A Big Weekend-

We spent a family morning at the boy scout camp grounds. The kids had a blast making leather bracelets, shooting darts ... but what they REALLY wanted to do (especially Nora) was ride the horses.  They loved it!

We also had Lacey — Nora's school guinea pig — stay at our house. They were soooooo excited for our house guest! However, I don't think a full-time guinea pig is in our future ... they are a little too smelly for me!

Ben Reading-

He's doing soooo well with his reading this year! We're so proud of Ben.

Cub Scouts-

Ben joined Cub Scouts this year. The first event was a Raingutter Regatta. Joe and Ben built this "sweet" (Ben's words) sailboat. He had a lot of fun and the boys had fun building their masterpiece.

Nora's First Day of School-

 

There were (and are still are) a few tears ... but Nora started school on Mon. / Wed. mornings. It's a cute little school down the street from our house and she loves having her own school bag.

#36

Hello #36, how's it going? Here's the youngest member of my fan club sporting her awesome shirt ... I like to brainwash all of my nieces/nephews from a very young age. Bwaaa Haaa Haaa! This birthday photo cracks me up:

1. Molly's head was no where near the roaring candles on my b-day cake. No babies were harmed at my princess birthday party. 
2. My mother-in-law is not actually cooking in the microwave. She's looking over my shoulder and judging my every move. JUST KIDDING. I'm lucky that I actually LIKE my mother-in-law, but there are so many great captions that could go along with this ...
3. Do you like my necklace? My sweet Ben made it for me for my birthday – what a guy! 

First Day, Second Grade!!!

Here's our big second grader!! He was excited for his first day and Nora was excited to carry her backpack to school with Ben. I drove him to school instead of riding the bus. He looked around and whispered in my ear ... "mom, I'm a little bit nervous." I told him to look around and that everyone there felt a little nervous, the moms, dads, teachers and kids! Here's to a great school year!

Ben's Special Afternoon-

This summer we got to surprise Ben with a special afternoon (without his sister). This is a big deal since after lunch is usually reserved for Nora's naps and we have to hang around the house when he's not at camp or doing something fun. The two of us went to the local pottery store and he got to choose anything he wanted to paint. He selected an Angry Bird  pencil holder. He loved painting it and wanted to keep going ... so I told him he could paint a small tile as long as it was a gift for someone else (and he could choose who to make it for). He made something for Nora's room with her favorite princess painted on it. How sweet is that? Then we picked up Joe from work and had a pizza lunch. We branched out and tried a reuben pizza -- it was the BEST. It had all items that Ben loves -- pickles, pulled pork, ham, cheese and with a mustard sauce. Sounds crazy, but it was really good! What a nice day we had! It's definitely fun to have one-on-one time with each kid.