My Thoughts to Share: Pinewood Derby Take 2 and St. Patrick's Day

I'm behind again, but I've been really busy. March brings about plenty of projects including the Relief Society Birthday party. I neglected to mention a few things last week. Tuesday evening I was picking up Timothy from cub scouts, an I saw Shannon coming down my road. I waved as I waited for her (there's really only room for one car at a time). She stopped, and opened her door. I rolled down my window and she brought out a pan. Remember when I said I'd bring you a meal after Melanie was born? I never did it, so here's a meal for you." She is so sweet. I realized later that evening she probably never brought me a meal earlier because she had horrible morning sickness. She is now 6 1/2 months pregnant. I had already started a butternut squash soup, so I put the pan in the fridge and we had her chicken pot pie the next day, and leftovers Thursday - it was delicious!

As for Friday, Aaron left for his scout campout around 5:30 - or was it 4:30? Anyway. We had a simple dinner, and then the kids watched a movie while I worked on Relief Society stuff. Saturday I somehow convinced them to get their chores done quickly. At 10:00 was the district pinewood derby. Since the boys did well at the pack pinewood derby they wanted to enter the district one. I had to squeeze the kids into the car - not an easy thing. And I put David in the front seat - which I hate to do. I also forgot the camera. But we made it on time, and they checked in their cars. The races started at 11:00, so we had some time to kill. They were playing Cars on a projector screen, but the kids were still restless, so two of the adults in charge volunteered to watch the kids out on the playground. Amy wanted to go, so I told David to watch out for her, and the three of them went out to play. Melanie and I stayed inside. I didn't know any of the other parents, so I didn't really talk to anyone. At 11:00 they took pictures of the boys, and did a flag ceremony, and then started the races. There were 5 divisions: Tiger, Wolves, Bears, Webelos, and open - for siblings or parents. There were only 4 Wolves entered, and only 3 Webelos. So David was guaranteed a trophy, and Timothy would probably get one too. Timothy got first place in the first 4 races. David got 2nd, 1st and 3rd in his races. Later Timothy's car was raced 4 times in a row and got 1st, 1st, 4th and 1st. That 4th place must have been a fluke. The kids watched the Cars 2 movie when their cars weren't being raced. At some point Melanie got tired and I put her in the wrap and she slept for about 30 minutes. I was texting Aaron throughout the competition. The final results were that Timothy got first for Wolves and David got second for Webelos. They also raced the winner from each of the cub scout divisions (when Timothy raced 4 times in a row) and they determined a grand champion which was Timothy!!! I wish I'd had my camera.

We didn't get back until almost 1:00, so I nursed Melanie and we had a late lunch. Aaron called to say they'd be home just after 2:00, but it was actually closer to 1:30. The wind picked up and it got a little chilly while the boys were waiting for parents to come get them. I helped unload as much as I could, but I was holding Melanie. Aaron didn't have much time to unwind. At 3:15 Br. P* picked him up and they went to the priesthood leadership part of stake conference. I tried to keep Melanie awake, but she was really tired, so I put her down for a nap at 5:45. Maddie arrived here at 6:00, and I took Melanie with me to the adult session of Stake Conference. I was glad she transferred to her carseat and went right back to sleep. The kids had some chicken nuggets and watched Ratatouille - which we recently acquired. Melanie woke up about 3 minutes before I got to the stake center. I found Aaron in the lobby and we found a seat, and soon Melanie was hungry. We enjoyed the session for the most part. Melanie got fussy so Aaron took her out. He didn't have much luck getting her to sleep. I was wondering when he was going to come back, and after 45 minutes I began to watch the door every time it opened. I decided to go find him when the current speaker was finished. Then I saw Justin B* pop his head in and motion for me to come. Melanie was really upset, and the only way to calm her down was to feed her. I didn't have a burp rag or nursing cover, but found the mother's room quickly. She nursed fine until a mom came in with a crying newborn. Melanie was fine after a minute. I ended up talking to Abby R* in the hall for a while. Her Maddie is only a month older, but she is such a big baby. It was good to catch up with her in person. After the session was over we decided to go out for dessert. We tried a different frozen yogurt place that we had a coupon for. It was really good. Melanie fell asleep on the way there and stayed asleep even all the way home. In fact she slept until almost 2:00 am. Amy had fallen asleep in David's room - which is pretty normal when we have a babysitter. When Melanie woke up at 1:55 am I walked in there and Amy was standing front of her bed. It startled me at first, but since Melanie wasn't crying, just awake I tucked Amy into bed, and then got Melanie out of her car seat and nursed her back to sleep.

Sunday morning was a little busy trying to get everyone ready for church. We attempted to leave early enough for the soft seats, but didn't get there early enough. Melanie fell asleep on the way there, but woke up when we arrived. After we found a seat and got settled I fed Melanie and hoped that she would stay happy, but just like normal at church she didn't want to just sit with no one to entertain her. So Aaron took first shift and put her to sleep even though she had just taken a nap. Eventually she woke up and I fed her, again. Amy kept wanting to get a drink after every talk. I ended up letting her go during the songs. 2 + hours is a long time to sit for anyone. I really enjoyed the talks that were given, and I got to listen to most of them. Our ward was in charge of putting away the chairs, and a friend was being ordained after the session so we stayed for a while to get those two things done. We talked with the G* family, they had moved in Friday night while Aaron was on the campout. We also saw Timothy's 1st grade teacher Sis K* and we talked for a while. Eventually we got home and had a late lunch.

With it being St. Patrick's Day, we had our typical corned beef and cabbage, mashed potatoes and salad. I didn't make rolls, mostly because I didn't have time, and I'm trying to not over eat. I'd rather eat dessert. I gave David a few choices (since he was in charge of refreshments) and we ended up making these grasshopper cookies. Delicious! Aaron took some to work the next day. Aaron did some home teaching with David. They took Max with them, since we got him from their home. We also got to do Facetime with Aaron's family for a little bit.

And a few pictures: