Pinewood Derby 2011

"Flame Insane"

This was Andrew's last year in cub scouts and therefore his last year doing the Pinewood Derby.

Every year his cars have been silver and this year was no exception. He is definitely a creature of habit. I made a flame stencil for him with my vinyl cutter and he did all the painting. He named it "Flame Insane".

He came in 2nd at his pack race and qualified for the city wide District Race at the mall the following month.


Districts 2011
Anxiously watching his car race down the track with his best friend, Ben.


Andrew's car was doing really well at districts. At the district races the last couple of years, there have been two unbeatable boys that have always taken first and second. You just can't beat them. I noticed that Andrew's car was keeping up with theirs pretty well, so when his name got called to go into the semifinals I was pretty stoked thinking he could get third or fourth.

In the semifinals, all the other cars started to slow down a bit but Andrew's never lost any steam. So I figured third would be a piece of cake.

After the race when they started handing out trophies I was totally surprised when they didn't call his name for third...or for second! He got first place! It was a pretty major upset in the world of Pinewood Derby here in Missoula, Montana. It was a proud mommy moment.

10 Years Old

Andrew turned 10 years old on Jan. 3rd. That's so insane. 10 years old???

He's not my cute little baby anymore, that's for sure. He is a kid hanging in limbo somewhere between that cute little boy of years past and an obnoxious teenager. He smells, refuses to take a shower, hates getting his hair cut, or even combed for that matter, constantly talks about farts and poop, and loves to eat his boogers. And yet somehow, we do love him.

We had a party just the 3 of us on his actual birthday...

Andrew loves infomercials. He had been begging for the Sobakawa Cloud Pillow for a verrry long time. Whatever floats your boat kid.

That weekend he had a bowling party with friends and cousins.

Andrew and Ben...best buddies.

Halloween 2010

Andrew absolutely loves Halloween. It comes a very close second only to Christmas in his list of favorite days of the year. This year he found a great costume...so perfect for his personality.

It dawned on me one morning before school that his costume might not be entirely appropriate for the school Halloween party the following day. You never know who you're going to offend these days. So, as I was scooting him out the door for school, I told him to explain it to his teacher and make sure it would be alright to wear.

When he got home later that day, he was really excited because apparently she said;

"Yeah, I don't see a problem with it...let's just hope you don't make any noise when you sit down."

What a great answer.

So, the next day...


We tried stuffing it with balloons for the church party. It was a little awkward.

Unfortunately, Andrew got sick the night before Halloween. He did the rain bird sprinkler style vomit all over the bathroom in the middle of the night - partly my fault, trying to make him turn around off the toilet. Anyway, he tried trick or treating with his best friend Ben but only lasted about 5 minutes and came back home. (I have NO idea what Ben's costume is supposed to mean by the way).

Summer Fun - August 2010

I don't care who you are, that's funny right there.

Hmmm...

I found this piece of paper on the coffee table today depicting our cat Squirt.

Another cute comment...

It has been super rainy here. We've pretty much had crap weather since...ummm...like October - with the exception of literally just a spattering of sunny days here and there. This last Tuesday was one of those rare, sunny days. So, with more rain in the forecast, Andrew decided to make the most of it and set up the sprinkler under the trampoline for some fun in the sun.

Andrew's little friend, Jillian, had come over to play with him. He asked her if she wanted to run back home and get her swim suit so she could play in the water with him. Jillian lives just across the street so of course she ran home excited.

I was doing who-knows-what around the house and after a while I went outside to check on them, assuming Jillian was already back.

When I got outside, Andrew was jumping on the trampoline all by himself...no Jillian.

Me: "Andrew, was Jillian going to come back and play with you?"

Andrew: "Oh yeah, it just takes women a long time to put their swim suits on."

Women???

Jillian is 8.

And besides, he better get used to it. We women take a long time to do just about everything.

Cute Comment

Andrew has some really great neighbor friends. Seriously great. Two of his best friends are a brother-sister duo, little "Gracie" and "Brycie". Bryce is considerably younger than Andrew but Andrew just eats him up because it's like having a little brother around...something he has desperately wanted for a long time.

Bryce is an adorable little man, with big eyes and squooshy cheeks and such a cute little voice. A couple of days ago he was over at our house with his sister and they played and played for a good part of the day. I desperately needed to get to the store to get a few things for dinner, so I let Andrew know that we would need to send the kids home in a little bit and run a few quick errands. He whined and grumped like a typical 9 year old and, with his head back and his eyes rolling upwards, said..."I dooooon't want to go, why do we have to go?"

Before I could say anything, little "Brycie" walked straight up to Andrew, looked up at him with his puffy cheeks and big eyes and said, very matter of factly..."because your mom said so."

He took the words right out of my mouth.

Quote of the Day by Andrew

Disclaimer - this entire conversation was a little inapropriate...fair warning.

The other day, Andrew and his dad were throwing a small, rubber bouncy ball back and forth to each other in the living room. On one of the throws, Tim wacked Andrew on the upper part of his leg...not too far from you-know-where.

Of course, Andrew did the normal man-flinch reaction when flying objects come any where near there.

Andrew's eyes got big and he smiled and said:

Andrew: "Whooooa, that hit me on the leg!!"

I leaned over to Tim and said under my breath...

Liv: "Good thing it didn't hit him on the third leg."

I didn't think Andrew could hear me. And certainly if he did he wouldn't get it, right? Sometimes I forget that he is 9 years old now, and he can process things in that brain of his.

Of course, he did hear me.

Tim rolled his eyes at me in disgust for saying such things with small ears in the room.

We waited...trying to pretend I hadn't said anything.

I looked up at Andrew and could see the wheels turning.

Then his eyes got really big...the light bulb had gone on.

Andrew: "I think the third leg isn't even long enough to touch the ground."

Bingo.

Pinewood Derby 2010

Andrew had his Pinewood Derby back in March. He came in 1st place at his pack meet this year! How cool is that? Even cooler is that his cousin, Jackson, came in second place.



(What the heck? Did I actually let my child go out in public with his hair like that?)



Then he got to go to the district race at the mall the following weekend.


Andrew named his car 'The Flame Mobile'.


He came in 8th place at Districts. Not too shabby! He had a great time this year. Last year, he didn't understand the concept of competition and that other kids might actually beat him. This year was a lot better for him, knowing what to expect and understandning that, yes, it is fair if someone else kicks your butt.

Best Friends

I love it when two best friends have a conversation kind of like this on a beautiful, sunny afternoon...

Ben: "Hey Andy, do you want to go burn ants?"

Andrew: "Sure!"

Ben: "Can I run home real quick to get my own magnifying glass? Do you want to burn stuff at your house or at my house?"

CLASSIC!

Saturday Morning in Andrew Land

This morning I really wanted to sleep in for as long as I wanted.

I've been working out religiously each morning Monday-Friday and I just wanted a good ol' Saturday morning to veg.

Andrew is old enough now to understand the value of sleep. So, last night as we were tucking him in bed, I explained how Saturday morning was going to go.

Me: "Andrew, you don't have school tomorrow. You can sleep in as long as you want. I'm going to sleep in as long as I want. If you want to get up early to watch cartoons, that's fine, just don't wake me up....unless the house is burning down, then you can wake me up."

Andrew: {smile} "Okay!"

You would think with just one child, an older child, this would be possible.

Early this morning I could hear him in the living room with the tv on.

It was a little loud.

No biggie.

I kept sleeping as best I could.

Then I got startled awake to something like this:

Andrew: "MOM, MOM!!! YOU HAVE TO COME SEE THIS! IT"S THE SWIVEL SWEEPER! IT HAS SIX GREAT FEATURES!"

What? Can't my kid just watch Saturday morning cartoons like normal kids? What's up with the infomercials?

He ran into my bedroom to tell me all about the Swivel Sweeper and it's six new amazing features:

1. Touchless dirt tray
2. Back saver elbow joint
3. New and improved super sliders
4. 360 degree swiveling
5. Magnetic storage latch and space saving design
6. Non slip rubber tip

I was still half asleep and my eyes were heavy and he kept telling me to "LOOK, LOOK!" as he talked with his hands, physically reenacting the infomercial so I could see exactly all that the Swivel Sweeper can do.

The whole sleeping in thing was worth a shot.

But it was officially time to get up and make waffles.

Sunshine

I just came across these pictures of Andrew and his little next door neighbor girlfriend (shhhh...don't tell him I just said that), picking carrots out of our garden last September.

Green stuff...and sunshiny stuff...ooohhhh how lovely.

9 Years Old

Andrew turned 9 years old.

He requested:
1.) Homemade cheesecake (that's my boy!)

2.) Cupcakes (for the kids who "don't like cheese in their cake", an issue from birthdays past - little did they know the cupcakes were topped with cream cheese frosting...suckers!)

3.) Red balloons and footballs

Every year, I tell myself that I'm going to tell people not to bring gifts but I always wimp out. I would love to have a party with no gifts (a.k.a more clutter). Maybe next year.




Playing with the Hot Wheels color shifter cars in the bathroom.


Cousin Tanner was, as usual, more interested in the vaccuum than anything else.



It was a pretty eventful day. We ended up with a firetruck and ambulance in front of the house because one of the little boys is apparently severely allergic to cats and was really struggling to breath. I'm so glad my sister-in-law was there because she's the one that noticed...I was busy dishing up cake and ice cream. Apparently, his parents had just recently found out he was allergic to cats but had no idea it was so severe so they hadn't thought to ask if we had any when they dropped him off. Fortunatley, he was alright. It was just the suckiest birthday party he'd ever been to I'm sure.

Other than that, it was a fantastic day with cousins and friends and lots of yummy sweets.

Happy birthday, buddy!

Quote of the Day by Andrew

Last night, Andrew was laying in bed telling me about sliding down the stairs at his friends house. I told him about the big house I grew up in that had lots of stairs and the plastic mat we would use as a taboggan to slide down and crash into the wall at the bottom. And the banister we would slide down. We compared stories and reminisced. I smiled and said, "I wish I was a kid again."

Andy: "Why?"

Me: "Because it's a lot more fun."

Andy: "Oh yeah...you have absolutely no idea how fun my life is."

I wish you could have heard his intonation and seen how big his eyes got when he said that...it was priceless.

Trying to teach an 8 year old boy the delicacies of women

Last night, the three of us were wrestling on the floor when Andrew said,

"Hey mom, you are a big whale and you need to sit on..." Tim promptly cut him off.

Tim: "Andrew, there are a few things you never call a woman. A big whale is one of them. Women don't really like to be called animal names unless it's like 'fox' or 'chick' or 'ski bunny'.

Andrew giggled.

Five minutes later...

Andrew: "Mom, you're not a big whale, you're a pig."

I don't think he gets it.

Quote of the Day by Andrew

Tonight, Tim was complaining about some tiny little red bumps on his arms.

Andrew: "Dad, can I see?"

Tim showed Andrew his little red bumps.

Tim: "I must have fleas. I probably got them from your mom. Did you know your mom has fleas?

Andrew: (without missing a beat - but with a BIG grin on his face) "Yep, that's because she's a flea-male."

Quote of the Day by Andrew

Andrew: "Mom, what are those things called that old people wear in their ears?"

Me: "Hearing aids?"

Andrew: "Oh yeah, those. I want some for Christmas."

Me: "What?"

Andrew: "When I go to Ben's house, and Kayla (Ben's sister) starts talking it's really annoying and I could just turn the sound off."




Priceless...

Diet Coke and Mentos

We've been wanting to do this for a long time.



Very cool but not quite as cool as this.

A cowboy of sorts...

Andrew disappeared into the office the other day for quite awhile. He was dead quiet. He likes to go in there and steal all my computer paper, staple the sheets together and color the pages. I was busy in the kitchen and just figured he was in the office making a book.

Then, several minutes later, I heard him wrestling with his dad in the other room and he was laughing hysterically. Tim and Andrew wrestling every night is pretty much tradition so I didn't think much of that either.

But then he comes around the corner and approaches me in this get-up...


He looks at me and says, word for word...

"Hello, I'm Cowboy Barbie and I hate to tell you this but I just kissed your husband."


Tim and Andrew have a long running Barbie war going on...but seriously, where does this kid come up with this stuff?

Tape Buddy

Andrew invented these...he calls them "Tape Buddies". He's made three of them so far. This is his most recent. He made it for his Great Grandma's birthday to go in her card that he also made for her. Quite creative if you ask me. But then again, I'm the mom.