Scout's Swim Party

I've been so tired today. I didn't sleep well and my neck and shoulders were just aching when I got up so I took a muscle relaxant. That was probably a bad idea.

Today was Scout's 11th birthday and we had planned a party with her friends. She wanted to have a pool party, so my sweet neighbor, Lori, offered her indoor pool. We started at 2:30 and I was worried about attendance. All that Scout could remember was that so-and-so couldn't come... or somebody else was leaving town... We invited her entire school class of 27 and according to Gamer's count, we had about 25 there. That included the grandkids, of course, and a few from the neighborhood, but maybe having it the day before a holiday was a good idea.

For most of the 2 1/2 hours the kids stayed in the pool. I kept falling asleep in my deck chair. It's a good thing we had other adults around, because I wasn't a very good lifeguard. Bossy and the Dog Walker were in the water with the kids as was Sport.

It took about 10 minutes for them to each eat a cupcake and for Scout to open the gifts. Then they were right back in the pool and we couldn't hardly drag them out when their parents got there. Back at the house, Drama Queen was running the pie-making party. I think this is the first year in at least a dozen when I have not had to make a single pie crust.

Instead I have been working on piecing a quilt for Bossy and Gamer. We are having a quilting bee on Black Friday because shopping is not really my thing and my sweetie hates crowds. So since I have been sewing, I was thinking about just how grateful I am for my seam ripper.

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Gratitude Day #4. I wish I could say that I am the perfect seamstress, but that would be far from true. Even tonight when I was just piecing 9-patch squares, I sewed one of the pieces in upside down. It would have been possible to remove it with a pair of scissors, but much more difficult than running the seam ripper down and breaking all the overcast threads. Yes, today I am definitely grateful for my seam ripper. It's sort of like an eraser, but for sewing.

I'm sensing a theme here...

Pinewood Derby Day

This was it, the day of the big race!

Curly was super-excited. He and my sweetie had put in tons of time sanding wheels and smoothing cars. I think it was a little overkill, but they even waxed the cars with real and actual car wax. They had so much fun working together.

We arrived at the church a few minutes before 6:00. I was awarding two boys their Arrow of Light and we needed to set up the sound system. Unfortunately, the cd player swallowed my cd. So we scrambled trying to figure out a Plan B.

In the meantime, Curly got his car all checked in. The only problem was the missing track. It eventually arrived and the guy was setting it up the entire time we were trying to give out awards. Then he spent nearly 30 minutes with all the boys watching while he tested each and every car on the track.

Things finally got underway. Curly's car performed well in all but one race. He was convinced that he was going to win the 2nd place medallion. When the winners were finally announced, he wasn't the 2nd place winner as he had hoped, he was FIRST place!!

I guess all that work and effort was worth it; the grin on his face shows it all.

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Gratitude Day #3. I am grateful for good pencils. Not the cheap ones; give me a Ticonderoga with a good eraser any day. I love writing with a pencil because when I make a mistake, I can quickly redo without a huge splotchy blot of ink. That said, I much prefer a pen to a mechanical pencil. I tend to push down when I write and I can go through an entire lead without ever accomplishing anything. My kids have finally learned the value of a good pencil and I have given up on buying them the holiday ones at the dollar store. They just leave them in the can and take all the Ticonderogas anyway.

Can't Wait to Get My 3D Deco Light

The girls will love this!

It has been so fun to work with US Family Guide. They come up with some of the most bizarre and interesting items to review; things I might never buy on my own until someone points them out. Take, for example, the 3D Deco Light from 3DLightFX.

They sell them at Target and Target.com Twiz even works at Target and is constantly telling me about new products and his wish list that he and Teach want to buy, but he has never mentioned these super-fun and amazing lights.

Baby Doll has never been scared of the dark, but Scout still struggles a bit and I have to turn off their overhead light almost every night when I pass their room. But what if they had Pinkie Pie staying with them? My little girls are definitely "bronies" and I'm so excited to see if this unique night light will work for them.

It is cool to the touch, cordless, battery operated, and it even includes a crack sticker so it looks like the picture is actually coming right out of the wall!

Drama Queen, I thought of you and your classroom.

This review requires that I use their words exactly, so here goes. "3DLIGHTFX 3D Deco Lights are the perfect gift this holiday season. They have a full range of comic book, super hero, Disney Princess, sports and car lights that look as though they are popping right out of the wall! They are battery operated and cool to the touch so you can place them any where in the room! Your kids will loves having these in their rooms and they're also the perfect editions to a den, family room, man's cave or office! Find all of these amazing products here."

I might need this one.

Whew! I much prefer to use my own words, and if I didn't think my kids would love these, I might not have signed up for this one. These cute pics are from the Target website. I can't wait to get mine and then I will show you what it looks like in Scout and Baby Doll's room.

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Gratitude Day #2  I am grateful for ice cubes. I love cold water and I'm always disappointed when I can't get my water cold enough to give me a brain freeze. I have to confess that even though we have an ice maker in our fridge, I still spend that $1.69 at Sam's Club for the 20 lb bag of cubes just so I have that option in my freezer in case we run out.

A Typical Sabbath Day

Not much rest on this Sabbath Day.

We had choir practice at 9:00 and I have to confess that I didn't drag myself out of bed until 8:46. I put on yesterday's clothes and Crafty and I got there just in time. Back home we had barely enough time to get dressed up for Sacrament Meeting and prepare snacks and a lesson for nursery.

After church we had a quick sandwich and then the youngest 3 had choir practice. Somewhere in there I managed to wrap gifts and get the birthday cake together for Taco. My sweetie mopped my sticky floor and made bread. Bossy was in charge of the lasagna.

At 5:00, Crafty and I showed up for the stake camp meeting. She has been chosen as a Junior Camp Committee Specialist. There are two girls from each ward that will be helping plan this huge summer camp for about 200 girls. She is on the Communications and Budget committee. Thankfully, most of that doesn't start up until after Christmas.

Taco's party began at 6:00 and once again we had all the kids here but Prima Donna. She will finally be coming home on Tuesday. I think if the train ran on Sundays we would see her much more often. She always calls me on Sunday because that is the day she is usually missing us a little.

The kids ran around and we all enjoyed the food. Taco was excited about the watch and remote controlled car we gave him, but even more so about the phone he got from his parents. I don't think I told you that one of their foster kids, Hot Sauce, was pulled back into the system last week. That was pretty traumatic since it is the first time it has happened to them. Taco didn't mind too much because that meant he got a phone for his birthday.

Time to sleep now. Thanksgiving week is upon us. I thought it might be fun to list one thing every day this week I am thankful for and maybe you could share yours in the comments.

My obvious would be my family or my church, but instead I want to list things that I don't typically think about. Like today I'm thankful for pony tail holders. We never seem to have enough of them around here and I think I have finally figured out why a lot of women cut their hair as they age. It is hot!! Being able to pull it back is the only thing that keeps mine off the chopping block.

What are you grateful for?