The Ward Pinewood Derby

 At church our Cub Scout Pack is pretty small so we had a Ward Pinewood Derby. Anyone who wanted to could make and enter a car. We were out of town in NH/VT for the first two weeks of the year and when we got back we were playing catch up on a lot of things...so the Thursday before the Derby (Sat evening) Aaron went over to Papa Harmon's to cut the cars out (Jake had archery) and Jake painted his on Friday. Aaron decided to just lacquer his. I choose not too because I just didn't want too.

                                  There ended up being 35 cars! This isn't all of them obviously...

(I am adding no more words, besides these, to this post that I never finished but just really want to post so I can get caught up...and I am post dating this a random date...)

HIS, Gravatopia, & Trader Joe's

 Last week was HIS Co-op's picture day...

                                                        Minus three families I think.

                                  Drawing class...minus a student from one of the missing families!

               Recess at Gravatopia, in the dodge ball room! We are going to be doing this more often!

 They have a homeschooling day (discount and during school hours so it is not crowded at all!) every Thursday. It is in Greenville, so it won't be an every week thing...but maybe an every month thing.

 We met some friends there and they had a blast. It is really hard to get a clear picture of people throwing balls on trampolines!

 I wonder if this is the moment Jake tweaked his back. He and Aaron had a competition that whoever could run a mile in the least amount of time would pay for them to go see Star Wars one more time in the theater. Jake thought his back was a little sore from that..and when he left Gravatopia it was really sore. He couldn't even go to archery that night. Turns out his friend Nicholas hurt something too and couldn't go either. We went last night to pick up Jake's archery t-shirt and sweatshirt (we thought we could make up having missed Thursday night-they meet 3 nights a week and you go to a certain night-but they were scoring so we will just go on Tuesday) and one of the coaches said no Gravatopia until after the Regional meet next week! Hahaha!

We took advantage of being in Greenville and I ran by the Learning Center (a homeschooling consignment store) because I needed to grab a teachers book for Government and I when I went to pay for it I found out I had a $32 credit for some curriculum I had brought in that sold! Score!

We also ran by Trader Joe's (a kind crunchy granola health food store) and I scored sprouted bread and baked blue tortilla chips-both of which on are plan! Oh wait...I haven't even posted about the plan yet. I am doing the Trim Healthy Mama plan-cutting out all sugar (replacing it with Stevia-a natural sugar substitute that doesn't effect your blood sugar) and all white flour (replacing it with more blood sugar friendly flours like: almond, coconut, and flax meal) and starchy things. I am in a group with some friends and I am excited about it! At my yearly Dr appointment I was down 10 pounds from the last time I weighed myself which was back in the late summer. I had gained weight between then and early winter, so I started about 20 pounds lower than I thought I would be! I am not going to weigh myself for a while. I am looking for non-scale victories for a while (sleeping better, feeling better, clothes fitting better or getting too big). Baby steps!

Jake's Going to be a Great Husband: Example #1

Last week Mom and I went to Costco and ran a few errands (Jake stayed home and worked on some school). When we got home Mom came in for a few minutes as we brought in groceries. I noticed that Jake greeted us and then disappeared down the hall. He has learned over the years that when people come over and our bedrooms aren't clean (laundry is always the issue. Aaron thinks we should get rid of our dressers and just get more laundry baskets...he may be on to something...), I always close the doors. That way if someone needs to use the bathroom they won't get a view of our messes from the hallway. On this particular day, he went down the hall, with out me even mentioning it, and closed the doors. You are welcome Jake's future wife.

 And on an entirely different topic: I started this gallery wall shortly after we moved in to this house a year in a half ago and still have yet to finish this wall...or paint it with the gallon of paint I got back the end of the summer or early fall.

Consuming.

I let things consume me. I have OCD, so I am going to blame it on that. I was consumed yesterday by the amount of hate for a football player. No, I don't know him personally. But yesterday I took it a little personal when people cheered his failure and heart break. Is that who we are now?

 I will back up a little. We are Panthers fans. I have been more so the last couple of seasons because I get sucked in by people who love what they do. Our team is full of people who love what they do. I love that. People that are consumed by their passion. It is fun to watch when they make it so easy for you to feel what they are feeling.

 Our Panthers had an amazing season. They went 17-1! They gave away footballs away to kids who will be fans for life! They dabbed. They smiled. We felt it all with them. They loved their jobs and we loved watching them. Our coach EARNED the coach of the year title. Our quarterback, Cam Newton (my favorite, on a long list of favorite players on our team), EARNED Offensive player of the year and MVP. We were all out of our mind with happiness! This was our year.

 This has been my screen saver on my phone for a while now. This is our season in a picture. We loved it! Then we lost the Super Bowl. It felt lost the minute the first play finished. Maybe the pressure was too much. It wasn't the Panthers night and it was hard to watch. But it was okay because we have next year! We have a young team. We were heartbroken, especially when we watched one of our players crying on the side line! It was a bummer, but they had the best record of the year and it was soooo fun to watch.

Then came Monday afternoon when I got on facebook (first mistake...I rarely leave FB feeling positively uplifted. Unless I was just on to chat with my cousin Shannon) and saw that every other post was about how much of  poor sport Cam Newton was and the Panthers are a crappy team after all. How Cam was disrespectful and a horrible person. You name they were saying it. In an interview after the game (Cam was literally still in his uniform from the waist down...we are talking moments after losing the biggest game of his career!) and he walked out. Of course the reporters were asking him questions that made him feel like crap...but what was really hard was that he had to hear a player from the Broncos (who was being interviewed right next to him and later seemed to feel a little regret by blaming his cruel words on the NFL putting them to close together-he didn't know Cam could hear him) saying very disrespectful and cruel words about him. He was emotionally drained. He couldn't take it and Cam walked out. Should he have? I probably would have too...But now the world is jumping on his moment of pure, raw, emotion and taking the opportunity to kick him while he is down and point out all his other flaws. I posted a few things and basically told people to stop judging, spend more time building people up instead of tearing them down, and showing some grace. I wasn't rude, but I really  wanted to be. I just said what I felt. I couldn't stop feeling the need to protect and defend someone I don't even know. Because aren't we all that person some times? Haven't we all been kicked while we are down? Aaron reminded me that the Panthers (like the Patriots over the past few years) and Cam are hated now because they won so much and had fun doing it. People don't like that. When did we become that kind of country? We want people to fail..? I was consumed by this yesterday because it kind of is a snapshot of what is going on it our country today. We are a nation of haters. We hate the rich-take away there money and tax them harder! We hate truth-it's too hard, we want easy, and we want it now! We hate people excelling-I don't care how hard they worked-I should get it too!

The game was heartbreaking, but the bigger picture is what is really consuming me right now. Cam will be okay. The Panthers will come back and have a great season next year. I am just praying that the bigger picture gets clearer for our country as the Primaries start up. Are people going to vote for haters, bullies, and joy killers. Or are they going to vote for the freedom protectors, hard workers, and moral upholders...It is so weird were your brain takes you when you see hate poured on people so quickly when they are weak. I am going to be so much more conscious of not judging, picking on, or bringing people down when I could and should be celebrating the bright side.

Neglect.

I have no excuse for my neglect of our family memories. February 9th and it is the first post of the year?...Sad. And not entirely true. I spent some time in January posting pictures with a few words attached to try to finish the last quarter of last year. I uploaded, mindlessly added enough words to make it seem legit, backdated, and posted...and repeated it over and over again. Pitiful. I am the keeper of the memories and I am failing miserably. I would fire myself if I could but no one else will do it and once upon a time I enjoyed it! This year I will get back to enjoying it. I will add words. They will be more than an after thought. I am starting again. The passion that turned into a hobby, that turned into a burden, has come full circle. I am back...Famous last words? Not this time...

This random picture is of my computer at the library. I was killing time (typing this post...but now I am adding this part) while Jake is having a book club and discussing The Taming of The Shrew. It is a group of homeschooled high schoolers who meet. No parents leading it. Just kids who like to read classics. Pure awesomeness. As we were leaving I got this text from my friend Jeanne (the mom of one of Jake's best friends, Ethan...the top two are from an old message. The bottom two are the ones I am referencing):

 Today was the homeschool skate from 2-4. We usually go, but book club fell on the same day this month, so we were only going to be there for the last hour. When we got there and Jake got his skates and sat down to put them on and everyone came off the rink and surrounded him. One of the mom's that is kind of new to our little crew said, "I guess the party starts when Jake gets here!" There is nothing better than having a strong circle of  good Christian friends for your child! I would have taken pictures of them skating but I only had an hour to hang out with my good Christian homeschooling mama friends!