Camping here we come!

Time has arrived, we are heading off to the beach for a camping trip! Lists have been made and piles of gear are waiting to be packed into the car. Kids are excited and the adults are looking forward to a few relaxing days by the campfire.

We are packing the car tomorrow and heading off to Beverly Beach for three nights of camping. The kids are looking forward to playing in the surf, collecting shells and of course roasting marshmallows over the fire. I'm looking forward to taking tons of photos, sitting around with friends and family and making memories with the kids.

Check back for fun photos and all the stories that I'm sure we will have to share.

Proud Parent

Johnathan has been so excited about becoming a Boy Scout and has tried very hard to prove himself to his scout masters and the older scouts in his troop. We have been very busy working on his first rank which is Boy Scout.

Tonight the troop held their Court of Honor and had a pot luck dinner. All the scouts were a little put out because they had to wait till all the parents and the siblings to fill their plates before they were allowed to eat. Needless to say all the parents thought that was a great idea! Once everyone had finished eating the awarding began.

The first patch handed out was the Camporee patch. This was hard earned by all the scouts who went to this weekend camp out. The weekend started on Friday night with clear skies and warm weather, at around midnight the clouds gathered and the rain started falling....it didn't stop falling till Sunday afternoon. Everyone was wet and muddy but they had a great time. Then Johnathan was called up and I had to accompany him, he was handed his Boy Scout patch and a pin that matches. He had to put the pin on me for all the hard work I helped him do to reach this point in scouting.

It was a great ceremony and all the boys were thrilled about getting their patches. The next Court of Honor will be held in January and there will be more patches to come!

What a way to spend a Sunday

For several weeks now the kids and I have been meaning to visit the Historical Jenkins Estate located about a mile from our house. It is now a park, but the original buildings are still on the grounds. Many people have their weddings at the estate. I wanted to go and check out the gardens this place is supposed to have. I was not disappointed and both of the kids had fun looking at the flowers and walking the paths.

I really enjoy trying to capture nature photos, with that said I have lots of flower pictures. And today I was in heaven taking photos of all kinds of things. But what made me smile and feel kind of good was Hannah snapping away at whatever Mommy took a photo of. She is getting pretty good at taking photos.Johnathan enjoyed the herb garden that is planted towards the back of the property. He enjoyed rubbing his fingers on the leaves and then smelling the different scents. One of his favorites was the lavender. When the kids smelled the rosemary they both said it made them kind of hungry.
We spent two hours walking around the place and we didn't even see everything. None of us are sad at having to plan a second trip to Jenkins Estate!

A Day at the Zoo

Well I know that this is a week late, but I had to wait for my laptop to return home before I could put my photos online. Now that it's back I can share some of the photos I took at the zoo with the kids and my niece and my two sisters. It was a full packed day at the zoo, I think we saw everything. And yes I took photos of flowers and other objects I saw during our day.

Johnathan, Mackenzie and Hannah stopping to pose for photos. They had flashes going off in all directions as all three adults were snapping photos.


I love this photo, usually the chimps are inside when the weather is questionable. But on this day they were out in their new yard. And I love how this one went straight up the hill and sat in the tall grass.
Here kitty kitty! I spent a lot of time taking photos of this cougar, its usually really hard to find them in the enclosure. But on this trip he was wanting his photo taken, he jumped down from his log and came to the window. Granted Johnathan was standing to the right of me when I took this so maybe the cougar was checking Johnathan out at the time. HHMMM lunch!
My little woodland pixie peaking in the bushes!
Johnathan likes to watch the birds of prey show at the zoo. Before it started they put a couple of the big birds on display up on the stage. Johnathan was getting a closer look at them without having to get too close to them.

It was a great day. The kids had a blast and everyone was completely worn out by the time we left.

Memorial Day Tribute

Hannah loves to do crafty things and play with play dough. So this morning she did both. Hannah made a tribute for Memorial day.

Hannah used her play dough and made an American Flag. She was very proud of it so we had to take photos. And not just one photo but many. She wanted to pose outside with the flowers and in the sun. So we did...any excuse to use my camera I will take!

And Hannah wanted to show her flag along with the flag in our red, white and blue petunia pot.

Is Summer Here?

Finally the sun has come back to the Pacific Northwest. We had wonderful summer like weather yesterday so the kids and I took advantage of it and hit the park. Our picnic lunch was packed and we headed off to Tyson Park to play in the fields and on the equipment.


Hannah enjoyed sitting under the shade tree and watching the butterflies flying around the field.

It's days like this that I love living here and being a Mom!

Stop Growning!

Today I received photos in an email all of the kids taken over 6 years ago. Hannah was so little and both kids had chubby cheeks. I have decided they can not grow any more! I miss those little guys.

Now don't get me wrong I love the stage that our kids are currently in. Ok well I love most of what they are now...I could do without the mood swings and the back talk! The day to day stuff seems to crawl by, but when you look back at photos its amazing how fast kids really do grow. So from today forward Johnathan and Hannah must stop growing!! I know this isn't realistic and I will just have to learn to deal.

All this nostalgia comes 5 days before Johnathan goes away for the first time on his own to a Boy Scout camping trip. I am having a harder time than I thought I would about him going off by himself. I am really not looking forward to him going for an entire week by himself this summer. How will Mom ever survive? So let me repeat...the kids must stop growing, they must stay little and need Mommy 23.75 hours out of the day!

Forest Center Fun

Nice sunny weather has once again come to the area, so we made the most of it yesterday.


I loaded the kids in the car along with a picnic lunch and we headed off to the Tillamook forest. Originally we were going to hike the Gales Creek trail, however when we got to the trail head it was still closed. Since we had already gone all that way there was no way we were turning around. So plan B took us to the Tillamook Forest Center. We descended on to the picnic area upon arrival and ate our lunch among the bugs and birds. The off to the visitors center we went. Outside the doors stands a very buff looking Smokey the Bear, and yes I made the kids stand with him!


We arrived just in time to watch Legacy of Fire, a movie about the huge burns that occurred in the 30's and 40's that wiped out the Tillamook forest. It was amazing that anyone survived and even more amazing to hear about all the replanting done in the forest to make it what we see today. There is a really fun exhibit hall that holds displays about logging, fire fighting and life in the forest. The kids had fun waling along the trails and looking at all the flowers in bloom. Hannah kept pointing out all the areas she thought housed pixies. And Johnathan spent most of the hike looking at his compass and letting us know what direction we were heading.

After our hike the kids and I climbed the 40 foot fire lookout. Once up was enough for me, but the kids climbed it several times. It was a fun day in the outdoors! Makes me really long for more warm sunny days!

Way to end a vacation

So all went well during our first long distance family vacation. Sure the kids had their moments, but for the most part they were really well behaved and had a blast.

We got back home early Wednesday morning and everyone crashed once we unloaded the car and confirmed that the cat was still alive. As predicted we all slept in late the next morning and then got ready to head off to Bend to pickup Sadie dog and visit with the grandparents.

Our visit was going to be short, however I didn't realize just how little visiting I would be doing. During the night on Wednesday I developed a flu bug that kept me up all night racing to and from the bathroom. I was useless on Thursday and spent the entire day sleeping or groggy and in a daze when I was somewhat awake. Thankfully I awoke this morning feeling much better and ready for the trip home.

I wish I could report that no one else got sick. This evening while putting Hannah to bed she complained that her tummy hurt so we gave her some pepto in hopes of beating any type of sickness. Little did we know that Johnathan should have gotten some also. Just shortly after putting him to bed he got up sick! Now he is upset about possible not going to see the movie Monsters v.s. Aliens tomorrow.

Here is knocking on wood that he is feeling better in the morning and that no one else get sick.

Having a great time!

As most everyone knows who reads this blog, we went on our first long distance family vacation. On Wednesday March 18th we boarded a plane in Portland and flew for two hours to Phoenix Arizona.

I will be honest I was worried about putting the kids on a plane. Rather I was worried how Hannah would act on the plane. She surprised me and manage to sit for almost the entire flight. Not till we were about 30 minutes from arriving did she start to wiggle around and want to get up. That was manageable and I was really happy that they both did so well. Johnathan loved the flight and had a blast looking out the window. They both enjoyed flying over the Grand Canyon.

Since we have been here we have been on the go almost non-stop. The first night it was just checking into the hotel and checking out the pool. Then going to visit the cousins for the first time. Hannah just wanted to stay here at the hotel and swim, so we made it an early night. But it was nice to see family and visit face to face for a while. It has been 3 1/2 years since I was here!

Thursday we spent most of the day playing with the cousins and just hanging out. We got to go play at the park and as always I took a ton of photos. I will have plenty of photos to scrapbook our trip! We called it an early day since Friday we had a long trip ahead of us to go see some wild animals and enjoy the Arizona sun.

After a two hour drive we arrived at a neat place called Out of Africa. As the name suggests there are a lot of animals from the African landscape. We got to see zebras, giraffes, lions and tigers just to name a few. Again I took a lot of photos and Jim got stuff on video. At first the kids were not impressed because we had to wait in a long line. But once things got moving they had fun and enjoyed seeing all the animals.

Saturday brought another busy day, we got up early and headed to the local renaissance festival. We crossed under the gate and into a different moment in time. We saw knights, kings, queens, noble men and women and fairies! We watched a really cool show where the guy used bull whips and the finale was a whip on fire. Johnathan really enjoyed that show. The big event of the day was to watch the joust. There was a lot to see and do at the festival and we enjoyed as much of it as we could in one day. Both of the kids have decided we should come back again next year. Our day ended with a wonderful visit with Aunt Mary, Uncle Mike and the cousins. Uncle Mike did a wonderful job on the BBQ! It was nice to just sit around and visit, but we were all happy to head back to the hotel and fall into bed after such a busy day. Oh and Jim and I got sun burned....see what happens when we Oregonians get out into the sun!

We spent all this morning visiting with family. We enjoyed an awesome brunch prepared by Aunt Mary....Thanks Aunt Mary! Once again it was nice to relax and visit. The kids had fun playing in the back yard with each other. Logan was very interested in the video camera that Uncle Jim was using and had a great time watching himself being filmed. We all enjoyed a dip in the hotel pool, even the warm blooded Powell's from Arizona! It was a nice relaxing day spent with family.

Our trip isn't over yet, we still have two days left here in the sun state. Not sure what adventures we will be involved in, but I am sure we will all have a good time. Oh and I will post photos of our different outings once we are home and I have a chance to upload everything and sort through them!

Famous Explorer

This evening we had a visit from the famous explorer Francisco Pizzaro!




Johnathan has been working on his explorer speech for over a week now and he knows almost all of it by heart. Yesterday I found a local costume shop that happened to have a Spanish conquistador helmet so I bought it. This saved me from having to make one, which is what we originally thought about doing. And we made the fluffy collar out of coffee filters. Having a costume was part of his requirements for the speech. I think we did a pretty good job of coming up with a costume. I will admit that I helped him with some of the wording, but he did all the research and wrote 90% of it himself.

Forgetful

I swear there are times that my son would forget his own head if it wasn't attached.

Tonight was his first official boy scout meeting. I took him and was prepared to stay when one of the other parents offered to take him home since I had Hannah with me. I took them up on that offer and told Johnathan to remember his book and jacket and that I would see him later. Well he just got home and was frantic wanting to know if I had his jacket. I told him no that was one of the things he was supposed to bring home. He is now really upset because it is his favorite jacket. I hope tomorrow I can either go see if it is at the meeting place or maybe by chance one of the other parents picked it up after the meeting. I guess he isn't old enough to be responsible and I will have still go to the meetings with him.

All Done

Our painting is finally done! After working like a mad women for the past week trying to get all those stupid walle's off the kids bedroom walls and cleaning all their junk out, I can now sit back and admire the pretty white walls just waiting for smudges and finger prints.

Johnathan's room looks different with all of his street signs and cars off the wall. Sadly he has outgrown the little boy stuff. Currently he is driving me crazy to help him build his model mustang he got for Christmas. I will have to give in this week and let him do little bits here and there once he works on his upcoming speech. He has also informed me that he will let me put up only two of his street signs...how generous of him.

Hannah wants her room to be very girly and have lots of flowers and pretty colors in it. She was very putout that we would not paint her walls pink. But she compromised with having her shelf painted purple and a few other things painted in colors of her choice. This week I am planning to go to Target and see about getting the vinyl stickers to put on her wall in the flower shapes. Hopefully I can find them and get them done while she is at school.

The rest of the house is painted also with the exception of our bedroom, but that is another entire weeks project! I would love to say I managed to complete all this work myself...and have everyone think wow what a super woman...however I had some expert help and advice. Without the help from my Dad none of this would have gotten done. So THANKS PAPA!

Getting ready

Nothing like waiting till the last minute to get anything done. Well that is the story of my life!

Once again my parents are coming this week for a cub scout event. Johnathan is going to be crossing over from cub scouts to boy scouts and they make it a big event. However this means that I need to get busy and get my house cleaned and the bedrooms prepared for painting. No big deal some might say, but in each of the kids rooms we put up things called walle's and now I have to remove them.

A walle is nothing but a wallpaper cut out that we pasted onto the walls when we moved in 7 years ago. The package said they are easy to put up and easy to remove....they lied! Over the past several weeks I start to take them off but get discouraged when I spend 30 minutes scrubbing and scrapping only to get just one off the walls. At this point it is going to take me several days to complete Hannah's room since she has the most. Right here and now I vow to never ever put up wallpaper of any kind, shape or size! What a mess this is going to be.

On the bright side once the rooms are painted they will look so much nicer! (I hope)

Annoying children have oblivious parents

Have you ever noticed in a large or small gathering of people that there is always one child that is annoying? Why is it that the parents of that child are oblivious to his/her actions? This evening I took Johnathan to his last cub scout den meeting and as usual there was one child totally out of control and interrupting the entire things. This child's parent just sat there the entire time ignoring the behavior while us other parents kept looking at one another in amazement. I would have been mortified if my child was acting up and being disruptive to the group. I would have had no problem grabbing my child and leaving if that is what it took. I wonder if the parent noticed the behavior and was embarrassed and didn't know what to do, or were they just used to this action and just accept it as the norm. I know that my child would not have gotten away with this action. I would have had no problem grabbing my child and leaving if that is what it called for. I wonder if that child acts like that in all situations?

Incompetent delivery driver

At this moment I am waiting for a FedEx delivery driver to fix his mistake, and I am not happy about it. A package we ordered Friday was supposed to be delivered here yesterday. When it wasn't we just chalked it up to it being a holiday. But then we got to looking at the comments left by the driver online and they said that no one was there to sign for it or that the business was closed and we thought that was kind of strange. Oh well it would be here today.

Upon checking the delivery status we found that it had already been delivered to someone this morning and that they had signed for it. It became clear that the driver delivered it to the wrong address, so I called the 800 number for FedEx and had them put a trace on our package. About 20 minutes later I get a call from the local FedEx transit station saying it was delivered to the front desk and that P. Walker had signed for it. Well we have not front desk and no one by the name of P Walker lives here I told the man on the phone. He had to recheck with his driver and would call again. More waiting.

The man on the phone called back to say the driver had delivered it to a school since he couldn't find our address. WHAT??? Apparently this driver believes its ok to just drop a package off at whatever address if he can't find the correct one. When I stated my disbelief, the dispatch person said that this isn't the drivers regular route and that he couldn't find the address. Here's and idea call dispatch and ask for directions! I mean how hard is it in this day and age to have someone Google the correct damn address? I am so wanting to ask the driver what the hell he was thinking, but Jim says that I have to be nice and not yell at him. It will take every ounce of strength I have to not let the driver have it!

Now I wait for this genius of a driver to go back to the school, pick up our package and attempt to deliver it a block away. I have every intention of speaking to this drivers boss as well as send a letter to the FedEx company! This is beyond ridiculous. I'm pretty sure that this isn't standard proceedure nor is it acceptable practice to just drop off packages at any address. However this is the second time we have had trouble with them delivering packages to us, this one being the worse experience. From this point on I will not be shipping anything with FedEx!

No more three day weekends!

So I would like to know who the person is that makes the school year calender each year. Did that person realize that in the month of February and into March our kids have every other Monday off? Come on give us parents a break. Around here a three day weekend usually means just one more day for the kids to fight with one another and another day to drive me crazy. I love our kids and enjoy spending time with them, but I also enjoy dropping them off at school on Monday mornings and having some time to get the things done that I want or need to do.

Due to the snow we had the week before Christmas the kids don't get out of school this year until June 17th. Rather than extend the school year why not take away some of the Mondays and Fridays that they have scheduled as teacher work days. How many extra days does it take for the teachers to get grades ready for report cards or get project together. I thought that is why they have one day a week of early release. Looking at it from the view point of the number of paid days off, and I think teachers have it pretty darn good around here.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Yes, its that time of the year again when all card companies and chocolate makers see their wallets get fatter. Some people don't like valentine's day, I however am not one of those people. I enjoy all the pretty red and pink hearts and the thought of a special day set aside for love and romance. Not that any day of the year couldn't be a day of love and romance...but you get my meaning.

This year my valentine's day started with getting up early (no sleeping in this Saturday) and heading out to help unload trucks of Girl Scout cookies. Oh boy did you say...well before I went my husband put a smile on my face. Now get your mind out of the gutter, he was very sneaky this year and managed to go out and purchase a lovely valentine's gift. I was touched and the thought of him getting me a gift...because he couldn't keep the secret he told me on Thursday that he bought me something. But when he handed me the little bag with the red wrapped box, I was thrilled, I couldn't get the paper open fast enough. Once the paper had been discarded and the smaller box was taken out of the larger box, I had a moment of breathlessness. Inside the smaller box was a perfect pair of diamond earrings. I was in shock and Jim says that even my jaw dropped when I saw them. I am so grateful that my husband is such a thoughtful and romantic man after all these years. I am truly a very luck girl!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The winner is.....

Each year in cub scouts, the boys build derby cars and hold a race to see who's car is the fastest. For the past 5 years Johnathan has built a car and usually falls in the 5th-6th place slots. Although he has been a good sport about not placing and getting one of the trophies, I know deep down that he really wanted to place in the top three. What kid wouldn't want that. This year was Johnathan's year. The cars race once in all four tracks, this determines the finial four cars. Johnathan's car came in first in all the four of the qualifying races. Now it was down to the finial four, the gate drops and the Green Machine (aka Johnathan's car) takes the lead. And the Green Machine crosses the finish line first. The look of shock and joy on Johnathan's face said it all. Both he and Dad are thrilled that they have made it to first place in Johnathan's finial Pine Wood Derby race!



Hannah made a car this year also and raced in the open division. Her car tied for second and had to go into a race off....Hannah got second place in the last race. So this year the Powell kids brought home a first place trophy and a second place trophy. Way to go guys!!!

Getting a head start

I seem to have caught some type of bug that is driving me to deep clean our house. I spent one entire day last week cleaning up old paper work and shredding what we didn't need anymore. Then Friday we spent the day cleaning the kitchen walls, cabinets and appliances just to turn around and slap paint on the walls. Today that bug has moved me on to the garage. I will admit that we use the garage as a dumping pit. I would really love to have one of those garages that has a place for everything and everything in its place. Guess I will just have to settle for clean chaos.

Little Old Men

Why is it that some little old men feel the need to make comments to a strangers children? Today while shopping at Fred Meyers with the kids, some little old man walked up and asked Johnathan if there was no school today. Johnathan politely answered him and said it was a teachers work day. The man laughed and then said how lucky kids are today to not have as much school as he had in his day. Then he tells told the kids he had to walk to school up hill for two miles and that walking home was also up hill. Both of my kids had smiles on their faces but kept shooting me looks like Mom what is this guy doing talking to us! The kicker was when he said that he did all this walking without shoes. Hannah being a little girl with a big heart, told him how sorry she was that he didn't have shoes when he was little. This made the old man laugh and confess that he had been joking with them. Then he just turned and walked away. I don't know if this is done out of loneliness or what, but it has happened before when I have had the kids at the store. And I can remember the same types of things happening myself when I was little. Wonder if I will get to that point when I am old and alone. Will I just walk up to unknown women and their children and start telling tales of my childhood? Kind of makes me feel sorry for that little old man.

The Big Game

Can you feel the testosterone in the air today?

Yes its Super Bowl Sunday and everyone is all excited about the game. The kids and I don't really care about the actual game, we just want to see the commercials that they play during the game. Well I take that back, Johnathan is interested in the game....he is turning into a man rather I like it or not. Hannah wants to see the new trailer for the movie Monsters vs Aliens and use the 3-D glasses we got from the store. Also its another excuse for the children to eat. Like they need another excuse! :)

Family photos

After years of people asking for a family photo, we finally got around to have one completed. So here are a few of the photos we took. I am planning on getting copies for our friends and family later this week.

Finding my green thumb

I have become a plant person lately. It started with just having one umbrella tree in the living room, then a friend started a Christmas cactus for me. That got me thinking that we needed a plant on the floor in the corner of the living room which lead me to purchasing a fig tree. Now I am one the hunt for an African violet. So far no luck in finding one, but I won't give up! Jim thinks its funny that I have names for the plants. The umbrella tree is Wilma, fig tree is Betty and the Christmas cactus is Lucy....yep that's right when I get the violet it will be known as Ethel! I will be sure to post updates on the African violet search....maybe I will luck out this weekend and find one when I head to Home Depot. :)

I would love to have a house that had a nice sun room that I could devote time in growing beautiful plants and flowers. I would really like to grow orchids, but I think they need a home that has an even temperature and that is so not our house right now. I would also enjoy have a large garden full of veggies and flowers. The little garden area we have is nice, but there really isn't space to grow much. I intend to give our garden another shot this summer. Know for sure that we will grow pumpkins again, but undecided as to what else. I still have plenty of time to figure it out.

Ok Ok I will update!

Ok, I admit it, I have totally dropped the ball and have neglected my blog for the past two weeks. There is really no good reason for it other than I have become lazy recently. I'm going to blame it on eating poorly and the weather....yeah that sounds good!

So an update on the kids. We found out two weeks ago that Hannah had developed something called Fifth Disease. The doctor says that it is a common childhood disease and that there is nothing to worry about. Hannah came home with really pink cheeks, and a red lace like rash developed within a few days. According to the doctor the rash will go away on its own in 1-3 weeks. She didn't have any other complications, and it seems like the rash is going away right on schedule. However she is not the only one who has it...Johnathan developed the rash over MLK weekend and his is slowly getting better. Poor Johnathan had to deal with some teasing from a very unfriendly girl at school. But a call to the teacher seems to have curbed the teasing for now till she finds something else or someone else to pick on.

Jim and Johnathan will be busy the last part of this week getting their pinewood derby car ready for competition in two weeks. I will make sure and post photos of the process once it gets started. Johnathan is looking forward to building his last cub scout derby car with his Dad. All the cars in past years have been done with Papa. Hannah and I are gearing up for booth sales with girl scout cookies. Today I have spent most of my time preparing the troops order so that I can have it sent in tomorrow before the deadline. It was a lot harder this year to sell cookies, people just didn't have the extra money this year for them. Makes me nervous for our booth sales, hopefully the girls can sell what we ordered. I would rather have too few than too many.

Ok, think that brings me up to date on whats been happening around here. I will try to do better about posting to the blog....but I make no promises, might need another gentle push now and again.

Adding to my schedule

So as if I don't have enough to do during the day I have added items to my schedule. I must be crazy taking extra stuff on. I am no officially the cookie Mom for Hannah's girl scout troop. I took on the position is hopes of causing myself less stress having to deal with the cookie mom we had last year. So far it isn't causing me any stress but things just got started and the website that is supposed to be up and running to make things easier isn't up and running and no one seems to know anything about when it will be.

Then to top it off I just agreed to become the photographer for this summers day camp. I really enjoy taking photos but not sure that my photos are up to the standards of camp photographer. We will have to wait and see what happens with that, the camp directors can always change their minds on that. Actually I am looking forward to being the person who walks around all week just snapping photos of all the events going on around camp and not having to watch a group of girls. Gives me another reason to buy a few things for my camera. :) Also gives me the incentive to get my camera out and start working on my picture taking.

Days go by fast

There must be some comic force that makes my days run supper fast. I swear one minute I look at the clock and it's just a little past 8, the kids have only been in school for 20-30 minutes then the next minute I look at the clock and 5 1/2 hours have gone by and the kids will be home in 30 minutes. I feel like I got nothing done and that my day is over before it even began. Oh the mysteries of time, well at least my time!

Awaiting the rain

As if the major snow fall we had in December wasn't bad enough now we are looking at having flooding in the area. According to the weather we are expecting major rain accumulation today into tomorrow afternoon. This means all creeks and most of the rivers around the area are under a flood watch. I am thankful that we don't have to worry about that in our location. But I do feel sorry for those people that have to deal with flood waters washing into their homes and causing damage. Makes me wonder if Mother Nature has something against the pacific northwest!

Nearing the End

Now that January is here, Johnathan is almost finished with Cub Scouts. He has till the 20th of February to finish any badges he is currently working on and any remaining belt loops or pins he wants to finish. Then it will be on to Boy Scouts. We visited a Boy Scout Troop last night and Johnathan really liked the boys in the patrol, and he got to participate with them in all the activities they did. He wants to go back again next Monday, so I am thinking he has found his next troop.

I got to visit with some of the Moms and a couple of the male leaders in the troop, they all seemed to be really nice and friendly. In actuality I am looking forward to moving on and maybe mixing things up with new families and leaving some of the troubles from Cub Scouts behind. With our Cub Scout experience, we have had to deal with several fathers who present themselves as all knowing and how dare anyone contradict them in any way. I didn't get that feeling from any of the people at last nights meeting. It will be nice to move on from that type of atmosphere and into one that is more productive for the boys as well as more enjoyable.

Dull Rainy Days

Oh how I wish it was spring or even summer. I know that winter just officially got started, but I am so ready for warm sunny days. All the snow we had has pretty much melted and what hasn't is now gray and ugly. The skies are dark and filled with cold rain. I am just so done with being cold and always having to bundle up even when we are inside the house. Hurry summer...hurry fast!

Happy 2009!!

Happy New Year!! Our new years celebration was rather quiet, we spent the evening at home watching movies and then finished up by watching the ball drop in New York. (Even though it was 3 hours later than the real event) The kids actually made it till mid-night but then shortly afterward they headed off to bed and crashed.

New years day has been a pretty laid back lazy day. The rain has returned and we all spent the day just doing whatever. Hannah actually stayed in her pj's all day until it was time for a shower tonight and fresh pj's. Ok I will admit if we didn't have to run a few errands today I would have stayed in my pj's all day also. I hope this new year brings us and all our family love, laughs and great memories.

Cheers to 2009!!!