Saturday was a busy day for Dad, as he had not one, but two activities to attend with our little scouts.

First up was the Boy Scouts Pinewood Derby. This was Brenden's first year in the event, and he had a blast making his car. Dad helped him with the cutting, and then Brenden got a decal kit and put all the stickers and the wheels on by himself. His car was fast! He even got a trophy.

No, not like that! Quit thinking the worst, you!

I had the idea today to compare having lots of kids to taking speed or meth. Now, I don't exactly know what taking meth is like, but I think I can get an idea, based on previous overdoses of caffeine and previous non-overdoses of Ritalin. From what I've read, meth is similar, just stronger. An intense energy and focus, drive, getting things done. That's what Ritalin and caffeine are like. Focus. Getting things done, instead of sitting around.

Today was Records Day for Mason's government schools, so the kids ended up getting the day off as well. The girls' Brownie troop went off to Camp Wacousta for the day to do badge activities, and came back happy and smelling of campfire. Brenden got to hang out with his friends for the day and go sledding (something that Elayne hasn't gotten out to do yet what with Jarod and all). And Elayne used the quiet time around the house to do a little reading with Liam and take down all the Christmas decorations. It was a little too quiet, actually!

Check out the Wish List link! I've updated the links on this page. You can now find my own updated WishList.com wish list. I have also created a new Amazon.com wishlist containing all our current homeschooling needs, so if you want to contribute to the kids' education, check it out!

I didn't get much in the way of presents, but I did finally get my birthday storm. Yesterday morning, I thought this year was going to fizzle. The forecast wasn't good. But it started snowing yesterday afternoon, and it still hasn't stopped, forecast be damned! Everything is white, and right now it's coming down pretty hard. It's still close to freezing, so the streets and sidewalks melt off whenever it slows down. But still pretty cool.

My computer is so slow. It runs "like a dog," as Daddy puts it. It wasn't always this way. When I first got it, it was Speedy Gonzales. It was great! I loved it! But sometime in the last year and a half or so, it turned into the Molasses River. I only have 256MB of memory, and judging from the constant disk access, large page files, etc., more memory would cure all my ills. It would be really nice to have right now, while I'm working on this huge project that's due so fast and that I'm not getting nearly enough time to work on.

If the rest of 2007 plays out like the first week has, this will be a busy but good year.

Brian has been working very hard to get Jarod walking. Why, I don't know; I'd be perfectly happy if he didn't for a while, thank you very much! But, his efforts have finally been rewarded, with our earliest-ever first steps:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W94QscBd7ro]

Over on the left side of the screen, you may see a new link called "Bears for Babies." As the holidays approach, we are trying to raise money to buy as many bears as possible to donate to our local NICU for the babies there. We remember receiving gifts like these from NICU graduates when we were in the hospital, and have always wanted to pass it on. Please help us make this a big celebration by checking out our bear page and clicking the "Buy Now" button below the bear to purchase your own bear, which we will personally hand-deliver to the NICU this holiday season!

We went to a first birthday party for a friend's baby this weekend. Including our own Jarod, there were 5 babies there, three of them crawling or toddling around. I'd be feeding Jarod on the floor, and another baby only 3 days younger would come climbing up on my knee. It was very nostalgic. Having all the babies running around, playing with them, watching them interact, all of that was the best part about having triplets, and something that I miss.