Happy Easter

There are some days that are just great from start to finish. Today was one of them.

Speed Racer

Today was Quinn's 1st Pine Wood Derby. He and Jim have been fashioning a raceable item out of a block of wood for the last 2 months. There was much cutting, sanding, painting, weighing, gluing and weighing again before the big day. He was insistent that it look just like Jim's Pine Wood Derby car from 1981. After loosing in the very 1st heat, he was able to muster out a 4th place overall finish out of 50 cars in the end. When asked what the best part of the day was, Quinn responded, "Winning the 2 races and next year I am going to make my car with metal topping!". Go figure.

Happy Birthday Jim!

This is 1 handed b-day post for the best husband in the land. Birthdays are a big deal in our house and I have been very worried that Jim would have no cake, no fun things, and no great gifts due to the arm. We have been so fortunate to have my mom and wonderful friends helping us with food and thanks to one of them, the birthday was complete wuth a cake that was even safe for the boys. Thanks Jill for taking the wheel when I couldn't. It is great! Jim is all the things I could wish for in a spouse and father of my children and I am so glad we are the ones he chooses to be with. Happy Birthday Jim! We love you.

Happy Father's Day!

I have to split my time in this post dedicated to 2 of my favorite men. ps- this background is for you Jim.

Dad- I love you for so many reasons. I love that you lead by example, you don't talk about what's right... you just do it. I love that you try to live your life with integrity. This has been a great example for me and I often think of how glad I am that I have someone like you to follow. I love that you offer advice only when asked and it is always honest advice. I love that we like to listen to the same music. I love that you are a great Poppa and are teaching my boys to fish. I love that you think it is cool that your daughter loves football. I just love you for all that you are to me... the only dad I have. Wish I could give you a hug today.

Jim- You are the best father I know. You are always thinking of ways that you can be a better dad. You are always doing things to build a relationship with our boys which is so important now and will be even more important later. You are the laid back side of our parenting equation, and frankly, the boys need that! You are constantly accepting the boys for what they are while lovingly encouraging them to always do their best. Thank you for all that you do for our beautiful children. I am so happy that you are their dad.
Here is a Father's Day message from them to you in NY....

Emergency! Chase of the Chihuahua

{Picture 1970’s TV show "Emergency"}
This morning as we were driving down the street we noticed a lady running down the sidewalk in her church clothes and several cars stopped in the same spot. It caught our attention but couldn't figure out what was happening. We kept driving and about 5 blocks later we saw a small brown and white long haired chihuahua making a break for it down the sidewalk of the very busy street. We pulled over to see if we could get the dog to come to us, which didn't work. Things only got worse for the chihuahuah as he decided he should move from the sidewalk to running IN the road. Jim straddled both lanes of traffic with his hazards on, laying on the horn, swerving from side to side to stop people from passing and hoping to corral the dog back onto the sidewalk and it worked! Jim scared the dog enough with the horn to get him off the road and down someone's driveway where 4 cars of complete strangers managed to catch the dog and return it to it's tearful owner. Looks like this Chihuahua's Milo and Otis days are over.
Nice work good Samaritans of Des Moines, give yourselves a pat on the back.

Laundry Quarters

Does the title of this post bring back nostalgic memories of the days when you used the laundromat? I didn't think so.

Today's post is about the handy skills of the Lynchs. I am sure many of you are saying...WHAT?! The Lynchs are not handy!

WRONG! We ARE handy!

Yesterday, as we were running 1 of our many many loads of dirty laundry, the washer suddenly made a terrible noise like someone stuck a piece of metal in a fan while it was running. This is not good for a fan and certainly can NOT be good for a washer. After successfully repairing our fancy (yet crappy) dishwasher a few weeks ago we decided that we would give it a try on the washer. I started scouring the internet for a solution to our washer noise. It seems that most people who reported hearing the awful grinding had a coin or some other foreign object in the drain pump. Everyone said, "It was simple to remove the drain pump, dump the coin and put it back in!". So, surely the Lynchs can do that. After unstacking the dryer from the top of the washer in a closet that is only about 2" wider than the W/D itself, getting to the bottom of the washer and unscrewing the 4 screws... sure enough it was a quarter causing all the ruckus. We successfully reassembled the washer and restacked the unreasonably tight fitting dryer and ran the test load. IT WORKED! Thus proving my theory...

The Lynch ARE in fact handy!

Now on to the treadmill...it seems that the walking belt is in need of replacement.