Job update

The Captain has been enjoying his new job. He has found lots of talk radio that he likes to listen to during his almost 3 hour commute daily. He really likes Allistair Begge. I probably spelled that wrong, but the Captain highly recommends him. He's a minister out of Ohio. Surprisingly, he has been content with all the driving. His back is very sore on Fridays but he is handling it well.

Recently, the Captain was told that the whole company is going to a 4 day work week. Cash reserves are getting low, so everyone will be cut to 32 hours for an undetermined amount of time. We still aren't sure how to feel about this. He's thankful he was not laid off. We don't know if this is writing on the wall of a future lay off to come. We still retain all the same medical benefits which is great.

A truly amazing thing (I love it how God works) is that the hospital has been calling me just this week to see if I can work during the week. They are very busy and have more patients than they know what to do with. I have not been able to, but I did call them today to see if I could work Fridays during this time. (The Captain is to work M-Th). We will see how that turns out.

We would covet your prayers during this time. Pray they will get a new investor soon that will work out well for the company.

We will keep you posted.

Photos

We had not had professional photographs taken in awhile due to some unfortunate photographer mishaps and grouchy children. However, I decided to try again.

I loved the photographer! She was amazing. She was patient and fun. She got them laughing. She didn't cut off any one's head. She didn't act surprised that they might not sit still for 10 minutes. She didn't contort the children in weird poses. Thank you Tanya!

Here's one with mom that we thought the Captain would like for his desk at work.

OK- this was just too cute!

Sweet boy!

Handsome young man!

This has to be one of my favorite pictures. He is adorable! (but I am not biased at all)

Yes, I am a sucker for matching outfits. I just can't resist. Looking forward to getting the photos in my hands.

The results are in 2010

Here's the Captain working his magic in the pit crew on race day.

Here's a shot of the race track.

The Little Apple team continued their domination. The Test pilot won 1st in the speed division for his age group.

Crash won 1st in speed for his age division and won 3rd for design in his group.

Wingman won 1st in the open division against a bunch of old guys. He scorched them. I didn't get pictures but he was so cute. He would toddle up to the track and turn over his car. Then he would run and sit at the bottom and begin chanting, "Ready, set, go!"

They then had a race amongst all the Apple team and Wingman won that one by .2 of a second. Crash still holds the track record from last year. That car was fast. No one came close to beating his time.

Things I learned:

1. When your dad is an engineer and has built models for years you have a huge advantage.

2. Apparently, the secret to a fast car is liquid graphite and polishing your wheels and axles. At least that's what my pit crew says.

3. The test pilot really needs to work on his humility. I mean big time!

4. Crash and Wingman didn't care much about the trophies. They just wanted to race. Crash through a fit when his group was over. He didn't care that he had won. He just wanted to keep racing.

The race is on

Well, I have to make this 2 separate posts because blogspot won't allow more pictures. Here's the first set.

The much anticipated Gran Prix arrived. Here's Crash holding his car- The Wes Texas Tornado. I love that name!

Here's the toothy grinned test pilot with his Christ car.

Here's some close ups of the completed cars.

The is Wingman's car complete with a football on the rear.

They have worked so hard and were eagerly awaiting the race. The results are...

Your daily physics lesson

No, I am not starting a series of physics posts on my blog. I just thought I would share my experience so you wouldn't have to do this "experiment."

Do you remember F= ma? Let me refresh your memory.

The "m" is mass. Let's just say 8lbs for example. The "a" is acceleration. We will use the acceleration of gravity which is 9.81 m/s (squared).

This is what happens when the mom accidentally drops an 8 lb weight on the wood floor.

Did you know 78 Newtons worth of force could do that? Neither did I. I will be a lot more careful while exercising.

The bad part is there is really no way to fix the floor. I see an area rug in our future.

Other birthday pics

I found some more pictures of the birthday extravaganza. I am always glad my dad is here to take pictures. Somehow I got 5 pictures of the weekend and he got 102. I guess I am too busy with the child rearing.

I guess we just wore poor Grandave out. This is one I got of him.

My dad tries really hard anytime all the grand kids are together to get a group shot. This shot turned out pretty well. I just don't want to tell what I am doing in the background to make them all giggle. The test pilot is 7, Crash is 4, and Wingman is 2. E is 6, A is 5, and D is 3. ( just for remembering)

Here's my mom and Crash watching some of the Olympics. The boys love the luge.

There was a whole lot of track building this weekend all over my house. They had this track in the living room. Geo trax were in their bedroom. All I asked was that they left a walk way for the adults.

This sweet little voice would appear and ask, "Nana, don't you want to play some air hockey?" Nana played a lot of air hockey this weekend.

We had lots of fun. The morning after the party Crash asks, "Is is Crash's birthday?" I felt bad telling him he had to wait until July.

Happy early Birthday Test Pilot!

As usual, we had the early celebration for the Captain's birthday. It's just when the extended family can get together. I can't believe he is almost 7 years old. We are having his well check up next week. I can't wait to see how tall he is! Let's say he has been wearing a lot of high water pants lately.

The test pilot decided he liked Wingman's football cake that he wanted one to. It made party planning easier on mom.

All the kids made football helmets out of milk jugs. They seemed to have lots of fun.

We tried to punt the football blind folded and dizzy. I think they were cheating and could see through the blind folded. Otherwise, they were ALL amazing!

We tried throwing the football through a target. Those guys had a pretty good arm.

Then my least favorite time of the birthday party. The gift opening time or otherwise known as mob the child and the presents. At what age will this stop? I realize they are all excited and I have tried to develop ways to combat this, but alas it has not worked. Here's hoping for birthday #8.

He got great presents and was very excited about them all. I have to say this was one of my favorite birthday parties of his. I prefer to not have the parties at my house, because of the chaos. I really mean those sweet energetic little children who are hopped up on sugar and the weather is freezing so they can't go outside. We decided to try the home party again and the weather cooperated. Thank you God! It was a great day!

Probably not what she signed up for

My grandmother made a surprise visit to our house this weekend. My parents and sister came down for an early birthday celebration and so she decided to join the fun. As you view the rest of the pictures, please keep in mind this is my children's great-grandmother.

Here she is jumping on the trampoline with my niece.

Now the great-grandmother took a spill.

Here's she hanging out with Wingman in the trampoline. He is still learning to jump.

Next, she was a real trooper and climbed in the bouncey house with all those wild great-grandchildren of hers.

First, how many grandmothers or great-grandmothers can or would be willing to do such things. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives. We had fun visiting. She played trains, legos, and listened to the outrageous tales of those children. We had a great weekend with her. Thanks for the visit and we hope you come again.

Daddy's boy

Wingman is so excited when daddy comes home each evening. He loves to run out to the garage and give him a big hug around the knees.

He also gets quite selfish. He just assumes that daddy is now home to play exclusively with him. In Wingman's eyes, daddy doesn't need to talk to mommy or play with the other brothers. Just give him undivided attention.

One of his favorite activities is to assemble puzzles with dad. Granted the Captain does most of the organizing and tells Wingman where to put the pieces, but he loves it.

He's also becoming quite the mimic. I noticed he leans on his arm only if daddy leans on his arm. If daddy stretches out his arms so does Wingman. It's really cute.

Car progress

The race cars are all sanded, primed, and have the white base coat of paint on. We (by "we" I mean them) are ready to paint.

The Captain is trying to really understand what the test pilot wants on his car.

The test pilots want his car to have a layer of gold paint and then silver.

He wants the #100 on it. (We don't know the significance of the number.)

He wants the entire verse of John 3:16 on the car.

He wants the word "Christ" on his car inside the lightening bolt.

Can I remind you that these cars are 7 inches long and 1.5 inches wide?

I am not sure how all that will fit, but knowing the Captain he will make it work.

While mommy's away...

I worked last weekend and when I came home this was what was on the camera.

All the boys (all 4 of them) decided to have a lego-fest and spent the day rebuilding all their Power Miner legos. (It had something to do with the lego guys drilling for crystals and the rock monsters trying to take away the crystals.)

Then they spent the rest of the afternoon playing with the stone chopper, thunder driller, and mine mec. Who comes up with these names?

Anyhow, they were very proud of their accomplishments.

All 4 of them build well together. The Captain gives direction and helps out the younger ones as needed. The test pilot is assembles legos quite independently but he will come up with reasons he needs help simply for the social aspect of building together. Crash is doing quite well building with the bigger pieces. The small ones frustrate him still. Wingman can even do some building too, really he is more into destruction. Then Crash and Wingman enjoy playing with the creations that the test pilot has put together. It works out well for all.

Where have the curls gone?

It's been a sad time for mama. Crash's curls are going away. He started out with very little hair and certainly no curl.

Then a few months later we get lots of beautiful red curls.

I love watching his hair at the beach. It would really curl up tight and just blow in the wind.

He's quite the show stopper. I get stopped frequently for little old ladies to admire his red curly hair.

Alas, this is him today. The curl has all fallen out on the top. He still has some curl around the ears and the back, but I can tell it's loosening up too. I have tried cutting it shorter or using gel to bring back the curl but to no avail.

He's still awful cute though!

A new role

The Captain has embarked on a new role this semester. He was asked to teach a Sunday School class at church. He was initially nervous, because speaking in front of people is not something he does often. However, he took this step of faith and now is a Bible class teacher.

As a completely unbiased person, I think he is doing great. He is teaching a class called "Fundamentals of the Faith" using a book by John MacArthur.

It's a 13 week course working through this book. He has got a good class that so far has had some insightful discussions.

While I have always been proud because my husband is a very smart engineer, great with the kids, and super handy around the house. It really makes me beam to see him humbly take on this role as teacher of the Word. Thank you God for a husband that desires to serve you in all that he does!

2 going on 7

Wingman is having an identity crisis. You see he is only 2. In fact, he just turned 2, but you would have a hard time telling him that. He thinks he is at least 4 or maybe 7.

He just wants to do what his big brothers do- like riding their bikes. He does have a tricycle of his own, but no he wants to ride the test pilot's bike.

His feet don't even come close to hitting the pedals.

The funny part is that he was insisting on riding the test pilot's bike after he already fell off Crash's bike. He doesn't learn very well. He is trying to grow up way too fast.