It's a little known fact...

A little conversation from the dinner table last night:

Jadyn: We need to drink lots of milk or we won't have the little white things.

Julie (her curiosity peaked): What little white things?

Jadyn: The little white things on our fingernails. Remember, you told me.

Julie (perplexed and trying to jog her memory): What do you mean?

Jadyn: If we don't drink lots of milk, our fingernails won't have the little white circles at the top!

Julie: How does the milk make our fingernails white?

Jadyn: When you drink milk, it goes into your fingernails and turns the top white. Those are the little white things.

Julie (laughing): You're right. Drinking lots of milk does make our fingernails strong, but I don't think the milk makes the tops white.

Working again

Great news. Mark has been able to go back to work after missing a month due to his back injury. He's still going to Physical Therapy twice a week for a few more weeks, but his back feels great and he's glad to be back (no pun intended). Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Finally...

Just want to let you know that we finally have more updated pictures on our Family Photos link. Go check it out...

Student of the Week

Jadyn was honored by her teacher last week when she was chosen as "Student of the Week." Teacher's pick one student for showing a positive attitude, good behavior, and good work. The winner receives an award certificate as well as having their name announced over the intercom by the principal during the daily announcements. She was very surprised and excited!

Way to go, Jadyn! We're very proud of you!

Grand Prix Time!

This weekend was Grand Prix weekend at our church. For any who don't know what that is, kids use a pine block of wood to create a car of their own design, put wheels on it, and race it with other kids on a long track.

Jadyn and Karina were both very exacted to make their cars. We wanted to make sure they were the ones picking out their designs, so we allowed them to choose what they wanted and then tried our best to help them make it happen.

Jadyn has been very excited about the "Pledge of Allegiance" at school, so she wanted to make a flag car, and she wanted it to be a truck like our friend Steve has. Karina wanted a "Lightning McQueen" race car, but - like any girl would - she wanted it to be pink and have rainbows on it.




We worked hard. I (Mark) worked with the kids to come up with the shape of the cars, we cut them together, sanded them down, chiseled Karina's car to make it rounded like Lightning, and primed them to be ready to paint. Julie then stepped in and spent time painting with each girl - both of whom were very particular about their paint jobs. The final product turned out great and the girls were very proud.

On race day, when their numbers were called, they girls got to go up and set them in place on the racetrack and then go wait by the finish line. Karina even told me at one point, "Daddy. Don't come with me. I can do it by myself." I felt so rejected and yet so proud at the same time (kidding).


Both did great - Karina even won one of her races! Jadyn came in second once, and third lots of times. But her proudest moment came at the end when they handed out trophies. The fastest racers won trophies, the best designs, and then there was a special trophy for the "Director's Choice" of cars - the organizer of the race chooses one car as best design of his choice - and he picked Jadyn's car. She was so excited - she ran up and received her trophy in front of the whole crowd! At the end, the girls even got to pose by a real race car!

But the best part of all was having fun working on the cars and seeing them race. We're already talking about next year...!