Bobcat!

We have a Bobcat ranked Cub Scout! We are starting the ride of Cub Scouts/Boy Scouts...oh boy!

Snow!

When I was growing up, we got one Monday off of school to celebrate President Lincoln and George Washington's birthdays. Nowadays, the kids get a whole week off. So we decided to head to the snow for one of those days. We headed up to our normal spot at Cisco Grove. We got a great deal at the sled park that usually costs $20/person. The reason is, because the snow was melting and they weren't renting tubes or running their escalator thing so we ended up paying like $5 for the whole family, but then we had to purchase our own sleds which were $20 a piece...we got two of them. It was a lot of fun and I am so glad I brought my camera. I got some amazing shots!

$100 Richer

I won a $100 from one of the local radio stations. I entered the contest online and was supposed to listen at the top of every hour for my name for like 6 different hours a day until the contest ended. If my name was called, I had 5 minutes to call them back to win the moola. I am not 100% for sure but I think the contest went on for like a month. After the first week or so, I stopped listening. Every so often, if I was in the car, I would tune to that radio station around the top of the hour "just to see" if I would actually be called. One particular morning, Raya and I were on our way to the high school track to do some running. I just pulled out of my driveway and happened to have the radio on when my name was called. I looked at Raya and was like "Ummm, did you just hear that? They did call my name right?" and she was like "yep", and I was like "seriously...they said Rachael Durling, right?"...So, I called them right back and I won $100. I was told I had to go down to the station to fill out some paper work. I brought all my kids, but Raya was probably the most excited to see an actual radio station. Her and Malia were sure that someone famous would just happen to be there. No one famous walked by, BUT there were several guitars hanging on the wall in the entrance. One particular one was signed by none other than JUSTIN BEIBER. Now, I am not a fan of the kid, but Raya sure is and so, we snapped a picture of her standing under the guitar. "Mom, that is his REAL autograph...not a copy...whoa..." I guess she will take what she can get!

It's Derby Time!

Ethan joined Cub Scouts a few months ago and we were welcomed into the pack with a block of wood and a deadline one month away to turn that block of wood into a racing machine for the annual Pinewood Derby! It ended up being a joint effort on not only Patrick, Ethan, and I but our neighbor Steve too. Ethan drew his car, Steve cut it out, Ethan sanded and sanded and sanded that sucker and then painted it, Patrick and Ethan worked on smoothing out the axles and wheels, Patrick attached the wheels, I fixed a broken wheel, and lifted the kitchen table up on one side to use it as a track and Ethan and I rolled the car down probably 100 times, adjusting the wheels so it ran straight. All that work paid off because Ethan's car got 3rd in his pack and 4th place overall (26 cars total)...not too shabby for his first derby! Here is Ethan's derby experience in all of its glory!

Blah

I sit here on my computer, checking my email over and over and over again. I then go and check Facebook to see if anyone else has posted something interesting in the last 2 minutes. If that doesn't pan out, I head over to Pinterest and pin cool things that I will forget about in an hour. While doing all these things, I keep telling myself that I need to blog about a bunch of different things, yet, I just.do.no.want.to *sigh*

Valentine Love

Unlike last year, this year's V-Day was low key. Patrick had to work in the evening so we ventured out to The Village Bistro for lunch together. They served Jambalaya so Patrick was thrilled. I had the Club sandwich and it was good. We got home and there was a package on our door. It was chocolate covered strawberries all the way from NYC! That was my gift from Patrick which I will take over flowers any day. They were super yummy! I shared one with Patrick. Later that day, I noticed that there was a card on the front of the delivery box so I decided to open it. Check it out:



I texted Patrick a picture of it and we both had a good laugh about it. Turns out, he didn't write anything in the "note" part when he ordered it. Apparently the strawberry company thought that it shouldn't have been left blank!

Raya got a special Valentine from her boyfriend, Blake. She texted me a picture that said "Feeling the Valentine's Love" How cute is this?



Apparently Blake had been sick for a few days and wasn't going to be at school on Valentine's Day so he dropped it off the night before. He seems to be a pretty cool kid. They have been "going out" on and off for about a year now. I'm not 100% for sure on the length of boyfriend time I had when I was her age, but it certainly wasn't a year...in fact, it was more like 2 weeks! HA!

Not to be outdone, Raya made this Valentine for Blake:



Her and three of her friends delivered it to him at his house on their way to the Valentine's dance at their school. It was a good thing her friends were there, otherwise, I think she would have just dropped it off on the porch and ran...

If you ask the kids what the best part of Valentine's Day was this year, I'd bet they would say Chocolates for Breakfast. I'm such an awesome parent! HA!