St. Jude Trike-a- thon

Every spring, Jack's preschool participates in this event.  Each child is sent home with a pledge sheet that explains the event and how the money raised helps the kids at St Jude.  St Jude actually sponsors these events all over the country.  Preschools just like Jack's help to raise tremendous amounts of money each year.  Hundreds of kids live to play another day after receiving treatment for cancer and other catastrophic diseases at St Jude...just like Jack!

The first year our family participated in this event was the week after Jack was diagnosed with cancer.  In fact, he had just had his surgery and was still in the hospital at St Jude.  My mom and step-dad took Will to school that day so he could be a part of the special event.  They rode in Jack's honor that year and have continued to do so each year since. 

It is just another fun event for Jack and he really doesn't think of it as being more special for him.  He has no idea just how much small fund raising events like this have helped the doctors and researchers at St Jude discover the best way to treat little boys just like him.  He has no idea that 85% of the money raised goes back directly to the hospital to keep families like us from ever having to pay out one penny for the treatment of our children.  That is zilch, nada, absolutely nothing...no co-pays...no prescriptions...no deductibles...not even for the cost of a band-aid!  St Jude pays for it all!!!  They firmly believe that a family should only have to worry about taking care of their children and want the burden of the financial cost to be solely on their shoulders.  What an amazing place!!

I am proud to say that since the first year that our preschool has held the event, they have raised over $50,000 for St Jude!  Little did we know just 3 short years ago, that our family would understand just how important a simple Trike-a-thon would be!  Wow!  :)

Future comedian???

You decide.....

Money for nothing...or not!

Since September we have been saving aluminum cans for recycling.  Our small town does not have curb side recycling pick up, but the county does have a recycling center just a few blocks away.  I thought it would be a good learning lesson for the boys and what the heck...we are doing something good for the environment, so it is a win-win situation!

Let me tell you that we drink A LOT of sodas in this house!  We are also lazy and it is just easier to grab a can out of the fridge than to get a glass, fill it with ice and then pour in our favorite soft drink...terrible, I know!!  We have been very good about tossing our cans into a separate trash bin in the kitchen.  Occasionally, I have to fish one of out the regular garbage, but all in all, everyone has been "pitching in"!

Last Friday the boys were out of school, so I thought it would be a good day to take our ever growing collection to the local center.  We had 8 garbage bags full of cans.  It was beginning to look like a dump site in our garage!!!  I was embarrassed for people to see it and wonder what we were thinking! 

I knew the center would actually pay us for the cans, but I will say that this was not really a factor in me wanting to save these cans.  I did think that whatever they paid us would go in the boy's piggy bank or we could use it to buy a new game for the Wii or Xbox. 

When we got the center, we pulled in right behind another customer who was also dropping off cans.  This lady had a truck bed full of  lawn size trash bags stuffed to the top with nothing but beer cans.  Many of these beer cans still had beer in them and after she left the place smelled awful!  They drink A LOT of beer in that house...A LOT  of cheap beer too!  We had to wait about twenty minutes for the very nice Hispanic man to go thru all of her bags.  I don't think this lady was recycling her cans to help the environment either!

It didn't take him long to go thru all of the 8 bags that we brought.  Our nice, clean cans! He weighed the bags, printed out a ticket and I followed him inside the office.  Since I was not a return customer, they had to set up an account for me and make a copy of my driver's license.  They keep a record of all items that are dropped off for scrap for the local police...scrap metal/aluminum/copper is a huge business for criminals.  I assured the man inside the office that these were our cans...no stolen ones here! 

We turned in 22 lbs of aluminum cans...he gave me $5.25!  Yes, you read that correctly, $5.25!  The guy in the office told me when I left that I could use that money to go buy a few drinks as Sonic!  It definitely won't buy a new game for the Wii or the Xbox...a few drinks at Sonic is right!  We will still save our cans because it is the right thing to do, but we definitely aren't doing it for the money! 

Snow!!!!!

Well, we finally received some decent snow a few weeks ago.  We always seem to miss out when the forecasters predict snow for our area...it either goes to the north or east of us.  Yes, we have received a little snow this year, but I hardly call 1.5 inches much to get excited about.

I have to say this snow was perfect.  First it happened on a Saturday, so it didn't affect school nor did it hinder most people from going to work.  Even Lee was able to make it in with only about 30 additional minutes to the commute.  Second, it was really, really wet!  And third, most of it melted on Sunday afternoon.

All three of our children had a blast playing in it!  The boys were so excited an couldn't wait to get outside to play in it.

These were taken while it was still snowing.  We had only received about an inch and a half at this point.  It still didn't stop them from building a snowman.  He was a little dirty, but they didn't mind!  Even Heather and Andy joined in the fun!

 

It snow most of the afternoon on Saturday and then during a good part of the night.  On Sunday morning, we woke up to 5 inches!  It was really cold, but that didn't stop the boys from wanting to get out in it as early as possible.  I think they started asking me if they could go out around 8 am.  Finally around 10 am, they were dressed and out the door!

I will finish off this post with a few photos of Heather and Andy.  They probably had more fun throwing snow than the boys did!  Yes, we all really enjoyed our brief snow!!

Will's first Pinewood Derby

On February 21, 2009, Will's Cub Scout Pack had its annual Pinewood Derby. I have memories of my brother's Derby car. My dad still tells the story of how he ended up being the one to really build the car. Back then, you had to cut the car out of a block of wood and it certainly isn't a good idea to let your seven or eight year old son play with a saw or power tools! I bet my dad had fun making the car though!

These days you can purchase kits that have the wood pre-cut and apparently there are many different shapes and styles to choose from. Of course you can still design your own if you want and I bet this is still fun for many dads. Lee, on the other hand, chose the pre-cut design...it is tax season for crying out loud! These pre-cut kits come with all of the parts that a Scout would need to make his very own Derby car. This photo below shows the kit, minus the pre-cut wood...Lee was too quick for me to get the shot of the unopened package.



You still have to sand the car and you paint it whatever color you choose. Will's car was royal blue. Here is the freshly painted car. Nice, huh?



The kit came with stickers, wheels, and metals pieces that resemble exhaust pipes, an engine and the windshield. Everything a Scout could need to create a 1950's looking dragster. Lee worked really hard on it while Will watched!



Here is the finished car.



Here is our Cub Scout with his car on the morning of the race. He was so excited!



These are the cars from all of the Tiger Cubs.



Here is the track. Lee was impressed by it. I had never been to a Pinewood Derby, so I had nothing to compare it too. Definitely a guy thing!


And finally, here is some video from his first race. I'll let see the results for yourself.




There were three races in each round, that way they could give each car the opportunity to change lanes for each race. Will won all three races in the first round! Unfortunately, he only won one race during the next round, but that put him in 2nd place for the Tiger Cubs! Another boy from his Den named Garrett won...he is the Den Leader's son, so I am thinking the race was fixed! Will didn't seem to mind not winning...he just had a great time period! He was also happy when it was over because he could finally play with his car!

I'm sure this will be the beginning of many Pinewood Derbies to come!