Jeremy – Page 4 – Andelin Adventures

Keeping the Tooth Fairy Busy

Having kids so close together means the tooth fairy has been visiting our house a LOT lately. Ethan, Tyra, Jeremy and Dinah have all lost some teeth already, but none of them have lost all of their baby teeth yet. The other day, Chloe’s birthday in fact, before we left the house to go to the dentist and run errands, Jeremy lost another top front tooth.

At the dentist Ethan ended up having two molars pulled because they were crumbling under the pressure of the new adult tooth as it tried to push it’s way out. So the tooth fairy had to come collect THREE teeth that night!

Today, Tyra lost another tooth as well. So this makes trip number two and tooth number four from us for the tooth fairy tonight!

Jeremy’s First Pinewood Derby

We have been preparing for this for the past month, and the day we have been waiting for is finally here! It’s the day of Jeremy’s first pinewood derby! He has been working on the detailing of his car ever since we got home from Grandpa’s house, and it looks pretty amazing. We went to the scout shop this morning to buy some weights to get it as close to the 5oz as possible. Weighing it at home the scale said it was 4.990 oz. I didn’t dare make it 5oz even, because I realize that scales are all slightly different and the weight that is going to count was the weight on the scale AT the race. At the race it rang it at 5oz even, so I was glad I didn’t add anything to make it 5oz even, at home.

Kyle wasn’t able to come to the derby with us tonight because he is in Florida. I am REALLY, REALLY upset about this business trip, and the fact that it means he would have to miss the pinewood derby and that he wouldn’t be here to help or support Jeremy. He also had two of his Webelos receiving their Arrow of Light and bridging our of cubs to boy scouts and he wasn’t here for that. And because he wasn’t here, nobody else made sure to get the bridge out for those boys! The bridge is currently in a closet at the church, so it’s not like it wasn’t there because I couldn’t get it there, all they had to do was get it out. I was also really nervous about bringing all of the kids to the pinewood derby. I didn’t feel like I could help Jeremy with issues with his car (if they arose) AND keep all of my children in line. So I asked a neighbor to watch Adam and the girls and I just brought Ethan and Jeremy to the race.

Jeremy’s car looks awesome, everyone was quite impressed. However, I’m kind of bummed that it wasn’t as fast as I was hoping. After all the trouble we went to to make sure the axles were aligned properly, and it didn’t go faster….apparently we haven’t learned the secret to a fast car yet.

Jeremy didn’t make 1st, 2nd or 3rd place, and they didn’t announce an order for anyone but 1st, 2nd and 3rd. I guess in the past too many boys have been disappointed at seeing how far down the list they placed. I kind of like to see that to kind of gauge whether we are making our cars better or worse. Really they shouldn’t be afraid of showing that information. Part of good sportsmanship is seeing how you did, and congratulating and being happy for the winners despite of your own performance. Jeremy did get a special award though. He got “The Sweetest Ride” award.

Ethan’s Scouting Skills

Ethan came home from scouts yesterday with some homework: to set up and take down a tent twice. So this afternoon I got out a tent and sent him out in the front yard to do his assignment. I let Jeremy go out to help him, but I stayed in the house and refused to do any of it for him. I really wanted HIM to do it, and I didn’t want to risk taking over.

The other kids watched excitedly from the front door. Adam really wanted to be outside with the boys. He was totally smashing his nose against the door just to get that much closer.

The hardest part of Ethan’s assignment, was getting the tent back IN the bag. We brought the tent into the house to refold it to see if we could get it to fit better.

Excitement

I previously mentioned that when Wendy and John delivered Grandma’s piano, they also brought my parents trampoline. Dad was so excited to get that out of their backyard, but it does make me wonder what the kids are going to do the next time we go to visit them….

I really want to have the trampoline set at ground level in our backyard, and the kids really just want to get it set up. Today I looked out in the backyard and found several of them trying to dig a hole for it.

Pinewood Derby Car Construction

Grandpa has a band saw, and we do not. The Pinewood Derby is next month, so we thought ahead and brought a kit for Jeremy to work on while we were at Grandpa’s house. 😉 On our way back from the temple after the wedding, we stopped off to buy a new blade for the band saw since Grandpa said his blade was dull. When Grandpa came home from work yesterday he helped Jeremy get his car cut.

Grandpa gave Jeremy some sand paper so he could smooth it out a bit, and then Daddy helped him get started on painting.

Jeremy wants his pinewood derby car to look like Vanellope’s car from the movie Wreck it Ralph. After the first coat of brown was on, Kyle and Jeremy decided they needed puffy paint, to make the paint look more like real frosting. So while the first coat was drying they went shopping for puffy paint and other accessories.

Jeremy, frosting the car:

We let Jeremy finish with the brown puffy paint before going to bed so it could dry through the night. Today Christian and Jonathan helped Jeremy with putting the wheels on. It was actually more like Christian getting everything in place and then telling Jeremy when to hit it with a hammer.

Jonathan helped by getting the right tools out to get the job done to make sure the tires were straight. We also tested it several times on the living room floor to make sure that it doesn’t veer too much to either side. Jeremy will have to finish decorating it when we get home, we’ve got a month left for him to work on that. The hardest parts (cutting and wheels) are done. 😀