A Bear Scout

Last month at pack meeting Ashton earned his Bear. Not only did he earn his Bear, but also his whittling chip, 1 gold and 7 silver arrows. If you are familiar with cub scouts at all, you know that to earn a Gold arrow you need to have 10 of the elective projects completed and then for every 10 additional electives you receive a silver arrow. That is 70 electives completed! So this was quite an accomplishment for Ashton. We are proud of him and the hard work he put into earning this rank.

Ashton receiving his Bear from Bro. Giles our Cubmaster and me receiving my mother's pin.


Now here is the funny part. In November, Richard and I realized that Ashton only had 2 months left to earn his Bear Rank. So we set to work making plans each Sunday of what electives or requirements we could help him pass off that week. We continued this way throughout December and most of January.
Ashton receiving all his awards!

Two Sundays before Ashton's birthday, we were looking at his book trying to figure out how we were going to complete everything before his birthday. I was dismayed. There was too much to do and not enough time with everything else going on. I figured we would just do our best and I went to bed.

Sometime in the middle of the night when I was up with one of the kids, Richard informed me that Ashton had earned his Bear. I was skeptical and asked how. He told me that after I went to bed, he got to looking at the requirements a little more closely, and found he did not have to complete every section of his book like we had been working toward! He only needed to complete 12 of the 24 sections! Ashton had completed that and then some! Stupid Parents!!! It always helps to look at the directions! Needless to say, I went to bed and slept a lot better.

So this is proof, that just because you have a lot of boys, it does not mean you know everything about Cub Scouts or the Scouting Program!!! Thank heavens that we have awesome scout leaders in our ward who love the boys, love scouting, and keep things simple and fun, thus keeping the boys interested. Being the primary counselor over scouts I thank the good Lord for the privilege of working with these amazing people and for their making up for me, when sometimes I fall short.

The Power of Preschool

Last night I was awakened a little after 3 am to whispering. Benjamin had come in wanting me, and since I didn't wake up right away, Richard was trying to take care of him. Ben kept saying he just needed to whisper in my ear. So he whispered in my ear and since Ben is really hard to understand sometimes, especially at 3 in the morning when you are woke from a dead sleep, I needed a translator. Luckily, Richard knew what he was saying and told me," He wants to know if he has stinky breath." My first thought was "Why am I smelling breath at 3 in the morning?" then it changed to "Why does a 4 year old care about his breath especially at 3 am?" I told him I couldn't smell his breath so it wasn't stinky and he went back to bed.

I sat there laughing and asked Richard what that was all about. He said that earlier Ben had told him something about his Preschool teacher and brushing his tongue so he wouldn't have stinky breath. They have been studying oral health this week and evidently he had some anxiety about his breath or wanted to know if he did a good job brushing his tongue. Why we couldn't do this during normal waking hours is beyond me.

I think it is funny what will catch a kids attention. Ben may not know all his letters, but he'll have the best smelling breath in school. Silly boy.

So add that to the list of mommy duties at night- drinks, nightmares, occasional wet bed change, & breath smelling!

My silly Mr. Ben

It's a Love/Hate Thing

Since living in Canada for 3 years there are certain things that I miss. So when Richard has to go there for business I have mixed emotions.


I hate having him gone, but I love when he brings me these....

I used to be able to get these in the states, but Pepsi quit distributing them here. They are delicious and low calorie. Forget flowers and chocolate for Valentines day, he brought me back 48 of these babies.

I hate that he gets to go back to my 2nd home & eat at my favorite restaurants (all on the company's tab) without me, but love that he brings me these......

Chocolate and coconut- need I say anymore!

I hate having to deal with the kids by myself, but love that he brings me this....

I love Salon Selectives hairspray, but can't find it in the states anymore!

The drinks won't last, the candy bars are almost gone & 4 bottles of hairspray should last me until his next trip, which hopefully, will be in the summer and I can go with him!

The Difference Between Boys & Girls

Helping my kids getting ready for their Valentines Day parties this year had me reminiscing about Valentines Day when I was a kid.

As a young girl, addressing my valentines took about 2 hrs. I had to find the perfect valentine for each of my friends, not to mention my latest crush. The saying had to be perfect, the meaning genuine. And then of course, there were the conversation hearts. I had to find the right ones for every person. I couldn't risk the boy I detested getting a "CUTIE" or "LUV U" those were reserved for my crush at the time. I simply loved Valentines Day!! It was the day when secret crushes were outed, dreams came true, or hearts were broken. It was everything a young girl lives for!

So I was a little disheartened when I sat Dallin and Ashton down to address their valentines and they were done in 20 minutes! I couldn't believe how they just plowed through it! They didn't read them, just scribbled their name and threw it in the pile. They even left it to me to put the conversation suckers on their valentines. They couldn't have cared less. Although, I did notice Ashton taking a bit more care with one particular valentine. Noting the change, I had to take a look to see who it was for. It was addressed to Mrs. Meyer, his teacher. Just how it should be when you're a 10 year old boy.

My four little Sweethearts (my big one is not pictured) at our candlelight Valentine's day dinner complete with sparkling cider and their valentines from Richard and me- mylar balloons.

Birthdays

Ashton and I share the month of January for our Birthdays. Here's a rundown on the celebrations!!!

We don't have birthday parties every year. There's too much chaos, not to mention too much money spent. So this year since we had gotten Ashton a Nintendo DS that I won on e-bay in perfect condition for $81 without shipping, we forfeited the party. Instead he invited his friend Wade, over on Friday night for an evening of pizza, cupcake decorating, yelling, running, movie watching, shooting, more yelling, jumping, riding the old crib mattress down the stairs and did I mention yelling?!? It was a wonder I could think half way straight by the end of the night! But they had a great time.

Can you tell he got what he wanted? Too bad it was about 9:00 Saturday night and Mom and Dad were too cheap to buy a game for it, so he had to wait until Monday afternoon to go buy a game and try it out. Thanks to Pop Marlin & Gma Jeanne and Aunt Shaleece & Uncle Dan & their kids for the cash he used to buy it with!

I made his cake this year. He and his friends at school have made up this whole world of Mushroom Men. They have everything figured out right down to the smallest detail. He even started a blog about it. So when he asked for a Mushroom Men cake with General Orange (the character he plays) on it this year I didn't think that was something I could ask Wal-mart to do.

Since Richard missed the party on Friday night, because he was camping out in snow caves with the Young Men, we had a family celebration on Saturday, Ashton's actual birthday. Ashton chose to eat at Chuck-a-rama and then to go see Madagascar 2. We had a great time celebrating #10!

Other gifts- LOTR & Super Monkeyball Gamecube games, Utah Jazz shirt, and the "Superfudge" series of books. Spoiled Rotten.

For my special day Richard asked me what I wanted for my birthday dinner I told him I wanted Olive Garden's salad, bread sticks and Alfredo sauce or Hawaiian Haystacks. I got Lasagna, but I didn't have to fix it! Yeah, the best birthday present a mom could get.

My cake- a Pepperidge Farms Coconut cake, YUMMY!

My loot! Complete with cash for lunch out with the girls, a Jazz shirt to wear to the game we are going to in a few weeks, the book Peacegiver (a must read) and my favorite- Red Vines!

Sun & Warmth

After the most recent snowfall I was out shoveling snow, mainly because I was so tired of having to gun it to get out of my driveway and so the poor mailman could get to the box. As I heaved each shovel of snow, I craved the warmth of sun and brightness that milder weather brings. I kept thinking of the pictures my sister-in-law had posted of her and my brothers most recent trip to Maui. I was daydreaming of soft warm sand and the suns hot beams caressing my face. That was until, with each shovel full of wet heavy snow, just enough would blow back into my face awaking me from my daydreams and reminding me that old man winter upon us and just may stay awhile if that darned groundhog sees his shadow on Monday!

Then last night I received a email from a friend and in it she said,"Heck, it's January we all feel blah!" I felt like screaming AMEN!!! I think January is a hard month. The newness of snow is long gone. Christmas is over and you have post holiday let down. New years is over and if you are like me, you are usually failing on your resolutions. So you just have cold snowiness left. I was so blessed to be born in this month. Lucky me!

So I came to the conclusion that we all just need some sun! So Father in Heaven obliged and gave me a sunny day today. But about half way through I thought the sun is just not cutting it. You know me- never happy. Always asking for more. I determined the sun was great, but the warmth was missing.

So since I know the warmth will not be coming as soon as I would like it to, I thought I would share with you some sun (through my sister-in-law's pictures of Maui) interspersed with my top 10 reasons I am anxious for sun & warmth.

Sorry, you'll have to provide your own warmth, so scoot closer to the fire, sit on your heat vent, or cuddle closer to a loved one!

#1- Melons are in season. I'm tired of eating apples and oranges!

#2- The kids can go out and play. And the house can stay cleaner longer than 5 minutes!

#3- Socializing. I love hanging out with my neighbors while we watch the kids play.

#4- I can go out and walk around the neighborhood for exercise without the risk of slipping on ice and falling on my heinie. (Especially since our exercise equipment has disappeared in pieces into the oblivion we call the garage.)

#5- Three letters, B B Q!!! I don't care what anyone says any meat tastes better grilled.

#6- Getting rid of white, pasty skin. Even 20 extra lbs look better with a hint of color.

#7- Not having to get up and rush kids off to school!

#8- A change in wardrobe. I must need some new winter items cause I'm getting very tired of my sweaters and sweatshirts, and I LOVE sweaters & sweatshirts.

#9- Vacation!!! And hoping not to have to share my husband with work!

#10- The smell of freshly cut grass and working in the yard with Richard.

Smurfette?

So this morning I was changing Dallin's sheets for the 3rd day in a row (for reasons we will not discuss, but I am sure you can guess) and this is so small task. His is the top bunk and his mattress is one of those cheap foam ones on the wood base, so it does not give or bend. Needless to say, I was not enjoying this task- again. So I was haphazardly throwing stuff off the bed so I could get the sheets off, including Dallin's box of "treasures". I put the sheets in the washer and headed back upstairs to find this.....

...Smurfette personified in Emma. She had blue ink everywhere. Face, hands, bib, shirt sleeves....

...even her tongue, teeth and gums were blue. And yes, I had just gotten her out of the tub and all dressed right before all this happened. So I tried washing it off, but it doesn't wash off so well. So if you see Emma in the next few days and she looks cyanotic, she doesn't have a respiratory problem we are just waiting for the ink to wear off.

Apparently, the culprit was this cute little stamp that Dallin had in his "treasure" box. Someone had given these out for Halloween instead of candy. I'm sure they thought they were being clever and creative, but given the choice I'll take the candy, Thank you. Wrappers are a lot easier to clean up! And even more yummy, I'm sure!