He's a Winner and a Launderer!

Dylan and a fellow scout in a close race

It was a close one! Everyone held their breath as 2 cars began their descent down the track during the final heat of the 2008 Pinewood Derby. Well.. I guess there wasn't quite that much drama but it sure was fun! And I think Dylan was feeling a bit jittery as his car was one of the overall winners of the derby this year! Yep - 2nd place! Not bad for a little guy from Okanogan. Hee hee! Actually, the participants were all residents from Omak and Okanogan and this was just the Pack 20 and Pack 60 races. But Dylan does qualify for the District competition to take place in April.

I have to tell you about the final race, though. Dylan and his buddy, Cooper, were competing for first and second place. The policy is to race 3 times for the final heat and take best 2 of 3. Well, who knew the boys would have to race 6 times before we'd finally know who had the faster car! They tied the first 2 races, Cooper won the 3rd, Dylan won the 4th, they tied again in the 5th and Cooper finally won the 6th! Whew! Dylan was a bundle of nerves by the time we were done!

Dylan was the winner of this race, too! And, no, this is not his normal smile!

The dads even got in on the races with their own cars. Steve's didn't do so well but it's all for fun....right?

LAUNDRY!!!!

Dylan learned how to do laundry today. Yippee! Actually, I have always kind of enjoyed doing the laundry. Sick, aren't I! There's something about taking something dirty, making it clean (without a lot of elbow grease - I hate hand washing!), folding it and putting it away that makes me feel like I've accomplished something. Anyway, Dylan complained one too many times this week that he didn't have any clean clothes to wear and that I was such a mean mom to not allow him to wear dirty clothes. I gave him his first lesson on sorting laundry and loading the washing machine. He grumbled a bit but I think he secretly kind of liked it! Tomorrow we'll go over folding and putting away the clean clothes. Somehow, I don't think he'll enjoy that lesson as much! Now, if we could just get Dylan to put his dirty clothes in his dirty clothes basket, he might actually have some clothes to wash!

Tomorrow we're off to the dog races. Sled dog racing that it! This is my favorite January tradition - The annual Conconully Snowdog Supermush. Unfortunately, there isn't a website (that I can find anyway) to send you to so you'll have to wait for my description and pics tomorrow! My friend Amy, who is a third grade teacher here in Okanogan, has raced for the last 3 years. She started out with an interest in the Iditerod and now owns 8 sled dogs and a sled! She's really an inspiration to anyone who has a dream. Her motto is "Dream Big". We'll be out in the sub zero temperatures in Conconully, WA to cheer her on! It'll be worth it!

Happy Birthday, Steve!

The Streeters at Outback Steakhouse

Yep, 38 candles is a lot of candles to blow out! And light! For Steve's birthday I made a peach cobbler (gluten free of course!). The kids and I couldn't keep up with the melting candles. Many of them were completely gone before Steve could blow them out! We had fun eating little bites of blue wax with our cobbler.

It's been a long time since we'd been in Spokane so we took advantage of the long weekend and made a trip over. The weekend was fun, with Chuck E Cheese and a belated dinner out for Steve's birthday. Steve was given a ticket for the Gonzaga game so as he was cheering on the team (and winning a shirt!) the kids and I hit Chuck E. Cheese to meet up with some friends. We normally have this reunion over Christmas break but as we were here this year, we postponed the visit. I didn't tell the kids where we were going so it was fun to hear their squeals as we pulld into the parking lot. Despite the chaos of Chuck's, I enjoyed being able to visit with my friends and play with the kids. I don't do that enough.

Sunday night we gathered Steve's mom and Rod, my parents, Steve's aunt Barb and cousing Kellee and, of course, us and hit Outback Steakhouse for Steve's birthday dinner (the 3rd in a series of 3!). The kids enjoyed the very large crocodiles hanging everywhere and I enjoyed the gluten free menu! I think everyone else enjoyed themselves also. After dinner, we picked up Steve's grandma and headed back to my parent's house for some cake and ice cream.

Rod with Steve's Mom and Aunt Barb

Cousin Kellee

Jill's Dad and Mom

Steve's candles at Outback...

and at Mom and Dad's

I mentioned that Steve has had 3 birthday dinners -none of them homemade! We started with dinner at the Wagon Wheel in Malott with the Cheesemans. Jeff's birthday is on the 12th so we combined the two boys' birthdays into one. The Wagon Wheel is a tiny bar in a tiny town with the best steak night ever! Yum! After dinner I realized that I really like playing the electric guitar - Wii style of course! Our friends, Tara and Jeff live in Malott so we stopped by after dinner and played that guitar game (the name is gone from me right now!). I was hooked!

So, on Steve's "real" birthday, he felt like Mexican food so we hit Rancho Chico - the best Mexican food around! Lyndsi had been home sick that day so she and I (when she hit a perky few moments) decorated the dining room with balloons and streamers. After dinner we went home to the cobbler I mentioned before. I like when we get to have 3 birthday dinners out!

Sick kids abound around here right now. Not only at school but in our own home. Lyndsi spent last weekend throwing up and sleeping and this Thursday and Friday Dylan was throwing up! I think we're all better now, though both kids are very congested and have yucky sounding coughs. Hopefully this trend has ended because I don't want to spend next weekend throwing up and sleeping!

Back to Life...

Yep, school's back in session and life is back to normal. Sort of! Steve and I took down the Christmas decorations today so the house is beginning to resemble it's old self. Still quite a mess in the basement but we're getting there!

School started on Wednesday. Good thing it was a short week - I was still fighting my post Christmas exhaustion! Don't know what's going on but I feel like sleeping an awful lot these days. No, I'm not pregnant and I don't think I'm getting into any gluten infested foods so I don't know what else to think!

I don't have any new pictures to share but if you want to see some fun sledding pictures of Steve and the kids, check out Kendal's blog http://kendaljeanphotography.blogspot.com/. She and her fiance went sledding with Steve, Jeff and all the kids. I'm glad she went because she's a fantastic photographer! She and Shawn have become good friends and I'm happy they chose to move to Okanogan! Like so many of us, Shawn got a job here and now they are planning their wedding.

The kids are being amazingly nice to each other (knock on wood!) Don't get me wrong - we still have our share of teasing and arguing but Steve and I have both look at each other in shock when Dylan gives Lyndsi a compliment (without even a prompt!) or when Lyndsi shares her gum (without being asked!). I don't know - maybe there are some New Year's Resolutions going on that I'm oblivious to!

It warmed up to 40 degrees today so our beautiful snow has begun melt away. It's pretty much a sloppy mess outside right now! However, the sun was shining and birds were chirping so I hardly even noticed the muddy slush!

Well...I guess I've entered the new age...I now own a cell phone! I activated it last night so I even have a phone number. Now, if I could just figure out where to hold it so I can hear through the earpiece! I know, I sound like an old woman. But it's true! I have such a hard time finding the sound when I talk on cell phones! I move the silly thing up and down, over and over until I can actually hear the person on the other end. Oh well, I'm sure I'll be a pro before long!