Pinewood Derby

The pinewood derby is coming up this weekend. Its amazing how much my own experiences with this thing have come into play with Henry's. My dad went to great lengths to make sure that I had a great car, and now, I feel serious pressure, not bad pressure, but serious pressure to do the same. I have spent some time now working on Henry's car. Here are some pictures of the process. I didn't take one of the block of wood that it started out as. I kind of wish I had though, just to show you the complete transformation. I will put the wheels on, after some "reworking", this week. The "S2" stands for "Shark 2". Last year's car was name "The Shark." I think this model is a distinct improvement. Henry picked the colors. :)

db

through sickness... and beyond!

So, this is the first day that I have felt ok after the freaking Norovirus took our house. Jenny actually got it early this morning, but the rest of us seem to be fine now. I did manage to snap some picture before I got sick, one in the midst of being sick and one this morning. So, consider this a visual tour of my last three days.

The last picture is my picture for today. I put a stand with four birdfeeders on it in our front flower garden/bush area. It has lately been attracting huge swarms of goldfinch. The kids love to watch them and I love to watch them watch them. :)

db

yeah... um... quaint...

I though that tonight I would sneak outside and take a nice quaint picture of our house from the outside. Nice windows lit up... nice stars in the background... This is what I got. CREEPY!!! Well, it at least doesn't feel like a sideways tilted, scary tree backgrounded, house of the dead.

db

(remember you can click on any of these pictures to get a bigger view)

In the ruins

This morning I asked Henry if he wanted to go with me for my walk with Chauc and he wrestled between wanting to play with legos, or having an "adventure." I told him we had all vacation, so no big deal. It was just he and I awake, the girls were still sleeping (typical). He eventually decided he wanted to come.

It was kind of cold, but nice. I walked him through the old ruins of several of the big buildings that used to be the Prison Camps in Rutland State Park. Maybe I will write a bit more about those later. The foundations are still impressive, even if they are super old. The best ruin is on top of the main hill in the field section of the park. It is kind of hidden in the trees. It once had a complete rounded courtyard surrounded with an iron fence. We walked all around it. Henry seemed pretty interested. I saw him taking a small rock from the foundation and hiding it in his mitten. He said he was "saving" it for later.

I love Henry. Chauc jumped in the freezing river on the way home. It was a really nice morning.

This afternoon I started carving Henry's pinewood derby car, "Shark II." I will put up a post of the whole sequence of building it later. I must say, its coming out pretty great. Henry stayed with me downstairs while I widdled away at it and smashed some geods he got for his birthday.

Life is nice around here again.

db

Soup and the plague

Well, the lovely norovirus came to visit our house. Jenny and I are still waiting to see if it gets us too. Both kids came down with it. It seemed to be primarily done after about 12 hours. Not a very good 12 hours though. But here we are, ok at the end of it.

I made corn chowder. My ultimate comfort food is soup, actually, it is tomato soup with shells. When I am sick, this is what I run to. But all soup really fits that bill. I made a quick corn chowder for the kids while they were in the throws of this sickness. There is just something about the warmth, the easiness of a soup that makes things feel ok.

I am sorry about the missing couple of days in the full year sequence here, but it was pretty bad around here for a little bit. I am back though, and I have a week off for February vacation. Thank God. I needed this so bad. I only wish we were going away somewhere warm and restful. But I will take it anyway.

My big goals for this break are to get caught up in correcting, and to build the shelves for our upstairs bathroom. Maybe I will take some pictures of that in progress!

db

Henry's Party

Henry had his party this weekend. It was crazy and fun, I guess the way that parties need to be for big boy 8 year olds. We divided his party up into two this year, one for friends and one for family. The family one will be in a week or two.

Henry invited 11 kids over. We don't have a big house... but it still felt fine. They were crazy loud, but its just so enjoyable to see him with his friends. So far, I really like Henry's friends. They seem a lot like him, so what's not to like right? The card in the picture was made by one friend in particular that I am happy to see him befriend. She is a girl! Yes! I love that! And she is an awesome girl, she loves all the same stuff that Henry does, as evidenced by the card she made him :).

So it was a good weekend, busy but good. It seems like every birthday in the world happens within these few weeks in February. Henry's big gift from us was a real microscope. We got it off of amazon, it is an overstocked medical microscope... the real deal. He is already completely enthused. He wanted to bring it to school, not going to happen. It's so cool to have a sciency kid. We have already looked at plant cells, spit, grasshopper parts, cotton fibers etc. I gave him his first lesson on how to care for it tonight. He is excited. Love that. All of the other gifts that his friends got him were spot on too.
Eight years old.... sheesh.... he is growing up fast.

db

Jenny's nearly not there birthday

Today is Jenny's Birthday, but first let me just comment on the picture. I have all of these nice pictures that I took of Jen at the Bollywood Grill tonight (a restaurant that Henry chose to go to for his birthday supper) but there was just something about this picture that completely cracks me up! It is like some artsy mood shot! Ha!

Right, now on to the serious stuff: Jenny and I have been together forever, since her sophomore year of high school. I can't even imagine that, knowing so many sophomores. So, although we do have young kids, our relationship is anything but young. We have weathered everything that life (and each other) has thrown at us. Our marriage is so far past that honeymoon stage that I sometimes find it hard to remember it at all.

I think that relationships are like little living creatures. They grow into unique and self governing entities. What Jen and I have is our own. We cannot, and should not compare it to others, because it would only simplify what shouldn't be only quickly acknowledged. I have learned that love grows thickly underneath the surface of feelings, and when those feelings fly all over the place... almost a daily occurrence around here sometimes, it is love, something more akin to devotion and servitude than emotion, that remains steady.

It is Jenny's birthday today... and we celebrated Henry's birthday dinner at the restaurant of his choosing. I gave Jen a card, and she is going to be picking out a bike for a gift this year. But Henry's birthday was yesterday, and his party is tomorrow and between these things, I am afraid her birthday is taking a back seat. When you're young, it may seem like the worst thing in the world to have someone eclipse your birthday, but with perspective, maybe letting Henry outshine her a bit isn't so bad. I know that is the way she feels, I asked her.

That top layer of emotion just peels away after a while, and if you managed it, what might be left, is what counts: Perspective, wisdom, humility and devotion.

You are beautiful Jenny.

Happy Birthday
Dave