Racing wooden cars

This past weekend was our cub scout pack's Pinewood Derby. Anyone with sons in scouting knows that this is a BIG deal. Each boy is given a kit with a block of wood, axles ans wheels. They are supposed to turn the kit into a car and then they race them.

Well, with three Heathens in the house, we now have to build three cars. Plus the Asst. Zookeeper also helps the other boys in his den. The week before the Derby, all the poor man does is build cars while the Heathens play with the electric sander and sand scraps of wood into powder.

The boys had a good time on Saturday. We got there around 9:15 and we were done and out by 1:30. All things considered, it went pretty well.

Heathen #1 was slightly disappointed in his cars performance. He liked the old track better - it's our second year with the new track. Here's a video of his car (winning of course). His car was sort of electric green and it had a fin on the back.

Heathen #2 was happy with his car, until he lost the first time. Then we had to have a temper tantrum. But here is his car winning. It was a purplish pink color.

Heathen #3 spent the morning trying to escape outside because he wanted to play - it was a nice morning. So by the time it was his turn to race, he was pretty well "baked." But his car did pretty well. It was "owange wif dwagons" as I was told.

And I had to post this video. The cars racing belong to Gavin and Landon. But it's Tristan's crab-walking that I love.

It was Tristan's last official year for the Pinewood Derby. Next year at this time, he'll be in Boy Scouts. If that's not frightening, I'm not sure what it! He'll have to race in the "extra" category if he builds a car next year. That's where Gavin and Landon were racing this year. And next year, Gavin will be in a Tiger den! God help us all!

All Before 8:30 am

At some point in the night, Heathen #3 woke up. And he didn't come looking for me. He decided that he was hungry. So he went downstairs and got a container of leftover rice out of the refrigerator, got himself a spoon, and returned to his bed for his pre-dawn snack. This is why I found a half eaten container of rice and a spoon in the hallway, and why his bed was full of rice.

Sometime after the rice-eating incident, he decided that he needed to fix his hair. So he went into the bathroom and got out Heathen #1's tube of Mohawk gel. This is super-grad stuff. And he put half a tube in his hair and plastered it to his head. I guess he decided that he should wash it out, because then he smeared hand soap in his hair as well. He explained this to me later when he was being questioned.

Then he decided to go back to sleep. Which explains why the rice was glued to his head this morning.

Move ahead to 7:30am. I had gotten up and jumped in the shower around 7 and at this point I was waking up Heathens for the day. This is when I discovered Heathen #3's antics in the early morning hours. I put him into the tub and started trying to wash the now steel-like glue-mess out of his hair. He basically glued his hair to his scalp with a plastic-like stuff. He answered questions while I scrubbed. He was not overly cooperative and we ended up slopping water over the edge of the tub. Quite a bit of water, in fact. Enough that the kitchen ceiling started to drip.

Now it's 7:55 and I have Heathen #3 reasonably unstuck that we can go about our day. As I'm drying him off, Heathen #1 sticks his head in the bathroom door and announces that he needs to be driven to school early this morning because it's his turn to work in the school store. He has to be there at 8:15.

No one has eaten yet. My hair and make-up are not done. And I have a sobbing, slightly porcupine-looking Heathen wrapped in a bath towel and trapped between my knees.

I sent Heathen #1 downstairs with orders to get himself and Heathen #2 a package of pop tarts. I picked up Heathen #3 and we headed for his bedroom to get him dressed. Downstairs I could hear the screeching of Heathen #2 because there weren't enough pop tarts for both of them.

Downstairs I went with Heathen #3 tucked under my arm. I talked Heathen #2 into a Ziploc bag of dried cereal and prepared a bag for Heathen #3 as well - I knew what was coming if I didn't.

I ordered the Heathens to put shoes on and gather backpacks. Assuring Heathen #3 that we would come back home and finish getting ready for the sitter's, I went around the kitchen corner and into the living room. This is where I discovered that Heathen #1 had found a key in our junk drawer and locked the deadbolt on the front door - with the door open. And it wouldn't unlock. My front door would not close. Thus we left the house with the front door hanging open and raced for the elementary school.

I pulled into the school lot at 8:18. After I let the boys out of the car, Heathen #3 and I returned home so that I could finish getting ready for work. Then I took him to the sitter's house. I was so thankful when I got to the office this morning.