The Tominator Wins NMRA Factory Stock World Championship

From the NMRA Website, "In the first round of qualifying, Tommy “The Tominator” Godfrey came out and ran a HUGE number. His 11.33 at over 119 mph is the quickest and fastest a pushrod has even run in the class. Big numbers from the rookie show that he wants that championship something fierce. Who says pushrods can’t hang with the Modulars in K&N Filters Factory Stock?"

For more details, visit http://208.122.20.138/forums/showthread.php?t=69239.

Hamming It Up

We took our annual family and Christmas photos yesterday. Instead of tormenting myself with an all day ordeal through Picture People, I decided to try out Barefoot Images, a photographer (Christine Meraklis) that my friend, Cindy, is friends with. We had a really fun and relaxing experience with her and I think we ended up with a bunch of great pictures to choose from. Here are just a few. If you want to check out her website, it's www.barefootimages.net. She took some fun ones of Baeleigh in a tutu, and might put one up of her on the site.

Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

Here's an interesting read for those new to the whole "eating organic" thing. This is actually kind of a concept that I've used in buying organic foods for our own family, and most especially Baeleigh. Milk is one the most important buys for me since Baeleigh drinks so much of it. Natural peanut butter has been a more recent addition after I heard how much sugar was actually in the conventional version. Baeleigh LOVES PB&J sandwiches. So, this seemed like a no-brainer. Now that I hear how much pesticide is used on peanuts though, I think I might have to stick to the organic brands.

If you are interested in buying organic but don't have a lot of money to switch over entirely (like me), this'll get you started...

"Five Easy Ways to Go Organic"
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/10/22/five-easy-ways-to-go-organic/?em&ex=1193457600&en=f7ccbdd30c8ed71a&ei=5087%0A

The Bobbleheads

Fun Ford Weekend, one of the last races of the year, and Baeleigh's first official introduction to the racing world. She's helped Dad out in the garage on numerous occasions. (As a matter of fact, the kid can probably identify more tools than I can.) There was a litte trepidation on my part, given that she's been scared before at the starting up of the Cobra, but boy did she prove me wrong.

Apparently, Bae had the idea that SHE actually would be doing the driving. After several "Why?" sessions later, she seemed resolved to just watch. Yeah right... Bae spent the day running after Dad, dodging in and out of the trailer, testing out Dad's ride, and walking around pretending to be a race car driver (hence the helmets). Corita and I dubbed them "The Bobbleheads". If it weren't for the fact that they were top heavy and prone to just toppling over, I think they would have worn those helmets ALL DAY LONG. The Bobbleheads passed out for a nap in the car somewhere late that afternoon. Thanks to the DVD system in the car. After a long weekend, Baeleigh was glad to have another trophy on brief display in her room with Tommy winning the Factory Stock class.

Pumpkin Patch Pilgrimage

Baeleigh made her first trip to the Pumpkin Patch with Mom and Dad in tow. We arrived down at Serenity Farms around 10:30am. It was a gorgeous and warm fall day, and perfect for the trip. We all got to ride into the farm on a huge hayride.

This was Tommy's first time playing chaperone and luckily we only got one kid to watch, Katie. An easy break-in for a first-timer and to get the feel of what it's like to have two kids to run after...or so he thought. Katie is a sweet little girl, but very - let's say - distracted. So, needless to say, the petting farm was a constant battle of keeping Baeleigh and Katie somewhat together. Almost impossible. Even more impossible was to get any of the kids to NOT run in the poop-infested pen. The kids were then greeted by (a very hairy and "well-developed") Dora, Blue and Barney to invite them into the haunted house. I'd tell you that the Katie and Baeleigh loved it but Tommy let them slip in way ahead of us. Rookie. So, I never saw her reaction. Both had smiles on their faces when we popped out the other side, so I guess everything was fine. That was a relief because some of the kids were scared in there. Baeleigh then made her way through the hay maze. I think she got a little confused from the other kids, as she was the last out.

Baeleigh was very choosy with her pumpkin pick, but at last this one above won out. We took it home and Tommy and Baeleigh worked hard that afternoon making it as scary as possible. She helped scoop out all the guts and then we put a candle in it and set it outside to scare everyone on Halloween night.