Wild, WILD West

The boys got to spend 4 days, (not nights, dang it) at Cub Scout Camp in June. I went with them the first day. Their very first activity was a shootout at the OK Corral. Here is their whole group for the week. Some of the boys are in our pack and some were from another pack. They were all the same age, though.
They're getting their instructions. Don't they look excited?

Soaking wet and ready for anything.

Decorating flags for the walking stick.

Hitting the water slide.

(Joe in the hat)
Making their Indian-excuse me-Native American vests, with some help from Dorian Cook. He's a red shirt, helping out.

(Josh)

The boys had a great week, with archery, BB shooting, making rubber band shooters, (wonder who came up with that one?), and lots more fun stuff. This was their last year to go as cubs. Next year, they will go as red shirts and help out like Dorian.
My how they've grown!!

Sorry, Mom!

Sam and Jackson

Enough of this crawling stuff, my knees hurt.

Okay, Mom, before you say it, Yes, these pictures are all of Samantha. I took them pretty much all at the same time and the other kids were all long gone. (You can catch a couple of them in the background if you look carefully for camo swim trunks.) They never came back...really...except to forage for food. And once I put the camera away, that's all she wrote. Not enough memory cells left to remember to pull it out again.

But I still had to post this because this was the day she really decided to start walking. Because the deck surface was rough, so she figured out pretty quick that it didn't hurt her feet as much as her knees. After that day at the pool, she was off and running...Literally.

My friend Jami and I took my kids, her kids, my cousin's kids and a couple of another friend's kids to this awesome water park in Valley Ranch. Yes, Jami and I and TWELVE kids. And you were wondering why my brain cells were diminishing. I have to say though, the kids were FABULOUS. Not a single problem, no one drowned, we took lots of food, and they ate it...all of it.

It was a great day.

WOW!

My first harvest!

I can't believe it's been 2 months since I last posted! I feel like a failure as a mom! Not really, just awfully busy. Then you think, "I need to update the blog, but there's so much to update, it would take forever, so I'll do it later." Then it just keeps adding up! Well, a little at a time, then. First of all, for Mother's Day I got just what I wanted. A garden! Some friends of ours do the square foot gardening, and one couple gave us a frame that they had made but weren't going to use. So I spent Mother's Day afternoon filling it up and planting my stuff! I was so excited to see my abundant harvest. Fast forward a couple of months. My corn never got over 2 feet tall and never produced, my squash all dried up and blew away, my tomatoes didn't grow, my peppers produced, although I think I must have mistakenly bought the miniature variety, because each one was only about a mouthful. My okra plants went nuts and I got to try my hand at home grown fried okra. Not too bad. I did get a few cucumbers and a couple of banana peppers. All in all, not too bad for my first attempt. And much to Tony's chagrin, I will keep trying!

New Webelos Scouts

Joseph and Joshua and three other boys in their den earned their Webelos Badges over the past few months. They have been working so hard. They have wonderful den leaders who work with them and teach them. We are so proud of them! I can't believe they are almost finished with Cub Scouts.
Next stop: Arrow of Light!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

May 13th, 2010 - Samantha's first Birthday. We had a party planned for Saturday, but made cupcakes and sang to her on Thurs, her actual birthday, too.

She REALLY enjoyed the cupcake.

She had a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse party, because for several months, from the time she was about 4 months old, until she was about 10 months, that was her favorite show. She was fascinated every time it came on, and would just sit and watch it. (Then she got really mobile, and no longer had time for TV. Dang it!)

We even invited Minnie Mouse (AKA Makala) to the party!
Thanks for the use of the costume, Karen!

Her big sister, Jaynie, brought her an adorable little tent to play in. She loves it!

Kathleen put together a slide show set to music of all of the pictures we had of her first year. It was awesome! Everyone sat and watched it.

Our good friends, the Cooks, (with Sam's future husband, Colton) came to celebrate with us. That's Sam's nephew, Braiden, in the front.

Eating a cookie!

Opening presents. She wasn't terribly interested in this part. She got some absolutely adorable dresses and outfits.

The Cooks brought her this beautiful blue and white dress.
She looks like a princess in it!

A trike from the McClellans!

And her very own Toodles cake.
What a mess!!!

This was Toodles before.

Make a wish!

Her Aunt Robin made the cake. She did an AWESOME job!!
I felt guilty for letting anyone eat it.

This is all that was left.
It sure was good!

I can't believe our sweet little Sam has already been with us a year. It seems like just yesterday we found out she was coming. There are no words for the blessing she has been in our family. For all of the shock and surprise of her coming, we can't even imagine life without her. Heavenly Father blesses us in some unexpected ways, and I thank Him every day for this sweet spirit that has already brought us so much joy.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SAM!

Look out world, we have a driver!

This is Kathleen, the first time she took her dad driving.

And this is her dad.
Need I say more?
Actually, she is a pretty good driver, so far. She makes the normal mistakes, but not anything terribly life-threatening so far, and she seems to have a good instinct for what to do and what not to. She has a healthy fear of the road and the other cars, which I think is better than the opposite, no fear at all. I think by the time she gets her license next February, she'll have plenty of experience under her belt. I might even let her drive by herself. To school. Across the street. There's only one problem.
I'M NOT OLD ENOUGH TO HAVE A TEENAGE DRIVER!!!