Pinewood Derby Round 2- Town Scouts

This year Miss P decided to race a car too! The town scouts offers a sibling race as well as the normal race for the scouts. Here are their cars in all their glory!
H used his same car from the church derby, since we didn't want to make 2. Miss P picked to make hers like Perry the platypus from the TV show Phinneas and Ferb.
H again won "Best Paint Job!" All the scouts and kids racing got to vote for this. Way to go H!
Miss P with Perry!
Great races as always, and here's to next year!

Sunday Thoughts

I had the privilege of speaking at my church today to the congregation. I was asked to speak about The Transforming Power of Faith and Character, which was a talk given by one of our churches apostles by the name of Elder Richard G. Scott. I would like to share a few quotes that I used in my talk that I really liked.
The first one came from Elder Scott's talk- "We BECOME what we want to BE by consistently BEING what we want to BECOME each day."
The second is one from Helen Keller- "Character can not be developed in ease and quiet only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
This last one I found on a friends Facebook pages and I am not sure who quoted it. "Truly the Lord encourages us to walk in faith to the edge of the light and beyond- into the unknown. After the trial of our faith, he once again shines the light ahead of us and our journey of faith in every footstep continues."

Future Rockstar!

This lil' one has picked up playing drums for a while now. Santa even got brought him some real drumsticks!!! (goodbye chopsticks!)
Our problem was lil'G was breaking every bowl in the house and we were having to hide all the aluminum bowls, those ones are super loud! But we really needed something else that would work. I had no idea how expensive drums are! And our babe is only 2 years old!
In comes, Dad to the rescue! We spent our date night as a family at Lowe's get all the things needed to make a drum set that dad had thought up in his mind! Yes, Brandon does have an amazing one at that!! I am truly amazed at the things he does, almost daily! This is what he came up with.
We have our own rock band going one here!
And yes, we are watching plenty of movies with drums scenes in them- School of Rock and the newer Freaky Friday!
Go Lil'G!! PS- I am also truly amazed as I watch him play that he takes his sticks and positions his hands a certain way and he also does the tap the sticks together above his head!!! Who knows, down the road, we may be investing into a real drum set! Till then, Keep on Rockin'!

Church Pinewood Derby 2011

This Crazy H had gotten ready this past week for this-
The pinewood derby race with his church scout troop!
There is H at the end of the race track watching.
So he may not have placed, but he got the certificate for "Most Stylish Car!" Now that's my boy!!!

Our Record Snow Fall!

We woke up Tuesday morning to this beautiful thick blanket of white snow! We got over 2 feet of snow!!! It was record breaking here in Connecticut! And the state basically shut down. We had a great day as a family and loads of snow to work with!
Lil'G having his fair share of snow to eat!
At least one of us was working on making sure we could get out of the drive way!
Dad and the tykes worked on making a snow cave. Miss P posing for me!
Here is H in the cave later in the evening. We had a few candles going to help ice it over. H thought that was pretty neat!
The cave all a glow!
These 2 could not get enough of all the snow and were immediately dressed in the morning and out playing!
Here's to show a good amount of snow- that would be our trash can under there!
Miss P told me my car looked like a white mini-van! Oh no, I want my Pilot back!!! That stuff took forever to get off my car!
Lil'G and Daddy gearing up to go outside for snow fun!
This is what its all about, coming inside to warm pj's and snuggling blankets on the couch with a good movie!
YES! We did survive the snow storm of January 2011! Besides, something interesting had to happen on 1-11-11!!

Amish Peace

I just finished reading this amazing book!!! I don't think I have ever really used a highlighter when reading a book since Jr. High! Anyways, with all the great Amish Proverbs they had written at the beginning of each chapter, I just had to highlight a bunch! Thought I would share some with you!

-Take all you want, eat all you take.

-He who has no money is poor; he who has nothing but money is even poorer.

-We live simply so others may simply live.

-It's better to have a wife on your team than on your back.

-The most beautiful attire is a smile.

-Medicine and advice are two things more pleasant to give than to receive.

-Jumping for joy is good exercise.

-Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

-Enjoy today, it won't come back.

-Days are like suitcases, all the same size, but some people are able to pack more into them than others.

-To mistreat God's creation is to offend the Creator.

-Our duty is not to see through one another, but to see one another through.

-Only one life, 'twill soon be past; only what's done for Christ will last.

-Swallowing pride rarely gives you indigestion.

-Kindness, when given away, keeps coming back.

-A friend is like a rainbow, always there for you after a storm.

-If you are true to your faith, there are things you give up for your faith.

-We should not put a question mark where God puts a period.

-The person who forgives does more for himself than for anyone else.

-Good deeds have echoes.

-Swallowing words before you say them is so much better than having to eat them afterward.

-We can stop forgiving others when Christ stops forgiving us.

-God puts the church in the world. Satan seeks to put the world in the church.

Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light.

-We are not promised skies always blue, but a Helper to see us through.

-You can tell how big a person is by what it takes to discourage him.

-Opportunity may knock once, but temptation bangs on your front door forever.

As a Mormon, I found the Amish way of thinking a lot like our way of thinking. It really touched me. I loved reading about their simply lives and the happiness that is all around them. The closeness they have in their communities. How they all just come together to get things done.

So if you need a good, quick read, I sooo recommend this book!

Randon Silliness!

Love it when the kids ask to take pictures with the camera, cause you just never know what you are going to find later!!! Miss P posing while taking some self-portraits!
Another good shot!
He-he-he! Love those little legs hanging out of the coat! Brandon used to do this all the time with H when he was a baby. We always have loved to go on walks and Brandon would put H in a baby sling and then wrap his coat around them to stay nice and warm! Lil'G got to have a taste of that today for some fun!!