Ben and Alek bridged over from Wolves to Bears in Cub Scouts a couple weeks ago (sorry, am only now getting to post these). The completed all their Wolf Cub acheivement and earned some belt loops and a gold arrow point.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
Holiday Weekend
I don't know why I can't find the time to blog each night anymore. It's staying light longer, and we're just getting busier and busier. We've had a good holiday weekend.
Friday
Friday night Alek had an optional baseball practice, so while Gary and Alek went to practice, Ben and I stayed home and watched Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban. Ben has read all 3 of the first HP books and passed all the AR tests. I'm so proud of him! We told him he had to read the books before seeing any more of the movies because they get so scary. He's read 1-3, and now agrees its time for a break. Number 3 scared him a bit. Alek had a very good practice.
Saturday
I made a meal plan for the weekend using food we already had, so I wouldn't have to spend my precious weekend out wasting gas buying groceries. The plan worked! We were running the dishwasher 3 times a day ... but then something's gotta give. So, Saturday I made breakfast and lunch, and we went up to the pool for the afternoon. The water is cold, but the day was warm and all our neighbors were up and it was lovely. Saturday night's dinner - Alek's favorite tilapia.
Sunday
Big day of cooking breakfast followed by lunch. Then the boys had a birthday party for a friend, so they were gone from 3:15 - 6:45, so Gary and I took advantage and went out for dinner alone together for sushi. Very nice. Relaxing. Then the boys got home and we had a crazy time continuing to arrange their new rooms - splitting out the Playmobile pieces and setting up the Rockenbock trucks (on the landing) and the slot car race track (in the play room).
Monday
Cereal for breakfast, but I spent my time preparing for picnic later in the day ... made chocolate cake and deviled eggs to take. Went to the pool from noon - 6, then over to a neighbor's house for a cookout. I love these slow summer days ... of course the boys ate nothing because they were playing so much. Then we come home and they are hungry. But, leftover hotdogs are just as good as fresh ones! Now the dishwasher AND the laundry machine are running. Thank goodness the drought has lessened here, because we're back to using water.
I still have petunias to plant in the front of the house, but we've trimmed back a lot of bushes and planted our tomatoes and watermelon and bugonias for the summer. Now I've just got to get the weeds back under control.
Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Here are some brief videos of our fun weekend.
The boys at the pool ...
Friday
Friday night Alek had an optional baseball practice, so while Gary and Alek went to practice, Ben and I stayed home and watched Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban. Ben has read all 3 of the first HP books and passed all the AR tests. I'm so proud of him! We told him he had to read the books before seeing any more of the movies because they get so scary. He's read 1-3, and now agrees its time for a break. Number 3 scared him a bit. Alek had a very good practice.
Saturday
I made a meal plan for the weekend using food we already had, so I wouldn't have to spend my precious weekend out wasting gas buying groceries. The plan worked! We were running the dishwasher 3 times a day ... but then something's gotta give. So, Saturday I made breakfast and lunch, and we went up to the pool for the afternoon. The water is cold, but the day was warm and all our neighbors were up and it was lovely. Saturday night's dinner - Alek's favorite tilapia.
Sunday
Big day of cooking breakfast followed by lunch. Then the boys had a birthday party for a friend, so they were gone from 3:15 - 6:45, so Gary and I took advantage and went out for dinner alone together for sushi. Very nice. Relaxing. Then the boys got home and we had a crazy time continuing to arrange their new rooms - splitting out the Playmobile pieces and setting up the Rockenbock trucks (on the landing) and the slot car race track (in the play room).
Monday
Cereal for breakfast, but I spent my time preparing for picnic later in the day ... made chocolate cake and deviled eggs to take. Went to the pool from noon - 6, then over to a neighbor's house for a cookout. I love these slow summer days ... of course the boys ate nothing because they were playing so much. Then we come home and they are hungry. But, leftover hotdogs are just as good as fresh ones! Now the dishwasher AND the laundry machine are running. Thank goodness the drought has lessened here, because we're back to using water.
I still have petunias to plant in the front of the house, but we've trimmed back a lot of bushes and planted our tomatoes and watermelon and bugonias for the summer. Now I've just got to get the weeds back under control.
Hope you all had a great holiday weekend! Here are some brief videos of our fun weekend.
The boys at the pool ...
Finishing the Dinosaur Dig that Papa gave them a year (year and a half?) ago ... they turned out really cute, and the guys finished them all on their own.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Durham Bulls Sleep Over
Sorry it's been a while since I wrote ... last Tuesday I had a mole re-excised on my shoulder. I usually get 4-6 moles removed a year, and this one came back 'can't rule out melonoma' rather than the usual 'regular mole' or sometimes 'changing mole'. So, the doctor had to remove more tissue around it. I now have a 3 inch gash with 13 stitches going from my mid shoulder to my underarm. Yep, right along the bra line ... so this along with still recovering from the nasal surgery 4 weeks ago, has left me little energy for blogging.
So the fun started Tuesday with the mole removal, then Gary went out of town Weds through Friday and the kids got sealants on their teeth Thursday afternoon. It went well, but Alek had his first cankor sores in his mouth this week, so he wasn't very happy at mealtimes or bedtimes. On Friday I went with the 2nd grade classes on the big field trip to the NC Zoo. It was a lovely day ... had been raining on Weds, but cleared up and the sun came out for the trip. Got a little warm, but overall nice. We ended up with a group of 10 boys, so I don't think the kids saw too many animals, it was mostly a race through the zoo. But a great day to do it!
That night we came home and packed up for the Durham Bulls baseball game in Durham. It was pouring rain when we left home, but it had cleared by the time we got to Durham. The night was cool, and the Bulls beat the Mudhens by about 6 points - so a fun game for us. Fireworks followed the game, and then they cleared the stadium. The Cub Scouts all got their tents & sleeping bags, and they let us back on the field around 10:30 pm and we set up camp. What an amazing site - all those colorful tents in the outfield! They showed a movie on the jumbotron and the kids just ran around like crazy. The four of us slept in our new 4-man tent, which was VERY cozy. The night was cold - into the 40's - and perfect for sleeping in toasty sleeping bags. We got up and left before breakfast on Sat am, although Gary & the kids got about 7 hours of sleep, which I hear is amazing for this sleepover. I, of course, didn't sleep at all. Saturday AM Alek had a baseball game and it was picture day ...here's a video of him at bat ...
So Saturday we worked inside the house, picking up, cleaning, laundry, etc and Sunday we worked outside the house - cutting lawn, bushes, weeding, etc. A very productive weekend.
So the fun started Tuesday with the mole removal, then Gary went out of town Weds through Friday and the kids got sealants on their teeth Thursday afternoon. It went well, but Alek had his first cankor sores in his mouth this week, so he wasn't very happy at mealtimes or bedtimes. On Friday I went with the 2nd grade classes on the big field trip to the NC Zoo. It was a lovely day ... had been raining on Weds, but cleared up and the sun came out for the trip. Got a little warm, but overall nice. We ended up with a group of 10 boys, so I don't think the kids saw too many animals, it was mostly a race through the zoo. But a great day to do it!
That night we came home and packed up for the Durham Bulls baseball game in Durham. It was pouring rain when we left home, but it had cleared by the time we got to Durham. The night was cool, and the Bulls beat the Mudhens by about 6 points - so a fun game for us. Fireworks followed the game, and then they cleared the stadium. The Cub Scouts all got their tents & sleeping bags, and they let us back on the field around 10:30 pm and we set up camp. What an amazing site - all those colorful tents in the outfield! They showed a movie on the jumbotron and the kids just ran around like crazy. The four of us slept in our new 4-man tent, which was VERY cozy. The night was cold - into the 40's - and perfect for sleeping in toasty sleeping bags. We got up and left before breakfast on Sat am, although Gary & the kids got about 7 hours of sleep, which I hear is amazing for this sleepover. I, of course, didn't sleep at all. Saturday AM Alek had a baseball game and it was picture day ...here's a video of him at bat ...
So Saturday we worked inside the house, picking up, cleaning, laundry, etc and Sunday we worked outside the house - cutting lawn, bushes, weeding, etc. A very productive weekend.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Alek's New Bed
The new beds were delivered (in boxes) today! We were going to wait until Saturday to put them together, but we got so excited wondering what was in all the boxes that we decided to put Alek's together tonight! We only did the bed - not the loft or the desk - and only Alek's (Alek gets to go first since Ben's room has gotten SO much attention lately, it's only fair). We got to put on the new sporty sheets, comforter, and pillow shams, too. He loves it! Notice his football boxer shorts ... go with the theme!
The color - natural - just perfectly matches his dresser and his nightstand, and the curves on the headboard and footboard match the curve in the top and bottom of the dresser - we got so lucky! It's going to be really cool when we get it up on the loft!
The color - natural - just perfectly matches his dresser and his nightstand, and the curves on the headboard and footboard match the curve in the top and bottom of the dresser - we got so lucky! It's going to be really cool when we get it up on the loft!
And a video of the fantastic man who put the bed together ...