Cub Scouts

Tonight Clifford attended his first Cub Scout meeting!! He has been soooo excited for this!! There are about seven other boys in his pack, none of whom goes to school with him, so he gets to make new friends! Clifford got to practice preparing for the flag ceremony they will be in charge of for the next den meeting. He also learned how to sew on a button. The gal in charge of registration dropped the ball on us, forgetting to give Leader Eric Clifford's kerchief and Tiger book. As soon as I get the book, we'll start working on catching Clifford up with the other boys (they recently just earned their Bobcat). It's so exciting to see Clifford in this new adventure in life! :)

Clifford sewing a button!

Under the Sea Dance

Tonight we attended the school's Under the Sea dance. I went in a few hours prior to help decorate and set up, as well as donated some homemade starfish-shaped sugar cookies for the bake sale. The dance started at 6pm. We invited our neighbors and their 2 kids to come with us. We also gave a ride to the neighbor boy upstairs. Thank goodness we have a big car to hold everyone!! The dance was a lot of fun. Submarine sandwiches with chips and pop were for sale for dinner. I gave the boys some money to purchase a treat from the bake sale as well as some popcorn. The dance lasted for two hours. We basically let the boys roam free. This was the first time ever that Pete and I let them do such a thing and not worry about it. The entrances were guarded with teachers so little ones couldn't escape, and we knew the all the friends the kids were running around playing with, so that put us at ease. The boys and I got a group photo with our neighbor friends. But I must say....the BEST part of the entire evening was watching Clifford and his friend Zach dance!!! Their dance moves were hilarious and they didn't have a care in the world!! Clifford definitely has more techno dance moves while Zach has the hip hop moves. Sara (Zach's mom) and I were laughing our butts off at our sons. We all had a great time!!

Here are pics from the evening:
#1 & #2: the cookies I made for the bake sale. not my best work, but they sold out fast!
#3: boys snacking on some food before they hit up the dance floor
#4 & #5: pete at the start of the dance........and pete at the end of the dance

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Today I enter the last year of my twenties!! The morning started off with a glitch....Pete's alarm didn't go off and he was late for work. Boys and I had to drive him in to work. I went about my normal morning routine of getting kids ready for school, dishes, and laundry. Once I dropped Kristjan off at school at noon, that's when I started to celebrate. I took myself out to lunch at Panera Bread for one of my favorite soup 'n sandwich combos, followed by a pedicure. It felt wonderful to do something for myself. Later in the late afternoon after everyone came home from work and school, I was treated to a delicious mexican dinner. As for gifts, I was actually spoiled a few weeks prior. My mom gave me a new purse and a soft throw blanket. Pete bought me a new phone and camera (though the camera sucked. we sent it back and i'm waiting to pick out a different one). My neighbor gave me some new Mary Kay makeup. Jane gave me the gift money to purchase a new cookbook scrapbook I've been wanting. My in-laws made a recipe book and gave me a box of emergency food for our food storage. I got a chuckle out of the emergency food when Pete and I opened it to look at the contents. It's all food items Pete will use for his backpacking meals!! I laughed and commented to Pete "This is more a gift for you!" He was very excited for this. Overall, my birthday was laid back and simple, which I'm grateful for. Our schedules have started to get busier, so I'm happy to have a day where I wasn't running around trying to get everything done.

Here's a few pics of my pretty painted toes and us out for my birthday dinner

Reptile Zoo

One of the many adventures on my list of things to do with the boys has been to visit the "Reptile Zoo" in Monroe. I've been wanting to do this for a few years now, but we've just never took the time to say 'ok, lets go'. That's just what we did on this cold Sunday. We invited our co-worker Allison and her son Michael to come along with us. We met at the zoo and began our tour. We had a lot of fun. We learned lots of new facts on various snakes, spiders, alligators/crocodiles, etc. We were able to pet the shells of moving turtles/tortoises, as well as hold a baby turtle in our hands. We also were able to hold non-poisonous snakes. Clifford and Kristjan didn't want to hold the snakes, though I think they quickly touched one just to get a feel. I, however, did hold one. It was scary!!! I wouldn't say I have a fear of snakes (my fear is towards spiders), but when I was given a snake to hold, my heart started racing and I got very nervous. I couldn't believe how adventurous I was to actually agree to hold a snake!!! And the funny thing is, the boys wouldn't hold a snake, but they paid the $5 fee each to hold a baby alligator!! They were all excited for that. The gal helping out even took a picture of the boys holding it as a souvenir. After our tour of the zoo ended, we headed across the parking lot to enjoy a delicious lunch of bbq on a bus. That was an adventure in itself. We ordered our food at one bus, then climbed aboard another one to sit and wait for our food to be delivered. The boys thought this was awesome. The food was delicious. Pete said it reminded him of traditional bbq you get down in Texas (of course, he would know that! lucky guy). All three boys finished eating before the adults, so we let them run around outside in a field where we could see them out our windows. Afterwards, we said our goodbyes to Allison and Michael, and headed home. I'm so happy we finally made it up to the zoo. I can now check that off my list and plan on a new adventure to take the boys on :)

Party Time!!

Kristjan celebrated his 6th birthday a few days early with his friends. He decided he wanted a "Kinect" party like Clifford. We bought a new game just for the party. On the menu was corn dogs, cheese pizza, strawberries, chips and juice. Kristjan wanted a car cake. A few weeks back I had him pick out a few new hot wheels that we would use to decorate. I googled online for some picture ideas for decorating, and found one I liked. The cake design was a hit! Present time went smoothly. Our gift to Kristjan was the new Disney Universe xbox game (he loved playing the demo). The party was a blast!! It continued on late into the evening even after his school friends left. Our neighbors whom we invited stayed a few extra hours. Kids ran around playing while adults chatted. We didn't go to bed until after 11:30pm!!! I think that's the latest we've ever let our boys stay up. By the time we were tucking them in, they were breaking down in tears from being so tired!! I comforted them and explained it was because they were tired. Through their tears and yawns, they argued "But I'm not tired!!" They ended up sleeping in the next morning past 9am...no, I don't think they were tired at all! :)