Pinewood Derby Car Making

I've been hearing Neil and Richard talk about their Pinewood Derby cars since I met Neil.  I really had no idea what they even were.  Apparently it is a huge deal!  Families have their own designs, they get obsessed, and it gets really serious!  Richard came over to help build Bennett's car.  Henry was able to build one, too, for a sibling round!  What fun!

They drilled out holes in the bottom of the car and sanded it down for an hour.  Next came lead pouring, adding wheels, and painting.  Lots of work!

Neil melted lead on the stove using the same pot he and his dad used to use.  How sweet!

Neil poured it in the holes to make sure no one was burned!

Here's Henry sanding his.

More to come at the Pinewood Derby...

Playing Dress-up

Ashleigh cleaned out all of her girls dress-up clothes and gave them to SK.  How sweet!  We had a fun evening dressing her up!

Hospital field trip

Bennett's class had a little field trip to the hospital and I was glad I got to run over to it!  What a fun morning learning about the hospital!

Our Little Gymnast

Nana and Granddad gave Sarah Kathryn 2 months of gymnastics for her Christmas gift.  We have so much fun going!  I love that they give "experiences" rather than toys.  It is so nice because we just don't need one more thing at our house!

I felt so clueless about what to wear to gymnastics.  Ashleigh donated all her girls dress up clothes to SK so I was going to let her wear the little leotards tings with skirts. I had to ask Erin is that's what she wears! ha!  No, apparently they just wear leotards with no skirt.

My little sweetie in her leotard just kills me!!

cheeeeese!

finding her polka dot

We had to lose the bow doing all the forwards rolls.

the bar was not her favorite

She loved the trampoline, but her feet don't even come off the thing when she "jumps!" ha!

Bonfire at the 604

Neil always wants to have folks out to the camp.  It is a fun place and we really should go more.  He planned a bonfire to burn Christmas trees and it was so much fun.  By plan, I mean he sent texts to a few people few hours before and everyone came!  We were shocked!  Andre cooked and we made s'mores.  Neil and the boys spent the night and so did Andre and Maddie.  It turned out to be a great time with friends and family!

the trees went up so quickly! It was so scary since these are usually in homes!

The kids played pie in the face too!

New Years Eve 2015

New Years Eve sure has changed over the years.  Today we were focused on doing fun stuff with our kids and just going out to dinner.  We picked up Sam and then headed to Altitude, then Sci-port for the balloon drop, then to Johnny's for lunch.  A fun-filled morning indeed!

I love the balloon drop!

SK did too!

our family plus a photo bomber!

We went and got a few fireworks to do with the kids and Gammy before we went to dinner.  This was the first year they all didn't freak out!  I am so glad because I have so many memories of doing firework "shows" with Jennifer for the neighborhood on Richard Ave.

2 different shoes

She is ALWAYS cheesin'

And I just can't get over her Beaufort Bonnet hat.  Initials knitted into it?  Yes, please!

Trying out my "night portrait" option on the camera

Gammy loves sparklers!

I loved this one!

Henry thought they were going to pop so he kept covering his ears.

It was exciting to have something to look forward to!  I was talking to Leslie the other day and she said NYE is always a big bust and I totally agree. Glad we made a plan!  Our original plan was to attend Toast at Sci-port which sounded totally fun, but we couldn't find a 4th couple for the table so we opted for the Steakhouse instead. We had lots of fun.  It seemed that everyone had the same idea.  We saw lots of people we knew!  It must have been the place to be!

Happy 2016 from the Lewises!