The making of...

The pinewood derby car! So, if anyone asks me - I will let them know that I do not enjoy the pinewood derby! We have NOT had good success there. Usually, we remember about 4 days before the race that we have to make a car. So, we hightail it down to Hobby Lobby and buy a new kit that is already carved out. We paint it, apply the stickers and put it all together. Then, off we go to the race.
Well, off I go to the race with my kids. Jared usually has to teach on that night and so he comes when he is done - which is about an hour late. Last year, our awesome Hobby Lobby car wasn't so awesome! Caleb was so excited and ran in the first 3 races - and lo and behold that crappy car wouldn't even cross the dang finish line! By the 3rd race, Caleb is trying so hard to hold back the tears. I had no idea how to help him, how to fix the car or what to do. I wanted to just leave. I couldn't get any help and I had just about decided we were just going to call it a night and go home.
Jim Hamberlin saved the day! Jim is super dad and LOVES to build cars. He helps his son build one and then he makes a couple or more for himself just to race once the kids are done. He let Caleb have one of his special cars. That thing FLEW!! It won every race and brought a HUGE smile to Caleb's face! It LITERALLY saved our night. Jim will never know how much I appreciated his willingness to let Caleb use his car. Because it was not Caleb's car, he couldn't win any prizes, but that didn't matter.

So, about a month ago, I started bugging Jared about making the car. I was NOT going to go through what I did last year. If he didn't find the time to help Caleb make a car, I wasn't going to take him. So, they started a week or so ago (the race is now in 4 days - and it is almost finished) working on the car. Caleb drew up a design and Jared cut it out. Caleb sanded it and they painted it together. It is turning out really good. We have had a few problems with the way we wanted to paint it, but I think it will look good. I will do another post of the finished car and how the race actually went. I just have one hope and prayer...

PLEASE CROSS THE FINISH LINE!!!