Pinewood Derby is a Cuss Word in our Family.... or at least to Scott and I .  Our boys get so excited and we dread the and count down the years until we will not have to participate.  So Scott started this years car with Jo-nathan and came up with a wave design.  It was initially so cool.

Scott may have called me with a plea for me to help Jo-nathan finish the car because work was so crazy.  I must be crazy because I said yes.  I had to find enough weights and attach everything, and grease the wheels and file them?  So his car (with life preservers) came just short of the weight limit, yeah, all wheels stayed on, and the hot glue held the weights until almost the end of the racing.  I was on a time limit too.

So Jo-nathan did not take first.  Max cried because he did not race or something, and I missed the whole racing event for a haircut appointment.  Not bad.

A whole year until the next derby.  Wahoo

Climbing Trees

There is a grove of scrub oak trees at the base of rock canyon park.  We love this huge green space that employs are time while Katie dances.  These oak trees are perfect for learning to climb trees.  We love climbing trees... learning to balance, feel comfortable at new heights, and finding the perfect path up.  Sara may not be smiling, she gets frustrated and not being able to keep up with the older siblings, but by the end of the dance year all the kids were doing great.  We collected  the acorns last fall and made a cute felt acorn garland using the acorn caps.  The kids love looking for them each year.   The park has huge hills to roll down and run up. They are nice and tired by the end and I  get in a little extra exercise.  Win, win.

A busy year

We love to celebrate all kinds of things here in the Allen home.  But mostly we love to be with together as a family.  When we get busy, as all end of school years do, we loose these times together and get a little cranky with one another.  We are headed into summertime.  I love summertime.  However, it gets a little old when there is no formal plan or schedule and so I am hoping to get that together this week.  I want to finish planting my garden and watch the apricots grow.  I love it when the kids sit in the backyard and play games.  The trees are loaded with fruit  ....yah!   Peas are growing.   Pumpkin seeds sprouted.  Warm weather is a come'n.   Summertime is almost here with no homework days and no carpools and popsicle fingers.  So happy.

Doing Hard Things

So in motherhood like all evolving things finds new ideas and trends to pursue to help her young be strong, capable, talented. So my newest idea was to instill in my kids the need to do Hard Things. I dread hard things and I run quickly from challenges and have learned that challenges come anyhow and anyway. So way not learn to do hard things gracefully. I am still learning, but in hopes of strengthening future generations I challenged Katie to do those hard things she always avoids. So she decided (last minute) to run for scholar council. She had to talk to lots of kids and give a speech and make a poster at 10 o'clock at night. Win or lose I was proud of her for trying. She was successful and learned a lot in the process. Scholar council is not as fun as it sounds....boring. So then there was the hard thing of choreographing her own dance. Each year the dance students are asked, not required, to make up a dance. We have always been too busy and it would be "hard". So she tackled it. She made up a dance with Sara and showed it to her teacher in preparation for judging/being picked or not for the showcase. Sara was not on bored for the hard thing, and did not preform well in front of her class/teacher. So we were unsure of how to accomplish this hard thing and follow through when it dawned on us that she could use Max in Sara's place. A couple of the lifts were still doable with Max because he is so light and Katie is so strong. They performed for the judges, and did well. Max gave his first performance at anything and came out only a little scared. However, they did get picked for the showcase and Max without dress rehearsal and only two weeks of dancing practiced performed again on stage for a crowd. Scott and I were so proud of Katie and Max for doing something hard and working hard at it. There was a lot of practicing. So hopefully (since helping your kids do hard things makes you do hard things) I can also come alway from this trend a little better at doing hard things.

Making Money

Max has become a money man. We do not give allowances to our kids for the work they are expected to do. Make beds, put away laundry, keep their rooms clean, help with dishes..... However, you can hire out to do extra jobs and earn money. It is Max's new favorite thing to do. On this day he spent several hours filling up dump trucks with leaves and cleaning up the yard. His crew (Sara) gave him labor troubles, but he persisted and finished up his longest, hardest job yet... On his last job (cleaning out the fireplace) he asked if he got bonuses. Max is quick on his feet. Watch out Mom.

Daddy Daughter - I will never start a resturant

I could lie to you and say, that the last daddy daughter activity was amazing and I would totally do it all over again. But it would be a lie. These girls are creative and fun, but helping 16 girls work together to create a fun evening for them and their dads was exhausting. I hope they had so much fun....... because I did not. I was caught between a lot of other projects beside this one and it added to the stress of the evening. However, the Dads showed up and were charming and the girls all glowed at the attention. These pictures don't show the food prep and serving side of the night. It is probably for the best, no restaurant dreams for me. However, I am proud of these girls for dreaming up this activity and following through with assignments. They are awesome..... Good thing this is a once a year sort of thing... seriously.

Hayride with a Kindergartener

Scott went with Max's class to the Big Red Barn in Santaquin. They have a pumpkin patch there where little kids can pick out big pumpkins.....and carry them by themselves because Scott is too mean to help them. True Story. And when a little kid in the group wets himself he tells him it will dry and sends him off to play. Also true. But you win an award because you take lots of pictures of these cute kids....love you for that, also true.