Happy Valentine's Day

Today I will be hanging out with kids at Valentine's parties and am very happy to say that I managed to help pull off some penguin valentines for Maben.  

Maben is seriously obsessed with penguins and I now know more about penguins than I ever cared to know.  However, his enthusiasm and passion for penguins makes me more than happy to listen about them and figure out how to make them into a valentine, because no one makes penguin valentines.  (I checked) Colton picked Justice League ones from the grocery store. (Happy dance, cause this girl is short on time)

The penguin is compiled of just some shapes cut from my Cricut and some sticky eyes.  We also attached some penguins to the valentine, because they were left over from Maben's penguin themed summer birthday.

I had to scour the internet for a cute saying I could use on the back of the card and finally found gold.

These were printed out on 2x2 inch labels and then stamped with the penguin stamp. 

They are all packed up and ready to deliver to Maben's classmates tomorrow.  I hope his friends love them. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine's day today! 

Winner Winner

I am so proud of my munchkin.  Maben won the Pinewood Derby and was awarded the 1st place trophy for the Tiger Den. 

I am proud, not because he won first place, but because of how he treated his fellow scouts and the amount of work he put into his car. 

Maben told everyone, "Great job," after each race.  He complemented a few of his fellow scouts on how cool their car was.  I am proud of all the scouts in our den on how well they handled the entire experience.  They all had a great time and kept amazing positive attitudes.

Some of the races were closer than others and at the end of the day, Maben held the top time for the entire pack.  Looks like garage day next year might be at our house so we can help out other kids.  Actually the night of check-in (the day before the race) I spent over an hour grinding weight out of a kid's car who was overweight.  The weights were glued inside the car and thankfully I brought my Dremel kit (affiliate link) with grinding tips to help out.  I am so grateful that I could help ensure that all the kids that showed up could race.  I got lots of hugs and high fives in return for helping the kids out. 

If you are looking into making a fast car, we had bought this book (affiliate link) with some tips and tricks.  Keep in mind that there are rules and regulations in place, so please get the list of rules from your pack before implementing any of the secrets listed in the book.  There were a few that were against the rules. 

The one thing that I learned, the gym in which he hold our pack meetings is not good for lighting.  Next year for better photos I am going to be bringing a few spot lights and my better flash.  The first photo was taken outside my house, but all the others were in the gym. 

I can't wait for next year.  It's such a fun event and I had a blast building my car.  I need to think of something fun and creative that I can make.  Good thing I have lots of time to think about it.

For Your Laughing Pleasure

This is my Cozy Coupe Pinewood Derby car.  

If you at all wondered how my car did...watch the video below.

By the way, in the rules there was no height restriction.  I'm sure there will be for next year.  My car did register a time since the front end did cross the finish line before making an abrupt stop and flying backwards.

Pinewood Derby: Stars and Stripes

The last car to show off is Maben's car.  I'm so very proud of all the hard work he put into it.

After studying several different designs from a book, Maben drew out his design on graph paper and my husband assisted Maben is using the bandsaw to cut it out.  Actually, Maben had a hand in almost every stage of the build.

My husband also taught Maben a very important lesson: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. 

Here's hoping that all his hard work pays off and he does well. 

And here's Maben at check-in.  Very proud of his car and eager for some racing.  I'll let you know how it goes.

And if you  missed my car, or Colton's you can see them here and here.

Pinewood Derby: Cozy Coupe

For my car, I wanted to do something creative.  I honestly don't care if I win any races.  I like to challenge myself creatively.  I looked all over Pinterest and the internet for car ideas and wanted to pick something I hadn't seen done yet. 

While sitting in the backyard watching the kids play, I looked over and saw one of two Cozy Coupe cars and it hit me.  I wanted to make America's #1 selling car; the Cozy Coupe.

It was not an easy build.  There was a lot of cutting apart, gluing pieces back together and sanding some of those areas was really difficult, but I am ecstatic with the end result.

So, what do you think?  What other famous cars would you want to see recreated as a Pinewood Derby Car?  I have a few more years of doing this and appreciate the suggestions.

Stay tuned tomorrow for Maben's car.  If you missed Colton's car that I posted yesterday, click here.