'm privy to the knowledge that he won the award for most realistic looking car (judged by some boy scouts), so at least he'll get something!

Snow, for the 4th time!

Well this has been one crazy cold winter around here! We had our 4th snow yesterday and although it didn't stick at our house as much as it did in other places, it was great to see it snowing off and on all day. I ended up taking the day off and the kids got out early and went to school late today. I realized how much we missed out on when the ground was still completely white in lots of places on my way to Fredericksburg this morning. John & I decided we just had something in the soil around there that was too warm for it to stick, darn!

Here are some pictures:









This is Ashlyn's igloo for the cats:


We haven't been up to much lately. I realized that Feb 13th was our first Saturday to sleep in since sometime before Christmas, so we took advantage! Last weekend, Ashlyn got to invite 3 of her friends over to spend the night, since "we've been sooooo busy and she hasn't gotten to have a friend over in FOR EV ER!!" so that was interesting. John went on an all night hunt Saturday night for a competition and they got a bobcat and 3 foxes and won some prize money.

Friday is the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, which we're in charge of this year. Wish Colten luck (John & I might need some too...)!

Birthday & Tim McGraw

So things are finally settling down for us... what a month! Poor Colten had to wait two weeks for his birthday party, but it was a good one. He had 3 friends stay the night and then we went to San Antonio to play laser tag the next day. It made for a long day, but they had a blast and even Omie & Opie A came and played with us.

Here's a picture of the boys in the middle of a bakugan brawl:

and here is Colten with his birthday cupcakes:


This past weekend we had a special surprise that we weren't sure we'd get to do until Saturday morning at 10am. A few months ago as we turned into the driveway, there was a man changing his tire on the side of the road. John went and helped him on his way and he was very grateful, so much so that he wanted to give John tickets to a concert at the San Antonio Rodeo. They exchanged information and we thought he'd probably forget. But no, he called a few weeks ago to see if we could go on Feb 6th and so our hopes were a little higher. He was going to give us 6 tickets to see Tim McGraw - for our family and for each kid to bring a friend. Nice! So we waited to receive said tickets in the mail, until last Wednesday when he called again saying he wanted to meet us in San Antonio before the concert to give us the tickets and a parking pass. So we made plans to meet him at 10am at a gas station before the 1pm rodeo and concert. This was very concerning to me - getting all of us to San Antonio for an event we didn't have tickets for, but surprisingly all went well and he showed up and we went.

It was really great, the parking spot was right next to the AT&T center (I think that was the best part) and we walked around the grounds and saw the animals at the stock show (the pigs weren't there yet) and ate really expensive food and drank really expensive drinks. Wow, they really stick it to you there! The rodeo was awesome and the kids really enjoyed it. Everything went so fast, there was never a dead moment and all the contestants were awesome. Our seats were 6 rows from the arena right in the middle so we could see everything. Then when Tim McGraw came out, he was right in front of us on the revolving stage - great view! The boys were ready to go after a couple of songs, but the girls were happy to stay til the end. He put on a pretty good show, but we had to laugh a little, because he forgot some of the words to a couple songs. But it was great and I was happy everything worked out :)

Here's one of the pics I took during the concert - he has a full beard right now for a movie he's finishing up.

Kerrville Stock Show

What a weekend! I'm still in shock, but Ashlyn placed 2nd with her pig and Colten placed 10th. Since Ashlyn got in the top 3, she got to sell, yay! And we don't have to go to San Antonio since the pig that sold was the only one that was light enough still to go.

I don't have a lot of time to write, but here is a link to some pictures that I put on facebook of both stock shows. Hope it works for you.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=179742&id=755340907&l=65a4c196b2

I'm trying to get a birthday party together for Colten this weekend finally (only a couple weeks late!), and now this morning he woke up with a horrible cough. Hoping it goes away before Sat. We'll see!

Monster Jam & Visits

This past weekend was soooo busy - we had hardly any time to do anything at home. Friday night, we had Hilda Club and played bingo, Saturday morning, Ashlyn had a basketball tournament in Llano bright & early, then we went and visited with two of John's nephews and Sunday was church, Sunday school and the Monster Jam with the cub scouts. I'm sooo ready for a weekend at home, but this coming weekend is the Kerrville stock show... guess I'll have to wait!

Ashlyn's team won against Llano and lost against the Texas School for the Deaf at the tournament. She didn't get to play much, but the game against TSD was interesting to watch. I think the girls were kind of psyched out because they knew the other team was deaf. But they were GOOD! They had a game last night at Christoval that they won and Ashlyn said she got to play more during that one - of course the one we didn't get to watch! Oh well.

John's nephew, Trent, and his family were visiting from Wyoming, so we spent some time with them and his other nephew Chris and then took all the kids to Mr. Gatti's for some pizza and fun. We also got to see Randy & Nikki at Mr. Gatti's for awhile. It was great to see everyone again. Here's a picture of all of us at Roseline's house before heading to Mr. Gatti's:

John, Ashlyn, Colten, Trent's wife Laurie, their daughter (our great-niece) Emily, their son Ryan (great-nephew) and Trent in the back and me, Chris (nephew) and Roseline on the couch.

Sunday, the cub scouts and their families went to the Monster Jam in San Antonio as a reward for good popcorn sales. We had a good time, but couldn't bring Ashlyn b/c I hadn't ordered enough tickets (44 of us went in all!). Oh well - she had fun with Blake that afternoon, so I don't think she was too sad.

Here is Colten & John waiting for it to start:

Some of the trucks lined up - thought they looked like little toys!

Our favorite - Monster Mutt hehe!

Stock Show

Well we survived another stock show - just barely ;) Just wanted to share this picture of the thermometer in John's truck on our way in to show Saturday morning, yikes! (it was 9 in some places)

So this was one for the books with the cold weather. We took the pigs in and washed them Wed evening to avoid driving them or washing them after the cold front arrived. They were not happy with the cold and didn't eat well while they were there and I don't blame them! We did end up buying heat lamps for them, which I think they appreciated. The kids were fascinated with the steaming poop and pee from the pigs that morning - as well as steaming pigs coming from getting washed (we didn't wash ours that morning - only spot cleaned). It was also so cold that my camera stopped working, darn it! Mom thankfully got a few pics with her camera while mine was warming up enough to work again. Definitely not used to that cold of weather!

Anyway, Colten placed 1st with his pig and was in the running for grand champion (woohoo!), and Ashlyn's didn't place. Hers were both in the same class so Colten had to show one for her. I think the pigs were just too cold to look good :)

Here are the kids bundled up before the show in the pig barn:

Here is Colten showing his:

And Ashlyn with hers (Colten is behind her):

Here's Colten with his 1st place ribbon (way to go Colten - we were all super excited!!)
Here's Ashlyn with the judge (not our pig):


And here's Colten with the judge (still the same pig):


This year, we're going to Kerrville, too, so we're not done yet! That show will be on the 22nd, so we have time to get Ashlyn's looking good hopefully! And I'm crossing my fingers that the weather will be better for this one.

Just wanted to note also that John & I found it interesting that weathermen mentioned several times that this weekend was the coldest it's been since Feb 1996 ;) Wonder who got married this time?

Happy New Year!

Yes, I'm a little late, but things have been kinda crazy - getting back to work after two weeks, trying to set up an outing for the cub scouts, stock show this weekend and Colten's birthday coming up - lots going on! We had a great Christmas, but I don't have time to get into details, so here are some pictures from the break instead:

2009 Holidays

Wish the kids luck (and warmth) this weekend! I am NOT looking forward to being out at the stock show in 11 degree weather, but so be it...