Pinewood Derby

Dylan raced in his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby last night. I had no idea how "serious" pinewood derby racing was until last night. Wow! Dylan worked hard with Grandpa cutting and sanding a block of pine into the shape of his car. Then he painted it ... a special green color that he chose all by himself from mommy's special paints. (And was very upset that I was disturbing him by taking a picture)

After the paint was dry we carefully selected the stickers he bought at the craft store and placed them on his car. He came up with a name for his car ... The Turbo Cobra

After much anticipation, Dylan raced his car. Heat after heat... and took second place in the Tiger Cub Division. He also won for Best Car Name! We are all very proud of Dylan and his great sportsmanship!

The Schedule

Those of you who know me well, know I am a very organized person. Everything has its place and more often than not this place has a label. Now don't get me wrong, just because everything has a place does not mean the house is always clean and perfect. I like my Mom Agenda, can't stand having appts and bills all computerized, LOVE post-it notes, and make lists and schedules for everything! When Dylan was 3 years old I started labeling his toy bins, then we moved to organization, some might even go as far as to call it a bit obsessive.

When Dylan started telling me he had to go "organize" his toys rather than clean up his room I knew I was in for trouble. After being off school and work for 2 weeks I sat down with Dylan and told him we needed to have a better schedule so we wouldn't be late for things or forget to do something.  About 10 minutes later he came to me with his very own schedule and asked if he could put it on the fridge. What have I created?

Just Another Sunday Morning

I love Sunday mornings. We get to sleep in, relax and enjoy the quiet morning together. Each of us has our own way of starting the day. I of course need to have my coffee, usually because I have pulled an all nighter writing a paper for school ... or in the case of last night, was up til 1 am decorating a cake for a friends birthday.

Dylan enjoys reading the comics ...

Back to Work and School!

Well, as the alarm went off at 6 am the reality set in that Christmas vacation was over. Gone are the days of staying up til 1am and sleeping til 9 or 10 am. It was sure fun while it lasted and as I told Dylan, only 6 short weeks and then we have another mini vacation for Presidents Week or what we all like to call Ski Week. It will take us a few days to get back into the swing of things, but we will manage.

Over the break, I started a new blog Michelle's Sweet Factory and have really enjoyed sharing my baking with the blog world. I am still debating if I should change the name so to include all types of food and not just sweets, although cupcakes are my specialty.  Maybe Michelle's Kitchen or something like that ... who knows it is all new still.

Happy New Year!

As I sit here in the quiet, drinking my coffee at 10:00 am, I am reminding myself how lucky Dylan and I are. Sure, 2009 was a tough year ... but we also had some great things happen. I went back to school in January to get my Bachelors degree in Psychology; I got a new job with the NMUSD in February; Dylan started 1st grade; we have a nice apartment (finally furnished the way we want it); got to spend 2 weeks in Hawaii this summer; made numerous trips to Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo, San Diego Wild Animal Park, and Legoland (phew, thank God for annual passes); survived the Swine Flu; and lastly had a wonderful Christmas.

New Year's Eve was a quiet night at home, with all of Dylan's favorite New Year munchies; that is until he ran outside at midnight yelling as loud as he could! Dylan stayed up until 2 am with me last night to ring in the new year, which is the only reason he is still sleeping, and today we are going to relax and enjoy the day. I have never been good with New Year resolutions, so this year I will keep it simple. Love my child the best I can, play with my child in childlike ways, continue to do my best in school, and keep up with this blog on a regular basis!

Welcome 2010, and to all of our friends and family we wish you a safe, healthy, and prosperous year!