Happy Birthday, Grandpa Nosek!

What a fabulous Saturday!! We went over to my in-law's house to celebrate Dave's dad's birthday. I was too busy to eat lunch before we left, and that was a very good thing. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law made the most wonderful appetizers and meal for us...bruschetta, mozzerella and tomatoes, beef stroganoff, bok choy salad and fruit salad. They are amazing cooks. I'm still stuffed!

The kids loved all of the food, but they expecially loved all of the presents Grandpa got for his birthday. Their Grandpa is definitely a kid at heart. Alongside some shirts and socks (which he jokingly tossed over his shoulder in disgust), he also got a few toys, some of which he shared with his grandchildren. :)

Here's a picture of Grandpa with almost all of his grandchildren. Poor Nadia was home with the stomach flu. Vika is pregnant with the youngest grandson. To top it all off, my mother-in-law made her delicious carrot cake, a definite family favorite. Evan was very impressed with the huge candle on top of the cake. He and Caroline graciously helped their grandpa to blow it out. :)

Happy birthday, Grandpa!

Pinewood Derby 2010!

Our cub scout pack had their pinewood derby tonight. The kids' cars looked great, and they ran pretty well. Henry's and Seth's cars got 11th place, and Caroline's car got 2nd place in the sibling's division. Way to go, kids!Henry with his good friends, Alex and Grant, before the start of their raceWe had "technical difficulties" in recording the boys's races, but we were able to right things with Caroline's race. Here she is waiting at the end of the track for her car to race. She was a little excited. :) Her car was fast! It's the pink one, "FLOWER POWER"!


Here she was when she found out that her car won 2nd place. She was a happy girl!

PARTY at Barbie's townhouse tonight!

Because of my two sisters' generosity, Caroline's Barbie townhouse is well-stocked. After Karen had shared a lot of her dolls, clothes and accessories last month, Lisa and her daughters, Annie, Callie and Evie, just sent a fresh shipment of Barbies and Barbie cars today. Caroline was a happy little girl setting everything up today! Thanks Aunt Lisa (and Caroline's sweet cousins!) and Aunt Karen!

Seth's 1st Reconciliation

This was a big night for Seth. He had his first confession at our church. He was concerned before we left to go to the church which sin to confess to the priest, as he said he had many from which to choose. ;) However, he did a great job, and seemed so grown-up as he went by himself to confess to the priest. Two boys from Seth's school class made their 1st Reconciliation with him. Here's Seth by the First Penance Banner that hangs next to the altar. All of the 1st Reconciliation children's pictures are on it.

The children were responsible for making a candle that represents them. (Seth's was all about camping.) The candles were lit during the mass.

We're proud of you, Seth!

Who needs toys?

One FEATHER can keep this boy occupied. ;)

While Seth was scouting tonight...

...what were the other three doing?

Henry was reading, as he has been non-stop for the past few days. He's reading the Gregor, the Overlander series like I read the Twilight series. He has a very hard time putting these books down to do mundane things like eating or sleeping. :)

Our other two? They were being armless firemen...

...and playing in the almost-completed playhouse that their Daddy made for them under the stairs. :)

Scouts, Scouts and More Scouts

Between yesterday and today, Henry, Seth and Caroline each had a scout meeting. I helped to lead Caroline's yesterday, and Dave led Seth's tonight at our house. With the meetings and finishing up the pinewood derby cars, I'm really not sure how we've fit anything else in. :) The pinewood derby race is Friday, and Henry, Seth AND Caroline all will be entering their own car. We're doing some SERIOUS scouting this week, and loving it!

The Daisy Scout squeeze

The Daisy Scout pledge

Seth and Dave working on a display case for his pinewood derby car
Seth sanding with his fellow scouts
All work and no play make for dull scouts...time for FUSSBALL!

Eric

When my cousins, Tom and Dianna, were over on Saturday, they were showing us pictures and telling us about their son Eric's graduation from basic training with the Marines. Our whole family is so proud of him! Tom and Dianna gave us a picture of Eric in his dress blues. When Caroline saw the picture, she started asking me questions about him. I told Caroline that Eric is a Marine now, and that he helps to protect us and our country.

She was very impressed, and wanted to draw a picture for him. Unfortunately, right now he doesn't have an address where we can send him anything, so I told her that we would try to send him the picture via our blog. The black and red figure at the top of the page is Eric, and Caroline wrote, "Caroline, to cousin Eric." She also drew a picture of her pinewood derby car to share with him. Apparently, it says, "Tik, tik, tik!" Here's a close up of Eric's picture (so handsome!)...and one last story to share. After I tucked Caroline into bed last night, I went downstairs to do a little clean up. After a few minutes, she came downstairs telling me that she was scared. Then she asked if she could bring Eric's picture into her room with her because he protects her. :) She then went right to sleep.