Saturday, March 13, 2010

Playing Catch Up!

Here's what we've been up to lately.

Since all three boys have birthdays in the first two weeks of March, we decided to have one big party for them. We haven't done this in a couple of years and, since there's a new gaming place open in a neighboring town, we thought it would be fun to have their party there. What kid doesn't like video and arcade games, right?


Zack opening presents---He got a Ben 10 Lego set, a yo-yo, and enough birthday money to buy a Star Wars Lego set. My house is being invaded by Legos!!!


Here's Mr. Matt. He got a Mater(from Cars) something-or-other that shoots out of a canon. I'm sure Ian will correct me after he reads this, but I can't remember what it's called. He also got an Elmo Phase 10 game, and enough birthday money to buy a Dragon Castle thingy that makes lots of noise. I'm sure I'll be corrected on this one too.


Blowing out the candles. Two wanted red velvet cupcakes and one wanted chocolate cupcakes so that's what we made. I didn't have a good picture of Todd opening his gifts, but he got a Mini Ninja's game for the Wii, a bike, and enough birthday money to buy a slew of Bakugan stuff.


Lauren had fun, too. I spent more time plucking her down from the skiball game than anything else. Thankfully no one was trying to play at the time. She also kept trying to win something out of the claw machine. She never did, but one of Todd's friends offered her a stuffed fish he won. She was too shy to take it from him, but she saw the fish sitting unattended later so she swiped it. Oops!


Here's Matt trying out the Air Hockey game.


One of Todd's classmates and his little brother.


Zack and his best bud.


Even the adults had fun.


We also had our Pack Pinewood Derby the same day as the birthday party.


These are the sibling cars that entered the sibling race. Matt's is the Superman car. If you look closely you can see a Fly Boat(Wonder Pets), a princess carriage, a Hannah Montana limo, a pink bunny, and some other creative ones. I have no idea who won this race, but I do know it wasn't Matt. :o( I was busy judging cars. Matt did win Most Futuristic Car and received a medal so he was happy with that.


Here are a few of the scouts' cars. The orange and blue one is Zack's.


These are the winners of the pack race. 1st place is the shark. It was very well done and even had a hand sticking out of its mouth. 2nd place is the red one. This is one of my Tiger Cub's car. He and his dad made it without using any power tools. And Todd came in 3rd place---the black and red car. He came in 3rd last year in our pack race and then went on to win 1st in the district derby. I'm anxious to see how he does in the district race this year, which is today.


Here are the 1st and 3rd place pack winners. The 2nd place winner couldn't be there because his family had to be out of town that weekend.


We've also had some scout advancements happen in our house. Todd earned his Webelos badge and Zack earned his Tiger badge last month.


Funny that they're both busy putting on their belt loops in these pictures. I just realized that as I'm typing this out. :o) Way to go Todd and Zack!!!


On a less important side note, I wanted to show off my honkin huge egg.


A size comparison: The honkin huge egg, a duck egg (which is the size of an extra large chicken egg), a standard size chicken egg (which is a medium-large egg), and a Silkie egg (which is a little larger than a bantam egg, but not as big as a standard chicken egg).

The honkin huge egg was a double-yoker. This is the first one we've had. I can remember Grandma Gregson's chickens laying double-yoker eggs every so often. All I can say is, that had to hurt coming out! Oh, and it made some really yummy cupcakes for the boys' birthday party. :o)

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Visit with Smokey the Bear

These are my 3 little Tiger Cubs. Aren't they cute? They worked really hard to earn their Wildlife Conservation belt loop and pin for the month of February. Two of the requirements were to visit a state or national park and visit with someone who works in wildlife conservation. It just so happens we have a wildlife biologist at our state park. Who knew? We were able to knock out 2 requirements at once. Yay! Mr. Chad was great and shared lots of info. If the boys didn't learn anything, we parents sure did. Mr. Chad even arranged a visit from Smokey the Bear. The scouts don't look too excited, do they?

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Bad Hair Day --- Take 2

Remember this?


And this?


Well . . . . .



Take a look at this!


What in the world does she do when she's sleeping that causes this to happen?


Punk rockers around the world are jealous.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Yucky Days

Yes, I'm neglecting my blog again, and with good reason this time. We've had the sickies hit our household full force over the last few days. It started Friday night with Matt and Lauren. I hoped it was just something they ate that didn't agree with them. Nope. Zack started with it Saturday night which meant we were definitely skipping church on Sunday. Ian and I had the pleasure of coming down with it today. No work + no school + many trips to the bathroom = lots of fun in our house. Looks like more of the same tomorrow.

In the middle of cleaning up the yuck, trying to tend to my children, and not really having the energy to do either, I realize just how thankful I am for the uneventful days where I do have the energy to take care of the every day, mundane tasks that seem to get me down.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Todd's Christmas Concert

I know we're a little past Christmas, but my old computer and my new-old computer don't like uploading videos from my camera for some reason and I don't know why. So, my sister kindly uploaded this for me from her computer. Let's hope it works! :o)

This is Todd's Beginner Band Christmas Concert and the first time we've seen him in action on the drums. Go Todd!!!


Friday, January 1, 2010

Christmas Morning . . . better late than never.

I called the naughty-nice list hotline and specifically requested coal only stockings . . . . .

. . . . but nobody ever listens to me.

(If you're wondering about that last picture, Lauren is modeling her mittens on her feet. I guess if you're out of socks and you feet get cold . . . . . . . hey, it could work.)

Bad Hair Day

Tell me who doesn't want to wake up to this every morning?

It was wild from the front view . . . .


and the side view!

Her hair is usually pretty crazy every morning, but this day was exceptional. It needed to be documented for posterity.