Long wearing lipstick...is it a good thing?

I like RED long lasting lipstick. The kind that stains your lips and you can eat, and kiss, and it never goes away. It's great, stays on for hours, NOTHING takes this stuff off.
And yet is that always a good thing?

It's hard enough to wash regular dirt off the face of a three year old. This is insane. He was VERY upset when I took the fun red paint away. He calmed down when I put him in the shower (he loves showers), but he was not too happy when I kept trying to wash his face. I haven't tried my eye make-up remover which I use as a last resort on myself. But tonight Sage is sleeping with war paint, we will see how he looks in the morning. He did start to laugh when I started taking pictures. I wish I could have caught the one of him seeing what he looked like. Too funny. Kids...you gotta love 'em!

Pic of the winner

I stole this from a friends blog and had to post it. What a cutie. If you didn't read about the derby go back a few posts. (Thanks Chantel)

Apples and miracles

This morning, because of wonderful neighbors who stayed up late into the night with their snow blowers, we had a small path in the road for cars to get through. My first thought, "I can go get some apples!" Those of you who know my boys well know they all love apples and we go through a ton of them. Even more if they are all here 24 hours every day. So, even though I had stocked up before the last storm with 4 large bags, they were all gone and we were needing some more. So we went to the store.
Well, now here is the fun part. My van has been having some electrical problems. We think that it is because a couple of the little boys decided to feed the CD player coins, and it keeps trying to read them and play, even when the van is off. We have blown a couple of fuses and every once in a while the electricity in the van just stops working for a minute or two. Usually it doesn't affect my driving, it's just annoying.
So, while we are on the way to the store, we lose electricity. No clock, no radio, and then it happened...no engine. We just stopped... there in the middle of the street. My mind went crazy thinking of how there is no shoulder and barely one lane in the road. I could hardly believe it when I looked behind me and there were no cars. I turned off everything and said a short prayer. I turned the key and it worked. Moments later it happened again and this time people were behind me. I turned the key and it worked again. We got to the store and before any of the boys got out we said a prayer. We told Heavenly Father that we really needed to get home after going to the store, and asked that our van be able to get us there.
After getting apples (milk, bread, eggs, and a few other fresh things) we went out to the car. We loaded in everything and everybody. And then I got out, opened the hood and unplugged a few of the fuses and then plugged them in again, hoping to somehow re-set the computer in the van. We said another prayer and started it up.
I do feel that it was a small miracle that we got home safely and without any problems. Never even losing the radio. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father took care of us, and our van, and allowed us to get our apples.

A bonus of being snowed in...

A day before the storm we got a package in the mail. PERFECT timing! Star wants to go and see the movie 'The Lightning Thief" so I bought him the whole series and told him I would take him after he had read the first book. So, one of the things that he and I have been doing during this last few days is sharing the book. We make sure not to lose each others book marks and we have enjoyed reading it together and discussing the story as we go.
I just finished it. (A few chapters before him, I just can't help it that I can't tear myself away while I am reading. He's lucky I gave it up to him as often as I did.)
I love it. 2008 my favorite series was Twilight. 2009 was Harry Potter, I can tell you already that 2010 is going to be Percy Jackson. I can hardly wait to start the next book.
My problem with series books is that I have to read them once the whole series is out. I don't do well with the patience part of book reading. It's like turning off a movie after 10 minutes and then watching 10 more minutes a week later...etc, etc, etc. I just can't do it. So, I am so glad when I find a series that is all written and that I love. My favorites are usually written for kids. I have read a few adult series and they just don't appeal to me as much. Maybe it's proof that I am really a kid at heart.
I have my favorite books, they are different by far than the series, most of them are written for a more mature audience. Only 'The Host' which was written by Stephanie Meyer is similar to any of the series that I like. And the only similarity is the fact that she wrote both it and the Twilight series. They are nothing alike.
So, for the extra reading time, I have been happy to be snowed in a for a while.
I must say I am EXTREMELY grateful for the fact that we have had electricity. I know many people close to us don't have any. We are warm, have food, and books. Life is good.

Snow!

A couple of days ago we got some snow. It was good packing snow so when we finished shoveling ourselves out I made a snowman. It was melted by that afternoon, and so was the rest of the snow. But then we had more today. MUCH MORE!When I went out this afternoon to just dig a hole from my house to the car, I noticed a snow plow stuck in the snow up the street. It's that green truck.Several hours later when I finished the tunnel from our van to the street the snow plow hadn't made it too far. There he is the light on the left of the pic is him. They had several guys trying to dig around it and he only made it maybe seven feet. OUCH! I think we are going to be here for a while.This is the view from my driveway. I kind of felt like Moses parting the Red Sea. We only shoveled until we hit the street.My Star in his "heroic pose".Oh no, I think he is going to jump.At least the landing was soft.And he looks way happy!YEA! Success is MINE! (Snow is just fun!)The tunnel we made from our door to the van.This one was tonight after the snow finally stopped and our last time shoveling the tunnel.
As I write this I can't help but mention, my biggest helper out there today was EZ, and currently he is totally asleep on the couch. How anyone can sleep through the noise of my boys is beyond me. But there he is....fast asleep!

Pinewood Derby

YEA! It's over again for a year. I think it is the fact that it's kind of a family legacy on my side, but the Pinewood derby is a major source of stress for me (and therefore for my family). In my growing up years I can remember weeks and months that my brothers would spend on their cars. The planning, the carving, the sanding, the painting and the hours spent in my Dad's office working on the perfect car. Every year one of my brothers won first place. It made for some good competition, but that only made my family work harder. Although we don't get quite as into it as in my growing up years, I still stress about it. At one point I was having dreams about my husband having to leave and that would leave only me here to help the boys finish their cars. My subcouncious was even stressed. And even though we didn't take weeks and months, my boys came through (with the help of Dad) and won first and second place. The legacy continues....
Spike won first place and Blue Tiger won second.