What A Week!

What a busy week! I bet the kids sleep in this weekend. Monday Olivia and Lucas had ski club after school.  It's been cancelled for a few weeks now. First it was too icy (snow melt and refroze) and then too cold (a week of -20 or more) so it was great to go again. 

Tuesday was the Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet. Besides leading a Den of 9 Scouts I am on the Planning Committee and I am the Awards Coordinator. Lots of time went into organizing the Advancement for 38 Scouts. There was a little over 100 people in attendance. 

The Banquet is a potluck and so many good things were shared... main dishes....

.... sides and salads....

... Alaska Salmon, Moose and even a whole turkey!

I must have put about six hours into this awards table. Everything is recorded online and then I purchase at the Scout office. Two hours alone was spent writing out the cards and attaching the patch, pin or belt loop to it. The little portion cups have activity segments for the last four Pack meetings. Keeping track of who attends what is a chore! I am the only leader who knows all the kids. 

I won't share all the photos (we took over 200), but each of the 5 dens performed skits and sang songs. My Den sang a grace before dinner that we wrote ourselves. This is our skit "Old Akela Had a Zoo". The boys start out behind the curtain and then move out to the side. The song had actual animal noises... yes, I spent hours and hours creating/editing the music with sound bits found online. I need to purchase more fabric and sew the curtains so it looks nice, but will have to wait until they get some in. 

Emily is an enormous help to me. I couldn't do it without her. She looked so beautiful. I, on-the-other-hand, better get back to going to the gym. I've put on a lot of weight this winter and my knees are complaining. I know I would have more energy, too.

I have a special ceremony for each Den when they earn their Rank Badge. That's the Cubmaster reading the script. The ceremony involves face painting the boys. This is my Wolf Den. Eight of my nine boys met the requirements for their badge. 

Father and son.

At the end of the night we had the Ice cream Trough. This is something we used to do 15 years ago in the Pack. It was pushed aside by the germaphobes. Us old-timers brought it back and the kids loved it (or at least the ones who had parents who would let them join in).

Wednesday the little ones had Ski Club again and then were up late for the season opener of Survivor. Nick took a few hours off of work to be here for that so we could pick our favorites.

Thursday I got Nick and Elijah to carry out the broken washer that has been sitting in the middle of Elijah's to-be-room-if-we-ever-finish remodeling. Then Emily and I cleaned out the whole space so work can begin. Homer has the the corners to put around the sliding door in the craft room and then I can start taping and mudding (after he shows me how). He'll move on to the next room until I am done painting and then come back to build my counters and shelves.

Last night Lucas had basketball practice at a school 25 miles from our house. You take several long, icy back roads so travel time is 45-minutes each way taking up 2.5 hours of the evening for practice! I left dinner for Homer and saw him for a late movie. Between his long hours of work and my running the evening activities we hardly see each other.

Before work yesterday Nick made Olivia and Lucas new shirts for Tie Dye Day at school. They were thrilled when they woke up this morning and saw them. Aren't we a tough bunch? Yesterday it was +30 and Lucas went to practice in his shorts. It is +12 this morning and they sure aren't bundled up, are they? Spring is in the air and the sunshine is wonderful after the long, dark winter.

Speaking of Spring I should be planting my  geranium seeds March 1st and I haven't even ordered them. My plant room turned into storage again this winter and I can't even get in there. I have so much to do and it's been such an exhausting week. Guess I'd better hop to it. 

He Shoots, He Scores!

Monday and Tuesday were school conferences which translates into a 4-day weekend. By the last day we're all ready for school to start back up!

Lucas' conference was on Monday. He's at the top of his 2nd grade class and tests above average in all areas. Math is is strongest where he is off the charts and quite proud of that fact. He might boast a little too much that he is better at math that the rest of the class. :)

Olivia's conference was Tuesday where she is also at the top of her class and above average in all areas. Both have excellent behavior as well so we truly are blessed. Both call for individualized instruction and I don't think they're really getting that. Olivia is terribly bored because it is too easy. That fact causes her to get lazy with her handwriting, spelling or thought processes just rushing through to get it done. Being perfect isn't necessarily better than getting it over with. She has been begging to home school, but I think that would be a mistake. She's not a very social girl and developmentally I think she needs to be around peers. She really should be at a charter school where she can be pushed, but this school has been our family for 15 years. Such difficult decisions. 

Since I am the teacher for Emily and Elijah my report is that they are behind and need to get motivated. Spring is coming!! :)

I'm not sure where yesterday went, but it sure wasn't doing housework. I need to get moving today. Last night Lucas had a basketball game. After playing soccer in the Fall (where I coached another outstanding group of little people) we chose to limit him to just basketball for the winter rather than do both like last year. He sure misses soccer, but not having such a frenzied schedule is better for all our attitudes. He plays with such aggression and drive without a single lazy moment. They are only 6 & 7 and every child gets tired or wanders off, but not Lucas. I swear he has endless energy and his focus is far older than his years. He's quite the little athlete like some of his older brothers were. 

Lots of New Snow

I could not get moving yesterday. Maybe it was all the snow falling outside or the lingering twilight. Or the fact that my stomach felt queasy and I was tired. Maybe just a combination of everything, but it wasn't a very productive day.

I remembered to go to the feed store a couple of days ago for these critters. I did not, however, remember to ask the boys to unload it for me. Lucas and I used a sled and hauled one bag over. I'll get them to do the rest.

My chickens were refusing to cooperate and hold still for photos. Busy bodies.

This is their temporary shelter until the coop is done. Sunday a in/out door (bottom right corner) was cut and I think the insulating was finished. Now to sheet the interior, paint and put down the flooring. So much work!

Lucas and I made chocolate chip cookies. Finished with 4 dozen of which half were promptly eaten when the boys got home.

Met the boys at school to do half an hour of open gym with their high school team and then it was over to their IYB game. I love watching the boys play, but do know how many more games I'll drag the family to. Players are ranked 1-4 and split over the teams. One of our #1 players in injured and out for the season. It completely takes us out of being competitive. (Last night was like a 30-point loss when it should have been a close game). If the league won't let us pick-up another good player it's really a waste of time because the boys are just screwing around. I can't see dragging three other kids to the gym for "play time". Besides it drives me nuts to watch them mess around and develop bad playing habits. It's just a bum deal all the way around.
After the games we ran to Office Max to pick up a small computer table for Nick and grab some groceries. Got home at 9:00pm to finally have dinner! Relaxed with a little television and hit the sack at midnight. Looking forward to a more productive day today. Or not.

A Full Day

Today was a full day. Once I got going. I got Elijah up at 6:20am and then Nick up at 7:20. By 7:30am I went back to bed and didn't get up until 10:45am. Ug! The dark in the mornings has me in hibernation mode.

Lucas is "reading" his "map" for the cookie cutter ABC's.

Remember the drawers I cleaned out? Well, here's the hats and gloves left over. Sorted and took care of that mess. The blue one? It was Nick's when he was five. That makes it a 12-year old hat. (I don't get rid of anything, do I?).

Got the air hockey table cleaned off and then moved behind it. Tents, summer stuff, totes of toys... things deposited and not taken care of.
The only thing I left was a tote full of games. (Until we are done building and there are shelves I'm going to store stuff in totes where it can stay clean). Hope to get the boys to move the freezer outside this weekend. It is blocking a door we could be using.


Olivia stayed home today. She cried all night and pretty much all day today, too. The tooth on our right is being pushed out by the adult tooth. Apparently, she either has a low tolerance for pain or it is really painful. She hasn't eaten for two days now. I feel so bad for her. (Her top teeth really aren't black. The only thing she has had has been a little grape kool-aid so that is what you see.) She won't even close her mouth and sucks up her saliva noisily rather than swallow. I sure hope that thing comes out this weekend. If not Monday it is off to the dentist so she doesn't starve herself. She did about 12 pages out of her homework book today. I think it was the only way she could keep her mind off her tooth. And on top of that.... growing pains in her legs. She's just a mess.

Look at all that stuff. Can't wait until my husband has his shop and the shelves are moved to it and not in my to-be living room.
I have totes of rain gear and rubber boats. You know, just in case.

Oh, here's where the gloves and hats ended up. In baskets on top of the drawers. And that is a pile of stuff to go upstairs or outside. About half of it got taken care of. The totes of toys have to wait until I go make room for them.

Took some time to make homemade potato and ham soup. It was my first time and it was so good. I think I could get into making soup!

I put the green on to finish up this Irish flag hat for Nick. Then I quickly made the black and white hat for Ladarius (he's on the boys' basketball team and asked if I'd make him a hat, too).


Then I was off to a 9:00pm game. Lucas went with me and cheered for his brothers. It was so cute. Look at the sweat on Elijah. Those boys were working hard. The kid Nick is defending was a huge ball hog. His team had more talented players than we did, but this kid would not pass the ball. He took the shot at least 12 times in a row when I quit counting. If he would have been a team player they would have beat us, but he wasn't and we won by 15.


No exciting photos tonight, but I like this one because it has both of my boys in it. Their one time to be on a team together. They have no idea how much it means to me!

Well, we're sneaking up on 1:00am pretty quickly. I have lots of stuff I'd like to do tomorrow plus the boys have two games! My days are full. I'll be glad when it's full of fun and not work! :)