Fun Weekend...

Well, we finally got our snow. I barely saw Jake this weekend as he stayed out in it all weekend. He even stayed up late at night to measure it as it fell. It was so cute. Remember staying out in the cold snow and then going in and your legs and feet hurting when you went inside... We drank hot cocoa and hung out a lot.

Saturday night was fun. We went to a neighbor's house for dinner and games. We had the best time talking and the kids had a blast. Laura kept trying to destroy their Christmas tree, but they were very good natured about it. So sometime soon, we will have to have them over. We do for campfires, but never for dinner. I don't have enough chairs, lol! But maybe this spring we can do a cookout outside. :)

I got a bunch of meat today on sale and with use of gift cards. I have been slicing ham and bagging chicken legs. Now I am off to make meatballs and hamburger patties. I really should be packing, but that wouldn't be tradition to pack on time, would it? ;)

Starting to feel like Xmas...

Today is an exciting day for me. Today is the last day of school for Jake and the last day of work for Sandy before the holidays. This is one of my favorite times of year. (Actually, whatever time of year I am in is my favorite!)

We are looking forward to getting to enjoy each other's company. We have been so busy with activities, work, and school. I hoping we can slow down and just enjoy the season. An added bonus, it is going to snow!!!! I love snow. Not so much for me, but for the kids. We never get snow. Just ice storms. I am hoping that we get enough that the kids can actually sleigh ride. I am going to serve hot cocoa and marshmallows. This is one of my favorite mom moments. So pardon me, while I pull out Charlie Brown's Christmas and sip on my cocoa...

Merry Christmas!

Christmas cookies...

Guess what I did last night... Yes, I made Christmas cookies! I stayed up late. It took a sense of humor to make these. My white chocolate seized and was very hard to coat the cookies with and I burnt some of the jello cookies and peanut blossoms.

But I should have enough for tonight's pack party. Hopefully, they will go over well. :)

Crying over spilt milk...

Literally....
Laura and I had a little power struggle over a cup of chocolate milk and sigh! Guess what happened? Oh the shock and horror!

I couldn't help, but laugh and snap a shot of the fallout. Luckily, we were going to do bathtime soon anyway, lol!

Today was a good day though. Laura had a good time dancing to Christmas music and helping me decorate. We are a little late decorating, but we will keep it up until New Year's. We have only done a few decorations since Laura is very curious.

We have done a table top tree, decorated the mantle and window sills. Jake and I have been having fun crafting decorations. We have made all types of paper ornaments. Our favorite is making recycled magazine Christmas trees.

Here is Jake moving the date on our homemade Advent Calendar. I made it out of a dollar store cookie sheet and scrapbooking papers. I have always wanted a nice advent calendar. I had something in mind to sew, but my sewing machine was out of commission. Lucky me got a new one on my birthday. I love it! Jake is getting handy on it too as he made some bean bags on it to play with at cub scouts.

This week is very busy for us. We have a Christmas pack party and then a classroom party. I am making cookies tonight and hopefully will get my craft kits together for the classroom party. Hope it works!

My sweet cub scouts...

Last night, my den wrote letters to soldiers overseas. They were so cute and caring. Here are some samples of their letters:

Dear soldier,

My name is "W". What is your name. You are my best frind. half of my famly was in the marine so I'm yost to amry pepol. {used to army people}.

Sincerely, "W"

Dear soldier,

I am allmost 9 yers old. Thank you for helping our country try to make the best of it. I wonder what gun do you you's. I hope your hope's and dreams come true. our the best

your friend "C"

Dear Soldier,

My name is "A". I am 8 1/2 years old. I am a cub scout.... Thank you for serving in the milatary. What wars have you been in? are you a sniper? Happy Hollidays.

Sincerely, "A"

Dear Soldier,

I rote this letter to see what you do in the marines. I have some questions about what you do in the marines. How big is you sniper rifle.

Sincerely, "L"

Dear Soldier,

My name is Jacob. I am 8 years old. I am in cub scouts. Why did you want to be a soldier? Where are you from? What is your favorite sport?

thank you for being a soldier! Stay safe!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Jacob

Aren't these adorable? We will be sending them to anysoldier.com this week and hopefully, the soldiers will get them in time for Christmas and New Year's.

Here are the photos of the week :)

Way to go Bevyn!

My neice Bevyn was in a pie contest today! She did so well that she placed in a few different categories. She made a variation of an apple pie and made it all from scratch. This was a pretty competive contest and there were around 30 entries in the apple category. Way to go Girl!

1st in Presentation
2nd in Customer's choice
2nd in Judge's choice
4th place overall

Jacob's root canal

Jake survived his last root canal. In fact, he came through with flying colors. I really should have sent him to school afterwards, but who knew if pain would kick in. I think Jake is so relieved to have the pain go away. He has bore it well, but has been in pain for a month now. It is good for it to be over--almost. He goes back in a couple of weeks to get them capped. Thank goodness, we found such a wonderful dental office. They just rave over and over about Jake. He truly is a good patient and kid.

Mammo was interesting today. Almost all my patients were very upset about the new guidelines. As usual, women are dispensable and it's sad that other women are so ready to let them be....

Oh well, my sweet angel is asleep and it's time for Jake and my read-aloud book. Tonight, we start Ramona Forever. Love that Beverly Cleary!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

What rainy days we are having! I know that we need the rain, but I am forgeting what the sun looks like, lol! Actually, I love rainy days. They are perfect for reading books, watching tv, doing crafts, comfort food...

Yesterday, I was craving a hot bowl of chili, but since I have no ground meat, I had to look in my pantry for what I did have. So here is my latest creation: Cheesy Potato Soup. I am proud to say that I tinkered with some soup recipes and came up with this one on my own. I served it with hot corn muffins. Yum, yum!


Other than that, we are just same-o, same-o! It is almost the end of the week. Laura and I have been working on the house. Me on cleaning it, her on destroying it.... It's a good balance. ;) Jake has been keeping up with his studies. Sandy has been working hard. All and all, it is a nice quiet week for this family.

Jake's teeth

I didn't realize that I didn't update with Jake's broken tooth solution. He is all fixed up now. Jake went in for xrays and before we knew I knew they called me back and his tooth was done. They pressed a filling into it and shaped it. Unless you look very carefully, you can't see the difference between his real tooth and the repair.

The dentist said that Jake has to be careful as he eats not to bite and pull. The filling could come off again, but not to be alarmed. In 3 to 4 years, if we want to something more involved, we can have a more permanent fix.

Jake is happy to be back to normal. His root canal is scheduled for next week. Hopefully after that, Jake will just have 6 month checkups.

Thank goodness, we found such a good dentist in time!

Fun den meeting...

Tonight, my den went on a tour of the courthouse. It was so much fun. We saw how they screen visitors and one scout got to be fingerprinted. Only one due to time contraints, but I am bringing an inkpad to our meeting next week so they can all be fingerprinted. :)

We got to see the actual courtrooms and then holding cells. They were not the place I would want to hang out. The "rubber room" or solitary was really interesting and gross too. The room had about 2-3 inches of rubber coating over the walls and door. Only a glass window in the door. However, the police officer asked, "Where's the toilet in here?" Guess what--it was a grate in the floor and it actually flushes!!! So I would say that my scouts will not want to be visiting the jail cells again in that type of capacity, lol!

I think their favorite part was the control room. The officer in there was able to show them security views not only of the courthouse, but the jail house down the road. You could see the inmates playing cards, working in the laundry, sleeping... The boys especially loved how he could remotely close cell doors.

So next week is CSI night where we will dust for fingerprints, do dental molds etc. So for this month, I am the "cool" den leader. ;)

Monday morning...

What a weekend! We ended up having a nice weekend, even though we are recovering from colds and Jake's poor tooth.

Saturday morning, we did two community service projects with scouting. In the morning, we placed American flags on all the veteran's graves. We had a good turnout and it was done pretty quickly, so the boys had time to look at the graves and think about who these veterans were. The cemetary served us drinks and donuts which was very nice. Laura was so cute. She kept going up to the tombstones and kissing the angels on them. It was so sweet!

Then we picked up the Scouting for Food drive. Our pack collected 200 bags (heavy bags) of food from our area. One nice lady apparently always makes sure to put a bag of candy in for the boys. Isn't that nice? I would have never thought of that. The boys really appreciated it.

Jake goes for an xray this afternoon for his two front teeth. Let's hope there is no damage to the roots!

All I want for Christmas is healthy teeth...

Jake just can't get a break. When we went for his root canal, another cavity had abscessed and was causing him a lot of pain. So they did the root canal on that one and the first one has to wait until the 19th.

Then I got a call from school today. Jake had fallen on some playground equiptment and hit his two front teeth. The fall knocked about a 1/4 inch off his front permanent tooth and both front teeth are somewhat loose.

His dentist says he will be all right since it didn't break into the crown of the tooth. He said that the teeth will probably tighten back up. So on Monday, we will see about getting xrays to see if he damaged the roots and might need root canals on those teeth. The dentist reassured me that he can fix the tooth that is chipped and make it as good as new.

Poor Jake!

Spooky

Now how did our brooms do that? And how can I get them to sweep instead of just standing there.... Ooo... spooky! ;)

Apples again...

Tonight, we had the best supper. I made Beef Pot Pie from scratch. A good way to use up our leftover pot roast. :) Then for dessert: apple fritters. I wasn't kidding when I said I might try it, lol!

They were super easy and very good. They are rolled in cinnamon sugar, but I think they would be good with syrup. We will be trying that tomorrow morning for breakfast. Sigh! I really need to start playing with healthy recipes....

Jake is still hanging in there with his teeth. Unfortunately, the other cavity is now starting to hurt him. Tomorrow, he has his root canal. I can't wait to have this over with. I can't imagine how Jake feels. He is such a little trooper!

Jake is also a good student--according to his parent-teacher conference. He scored well on his DRA test and was well above the benchmark. yay! He also was complimented on his handwriting. He did not get that from me, lol! His grades are good too. Whatta kid!

Laura was so cute today. She was a bookworm today. This morning, I awoke to her reading in her crib. She made me read the same "Biscuit the dog" book to her over and over. Then she would take it to different places in her room and turn the pages. She would point and say "hoo, hoo" which is Laura-ese for "woof, woof!" and then say "Pretty". She is so sweet!

I will update tomorrow after the dentist. Wish Jake best thoughts!

How 'bout them apples...

Well, with everyone under the weather last week, a fall festival booth to run, a fall party to run, costume to sew, etc.--I didn't get to figure out what to do with those last apples we picked from the orchard.

So.... Jake and I decided to take a few and attempt to make apple head dolls. I have always wanted one ever since I was a little girl and saw one at a craft fair. It is one of those Appalachian crafts I have always wanted to try.

So here we go: two heads and four hands!

It was a good lesson for Jake in carving. He is due to earn his Whittling Chip from cub scouts this spring. Haha! I am such a good leader. ;) His apple is on the right. Didn't he do a fantastic job!

So Mr. and Mrs. Applehead are resting in a cool dry place for the next four days. Then we will have to separate those fingers. Then they get to rest for four more weeks until dry and shriveled. I so hope this works and they don't mold. They are so doused in pure lemon juice that surely their face would pucker just from the pure acidity of it.

After they dry, we will make bodies out of old wire hangers and then I will fasten them some old timey clothes.

Now, those last few apples.. Hmm.. Maybe apple fritters???

Next time, when the apple turns... :)

Happy Halloween

Finally the spooky day is here and Mother finally finished the costume....

Doesn't she look sweet? Of course, the way that she has fought the costume and kicked her basket wasn't so sweet, lol! Her favorite part is the shoes. She loves the shoes and wants to have them on at all the time. When we put them on her, she actually twirls and stomps her feet. Her least favorite part is the cape....

I will show Jake's Darth Vadar costume tomorrow. He has a cool red light sabor and keeps walking around saying "Luke, I am your fah-ther ".

Today we put our bags for Scouting for Food. Oh my! Was it a lot of work in the rain. Only Jake and one other boy showed up in our den and we had to cover 400 houses. Next Saturday, we get to pick up the food. But it will be worth it to help feed the hungry this Thanksgiving.

In a couple of hours, the fun will begin and all hollow's eve begins... Boo!

Tooth update

Jake's tooth is doing a little better. The antibiotics must be kicking in because the swelling is going down on his gum. He went to school today and felt okay. Yay!

Tomorrow is my first classroom party. We are feeding them lots of sugar and doing a fall craft. I hope the craft will go okay. I have worked hard on creating each kids a kit. We are making Faux Stained Glass Fall Leaves to put in windows. You use construction paper, tissue paper and contact paper. Wish me luck tomorrow!

Poor boy!

My poor Jacob woke up last night in a lot of pain from a toothache. He has a couple of cavities. One of them is abscessed and needs a vital pulpotomy or baby tooth root canal. We went to a children's dental chain last Friday and did not feel comfortable with their treatment. A good friend recommended her doctor

I am so glad we took her advice. We already had an appointment today for a consultation. But Jake's toothache did not improve at school so he was sent home. The office took us in early. They actually let me come back with Jake. They had windows with bird feeders in front of every window for you to look out at during your exam. We saw so many birds! They weren't the least scared of us. They also had flat screen tv's to watch hanging so you can easily see it.

This dentist is just a regular family dentist in a small house down the road from us. Not the supposedly kid-friendly place we went to last week!

The dentist came out and did some really cool magic tricks for Jake. Even I was impressed. So Jake is on antibotics to get the swelling down and using prescription strength pain killers at night. They really want him to get at least 4 days antibotics in him, but if it gets worse, they will proceed with the root canal. Poor poor Jake!

So keep him in your thoughts and prayers this week that it gets better and they can do the procedure next Thursday as scheduled. It will be less painful that way...

Things to accomplish this week...

Random thoughts before I go to bed tonight about the second half of the week...

Finish Laura's costume
What to do with this last bowl full of apples?
Finish up craft project kits for Jake's classroom fall party
Decide Halloween dinner menu
Sew those pillows shut already, lol!
Pamper myself somehow just once this week
Go to the library and select one read aloud book for family time (thinking Ramona Quimby or maybe something deeper like Follow My Leader, hmmmm...)
Put up my ring of ghosts outside, Boo!

First Scout camp...

We survived our first campout for cub scouts. Well, at least Sandy and Jake did. We figured that since Laura hasn't been sleeping through the night well lately that we really didn't want to anger 2000 people at 2 am, lol! So Laura and I left in the afternoon to go enjoy bubble baths and nice warm fluffy beds....

It was a very rainy and the wind was very gusty. There were a few broken canopies and some camping items blown over that day. We all got soaked. But Jake earned his archery and bb gun shooting beltloops. And he got to emboss some leather. Laura had the time of her life running all over the place. Let's just say her new white jacket will probably never be white again ;) That girls sure loves exploring nature.


We met interesting people at the camp and now that we know what it is like, we can really look forward to future scout camps. There was a lake and pirate ship. There was a castle to explore. A nature center. Canine Unit Dogs to learn about. Obstacle courses. Dog food sling shot contest. All kinds of fun boy stuff! :)

We are thinking of getting a bigger tent and a canopy so that we can go on a family camp-out this spring. It will be fun to camp out just as a family. :)

Savor the season...

"Oh, the Lord is good to me

and so I thank the Lord.

For giving me the things I need,

the sun, the rain, and the appleseed.
Yes, the Lord is good to me"

--Disney's Johnny Appleseed

Hmmmm.....My house smells so cinnamon apple-ish! Nothing says fall like crisp fresh apples! We went to Charlottesville to an orchard to pick apples and have been enjoying them ever since. I'm talking apple pies, apple butter, applesauce, apple dapple cake, apple slices, caramel apples... We are regular Johnny Appleseeds.



I do have to say so myself. My apple butter is pretty darn good this year. I used Macintosh apples and they just came through so sweet and good. It will definitely will go good on biscuits this winter and in apple butter spice cake. :)

Here are some photos of the kids picking apples:

Autumn joys...

Nothing like apple butter simmering on the stove top to let you know that autumn is the best season of the year. My house smells so cinnamony-sweet. Yum!

We picked these apples in Charlottesville one weekend. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work. Pushing strollers on a side of mountain isn't the easiest thing I ever did, but it was worth it. It was great family time and of course, we are enjoying the harvest.

Oh, what a beautiful morning...

I love my new mattress! I highly recommend to anyone who has back pain or stiffness and has an old mattress to go ahead and put out the money to get one. Whew! I am waking up feeling so much better. I have more energy and my mood is much better. (At least I think so... Sandy and the kids might say otherwise, lol)

I hope to upload some photos tomorrow. I have gotten so behind, but I have so busy with cub scouts, room mother duties and life overall, the blog was put on the back burner.

Today's game plan is to clean the house. This evening is a special tradition for me and Jake. While Sandy is in class, it is pancake/movie night. We have done this tradition for a long time. We immediately change into pjs after school and work. Then we have a hearty dinner of Fluffy pancakes, bacon and scrambled eggs. And then we sit down to watch a family movie. I am not sure what tonight's feature is as my Netflix has not arrived yet. We might download the Legends of Sleepy Hollow, but that might be too scary...

Well, the vacuum is calling my name and so are the 3 basketfulls of folded laundry to be put up.

Ribbon winner...

Jake won two ribbons this month. One was first place in the raingutter regatta with cub scouts. The second was second place for his diorama at the county fair. Way to go Jake! We need to come up with a display case for his ribbons and medals...

Back online

Our pc crashed and died. We are finally back online. Hopefully will update an entry soon.

LOL...

Three Men on a Hike Three men were hiking through a forest when they came upon a large raging, Violent river. Needing to get to the other side, The first man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength to cross the river.' Poof! .. God gave him big arms and strong legs And he was able to swim Across in about 2 hours, having almost drowned twice. After witnessing that, the second man prayed: 'God, please give me Strength and the tools to cross the river' Poof! . God gave him a rowboat and strong arms And strong legs and he Was able to row across in about an hour After almost capsizing once. Seeing what happened to the first two men, The third man prayed: 'God, please give me the strength, The tools and the intelligence To cross the river' Poof! .. He was turned into a woman. She checked the map, Hiked one Hundred yards up stream And walked across the bridge.

Back from vacation...

We just got back from the best vacation ever. It has been so long since Sandy and I have done a road trip. There will definitely be some more in our future!

First we went to the Wolf Lodge in Sandusky, Ohio. It was a complete surprise for Jake. He just kept saying how lucky he was when we pulled into the parking lot. It was a beautiful hotel with an indoor waterpark. The waterpark included two huge waterslides that went in and out of the building, a four story water fort, a small "river" to tube on, a baby pool with geysers and tree fort, a pool for swimming and for basketball, a huge hot tub with waterfalls. They also had a cub club for crafts. Jake decorated a pillowcase and he made a stuffed animal for Laura. Laura played in the cub cabin for young children. They had blocks, computers, puppet theaters, baby toys and a huge chair for mom to relax in. It was the best place! We have one in Williamsburg and I want to do a winter weekend there. Definitely a place to recommend!

Next we were off the Amish country in northern Indiana. We toured the flower quilt gardens in Elkhart county. What a friendly beautiful place. We had the perfect weather with none of that humidity we have here! The gardens were so gorgeous and each one had a unique story. We tried to visit local shops as much as possible. We went to a 100+ dime store and a 100+ year old hardware store that had hundreds of wooden drawers on the wall. Everyone was so friendly. We loved driving the backroads and having the Amish farmers throw their hands up to wave. So many pictures I wished I could have taken. The Amish woman on a motorcycle in a yard with her son, lol! The line of bicycles at the MacDonald's. etc.

We loved the Amish style restaurants with the family style serving. Menno-Hof museum built by the Amish and Mennonites was incredible. It taught me a great respect for what the Anabaptists went through. They were true religious heros!

On our way back, we visited Humpback bridge in Covington. It was incredible. It was such a peaceful place that if we go by there again, I want to picnic lunch there. Jake loved playing in the creek and skipping rocks. Then we visited Natural Bridge. Jake had never been there. We had a good time, but couldn't keep Laura out of the water, my little water baby!

It was such a great trip and I hope to be able to one day visit Indiana again. It was a little too flat for us, but we felt so at home there! We have tons of photos, I hope they all show up in the slideshow.

Happy Birthday, USA!

Here is Laura at our July 4th celebration. She is in the cutest flag dress, I love it! She loves to wave good bye likes she does in the video. We watched the fireworks at the fairgrounds. We had to park far out, but ended up hanging out with a good view from where we parked. And we were able to get out easily, hahahaha! Laura did great with the fireworks. She kept looking at me to see my reaction and just kept saying Oooo! Jake and Sandy had fun playing catch. It was a nice evening.

Laura is now 11 months old. It is hard to believe she is almost 1 years old. She is toddling more. She says the words "Dah-dee, Jay (Jake), Than-ooh (high pitched thank you" and she is finally saying ma-ma-ma-ma sometimes. She is enjoying our summertime fun. One of her favorite things to do is go outside. She has an awesome tan, lol! Laura loves to watch our bird feeder. She just laughs and laughs when the squirrels get into it. She actually pays attention to the bird hopping on the branches!

I have to say I am proud of Jake this summer since he has not yet complained about being bored. Above we made a fairy garden. It has real water, a potting shed with little tiny terra cotta pots. We took moss from our back yard to cover the edges of the pond. We even have a hidden gourd/pumpkin garden in the ivy.

We have been going for walks, going to the pool, having campfires, watching netflix movies (I love netflix!), and reading books. Jake is very motivated in our summer home school. I have been printing off worksheets for us to do. He is keeping a reading log. We are beginning to work on a famous Americans lap book and I think I am going to have Jake keep a vacation journal/scrapbook for our vacation this week to work on his writing skills. We are in our "school" for 2 hours 3 days a week. As long as it is fun and he is enjoying it, we are going to keep it up. This way, he keeps refreshed in his studies from second grade so he can just step into 3rd grade. We are working on cursive and some math items that he will cover in 3rd, but mostly this is just 2nd grade review.

We are also keeping busy working on Cub Scout activities. Jake has cooked breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We have learned about Mars, worked in gardening, and worked on outdoor adventures. It is a lot of fun and Jake is sure to earn a lot of arrow points next year.

Jake's swim lessons are really coming along. We have been practicing at the pool and he is doing so well. He just needs to get the breathing part down and he will be swimming longer distances soon. I am so proud of him. I can't wait for his instructor to see him today and see his improvement!

We are heading out to Indiana today and won't be back for a week. We will be seeing a flower garden tour in which the flowers are planted in quilt patterns. This is Amish country so we will be looking at crafts, quilts, etc. There is a museum that I want to see that has a tornado room that simulates what it is like to be in a tornado! It should be a nice relaxed vacation if we can survive the car trip part with a baby! Notre Dame is only 20 minutes away so we might try to fit in a field trip there. Jake will get to see his first Great Lake. The best part is that he doesn't know that we will be staying one night at a Great Wolf Lodge tomorrow that has a indoor water park. It will be a total surprise!

It will be good to just get out of town!

The Great American Campout...

This is the year that I am going to try this. If the heat index is over 100+ on Saturday, like they are predicting, we might put it off a week or so. But I have always wanted to do it.

Too cute...

Here is a Jake funny! He is taking private swim lessons, which by the way, he is doing so awesome in! But anyway, his instructor had mentioned moving your arms like the way they do at Brewsters. (Brewsters is an ice cream palor and she meant how they scoop the ice cream.)

Well, we never go there. So the next lesson, the instructor asks if he went to Brewsters this week and watched how they scooped. Jake just looked at her blankly. The instructor asked Jake if he knew what Brewster's was and he shook his head and said, "No, but I do know what Hooters is!"

Oh dear!!! The instructor just laughed and laughed. Then she went over to the lifeguard and told her and then they both were laughing. It was so cute. Of course, Jake laughed, but then told me that he didn't really understand why it was so funny... :) He'll definately understand better when he is older!

Summer time fun...

Cub Scout Summer Blast Off...

Our den meeting last night was an absolute "blast"! We made popsicle boxes for Father's Day, played a game of Pictionary and then went outside for our "blast-off" fun. It was so great!



We made film canister rockets and then did a big diet coke/mentos geyser send off. It was a big hit. Needless to say, I was so sticky afterwards! But it was so worth it. The boys and parents had such a good time. Our cubmaster gave us t-shirts for having such a cool meeting!




Here are some images of my scouts:

Community Day...

(Jake is 4th kid from back.)

This is it! Summer vacation is officially here at our house. :) At Jake's school, the last day is celebrated as Community Day. Family and friends can come to the school and celebrate with the children. It is such a cool day. The classes are led in a parade by the high school band. Then each grade performs a dance. This year's theme was Go Green!

After the dance, Laura and I joined him in his classroom where we ate pizza and ice cream. The kids played games and then we saw a magician show that was so funny.

It was a fun day and I am so proud of my rising 3rd grader!

And she's off

Today, little Laura took her first step. I expect she will be still crawling for a little while since it is faster, but it won't be long. Hopefully, I will get a video of it soon! Yay!

Say it ain't so, Joe...

Well, the season is now over. We lost to the Phillies. We played a good game and had it tied up at the top of the 5th (last) inning. But unfortunately, they were able to score on us. Jake played catcher most of the game and got to play left field in the last inning. The only bummer of the game is that after the last run, the game should have been called. But the opposing team insisted on playing the inning out. They said they still had two outs and they deserved to finish it out. So does that make me a mean person to hope they get knocked out of the playoffs next game.... (evil laugh)

We are so proud of Jake. He has improved so much. He went from never hitting against machine pitch to hitting the ball each time in the last few games. He always covered the plate when he played catcher. He always hustled on and off the field. But best of all, he has such a good attitude. He never had to be fussed out at in the dugout. He never complained about where the coach put him. He is such a good sport! Way to go, Jake! Watch out for him next year, Little League!

I survived my first night as den leader...

Whew! I am worn out. I was a lot more nervous than I thought I would be. Which worked out actually, because I planned a few more things at the last minute. That worked out because we flew through the material.

We worked on our music belt loop. We briefly talked about how music is important to us. And then we sang some songs. Thank goodness I had silly songs like Great Green Gobs of Gopher Guts and God Bless My Underwear. The underwear one was a classic! The parents got a real kick out of it too. We laughed a lot.

Next we listened to music while I got out our surprise activity. We made ice cream in a bag. It was fun and loud. So we actually had to turn off the music. Everyone's turned out except for Jake's. In the excitement, I forgot to add salt to his ice. But he shared with another kid and wasn't too disappointed.

After ice cream, we had a full 20 minutes left!!! So I had them play musical chairs and stand and sit to My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. It was fun. :)

The parents were very happy and told me that I did great. That was a relief, because I was really worried about their reaction. Now I just need to work on getting the boys to be more calm next time. But I didn't expect them to be calm with ice cream after all.

So next week is Father's day craft (as soon as I think of one) and starting their scrapbooks. Wish me luck!!!!

The Playoffs...

Some photos from Memorial Day. It was a perfect family weekend. We couldn't have asked for a better one.

Well, it is playoff time. Saturday, we beat the Yankees. It was an exciting game. We were down 5-1 in the last inning. The coach told them that he wanted 5 runs and that is what he got. And not only that---Jake hit the 5th run in to get us the winning score. He has alternated playing catcher with another boy on the team. He loves being catcher. He told me when no one is looking he throws signs. Lol, if only the machine pitch would listen to him...

Tonight, we lost to the Mets 11-6 in extra innings. It was a roller coaster of a game. Jake got two hits. I was so proud of him. He just acts like he knows what he is doing and stays mellow no matter what. He is such a good sport!

We play another team on Saturday. It is double elimination, so we have to keep winning now. I am excited for them, but I won't mind when they are done. We have cub scouts and swimming now, so it is getting busy for us.

Laura is saying two words now. She says "Jake" and means it. She also says "Da-dee" but doesn't always say it at the right times. No mama of course, little stinker! She is also standing by herself a lot. Won't be long until she is taking those first steps!

Our garden is looking good. The voles are staying away so far. The potatoes have grown to the top of the cans. There are some green tomatoes already. I have been eating a little bit of lettuce, but it will too warm for it soon.

My news is that I am now a Cub Scout den leader. I take over tomorrow evening with the Bear Den. I am pretty excited and just a little nervous. I have been eating and breathing cub scouts the last week or so. I have pretty much planned out meeting for most of the year. Tomorrow night, we are working either on Ultimate frisbee belt loops or more likely due to the heat, our music belt loop. We will make ice cream in a bag. It is pretty cool. I hope the boys like it too. Wish me luck!!!

Jake's project

Jake's class has been covering a huge animal unit at school. Jake has had to do a project that is worth two test grades. It has been a big deal. I am proud of Jake really pacing himself to get it done and not dreading it. It helps that he picked a cool animal--the Thorny Devil Lizard.

Jake had to write a report and do a diorama of the lizard. Jake was really detailed. Take a look!