Characters, Cookies, Counting...Oh, My!

What an eventful weekend we've had...and how neglectful I have been to take pictures of most of it! Oh, well. Here's the crazy rundown...with some pictures to help tell the story.

Beth unveiled a new character to us. She came out dressed as "Pit Pat Panny." We don't know where Pit Pat Panny comes from, though she has a heavy accent that has yet to be identified. A cross between English and Australian sometimes, other times a bit of a southern twang. She calls me "darling", or "Mommy Pit Pat Panny." Her outfit is varied, though limited. Always a hat, and a beaded purse. And it is definitely a comedic role. She does not break character until I tell her to go get Beth. I'm thinking there may be some drama in this girl's future.

And Brenna had her last basketball game of the season. Check out these great (plate-sized!) cookies that one of the mom's made! YUM!

And, speaking of cookies...it was Girl Scout cookie booth time with Beth. We had a fun (?) time selling cookies for 4 hours on Saturday. It didn't occur to me to snap some pictures of that. Fortunately for me, we get to do it again next weekend.

While we were doing that, Alex participated in a "MathCounts" competition at a local college. It's an international middle school math competition done in a sort of "Jeopardy" fashion. Alex was eliminated in the early rounds, but the top team from his school took 1st place and will move on to compete at the state level. A brother/sister from his school took 2nd/3rd, but the real story of the day was the 1st place winner. He is a local 7th grade home schooled kid who is autistic...and brilliant. He took 10th in the state last year, as a 6th grader! This kid did not even use any scratch paper or calculator. He often had the answer before the host had finished reading the question. Phenomenal. Of course another big highlight for Alex was the provided pizza and cookies. And the 5 extra credit points on the next test given by his math teacher just for participating.

Throw in on top of that another basketball game, a sleep-over birthday party for Brenna, Awana game practice, music rehearsal, and youth leadership meeting...it's been a full weekend. We are ending on another thing worth documenting...

The kids combined several gift cards they have been saving and bought the Wii Fit. Oh, my. What a hoot. I am a little bitter about my personal analysis, and I won't go into details. But I think that they use the same crazy weight measuring system as my doctor's office. So, ignoring the details, it's a lot of fun. Where else can you head soccer balls while dodging shoes and stuffed animals?? And hula hoop while trying to catch hula hoops on your head that people are tossing to you? And going off a ski jump like a pro without freezing from the wind chill? Well, at least making it without rolling down the hill like a snowball.

Here's Brenna about to launch off the jump. Brad tried to snap a picture of me on this balance board, but I threatened him with harm. He knows I'm serious. I do, however, have some amazing video of him "hula hooping" like a mad-man. That could be worth a lot someday. It gives me a grin just picturing it...

Enough of this, The Amazing Race is starting and there are Girl Scout Cookies crying out to be eaten!