Melissa's Pinewood Derby

I know, when you hear Pinewood Derby, Cub Scouts is the first thing to come to mind. Our church group bought a pinewood derby this year for the cub scouts, and thought it would be a fun idea to have the girls have their own "derby". So, the girls jumped at the chance and we had our first ever "girls derby". Steve helped Melissa come up with an idea, and then made it. Here's the final result.
And just an FYI, the entire car is made from the original pinewood derby car kit they were given. All legit. Steve cut down the car, and made their own "pencils" and Melissa worked her magic with paint. {If you look over Melissa's shoulder, check out the tube of lipstick in the back!}

Here was Melissa's first run, she got fourth, but after that, was some smooth sailing. I didn't get more video because I was helping with the refreshments, but Steve did manage to get some pictures.

{Sorry the video won't post for some reason, but I'll try again another time!}

Getting ready for the race...

A second place finish!

Another second place finish!

All in all, it was a fun night and Melissa had a great time with her Dad!

October update...

I haven't had much time for blogging lately, so I thought I would take an evening with Steve working late, and get caught up on all of our October happenings. I didn't realize I had missed so much, and will have to pick up on Halloween some other time! Needless to say, we sure were busy!

RIding a bike!

In an attempt to enjoy our last bit of warmth, the kids rode bikes as much as they could.

Jenna wanted to try and learn how to ride without her training wheels, and I attempted to help her.

She was starting to get the hang of it!

But now with the snow, we'll probably have to start at square one in the spring, but I am hoping the old adage that you never forget how to ride a bike really is true!

Character Convention

In second grade, they have a tradition around Halloween where the kids all dress up as their favorite character from a book. They get up in front of the class, and introduce themselves as the character and tell some interesting things about them. Spencer chose Ron Weasley (cause they share the red hair) from the Harry Potter books. At the time, Spencer had just started reading the books, and now he is halfway through the series... Here Spencer is giving a portion of his speech:

Sorry you can't hear it so well, but apparently something was funny in the end!

Jenna

In October, I had Jayden in to the doctor's office with an ear infection. While there, the doctor said that they'd been seeing a lot of Croup cases and in teens no less. So, wouldn't you know that less than a week later, I have Jenna in to the doctor's office and she's got croup! He said that after the fever went away, she needed to stay home from school for 24 hours. So, to pass the time, she watched plenty of movies.... And took lots of bubble baths!

Altogether, she was out of school for 4 days. Tough for someone who had waited SO LONG just to get to go to school.

Kindred Spirits

The only one in our house that loves video games as much as Spencer is Jayden. He is SO happy just to sit and watch Spencer play. Don't get me wrong, he likes to play too!

The Pumpkin Patch

At school the kids got a flyer from a local nursery advertising a free hayride and a pick of any pumpkin for bringing in a can of food for the local food bank. We weren't doing anything, so we hopped in the car and drove on over. The kids had fun riding on the tractor, and even more fun picking out the perfect pumpkin. Jayden just about picked up every pumpkin he saw before settling on one...

Funny thing is, he settled on the tiniest pumpkin he could find (see photo below)...

Melissa, Spencer and Jenna searched far and wide to find their pumpkins.

Spencer settled on this one, but the bummer about it was it began to rot before he could carve it.

See? Jayden's perfect find!

Jenna of course, came home with the biggest pumpkin.

Our Fall Harvest

In October, there was a threat of a frost, so the kids and I went out one Saturday and went and picked all the produce in our garden. Pretty much all that was left was the watermelons and pumpkins. The other stuff got eaten by bugs. Not our best "garden" year, but had a plentiful harvest of melons!

Jayden made sure that EVERY pumpkin was picked...

Afterwards, the kids enjoyed the fruits of our labor!

6th Grade Program

It's inevitable... Every year, each grade puts on a program and it is the same one year after year. For the sixth graders, they put on a program about the ancient civilizations. Melissa was a part of the Greeks. Here she is in her cute little costume...

And this is her trio...

After a brief little speaking part...

The three of them sang:

The program was actually quite enjoyable and only lasted for 45 minutes. The perfect amount of time if you ask me.

Mr. Dibble's Garden

This year, in the spirit of Fall, our school did another round of Mr. Dibble's Garden (He's the principal). My kids did it last year, and Jenna was excited to be able to join Melissa and Spencer this year in entering. Here were some of the entries from the school...

These were what my kids made...

Jenna's was two apple people in a boat...

Spencer's was just a monster face...

And Melissa's I think she called it a "simple creature". I took these pictures after they brought them home from school. They were supposed to bring them in on Monday and my kids got up bright and early before school to make them and we didn't have time to take pictures before.