The pinewood derby

I know that it is weird for me to post so soon after the last post but something interesting happened today. Today was the pinewood derby for cub scouts and it was Riley's first pinewood derby too. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, the cub scouts and their mom or dad make a car out of a block of pine wood and race them. Ideally, it would be really nice if the boys made their own cars by themselves but the reality is that making a decent car requires power tools and a bit of know-how...which means the dad pretty much does everything but sand the car.

Well, I was pretty nervous for this because there is a lot of pressure. You see, Rachelle's dad and her uncle John all were big winners of the pinewood derby (which means their boys all won the pinewood derby) in both design and speed. In order to be considered an official part of the "club", I felt like I needed to do something special.

Fortunately, Riley had a good idea. He wanted to make the Batmobile and I thought that would be pretty fun so we did it. Here are a few pictures of how it turned out.

Before painting and adding in the nozzle

After painting and adding in the nozzle:



Back view (where the weight is).


On the night of the race, I wasn't sure how it would go because I hadn't really run it on anything and wasn't totally sure that it would go straight. To make a long story short, it went straight and I feel like I can be part of the club now. He won both the design and the speed portion.




Now I just have to manage expectations for the next year because I don't want him to start thinking he will always win. He was doing pretty well I think. He went up to every kid after just about every race and told them how good of a job each of them had done. I was really proud of him for doing that but I told him afterwords that I wanted to make sure that he also did it when he lost. I think he will.

Finally, another video and another blog post

OK, it has been a really long time so my guess is that nobody reads this anymore. Even so, I decided to post something anyway since I have finally made a new video. We have been having trouble making new videos because they only take one nap a day and we have a hard time making the commentary. Because of that, we decided to go with a simpler format for now. We do still have some quint olympics ideas going but they are going to take a little while to actually make. We have a friend, Ally, who recently won American Gladiators that we are hoping to have come out and do a baby gladiator episode with them.

Anyway, here is a new video:

New Quints in Town

A few weeks ago a new set of Quints were born here in Austin. The parents are Casey and Ethan Jones. They came and talked with us early on to get our perspective on things and we tried to help them get ready for it as best we could. Their blog is here:

http://www.joneslife.net/blog.htm

They are a great couple with a lot of faith and things seem to be going pretty well for them so far. We try to pray for them often because I know (from experience) that they can use all the prayers they can get. It is nice to know that we could assist someone in a way that many others had assisted us. As for us, we are doing well still. Last week HEB (a Texas grocery store) gave us gift cards that I think will be enough for a year's worth of diapers. We were floored. Apparently, they were doing some research to figure out how they can help the Jones' family and in doing the research they found out about us and decided to just give us a big donation. It was really nice of them especially since we are sort of out of the limelight now.

You also might have heard on the news about the octuplets born to a woman in California. Yesterday, someone from the BBC contacted us and wanted us to be a guest on their World Have Your Say program to talk about what it is like to have high order multiples. Rachelle couldn't do it (because she had to take care of five semi-grumpy little people) so I did it during lunch. I thought it was just going to be a little phone interview but it turned out to be a little bit bigger than that. I ended up having to go to a local public radio studio (KUT) and particpate there. throughout the program, the host and myself talked with a whole bunch of guests from all over the world ranging from the couple that had the first set of octuplets to various doctors in singapore, Nigeria and places like that. I even got to talk with the oldest set of triplets current living in the UK (three 81 year old men that were pretty funny to talk to). Anyway, it was pretty interesting. I did get into a bit of an argument because a caller from Washington state called in and said he thought it was bad that the government would give tax breaks for children. He thought that the government should be discouraging people from having children and should make people pay MORE taxes for having children. It was pretty weird and I wish I would have told him that if the government wanted me to pay more taxes for having the children I have, then I would do it because it would be worth it.

Anyway, that is it. Just wanted to give an update since I haven't written anything here for more than a month. I have some video that I need to finish but it is getting too old so I will probably have to make some new stuff to put up there.

Finally, a new Quint Olympics video!

OK, so it has been a really long time since I have posted a video. I finally found some time a few weeks ago and we started one. It honestly isn't my favorite but it will do for now. I really want to show a few with them running around and stuff because it is pretty funny. I have some time off coming up in a few weeks so I will plan to do another one at that time.

Also, today is the last day for the lower prices on the calendars so don't forget to buy a whole bunch.

New Calendar

I still don't have a new video but I plan to very soon. Right now, we just finished our 2009 calendar. This year, Rachelle actually took and edited most of the pictures herself and they are really pretty impressive. We also reduced the price a lot from last year because we wanted to make it easier for more people to get them. They will be about 12 dollars before December 1 and about 14 dollars after December 1. However, if you get 3 or more, then they are only about 10 dollars. Rachelle will have some pictures of it on her blog I think but I thought I would go ahead and mention it here.

Fireproof Movie

Tonight Rachelle and I had a great opportunity to get a night out (thanks to my mother-in-law and a few friends) so we went to go see a movie called "Fireproof". I really thought it was a great movie with a really good message. It was about a firefighter named Caleb (played by Kirk Cameron) and his wife who have issues in their marriage. Caleb is about to give up when his dad gives him a book called "The Love Dare" and challenges him to follow the instructions in the book every day for 40 days. Anyway, it was a good, clean movie with a good religious message that nearly every married couple could use. It was low budget but when you have a good story, that can usually carry the movie even when the acting isn't perfect.

Anyway, I just thought I would put a plug in for that because we need more movies like that. I have read statistics (can't remember where I read it so I might just be making it up) that claim that couples who have multiples are much more likely to get divorced. I really can't imagine that happening but I know that to avoid that kind of thing I need to work at it. We need the help of God in our marriages and we need to recognize our own weaknesses. Anyway, it was a good movie. Also, if you have seen that movie and liked it, then you might also like a recent book I read called "The Peacegiver" which pretty much has a very similar plot and message at the end. I recommend both of them because I think both have helped me be a better husband and father which would really come in handy right now.

Some things that put our stuff in perspective

As you know, if you are reading this, I haven’t had many posts lately. There has been a lot that has gone on but I haven’t really wanted to write about it. There are so many things that are just crazy lately. The babies are all doing really well and they are growing. They all walk and so I have no excuse for not doing a Quint Olympics walking race with them except that I am tired. I am actually thinking that things are going to get harder in some respects because they are all getting smarter. However, the little things that we have been dealing with are truly minor in comparison with the stuff going on with some others that I know. We found out a few weeks ago that my uncle Kirk has cancer. My uncle Kirk is one of the uncles that I know the best. We all have a lot of hope for him and he is one more person that we are adding in to our prayers. He has always been one that is quick to laugh so I am hoping that he can use that sense of humor to make it through this.

Something that happened a few weeks ago was that I attended a funeral for the baby of one of my coworkers. I have never been to a funeral for a baby before but it was hard. It really made me feel extremely grateful for the health of my own little ones. It was the first time I had ever attended a Catholic funeral as well and I was glad I went. Overall, I felt a spirit of optimism during the funeral. I had a strong feeling the whole time that the parents would get a chance to see their daughter again and that she was not gone but merely waiting for them. This was comforting to me and I really wish I could have transferred my assurance to them as I watched them grieve but I knew I couldn’t. I also think that even knowing that you will see the baby again doesn’t fully relieve the pain and I hear that it is something that never really leaves you. However, it is very comforting to know that there is a God and that in the end, we can put our trust in him and know that things will turn out well.