Gingerbread time and fudge

My favorite cookie of all is the gingerbread man. This time of year we make our traditional gingerbread families to take to our family and friends. Here is a sampling of the fun work we got to do. I actually did baking and icing in one day instead of 2 this year...I was tired by the end of the day, but happy. I really do enjoy making them. I have started making more little ones to reach a few more people. We plate up the little ones with some other sweets like fudge or peanut butter cookies this year. I actually tried making some toffee as well, tasted good but it had the wrong texture....it crystalized. It was my first time.


A little camera man enjoyed snapping pictures while I worked, here is one of me....with my head cut off.

I was very impressed that R tried to copy my work. If I did a face so did he, or if I did the skirt so did he. Very cute. Each year the kids get better and better at it. C's are sometimes more impressive than mine. She is so artsy and I am not. I tend to fall back on the traditional designs that my Mom taught me doing this with her when I was a child.

Toby did not make many cookies this year. While we decorated he made homemade fudge, his grandpa's recipe. I made some fudge the first year we were married and he told me it was not good enough. He has made it ever since. His first batch this year actually was not up to his standards...a little overcooked or too hard for him. (Found out later the candy thermometer was broken) It tasted OK, and we ate some but 2 days later he made a new creamy, perfect batch. I refused to throw away the first batch of good fudge so I froze it. So far I have chunked some up into banana bread (Yummy) and sprinkled it on waffles, and shredded some over a Better than.... dessert cake. Still have more to use.

Snow 2 years in a row

Where we live snow is not common. Every few years we get a few flakes. Now we have had snow 2 years in a row. This time is snowed off and on throughout the day and I was hoping it would still be snowing when the kids got our of school so they would get to see it and play in it. Toby had gone to the school to see C in the Geography Bee (she placed 2nd...smart girl) and he said some of the classes had been outside catching snowflakes on black paper. Glad some teachers seized the unique learning opportunity!

We were in luck and it was snowing when the kids got out of school. Stopped about 1 hour later so we had some fun in the snow.

The kids had to scrap off the entire trampolline to get enough snow for this little man. I remember that is how I had to build snowmen growing up myself.

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The shot of R was right before he threw that snowball at Daddy. He really enjoyed his one man snowball fight with daddy dodging his throws. He did land a few and would giggle and laugh and get another one ready. S had spent a good amount of time outside so he was cold when the kids finally got home and watched us from the window.

Camping 2009

Ideally I like to camp 2-3 times a year, but our Spring Break camping trip was rained out this year and the other church camp out we had to miss due to soccer games. So this was our big and only 2009 camping trip. Good thing it was a great trip.

We had great weather, cool nights and pleasant days! We had great friends make the trip with us. Just like last year, we camped together. Our kids have so much fun playing together and we eat and hang out. Friends make camping more fun. The biggest camping entertainment this year was the big dirt pit. There was a pretty big hole before our kids started making it bigger. Notice how it is big enough to have 2 of our kids standing inside of it. We had pool/spa builders hard at work and a very proud Papa. (who runs a swimming pool construction company for those who do not know.)

Tuesday was C's real birthday and her only request was orange cakes. They are a fun camping dessert. You cut oranges in half and eat the insides, then you fill one half empty peel with yellow cake batter and then put the other half peel on top. Wrap it in foil and cook them in the coals of the fire for about a long as you cook cupcakes. You do flip them halfway through the cooking time. Then let them cool and frost and eat them. They develop a great orangey flavor and are always a hit camping food. I love camping food like Smores, foil dinners,

By late Tuesday Mema and Papa made it and sometime in the night our other cousins came as well. So Wednesday was full of kids. More family came up just for the day as we celebrated Thanksgiving a day early. Cooking while camping takes longer, but we did pull off a great meal with turkey, ham and all the usualy trimmings. I enjoy camp cooking and made a Cherry/pineapple dump cake in the dutch oven for a dessert. Too bad it got cold so fast when the sun went down that dessert was over quickly and those coming up for the day soon left.

Fishing is always part of camping for us. Daddy takes the kids everyday. R was a star fisherman this time catching the most and biggest fish. He loved fishing with Daddy. But he also loved throwing rocks in the water with S and that scares the fish away for everyone else trying to fish from the pier so Mommy gets the fun job of corraling kids and entertaining little ones during the 2+ hour fishing trips. Daddy gets the fun job of dealing with 5 or more kid fishing poles that need a worm, or get stuck, or need a fish off. Keeps him busy. Most of the kids can put worms on themselves and R & S liked getting the worms out and watching them. Or they would stick they hand in the minnow bucket to grab the little bait fish. Thus Mommy stays busy too. But we do enjoy it.

There were 3 negative things on the trip that we will always remember. Robert ended up getting an ear infection. At least it was the night before we went home so he enjoyed every day but the packing day. Raccoons got into our cooler one night and ate whatever was in the top tray.....sandwich meat, butter, cheese mostly. And on Wed night our van decides to break again. 2 weeks ago a belt broke on the way home from church and the van stopped. It was a relatively easy fix. This time the ignition broke. It has given us some trouble off and on for a few months.

This time Toby had driven up to the restroom for T to take a shower and when they tried to drive back....the key would not turn. Toby spent a few hours taking things apart and trying to make it work. He contacted a locksmith in town and he would not be able to come or get the part until Friday so Toby broke what he needed to so we could start the car with a screwdriver. Something he learned as a cop who has investigated stolen cars. Who knew that starting your own car without a key would come in handy! So we drove home using a screwdriver as a key. We were able to get a new ignition key put in on Friday and it did not cost a fortune thank goodness.

Camping memories are great whether good or bad. But mostly camping is about being together away from the TVs, computers and distractions of life. You get to talk and enjoy nature. See what God has created in the beautiful world around us. We saw deer, raccoons, possums, birds, bugs, and beautiful water and scenery. We are blessed with so much and are truly thankful for all of God's creations that surround us.

C's 11'th B-day

C had another birthday and all she wanted to do was a sleepover party. Sleepovers are not my favorite thing. It leads to really grumpy kids the next day (and sometimes a grumpy Mom as well) But it is what she wanted so we invited friends over had pizza and movies. We had a good number of friends come, but only about half stayed the night. After eating we played Scattergories, then had cake and did presents. C actually decorated her own cake this year. She did pretty good.

I got C a chair for the desk in her room....the catch, it is a used chair and she gets to paint it however she wants. She likes artsy stuff and was excited to have this project to do. I also got her some clothes.

We started the movie Up (very cute) early enough so that those who would have to leave should be able to see most of it. While watching the movie the girls took the tissue paper from the presents and made lots of paper flowers. After that movie we watch Annie....a favorite of mine from growing up. The kids really seemed to like it. It finished after midnight and I then sent my older sons to bed (one limit for them on the party was they did not get to sleep with the girls downstairs). I turned off the TV and most of the lights expecting the girls to talk and giggle and slowly drift off to sleep. That happened for a few of them. I went to bed and Dad stayed up on the computer for awhile listening to them. He finally came to bed at 3 am with 3 girls still awake. I heard them at 4 am....they had turned on the main room ligtht and were about to start a project which C had gotten. I put my foot down....turn off the lights and go to bed. There were girls sleeping and they did not need the light on. Then everyone when to bed. Only to awake a few hours later...a little 3 year old brother was first and he soon had them all awake....except one sleepy head girl who obviously slept very deeply.

After a breakfast of Scrambled eggs and cinnamon bread, they all played some more until they had to go home. I spent the morning cleaning up and tried to get a nap....that was only a dream. It was a fun party and I had a happy girl at the end. Glad we only do friend parties every other year so I have 2 years before facing another one!

Field Trips, Homework, and Scouts

Lets start with field trips. C went to the Natural Science museum downtown and I went as a chaperone. Leading 9 kids through the museum was a lot of fun. So much stuff to see, touch and do in a short amount of time. I had to get some dino pics to bring home to the twins who are dino fanatics right now.

We could have had more time if the school buses did not take the long way. Trip took 1 hour and 20 mins with no bad traffic. My tummy was pretty upset by the time we got there, with all the lovely bouncing and stop and go.

That was the first friday of Nov and the second Friday I went with the 3rd graders and T's class to the FACE field trip. It combined and opera, art museum and library experience. I am not a fan of opera, usually because I can't understand the words through the songs, but this one was well done. It was a good children's story with humor and animated singer/actors. I liked it alot and understood 90% of what was sung. They did ag reat job explaining the paintings to the kids and how they are preserved and cared for. But the library scavenger hunt was not great, maybe it is because I have been to that library since the first month it opened and know all I need to about it. It was kind of fast walking the kids through it. But overall it was still a fun trip. One added bonus. I drove myself. I had to get back home prior to Toby leaving for work...one twin had been sick and we could not easily do a sitter. I left just as they were preparing to load the buses so I really only missed the bus ride. Forgot my camera for this trip.

The sick tummy bug....A, S, R then I got it one week. Then only 1 week later S & R both got it again. I am sick of waking in the night and cleaning up(hate this part) and caring for little ones. Let's hope we are done with it now! On top of that, my washer broke cleaning one of those sick loads. I know it was struggling the last month or so. Toby's diagnosis seems hopeful. I bought the $20 part he told me to get and Monday he will hopefully get it all fixed. I am grateful for a handy man Husband!

Homework, a fun subject. Actually this was a fun story for us and definitely a learning experience. C had to make a model of the earth showing the layers and depicting landforms. She wanted to make it out of jello or pudding. I squashed those ideas because both of them would need refrigeration and not be stable. She then decided on the frosting I use on gingerbread otherwise known as Royal Icing. It dries rock hard. So we make a small batch and she colors some for the core, mantel and crust. She makes the core, we let it dry, repeat with mantel and crust. The plan was to make it on cardboard then remove the cardboard to revel the layers. We went about cutting between the cardboard and frosting. C did it at first and had some small cracking, then I gave it a try and it gave way..... Houston we have a problem!

What to do??? We tried piecing it back together but the crust did not look right. We ended up making a new batch of frosting to repair the crust. We were able to salvage the inner layers. We changed the plan to cutting away a portion and leaving the earth attached to the cardboard. I think it looked good in the end. We were even discussing that we learned alot about earthquakes and how the crust reacts. How landforms are made...such as earthquakes...were part of the explaination she had to give to the class when she presented it. So she took some of the broken crust peices in to demonstrate what happens. Her teacher told her she did a good job. I am just greatful this all happened at 6 pm and not at or after bedtime! We had time to make the needed repairs.

I took these pictures today and wanted to add them. We went to a Cuboree today and T and A both had a chance to shoot BB guns for the first time. They also enjoyed the compass course and pumpkin bowling among other things. T loves scouts and A can't wait to start.

It's Halloween time

Halloween is here again. We did the usual carving pumpkins and spent time with family for Halloween night and trick or treating. I just wanted to share a few pictures to remember it by. That is easier said than done. I have a little one who does not like group shots....see his quick get away. I could post several of this variety of him making a group shot hard to achieve. I simply ask him to sit next to his twin for a picture together and he would run off.
And notice one more of those fun things Daddy teaches. After he showed them how, each of his boys had to try it too.

Halloween was fun. The twins really got it this year and were excited to dress up and would eagerly ask Trick or Treat. That was so unlike last year when one spent a good deal of time crying over having to wear a costume. Then he was frightened by his cousin's scary costume and would not let go of me and barely opened his eyes for 30 mins or more. So this year was much better and very enjoyable for the family.

Hopefully the candy will be gone fast...I'm certainly already tired of empty candy wrappers laying around! But if it is not chocolate my little guys do not like it which makes the candy goes really fast, one lick then in the trash or on the floor.

This time is was apples

I have a great husband who is full of suprises. He loves us very much and always finds ways to bring a little more joy into our lives. Just this week he decided he was going to make me dinner, which is a great treat. What mom doesn't like a break from that chore. He made a great pork roast on the grill with sides. But the bigger surprise was that he got the stuff to make caramel apples with the kids for dessert. He is always doing stuff like this.

He would much rather bring flowers home, just because than for any holiday. When he brings me some, he always gets some for his daughter too. He finds something cool and will buy it for the kids. Of course he is a big kid himself so they all have fun together. Whether it be bounces on the trampoline or taking the kids fishing he makes moments his kids will always remember. And it is nothing over the top, just special I love you moments. And we cetainly love him!!!

Fun with 2 little boys

Is 3 the best age for little boys??? I am enjoying my boys more at this age than any before. They have good vocabularies and great imaginations so I never know what to expect. Right now they just eat information up.

What has been really fun is doing preschool with them. We got a small group together, just my 2 boys, their cousin and a friend. We meet just once a week and rotate houses. We teach basic preschool stuff.....thank you internet because there is such great ideas out there that it really seems easy to prepare stuff. Each week we have a letter of the week and base some of the lessons and activites around that.

Today was the letter E at my house. We started by singing the ABC song and introducing the letter E its name and sound. Then we read a book My E Sound Box followed by an egg hunt. Now I was not trying to confuse holidays but we did search for plastic Easter eggs using the Halloween buckets which I got out just yesterday. The kids had fun. Inside those eggs was not candy but little papers with E pictures (thanks internet again I did not have to draw them) We played a matching game with them. Then for snack hard boiled eggs. We ended up talking during snack time about which animals lay eggs.

Then after snacks we did switch to elephants. We played and sang Elephant on a tight rope. We talked about how big elephants were as I measured and weighed the kids. Then we put together some paper elephants and read an Elmo story. It was lots of fun to see the kids enjoying it so much. I love teaching them. I love that all my kids love to learn and read and I have been their first teacher, teaching each how to read before they entered school.

I love that these boys stop me now when they see a letter they know. During soccer practice tonight we talked again about what animals lay eggs. They remember. When I was getting snack ready today, S said "Cookies". No that was the last lesson we did on the letter C when we cut out sugar cookies. Things I do now they will remember, and they will remember that their mom played with them, worked with them, and most of all loved them.

I will always enjoy enriching my kids lives whether it be teaching them how to read, how to swim, how to sew, how to cook, or any other skill. I have plenty of work to do to teach these precious children how to be good people, caring, considerate and responsible. That is a big job and one that I will do my best.

September so far....

Things have been busy this month but I wanted to catch you up on what is important so far. The very end of Aug T got his wolf in cub scouts. We have several birthdays in Sept. My brother, Dad, and our T. T had a special golden birthday. He turned 9 years old on 9-9-09! So of course we had to have his party that day, even if it was a Wednesday and a school night.

I wish I had more summer birthdays, because having a swimming party at Mema's is fun and easy. The kids always enjoy the water. On this day it had rained most of the day but finally stopped about an hour before the party. So the air was not warm but is was muggy, no sun was out and the water was a little cool, but they kids all seemed to have a great time. Especially the birthday boy!

Other things keeping me busy has been volunteer coordinating. I had to do open house and a volunteer coffee meeting. Now I have most all of the forms I have been at the computer for hours typing and organzing the volunteers. Think most of that is done.

We have also had 3 dentist appointments and the soccer season has started again. Lucky me, 2 practices on 3 different nights, but the kids have friends on their teams so I will endure it for a short 2 months. Just gotta get dinner on the table at an early time.

And the biggest thing for me was the culmination of all of my summer training. I competed in my first triathlon. A 300 yd swim, 10 mile bike ride and 3 mile run. It was a fun activity that our ward Relief society put together. It kept me active all summer when I would have been tempted to sleep in with the kids! How did I do. I finished!!! That was my main goal.

I was first at the end of the swim, because I am a swimmer! I was last in the biking. I think could have done better with a bigger bike. My bike tires were smaller than all the others because I am a short person and bought this bike to fit me a few years ago. During a practice bike ride on the course the week prior I noticed that I was having to peddle twice as much but not going as far as my friends. I figured out then it was due to the bike size but I did not want to switch bikes and ride Toby's since I had not trained on it and it was not as comfortable to me.

I power walked the run and finished last. Something that was confirmed with me as I trained. I hate to run. My body does not like it and prefers less jarring exercise like swimming and biking. So I knew starting the race I would not run or jog, but I would walk my steady pace. I am proud of what I accomplished. Will I do it again???? Maybe??

The first week of school

Things went well this week for the family as we started another school year. It will be a big one as I begin a new role.....I am the volunteer coordinator at the elementary school. I have been and will be learning lots of new things as I embark on this journey, but I like to be involved and in the know. I enjoy volunteering and helping at the school. I have seen some weaknesses in the program and hope I can improve the process. Now did I go looking for this job, NO. I was asked to consider doing it by the PFO Pres. She actually wanted me to join the board, be a Vice Pres or secretary, but after learning what they do. I did not think with the twins home it was the right time. But this volunteer coordinator thing is suppose to be a lot of computer and telephone work which I can do from home. So far, it has been some work, but it should taper off after I get all the new volunteers entered for the year.

Now for the kids
C is so happy to be seeing her friends everyday. She is a social girl and likes having friends around. She has been lucky to have a core group of 4-6 girls that are always in the same class together. She likes school and enjoys learning. But she is not too keen on her teacher this year. She had heard that this teacher was mean from a few sources and so she went in dreading the worst. From little things I have heard, this is not my favorite teacher so far, but I will give it more time before making firm decisions.

T is already in a better class than last year. The bully is not there! He has a few friends from previous years including a buddy that was moved when they created a new class last year. He is very happy to have this friend in the class. I have only heard good things about this teacher and I hear she likes and uses volunteers (which many teachers don't at this school). T does not enjoy getting UP for school, he would much rather sleep in, but other than that he is enjoying school.

A was really happy to tell me that 5 boys from his Kindergarten class are in his 1st grade class and no girls! I am glad he already has friends in there. I worry about him, probably always will with his speech being so hard to understand. I did talk to his teacher and she seems great. I have heard from 2 sources that she was the best teacher my child ever had at the school. I like that.

R & S are missing the older kids, but we are staying busy. I am arranging a little home preschool for them one day a week. We do story time and are happy Ms Jo moved up from toddler time to do preschool storytime. I think she does a great job and love taking the boys. They like the songs and crafts, but prefer me reading stories to sitting in a group to listen. We have done some crafts at home.....Cutting and glueing are new to these boys and they like it. (It is just messy, thus why I waited til now) I hope to spend some quality time with these guys and have a bit of fun.

Ending summer with a splash

I guess summer began with a splash too by way of swim team, but this splash is Splashtown. We finally made it there. We had tickets to go with extended family the week of July 6th who were here on vacation, but that is when Austin got sick and we did not want to split up and go then. We choose instead to wait and go when we could as a family.

My kids really love the water. I guess they get that from me, their Mom who loves to swim and was sometimes called a fish growing up! But lately my kids have not wanted to go swimming at Mema's like we usually do. I honestly do not think we went too much this summer. 3-4 times a week max. Almost always with friends or cousins, but in the last week or so my kids have preferred not to swim.

But Splashtown was different. Everyone was excited to go except R! He is not a big fan of the water perferring to be a beach bum usually at Mema's house. C wanted to do every ride, and some of them twice. She loves adventure. A wishes he could grow 5 more inches so he could try every ride, even though we was a little scared, he did not want to miss out. T was ready to ride most things, though he needed a little convincing on one. S was at home in the water. He loved the crocodile island and the tree house. He has no fear of trying new things. It is also nice that all of my big kids enjoyed the little kid area too, because that is where the twins were most happy.

R was much more timid. When first getting him in the water he protested and fussed. I promised him I would not make him do the slide. He eventually found that he like that the water was shallow enough for him to walk in and he could do the pirate ship slide all by himself. There is a sea shell slide in the baby pool which is really small, no bigger than found at any public park, but R had to work up the nerve to do it. He must have climbed up the step over 10 times before I held his hand and he slid down. That was all he needed, he loved it after that. Same thing with bigger slides. Once Daddy or I got him to go down with us once, he was not scared and happy and wanting to do it again.

Between Daddy & I we did most all of the slides as well taking turns watching the twins. We really had a great family day together.

Return of the Dinosaurs

In the past week or two the dinosaurs have returned to life at our house. A few years ago the older boys went through a dinosaurs phase. It was lots of fun to see the exciting stories they told and the hours of play the dinos provided. We ended up with lots of dinosaurs, even jammies from Mom and dad and grandmas.

We all fell in love with The Land Before Time Movies and collected a few of them....grandma got them all! So now every morning S asks to watch a dinosaur movie. Even Daddy knows most of the songs which are very cute, and even cuter when he takes his twist to them. At our house triceratops are 3 horns, and brontosaurus are long necks. We have flyers and spike tails, just entire families of dinosaurs.

So long live the dinosaurs at our house. They bring us great joy and hours of playtime!

PS....Notice Snoopy in the picture, he has become R's play friend who must do everything with us like eat dinner, go to bed, and he even gets in trouble sometimes because he hits people! Still it is very cute to see this imaginary play.

Take Me out to the Ball Game!

We had fun last week going to an Astros game with the cub scouts. Unfortunately for me, Toby had class that night so I was braved and took all 5 kids myself, downtown at night!! I did not want Tanner to miss going with the other boys in the pack. He had a good time and the Astros won big! With lots of hitting and base running the game was action packed enough to keep the older boys interested.

The younger two....not so much. Within 5 minutes of sitting down, S said "Let's go home, now". He had been there, done that and was ready to go. I knew then it would be a long night. Because for the next 2 hours I was repeatedly told...time to go home, I want to go home and other such remarks. I was able to buy some time with a potty break and walking around a bit. Then I bought some cotton candy which worked for about an inning to keep boys happy. Then I got out my camera and let them take pictures which worked well, but there was some fighting over the camera. I finally taught S the Take me out to the Ball game song and told him we could leave after it. Which was almost true. The Astros scored alot in the bottom of the 7th so we stayed. We saw the Minute Maid train go for a grand slam. That excited the boys who love trains.

I knew I was loosing my battle at the start of the 8th and we slowly made our way out. It was about 9:30 by the time we reached the car so way past little boy bedtime. But we had a good time. We just need Daddy next time, Maybe then Mom could enjoy it all a little more!!

His Face!!!

This month has been a wild ride in our son's medical history. See the picture above, He is not making the face to be silly or cute. He cannot move the left side of his face. He is not blinking, cannot completely close the eyelid and cannot move that side of his mouth. It is temporarily paralized due to Bell's Palsy. The nerves were damaged somehow (the reason or cause of Bell's palsy is unknown) and now we must wait for the nerves to regenerate. It can take weeks or months.

Let me back up and explain the whole story. Our son was born with a cleft lip and palate. He has had several surgeries over the years and we had a surgery scheduled on July 13th to help A with his speech. We got this date back at the end of April.....the dr is busy!

We went to a Pre Op appt a week before surgery with the ENT who will be doing ear tubes at the same time as the palate repair. At the office A was diagnosed with a sinus infection, he had been a little sick over the weekend. The ENT also heard some noise in A's chest. He prescribed an antibiotic and we expected Austin to be well enough for surgery by next week.

Well, he got worse not better. I gave it 2 days to see if the antibiotics would kick in and improve things but no. He did not want to stand up or get off the couch. He did not want to eat much and I finally decided we need to see the pediatrician. She checked him out and listened to his lungs and she heard crackling and wheezing. She sent us for a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. The x-ray did not indicate that but she did diagnose us with walking pneumonia and gave us lots more meds. DUE to this we had to cancel surgery because Austin would not have been approved to go under anesthesia.

The next day was Friday and busy. He slept in, I went grocery shopping, then lunch and had to take his brother to scouts. It was not until mid afternoon that I really got to look at Austin and I notice.....half of his face is not moving. I call the Ped office to ask if this could be a side effect of any medicine he was on. She said no, go to the ER. She suspected Bell's palsy over the phone and told me to get it checked today. I was asking to wait until Sat Morning office hours not wanting to do the ER thing. So off we went to the ER where we got the official Bell's Palsy diagnosis and more meds. Did I mention Austin hates to take medicine!! Now he was on lots!! Not Fun!!

By Saturday, he is feeling much better and was up and moving and eating. So the Ped's meds helped. But the Bell's Palsy remains. I call the cleft team Dr office to tell them about the Bell's Palsy and they now want to wait until that gets better before operating. So we wait!!!

I only hope that we get all of this taken care of before the start of school!! I hope his face is better and we can get this surgery done so he can start off the school year successful!

Children's Museum

At least once a year, sometimes more, we go to the Children's Museum in Houston. It is a fun place to play. This year my kids were even more excited because of all the new things that have been added in the past few months. We loved the improvements!

One of the new things was Kidtropolis. It was fun (but crowded). My kids enjoyed getting a taste of real life kid size! Kidtropolis mirrors a real city with a city hall, municipal building, bank, news center, grocery store, returant, and even a vet clinic. My kids were fasinated with the ATM machines and having a Kid card which was a debit card. The worked the jobs and got paid checks then went to the bank and deposited the money. Then off to spend it!

Powerplay had my kids rock climbing, running an obstacle course, and climbing a cool tower called the power tower. It was neat to just look at!

Cyperchase had lots of fun games and my kids had to try them all. C was fascinated by a bike she could pedal to contribute to the power supply at the museum.

The water works area outside had tons of activities for kids to play in water.....and not get too wet!

Everything seemed new. Some favorite toys and area, like the Shadow room were moved and combined with new stuff and it made them fresh and new again.

I can't wait to go again and play....and watch my kids play and have so much fun. We had a great family day!

Cub Camp

This was one LONG week but it was a good one. T went to his first Cub scout camp this week. It is a daytime camp where the boys work on different things to pass off requirements. T had a blast. His favorite thing was archery. Check out the picture and you can see from his shirt that he got a BullsEye, 4 in the box (pic 2) and he popped a balloon. I tried my hand at archery on the final day and I only got 3 in the box so he had me beat.

T also made a surprise gift for Father's day, a wooden hot pad plate for me, a model of a teepee, and a cool leather bracelet that he got to engrave (of whatever they called it) himself. He also learned some flag football and ultimate frisbee and TONS of other stuff.

At dinnertime there was fun stuff as well. One night we had someone bring birds to show and talk about. One night there was a juggler. One night we were suppose to set off big rockets but it was too windy so we did skits and den cheers. And one fun tradition they had every night was the dinner bag pop. We were told to pack dinners in large ziplock bags for this tradition. The other thing enjoyed during a HOT camp week was TWICE everyday we had to go get snow cones.

I went as a volunteer. My job....Den walker. I really enjoyed it, watching my son as well as th other boys enjoy learning! I was in charge of 6 boys. I had to make sure we got everywhere on time and that as they did the requirements that they were passed off in their booklets. During a 30 min period each day I had to teach some stuff. We learned some cub songs, made a cub cheer, and talked about cooperation among other things. We also enjoyed making paper airplanes and playing UNO during wait times...like the end of dinner or waiting for our turn at archery.

I really saw the great impact scouting can have for these boys. This camp was put together well and well run. I am thankful for all the hard work that went into cub camp. I am so grateful for the cub scouting program and all it has to offer young boys.

Swim Team

It took me a long time to convince my kids to join a swim team. I asked C when she was 6 if she wanted to join, and most years after that (not including the year I had the twins!) She is now finally doing it at age 10! I enjoyed swim team for many years growing up and even coached for a few years. I have taught my children how to swim and the twins are starting lessons with me this summer.

We have now been on the team for one month and their progress has been wonderful! From the first meet until now all my kids have dropped 10-20 seconds off their time. They know how to swim breaststroke and butterfly now. They are not the fastest kids in their groups but they are getting better every week.

This week A "got it". He put all the pieces together and looked awesome doing freestyle. T swam breaststroke without DQing....he is not perfect yet but so close. C is excelling in all 4 strokes. That truly was my goal this year for them. I told them that even if we do swim team for just one year it will be worth it for them to learn all the strokes.

We are having fun and they are already talking about next year!!!!