The Wolf Pack

No, I am not referring to the Twilight series (although I am looking forward to seeing that Wolf Pack when that movie comes out). I am referring to the Cub Scout Wolf Pack! We have had a lot of fun this summer with these boys and their families! J is well on his way to earning the Summer time Achievement patch which is earned by doing planned activities with their den.
The first event we attended was the local minor league baseball game. The boys got to parade around the field at the start of the game, which was super cool! Can you tell J was excited?

All lined up!
The parade begins.

and ends...

Our next activity was at the local Lowe's, where the boys made binoculars. IT was super fun for them and FREE! Even Miss M got in on the action!

Sibling love...

J was such a good sport. He let M take a swing at hitting the nails.

I was thrilled becasue it was soft wood and pre-drilled holes!

Here are our handsome boys showing their cool binoculars!

Next on the Scout agenda is the fishing derby (yikes) and a trip to a local amusement park. I am not a fisherman. I will leave that outing up to my hubs! :)

No Sleep

I pride myself on the fact that I can sleep. I have very little trouble going to sleep. I can sleep in a chair, on the floor, in my bed, in the car. I sleep pretty well, not waking up in the night. I can pretty much roll myself out of bed in the morning to get ready for work at an ungodly hour and survive the day.
Except now I am not working.
and now I can't sleep.
I do not have the stress of work, packing lunches, fitting in housework between working all day and being with my kids. Yet, I cannot sleep.
I was up until after 1 AM last night. I told Paul that it must be that I am not exhausted enough to sleep. I guess.
Maybe I need to go back to work? Maybe. But for now I will just keep on not sleeping and enjoy the summer with my kids.

Summer so far

Well, they are saying that summer is 1/2 over. So what have we been up to? Not a whole lot.

We didn't do a vacation this summer. Since I am not working, it is best to save money and not go anywhere. I really want to see the beach. :(

We have gone to the library a bunch of times. My aunt volunteers and does a pajamas story time. It was so fun. J is reading up a storm. and some of it hasn't been forced! :) He has read about 6 Fancy Nancy books to his sister. She loves it, him not so much but he is a good big brother! I am determined to not let him lose any of the knowledge he gained in first grade so we also have school time each day.

Another way to pass time is going to the pool! We haven't joined in years, but decided that we needed the activity to pass our summer days. The kids are really enjoying it. I also love to come home at 3 PM and let Miss M take a nice two hour nap!

J and I are headed to a baseball game tonight with the scouts. It is supposed to be like 95 degrees- I pray we don't melt.

We also took Miss M to her first movie---Winne the Poo! She was really good, a little antsy, but did well for being 2 1/2.

Anyhow, that is our summer so far. Nothing exciting, but I get to spend it with the kids which (most days ;)) is good!

Nanny's 90th Birthday

This weekend we had a birthday party for my grandmother. She turned 90! Isn't that just amazing. For those who don't know my family, my g-mom suffers from dementia. She knows who we are most of the time but she is easily confused.
She had a wonderful day. My uncle and aunt flew in from Illinois, Nan's brother was there, and 5 of Nan's 12 great-grandchildren were there! It was the perfect day!

Uncle Charles, my mom and Nanny

This is my favorite shot of the night. It was my candid, amongst the posed shots and it shows such love and happiness don't you think?

We sang "Happy Birthday" to Nan and then lit the candles. She blew them out in one blow! Aunt Suzie and Uncle Charles

My mom invited her friends from way back. These ladies have been friends for over 50 years. Mary lived next door to my mom growing up and Pat has been my mom's friend from church since they were small.

This is my Nan and her brother Bob.

Not the best shot of my group, but it had been a long day!

My brother Mike, Nan, Mom and my g-father's cousin Frank. He is the family historian!

Me, showing Nan her cake. She told me that she usually doesn't eat cake, but she would have a small piece since we went through all of the trouble to get one! :)

The whole gang!

Happy Birthday Nanny! Love you!

100 Book Challenge

Our school has a program called the 100 Book Challenge. It is required reading for grades 1-5 each day. You don't really read 100 books but you read steps. 1 step=15 minutes of reading. The reading they do must be on their "fast, fun and easy" level. The goal of the school year was to read 400 steps (100 hours of reading) and I am proud to say that J made it! They have milestones at each "100" and they get an ice cream scoop on the wall. I took one of J when he reached 100 back in October, but forgot my camera for ht rest so I just took all four pictures in June1 You can see by the height of the ice cream cones that not everyone gets to each milestone. It requires a lot of extra reading. That is why I am extra proud of J and how he was determined to get to each milestone!

This is the hallways display, that is left up all year.

(Okay so I accidently deleted the 100 Step picture.....cannot seem to get it back in order)

200 Steps! (50 hours of reading)


300 Steps (75 hours of reading)

400 Steps (100 hours of reading and end-of-the-year goal)

J grew so much as a reader this year and I am so stinkin' proud of him! Way to go Buddy!

Scout Camp 2011

J spent his first week out of school at Cub Scout Day Camp. I don't have many pictures yet but his wonderful den leader took many and has promised to send them! I dropped him off bright and early each day and picked him up late in the afternoon, a tired, sweaty boy who had lots of stories to tell! He loves the obstacle course, partially seen below.

All but 3 boys in his camp Den were from our regular scout den, so it was nice that he knew the boys and made a few new friends.
They did so many fun activites:fishing, arts and crafts, woodworking, flag football, leather working, building, water games, BB gun practice (with the range master from the county's range), made and used a sling shot, cooked, and much more!)

It's What She Does!

Makes silly faces at the camera, that is. Miss M is such a bird! She keeps me laughing!

Mad face

Cheese face

Toothy grin Surprised face

Um, not sure

Surprised face part 2

That girl of mine....