Awana Grand Prix

This was Rachel's 1st year to race in the Awana Grand Prix.  She chose the shape of her car and painted and decorated it.   We went with a aqua blue with hand painted silver swirls.  Then we bejeweled the top and added a "lucky" half dollar for weight.

Her car was doing great!  It came in 1st or 2nd in every heat except for one.  One time down the car jumped the track and it got a "did not finish".  I think that's what done us in.  Had it not been for that one run I think should might have got a trophy. 

But we had fun and did our best....and that's what matters. :)



Read My Pins

After grabbing a Starbuck's I headed out to the IMA today to go to the exhibit of former Secretary of State Madeline Albright's pins.  Here's a description from the IMA website that explains it better than I could.

Organized by the Museum of Arts and Design, Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection highlights over 200 pins from the unique collection of the former Secretary of State. The Madeleine Albright collection includes pins of every description, many with fascinating stories attached. Some of the pieces are associated with important world events, others were gifts from international leaders or valued friends. A select number of the pins are fine antiques, most are costume jewelry, chosen for the symbolic messages they might convey. As the fame of Albright's pins has grown, so has their variety and number. Distinctive as it is democratic, this often whimsical collection spans more than a century of jewelry design and includes pieces from across the globe.

It was a really nice exhibit and interesting.  Some of those pins were huge!  Don't know how she wore them without leaning to one side. :)   Of course I had to shoot some photos.  I've shot several photos of the "Love" sculpture, but it look especially nice in the snow today.

Eagle Pride

Rachel was selected by her teacher as an Eagle Pride student this quarter.  Eagle Pride students are helpful to their classmates, respectful, and give their best effort.  They each received certificates and pins and their photos are out in the hallway.  Way to go Rachel! :)

And for Aaron the beat goes on and on!  Here he is hammering it out for the youth group band.

Dusty's new toy

My father-in-law has 2 of just about everything.  He ended up with 2 snowblowers.  So after Christmas they brought one of them over for Dusty.  I was convinced that since we had snow for 3 weeks and they brought it when it was melting off that it wouldn't snow for the rest of the winter and it would go unused. :)  Not so!  After he pulled in from work Dusty headed out to play with the snowblower.  He did our drive and a couple of the neighbors.  However I did have to disappoint some kids who rang the doorbell offering to shovel the driveway.  "Sorry....getting ready to fire up the snowblower." :)

Nothing big going on here...

....except for this marshmallow that Rachel decided to put in her hot chocolate today!  It's been a quiet week.  Kids go to school, Dusty goes to work, it's cold, and the Colts are out of the play-offs.  So there you have it.  However having a much more exciting week than I am is my cousin Chad and his wife Brenda.  They are on a mission trip to Costa Rica this week.  If you would like to see what they are doing, drop by their blog:  Off the Cuff    Have a great week!

16 Years

Our 16th wedding anniversary was on Dec. 31st.  However since we are usually occupied that day with partying with friends, eating all kinds of unhealthy foods, and generally trashing our house with confetti we decided to celebrate earlier in the week.   A few days after Christmas we dropped the kids off at Mom and Dad's and headed to Springfield, IL.  We stayed at this bed and breakfast that was a few block from the Illinois state capitol building.  It was an older restored building and was still decorated for Christmas.  Very nice!



Then the next day we visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidental Museum.  It was really interesting, and probably more enjoyable because we didn't have to worry about keeping 2 kids entertained. 

A life sized Lincoln family

Outside Union Station in Springfield

Had a very fun and relaxing time.  Thanks Mom and Dad for watching the kids!

Happy New Year!

We kicked off 2011 with a houseful.  There were plenty of games, food, activities, fun....and confetti!  The kids decorated some gingerbread men.  I'd like to smack whoever thought it was a good idea to put black frosting in the gingerbread kit! :)

Sarah came in her fancy party jacket.  I think it was a choir jacket in its former life.  However I am assured that it will be making an appearance at future New Year's parties from now on.

Heather and I will be investing in sunglasses before next year!

Games were everywhere including euchre....which for the record Paul and I won. :)   And this game aptly named Perpetual Commotion.  This is a tame photo before the action started.  Not sure what's going on here, but it appears that Daniel is telling us something that we don't quite believe.

There was Wii games like Rock Band.  David busted out his best moves all evening long!

Midnight hit and the confetti went flying

This year we went with a big bowl of punch....which needs to be bigger next year!  Molly loved the stuff and was disappointed when it was all gone.

The rest of our partying gang

Happy 2011!