Fast and Furious

Yes, the boys are 8 and that means....

Pinewood Derby!

First a little pre-race discussion to decide whose car looks the fastest.

They both chose pretty standard shapes but very different color schemes. Cole went with an America flag theme and Grant wanted gold, lightning, and flames.

After what seemed like hours to a bunch of 8-year-olds it was time to race. Grant won this heat easily.

Cole took first in this one.

In fact, both boys won three of their four races. In their only head-to-head match-up the boys took second and third behind the overall fastest car of the day, a silver wedge by their friend Aaron.

The final results mirrored that race, Cole took second and Grant took third overall.

Spelling Bee in Your Bonnet

Sue is getting carpal tunnel surgery so I asked the kids to make cards for her.

Grant: Dad, how do you spell "love"?
Dad: Ask Bryn, she knows.
Bryn: L-O-V-E
Grant: Bryn! you can't teach me!
Dad: But Bryn was right. That's how you spell it.
Grant: I don't want her to tell me.
Dad: It's just like Bryn said: L-O-V-E

A few minutes later...

Grant: Dad, how do you spell "you"?
Bryn: Y-O-U
Grant: Bryn! Stop!

Here are the cards they made:

The Luveing Book

I think this is Cole's kindergarten masterwork. He brought this to me tonight and asked if this was how to spell "loving". I lovingly explained the slightly more correct spelling and then read the rest of his book, filled with more loving phonetic misspellings.

The cover is simple enough: the author's name, the book's title, and a sticker with a picture of a pill bug. Nothing says luveing like a pill bug.

Inside the front cover is the first real hint of brilliance. The protagonist declares that, "I Go with My Mom to my friends hoAoos."

Turning the page we see a series of wavy lines. We can't know what they might mean until we look at the facing page.

"I an t i ritinge crsiv." Now it all becomes clear. He is writing cursive and the wavy lines obviously represent lines of cursive text.

On the next page and its facing page we see a chiastic couplet, entirely free of creative spelling. "I love Mom."

"My Mom loves me." Even the pictures are mirrored.

Another page, and our hero is blasting off, "I am fiinGonArockeT", the words compressed as his body experiences the G-forces typical of space travel.

This rectangular motif on the facing page may represent something to do with flying on a rocket but the symbolism escapes me at the moment.

Turing the page we see the astronaut back on earth and going from outer space to the inner space of a body of water. "I Am swimming." he declares, as if he dares anyone to contradict him.

The page facing the swimming has a very abstract feel, similar to the rectangle of the previous page but more random in its execution, and the single word title "celr." declares that this image is the author's homage to color.

We turn another page and the colors from the rectangle and "celr" have organized themselves into a pointed arc overlaid with a bold declaration containing my favorite creative speeling of the book, "I like ranboose". Despite the non-standard color spectrum (not to mention spelling) it's easy to see that he does, in fact, like rainbows.

Facing that page, the rain gives way to sun and he is back in the water. "I amm swimming." The crooked purple smile reveals that he enjoys swimming very much.

As he returned to his beloved swimming hole, he also returns to writing in cursive with the soothing green waves of stylized writing and his final declaration, "I am ritinge crsiv."

I hope you have enjoyed Cole's book as much as I did. Look for the sequel to be released soon.

Don't Tie Yourself in Knots

In the January issue of the the Friend magazine, there was an article about making CTR Pretzels.

CTR Pretzels
By Heather Brinkerhoff
1 teaspoon salt
2½–3 cups flour
1 tablespoon yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
melted butter

1. Mix the first five ingredients until they form a ball. Then knead dough until smooth and elastic. Cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for one hour.
2. Pull off sections of the dough and roll into long ropes. Form the ropes into the letters “CTR” or make the shape of the CTR shield.
3. Put the pretzels on a greased cookie sheet and bake 8–10 minutes at 450°F (232°C). Brush pretzels with melted butter.

We followed the recipe but put our own Cruncher spin on it.

I Like Sno Man.

As soon as I saw this I just fell in love with this striped "sno man" that Cole produced at school.

The wonderful depiction of our family, including the two cats, is also quite striking. I'm pretty sure that the orange, egg-shaped object above the snowman's head is meant to be a symbol for both our chickens and our bunnies. Or maybe it's the sun, which has been shining entirely too much this winter, making dreams of family snowman building an impossibility.

You'll notice, of course, that he got a "First Rate!" rating, which confirms what we've always known about this Boy of Destiny.

Who's the Boss?

Well, obviously. Just ask him.

The Right Stuff

Since NASA has decommissioned the space shuttles, we thought that they might be looking for replacement crews.

Crew Member: Bryn
Age: 2 years 11 months
Specialties: giggles, princess wrangling, soft and slightly damp kisses
Award: Miss Congeniality

Crew Member: Grant
Age: 5 years 7 months
Specialties: counting (up and down), launch control
Award: Highest Counting (900+)

Crew Member: Cole
Age: 5 years 7 months
Specialties: rocket retrieval, launch preparation
Award: Fastest Retrieval

Now a few pictures of our crew under launch day conditions:

Prepping rockets for launch.

Keeping everyone's spirits up.

We have liftoff!

Scanning the range for signs of re-entry.

The retrieval team in action.

The cheer squad in action.

We wish you a fond farewell as we blast off into the sunset.

Crew wardrobe provided by oakiwear brand outdoor clothing.

Sweet Tones of the Heart

For family home evening this week I asked the boys to draw a picture of our family. Here is Cole's picture:

And here is Grant's:

In both pictures I am on the left and Sue is on the right.

As Grant was drawing he kept adding more and more hair. We then had the following exchange.

Grant: I'm drawing you, dad. You have kind of a lot of hair.
Me: Thank you.
Sue: I think he's talking about after the resurrection.

Hmmm, for the closing song I think we need to sing "Let us oft speak kind words".

Our lesson next week will be on the prophet Elisha.

Surgery on the Chair

Dr. Cole made the incision,
and Dr. Dad stitched it up.
The Chair is resting comfortably, and although a complete recovery would be nice, it may be scarred for life. We'll still love it, though.

Pointing Fingers at Finger Painters

That's right, the boys had their first exposure to finger paints.
I think it's safe to say they enjoyed the experience.

Then it got silly.

Too silly.

We'll let Bryn have a turn next time...

Words, Words, Words

On a whim tonight I gave both boys a dry erase marker and asked them to write a letter of their choosing on the whiteboard. I was curious what letter they'd choose and how well they'd do. Cole immediately drew an E, and Grant followed suit.

Then they both wrote the letter H.

Not bad, eh? In both of these examples Cole's letter is on the left and Grant's is on the right.
Full of blind optimism I wrote their full names and asked them to try.

They were obviously proud of themselves, but not as proud and their daddy!