Dance ‘n Derby

I’m not sure how I managed to snag a man who chooses piggy-back rides, bedtime stories, and dish duty (even though it’s his least favorite chore…with snow removal at a close second) over golf, tech games, and Monday Night Football. But I did. And his time management skills and attention to the things that matter most in life make our family sooo much better than I could muster on my own without him.

So, one might ask…Does Brent have a personal hobby?

Well, he likes things that require creativity, movement, risk, and/or power tools…like remodeling, repelling, wakeboarding, and snowboarding. But because we don’t have anymore walls to knock down in our 1965 home and we live in the very flat suburbs of Chicago (and we have 6 children whose nurturing takes nearly every moment), Brent happily surrenders his personal hobbies and instead combines some of his favorite things with some of his favorite people.

Two such events happened recently:

1. The Daddy Daughter Dance

With 3 lovely ladies to greet at our front door and twirl around all evening, Brent’s night was full of fancy fun (and included the use of power tools if you count hair dryers and curling irons because Brent does help with hair). Oh, how the girls chatter about this night well in advance and cherish it long after it ends.

 

2. The Pinewood Derby Race.

It’s a treat to watch Brent work with his hands and with our kids. Both take patience, focused attention, and creativity. And he’s very talented at both.

Here are a few of the masterpieces Brent has concocted with our boys (and our girls) over the years. The kids have the liberty of dreaming up anything they want…

 These are Kenny’s cars. The “Crocodile Cruiser” won first place, The Cello has a real music box built in, The Pencil really writes, and The Triple-Decker Bus could seat about 106 really small people on a sunny day.

These are Diggy’s cars…The Diggy Car because Diggy has a cool name, The Ark because Diggy loves animals, and The Droid Razr because everyone loves Angry Birds.

Kirsten ordered a high-heel shoe.

 Allison has a block of wood that she couldn’t imagine carving into anything else…it’s a classical hand-painted treasure.

And because Diggy’s choice this year was a Motorola Droid Razr, Brent decided to get down and derby and create this to race alongside it:

Cienna happily inherited this car.

Much to our family’s delight…the Razr zoomed to the finish line and the iPhone crawled to a stop halfway down the track.

Sorry Apple fans, but Motorola puts food on our table and pays for my brain books. We’re a bit partial. And they DO make an awesome phone.