Camporee

Over the Friday night and Saturday of April 9-10, Alex and Eric attended a Scout Camporee.  The weather was nice, and I think everyone had a good time.  Alex got to be one of the patrol leaders and helped the younger boys get merit badges.  I'm glad he is able to have leadership opportunities. 

On a side note, Alex and Eric have been going on Saturday hikes about 1-2 times a month since January to prepare for the 50-mile hike our scout troop will be doing the first week of June through the Appalachian Trail.  Eric has found this "jewel" of a website (he thinks) called http://www.steepandcheap.com/.  It has name brands of all kinds of outdoorsy type things for discounted prices, BUT you have to wait until the item comes up (in the meantime with checking constantly, you find lots of other things you like).  Eric and Alex each have acquired new hiking shoes, new packs, a new tent(to share), trekking poles for Eric, and other things mostly through this site.  As much as I like the discounted prices, sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. :)  Regardless, they will be well-prepared for the hike.  They have one remaining qualifying hike in May which will be an overnighter.

Hanging out in their camp chairs in the morning

Flag Ceremony

Alex showing Nick and Jeremy his compass...we're so sad that these two friends of Alex's are moving.  They have been such good friends to him in so many ways and are such good examples for him.  They have gotten him through some hard times when we first moved here.  They are alike in so many ways.  We will really miss seeing them so often, and I will miss their mom who is my good friend. :( We hope to still see them often since they will only be at Fort Campbell, but out of our schools and ward.  Another of Alex's friends, Bryan, is standing to the left. (PS--Alex is about 5 ft 6 in now, but they grow big boys in Tennessee.  The rest of these boys in the picture are all over 6 foot...the tallest being 6 ft 4 in.)

Starting a fire

Building Birthday Legos

The day after Jarem's birthday, Jarem had to go to preschool, but Tessa was staying home from school because she was sick.  Jarem tasked Tessa to build his Toy Story Lego car while he was at preschool.  When I first saw her building it, I got after her, but then Jarem assured me that he asked her to build it She got it all built and ready for him when he got home.

After preschool, they spent most of the afternoon building the rocket together.  Jarem would find the pieces and Tessa would put them together.  They worked together so well.  It brings me great joy when I catch my kids being kind to each other and getting along.  These two have a really sweet relationship most of the time.

Can it Really Be?

Last Monday, April 5th,  was Jarem's 5th birthday!  Can it be that my baby is really 5?  I think it was a bittersweet day for me.  Of course I'm happy for him to be growing and maturing, but realizing that my youngest is going off to school this fall and leaving me is a little hard to take, and this birthday is just a reminder of that. :(  I tried to make it a happy occasion for him though.  He was very excited to be old enough to go to school, and he thought that he could just quit preschool and move on to Kindergarten right now since he's old enough.

Jarem was a lucky boy because the day of his birthday Eric had off work.  I had a PTO meeting, so Eric took Jarem out to a special birthday breakfast at IHOP.  Jarem enjoyed that.  Later that afternoon/evening, we celebrated his birthday with the other kids and opened presents.

As is tradition, he got to choose what he wanted for his birthday dinner.  He picked macaroni and cheese, baked beans, and grilled cheese sandwiches.

He also picked his cake.  When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted, he said, "a tractor cake".  I asked him if he'd seen one somewhere that he liked, and he said that he saw it in the same magazine as his dragon cake last year.  I was really surprised that he still remembered, but we were able to locate the magazine and sure enough, there it was.  It was a pretty easy one, so that worked out well.  He was happy with the way it turned out.

Eric lighting the candles

Excited to make a wish

Blowing out the candles...he had a hard time remembering how to blow them out.  He would get his cheeks really puffed up with air (below) and then the air would somehow fizzle out.  We had to light them twice, but finally he was able to get them all (not in the same breath though).  He was cute trying though.

Now onto the presents:  Jarem loves Toy Story and they have a new collection of Legos from Toy Story.  This was the speeder car that Woody drove in the 2nd movie (I think).  The first thing Jarem said when he looked at it was, "I can't do this cause I'm not 6" (it was recommended for ages 6-12).  He liked it though.

Eric encouraging him that he could do it with a little help.

This is a lego set of Buzz's star command spaceship.  Jarem was excited about this one also.

He asked for Transformers, so we got him some.  He got Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.  I was surprised that he knew their names as he pulled them out.

Alex helping unpackage the Transformers.

In car form now...

Going along with the Toy Story theme, he got a Bucket O Soldiers just like in Toy Story.  This has probably been his favorite gift.

Complete with two parachuters too

Eric gave the kids the lowdown on the proper way to launch the parachutes.  They found that it was especially fun to drop them off our upstairs opening and drop them down to the main level.  In the picture, Tessa is at the top making the drop.  Jarem is excited about catching it.  They did this for quite some time.  Sorry about the poor lighting.

Jesikah's card to Jarem...she made a Super Smash Bros card because Jarem likes that game, and inside the little plastic package were 4 characters from Super Smash Bros that she had made on cardstock (closer pic below)

Included with the characters were several "play with me any game of your choice coupons" and a nice note.  Jarem was excited about that and has already used one.  He appreciated it.

I've always wanted to get TinkerToys for my kids, and I figured this was my last chance.  However, Jesikah talked me into this plastic variety of TinkerToys.  I think I like the real thing better though.  When Jarem opened them, Eric asked him if he knew what they were.  He said with enthusiasm, "I don't know what they are, but I like them!"

Along with Jesikah's card, she gave Jarem 2 littlest pet shops...a frog and a turtle.

Jarem got to choose his piece of cake, and he chose the front scoop of the tractor.  This was the most coveted piece because it was made out of a twinkie.  Unfortunately for everyone else, he only ate one bite and then decided he didnt like it and the rest got soaked in ice cream until it finally got thrown away.

Easter Egg Coloring

Saturday morning before Ally left, we decided to color eggs. The kids had a lot of fun. Alex somehow thought he was too old this year (maybe because Ally was there).

Our egg coloring crew: they tried 1/2 n' 1/2 eggs, splotchy, double-dipped, tied-dyed, striped, spotted, etc. 

Notice the fingers on Jesikah's hand to the left...each finger is a different color.

Tessa and Ally holding half in at a time

Our completed egg family: the kids were proud of this family picture.  They took time posing them so that everyone could be seen well.

My personal favorite: Jarem's egg named "Crackle".  It looks like it has cracks all over it, but they aren't really cracked, it just came that way.  He dipped it in blue and then another color...it had a cool color to the cracks too.

We got the face eggs again, and once again, they were a hit.  This is another of Jarem's eggs named, "Awesome".

The kids each named all their eggs.  Then the played with them for a couple of hours and again later.  Here, two of the eggs are having a conversation.  The people faces made them see real to the kids.

Jarem with his eggs

Just Jarem's eggs

Tessa's eggs (I will get the names)

Jesikah with her 4; Below, a close-up

Each child pointing to their own favorite egg

Tessa and Jesikah trying to figure out the faces to use

After coloring eggs, we watched general conference on TV for the first time in years.  It took Eric awhile, but he finally figured out how to connect the computer to the TV, and we had a great picture the whole time.  I took a picture so we'll remember how next time. :)  I was so proud of the kids for listening to both sessions Saturday and Sunday.  It was so much more enjoyable on the big screen.  I love general conference, and once again, it didn't disappoint.

During the second session of conference, we got a little break when our doorbell rang and this sign was posted on our door.  We looked outside and there were lots of filled plastic eggs on our front lawn.  What a fun idea!  Thank you to whoever thought of us...it was a lot of fun for everyone.

Ally and Jesikah

Jesikah's best friend from Washington, Ally Fourtner, came and stayed with us last week.  The girls had a great time together, as always.  Even though a lot has changed in their lives since they last saw each other, they still connected and had the best time together.  They both had a gift for each other...matching t-shirts.  Ally brought the tinkerbell one for Jesikah, and Jesikah gave Ally the pink one a few pics down that says, "Nothing can split us apart" and it has a picture of a banana split.

Jarem and Tessa were jealous of me taking Ally and Jesikah's picture and wanted me to take a picture of them too.  So I did, and this picture shows their relationship well...they are buddies.  Jarem looks up to Tessa so much and always looks forward to her coming home from school.  He always wants to sit by her no matter where we are.  Tessa is good to him too.

While Ally was here, we tried to do an activity or two everyday.  We went out to eat a few times, went to the park, went shopping, went swimming, colored eggs and did an Easter egg hunt in our backyard.

 

See the eggs in our flowering pear tree.  This is the first year it has bloomed (we bought it last year after spring).  In the background you can see Tessa hunting for eggs with her basket.

 

Jesikah reaching up to get the egg out of the light fixture

 

Alex showing off his skills at throwing and catching the eggs.  Jesikah getting another egg out of another light fixture.

Alex lazily saundered around, and no one new he was collecting eggs because he didn't have a basket, but he certainly was.  He didn't want to miss out on the candy!  Funny thing was, he put them in his pants pockets.  In the picture he has about 12 eggs in his pockets.  They were very big pockets with plenty of room because of his skinny legs.

Above, the rest of the gang after the hunt.  The weather was warm and beautiful all week while Ally was here.  It was the best weather we've had this spring.  The girls highlight of the week was going to the Opry Mills Mall in Nashville, going out to lunch, and spending a whole day shopping on Thursday.  We went to lots of stores but their favorite part was realizing that they can fit in women's shoes now and trying on lots of different HIGH HEELS!  Pretty funny!  It was fun for me too because they enjoyed shopping as much as I did and we had a great time together.  We had a great week with Ally.  She was fun and pleasant, and we were all so glad that she got to come.  Hopefully she will come again soon!