WOW!!!

Do any of you watch DIY Network? If so, you know that they were airing a show called "Burt Builds a Bandit". On the show, Burt Reynolds rebuilds the car from "Smokey and the Bandit" with a little help from his friends. After the "Bandit" was finished, one lucky person won the car and $20,000. Well, my first cousin Spencer won the car and the cash!!!! Needless to say I was just about speechless! We are so happy for him. Maybe the next time he's making a bootlegging run to Texarkana he'll drop by for a visit! Congratulations Spence! Here's a link to his winning entry! http://www.heavy.com/video/31907

Where did November go?

I've been a terrible blogger. November just flew by without a word from me. Here are a few of the highlights.

Mary Kay came to visit! Mary Kay was our next door neighbor in Arizona. This is the second time she has come to visit since we have moved here. She is such a treat and we love to have her come and see us. She spoils us rotten. But then, hey, I wish everyone had someone like her in their lives. We are truly blessed.

Eric did the final mowing of the lawn for Winter. 33. Yes, you read correctly, 33 yard bags later he was finished. Way to go Eric!

Noah's socks are finished and he has enjoyed wearing them. Now it's time to dye some more yarn and get started on some more socks! I LOVE knitting socks. The reason for this I think is socks are easy to knit once you know the basics, but varied enough with the cuff, heel, and toes to keep things interesting. Not only that, they are VERY portable. You can ask me at any given time if I have a sock project with me and I will say yes. Grocery store? Yes. Restaurant? Yes. Traveling? Of course! Parent Night at school? Yes. Church? Well, no. Too tempting. A girl has to have some limits. I think a pair for Eric is in the works. Something more subdued though. It has been said that making socks for someone is a true sign of love because one spends hours and hours of their time lovingly knitting socks for someone only to have them trampled underfoot until they are no longer usable and replaced by another handmade pair. Wear them in good health boys! I love you!

Happy Halloween!

This year things were a little different at the Ciminski house. Noah decided to stay home from Trick-or-Treating and be the one to give out the candy. He has been Harry Potter for years and this year he passed his costume on to Heber who wore it proudly. I stayed home with Noah and Heber went out with Eric. Noah and I sat out in the front and visited and gave out candy. It was such a pleasant night, and when Eric and Heber got home they joined us.

This is Neda. She lives next door and is such a cutie!

As you can tell, she gets along great with our boys. We love it when she drops by with her parents. We have such great neighbors!

Happy Brithday!

October is full of birthdays in my family. Eric, my Dad, and my sister Paisley all have birthdays during the month of October. During the weekend of the 19th, Eric, the boys, and I made a suicide trip to Arizona for my Dad's 60th birthday. No one knew that we were coming. We just showed up! Needless to say that we suprised everyone! The trip lasted 72 hours. 36 of those 72 hours were spent in the Mini between here and there. The boys were GREAT! I couldn't have asked for better travelers.

From the left: Paisley, Me, Arabeth, Dad, Fletcher, Taz, Mom. The only one missing from the picture is my youngest brother Jorisen. We missed you Jorisen!

5th Grade Musical

On the 16th, Noah participated in the 5th grade musicial. The program had a 50's theme and the kids really did a bang up job with their costumes. The girls wore poodle skirts and the boys wore jeans and white t-shirts. It was a nice program. Noah had a lot of fun singing and dancing.

Here's Noah with his best friend Hunter.

New Bike!

It's been a while since I've posted. Where did October go? Let me fill you in!

At the beginning of the month, Noah got a new bike! This brings our bike count up to 8. Two for every member of our family. We won't even talk about the bikes that Eric would LIKE to purchase. Anyway, this means that each of us has a road bike now and can go out together on rides. Eric has dreamt of this moment for some time. If you ask him about the greatest times he has ever had in his life, most of them include a bike.

This picture doesn't do justice to the paint job.

Knitting note: Finished Noah's first spirit sock and started the second!

OUCH!

Within the past 6 months Eric, Noah, and Heber have been in bike crashes. None of them have been pretty. While Eric's crash absolutely takes the cake, I have had more than my fair share of doctoring to do and the bandage companies have personally thanked us for our business. : ) The thing to do when someone in our family crashes is to take pictures immediately. At first, I was put off by this thinking that it was an awful thing to do. Then Eric explained to me that it was sort of a badge of honor as well as a guy thing and I softened a little and went along with it. Well, as of Monday October 1st I am officially one of the guys. I had a bike crash myself and what was the first thing I did? TAKE PICTURES!

This is what happens when a skateboard flies out from under a kid and sails out into the street and I hit it going about 15 mph. When a wheel bends like this it's called a "taco". Thank goodness I wasn't going faster!

This is just a few of my bumps and bruises on my right shoulder, elbow, and arm. I have bruises all over the place including on the insides of my thighs where my drops (bottom part of the handlebars on a road bike) hit with force as I was flying over the handlebars. Eric called me a "brave girl" because I was strong and never did cry and didn't even let on to what had happened when I called him to pick me up since I couldn't ride my bike home. He thought I had either bonked (completely ran out of energy) and vomited or had a flat tire.

I must admit I was more worried about my bike than anything else. Eric fixed my bike himself the very next day. (Thanks, Eric!) Amazingly, my tube, tire, and fork were just fine so he used the old tube and tire on the new wheel he bought to replace the "tacoed" one. I must admit that I want a new back wheel now that I have such a nice front one. I'm going out on a ride tomorrow. Hey! Where's that kid with the skateboard? ; )