I am bear...hear me roar!

I know, I know...double posts yesterday...another today...I said it was a crazy week! Tonight was the cub scout Blue & Gold banquet. Tim was recently called as the cubmaster, so he was runnin' the whole show. Carter earned his Bear award and his religious knot. He was super excited! So excited, he pounded 3 hot dogs and at least half a bag of chips during the dinner! The bishop was there to give him his religious knot, and he had Carter tell about some of the things he had done to earn his knot.

painting a bear paw on his cheek....and no, it looked NOTHING like the real thing!

getting pinned

One proud cubscout!

mark of the bear...roar!

Lucky Carter....he has his dad for cubs and for primary. It's just perfect when doing your calling lets you spend extra time with your kids!

tough girlie

Tonight was Rad Kids graduations for all the first graders. If you've seen my blog for the last couple of years, you will remember Maddy and Carter doing the same thing. Rad Kids is a 12 hour program that teaches kids, in a nutshell, that "No one can hurt me because I am special!"The officers that come and do the simulations with them are just awesome. The kids have to use what they have learned and it really gives them powerful tools. It always makes for a fun evening of yelling and cheering for the kids to "Yell! Say no! Kick him harder! Pepper his eyes!" On a side note, I know Laityn is a tiny little thing, but I didn't realize just how small until tonight. She was a head shorter than most the other kids!

Practicing elbow jabs while yelling "NO!"

getting her gear on....serious helmet action here!

Trying to convince Lady that her mom sent this guy to pick her up. She yelled "Stay back! You're not my dad!"....

... and then ran away super fast to tell an adult.

Man in red trying to get her to come help him find his puppy. Thanks to Rad Kids, Lady knows that adults don't need help from kids, and she should get an adult to help him.

When she fought back, he picked her right up...could she look more helpless? But she kicked hard and peppered his eyes.

Kicking and screaming, she got away and made it to the safe zone.

Posing in their "rad kids stance" with the man in red.

Most impressive part of this program: it's all done by volunteers. Nothing better than something that helps keep your kids safer!

president carter

Today was one of those insane kind of days...I had R.S. presidency meetings at 9:00, Carter's president report at 1:45, Lady's Rad Kids graduation at 4:30, and New Beginnings with Kenzie at 7:00. All in all, a fun day for the kiddos, and much running around for me. Tomorrow will be slightly less crazy, but not by much.

Carter stood in front of the class and read his report. When he finished, the kids got to ask him questions. "Why did you pick this president?" "Because he has the same name as me, ya know, Carter." The other two questions he was asked were both answered with "hmmm...I don't know." It was fun watching him learn how to be in front of a group...something I still struggle with.

..the poster...complete with his own sketch

While we listened to the other reports, Carter held Jace and played with him to keep him quiet. I know I'm biased, but those are some darn cute boys I've got!

giving in

So...as you can tell by the new picture and background...I am done with winter. Even though there was a skiff of snow this morning, I decided I needed something to remind me Spring is not too far away, so I changed up my blog. The kids wearing shorts and sandals gives me hope that warm weather is on the way. One more week of February and we will FINALLY be moving on to March. March = spring for me. Even though most of the month is chilly, the flowers coming up and the few warm days at the park make me feel like a person again. Happy soon-to-be sPriNg!

maddy's WaCkY pArTy!

Maddy, Lady, Carter walk home from school pretty much everyday. The last while, there have been some difficulties on their homeward adventure. On more than one occasion, Carter or Lady or both have come through the door crying because "Maddy wouldn't let me walk in front" or "so and so kept yelling at me to hurry up" and then Maddy complaining "they never listen to me mom! and you said I'm the boss on the walk home!" So, after threats of getting to walk TO and FROM school together from me, Maddy came up with a plan. She promised Carter and Lady a party if they didn't fight on the walk home for 2 weeks. It worked like a charm! So tonight, Maddy planned her Wacky Party. She helped the kids dress up and crazy up their hair. She planned the food: chips, sandwiches, grapes, popcorn, and cookies. We made the cookies...brownie chocolate chip...mmmmm. She set up a picnic in the basement for everyone and picked out a movie. She even gave out medals for the wackiest costumes. Too funny!

I'm thinking we should have a party every couple of weeks if it stops the walk home fights!

my valentines

Yep... here they are...all my valentines, except for Tim. He missed our "fancy" Valentine's Day dinner. Needless to say, dinner wasn't as fancy as usual. The kids helped with the menu, which consisted of pb & j sandwiches, chocolate covered grapes, bagel bites, mozzarella sticks...and I added homemade potato skins for me. We lit the candles, closed the blinds, and made our own cherry 7up. It was simple, but the kids thought it was the perfect meal!

These really were THAT good!

Strawberries were not on sale at all....but grapes were. Eating these reminded me of when I was pregnant with miss Lady. I ate chocolate covered everything for the last few months...oranges, grapes, strawberries, apples....everything!

Lucky me to have such cute, sweet, silly, crazy valentines!

bubbles and bars

It's February! YAY! I'm starting to see a few bulbs poking up through the ground, and I have hope that warmer weather is coming soon. In the meantime...I needed a project to do. Tim has been in Boise with his mom and sister all week. Tim's mom had open heart surgery today. Everything went well, and she should be on the road to recovery in a few weeks. Knowing he would be gone all week meant a couple of things. First, no big dinner making plans...the kids are just as happy with mac & cheese, cold cereal, scrambled eggs, and sandwiches...so why go to the trouble of cooking? Second, thanks to not really cooking and staying up later than normal cause I'm alone...I convinced Tim to help me out with a project before he left. He put bead board around the bar and trimmed it all out. I've been painting and sanding all week...and I'm lovin' the way it all turned out! Of course...now I'm itching to redo my barstools. And the bubble pic...just kiddos being silly in the tub!

Who knew a bubble beard could look so goofy?

My kitchen feels like a whole new space...love how a little change can make such a difference!