Mother/Daughter Night

Whitley invited me to a Mother/Daughter night for activity days tonight. We has some little treats, a lesson, and a "photo shoot". I love spending time with my girls, and any one on one time I get is precious. Thanks for a great evening Whiterbug.

Letting Go

Today it begins. The letting go process. I now know, that it is going to be slow and painful. At least for me.

Colton left today for a week to go to outdoor school. He was so excited, and in all of the last minute hurrying, I forgot to get a picture of him. He was like a pack mule with all of his stuff! I know he's going to have a blast. I know he'll be safe. But I feel like I packed my heart up, and sent it to camp today.

I was helping out in Kennedy's class this morning, and found myself wanting to run down to his classroom to see if he was still there. I don't want him to forget his lunch. What if he forgets his hat! What if he's cold, or wet? So many worries. Nothing that would be the end of the world. Just little things that as his mother I want him to have. Comfort things. Things he would have is I was there! I know that this is a natural part of life, this whole letting go thing. But I just thought I'd be better at it. As I left the school, I saw that they were gone, and I bawled all the way home. What is wrong with me today? It's so unlike me.

Now really, he's only going to be 5 days. And he's been gone before. Scout overnighters and such. But this is a week, and I just feel so NOT in control. He's in control this week. I just hope he comes home with all of the stuff he took. He certainly had plenty of instructions from Landon and I. Probably too many. But at least he'll be prepared for anything that might happen up there. So here I am. At the beginning of a long, road. One that I'm not prepared for, but am on nonetheless. I just hope I get a little bit better at this whole letting go thing before his mission. However, I really don't think it gets any easier. Maybe I'll just be numb by then!

Fathers and Sons means Girls Night Out

This weekend is the Fathers and Sons camp out. Luckily our scouts decided to combine this with a 10 mile bike ride Friday, and a 15 mile ride today. Landon volunteered to do both, so we spent most of today getting his bike in "riding condition".

Colton loves this weekend and looks forward to it all year long. Of course the boys being away can only mean one thing. It's our "Girls Night Out" weekend. Long ago, the girls and I started a tradition that when the boys went on their Fathers and Sons, we'd go out for pedicures, dinner and dessert! And so we did.

Kennedy's comment of the night. "Mom, these ribs are messing up my manicure!"

Taco Del Mar

Landon and his friend Brandon decided that since it was Cinco De Mayo, they would head down to Taco Del Mar to try to eat their 5 lb burrito. If you could eat it all in 30 minutes, it was free. This thing was ridiculous! It had 4 tortillas, 5 scoops of rice, beans, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce and sauce. I couldn't believe how insane it was, but I've never known Landon to back down from an eating challenge. They both did so good. Landon got all but about 5 big bites down, when his body finally "rejected" it! Way to go Lan! Thanks for the laughs.

You Know School Is Winding Down When...

...your kids all have projects to do at the same time. I just love it when my kids have big projects that they get assigned at school. Especially the ones that there is no way that a 9 year old could actually do what is being assigned!

Colton is right in the middle of this huge unit where they're studying the Pacific Rim. His focus country is China. He has been gathering all kinds of info. and making lots of little things. This weekend he needed to make a Chinese Scroll. Next week, it's a replica of a Chinese house! Luckily, once we got the materials he could create this one on his own.

Whitley's class is studying the Oregon trail. So she gets to make a model of a covered wagon. She has specific measurements that it needs to be. So her and Landon got to work on cutting and sanding down the wood for the base of the wagon. I got to sew the canopy for the top! I'm letting her push the peddle to my machine and help with the pinning, but there was just some stuff she couldn't do. We just need to add some wheels and we'll be done. I'm very proud of Landon and I!
And Kennedy just wanted in on the action so she was creating a special Mother's Day card. I was helping!

Indoor Soccer

After a long day of yard work, we headed out for another indoor soccer game for Whitley.
I'm having a hard time getting good action shot of Whitley playing soccer for some reason. Maybe it's because the games are super intense, and I'm too busy yelling and screaming! She is on a great team again and they are having tons of fun beating EVERYONE! They played against a competitive team tonight and still beat them. Whitley played goalie for a big portion of the second half, and stopped a ton of goals! Way to Go Whiterbug!

Saturday is a Special Day

Today was the day. We've been putting it off forever, thinking eventually we'd get a sunny Saturday that we could do some yard work. We finally came to our senses and realized that that just not gonna happen, so we broke out the gloves and got dirty! It drizzled off and on all day, but we just told the kids to put their hoods on.

I'm not sure if Kennedy is helping or playing

There was serious whining at first, but once the kids could see that they were working whether they whined or not, they gave in to it. Colton has decided to start a little lawn business. We told him he needed to practice on our yard first before he charged people to do theirs. He worked really hard, and thinks he up for the challenge.

See that big dirt hole? That's where we had raked a big pile of leaves, and then it snowed before we picked them up. It had 2 feet of snow on it for several weeks this past winter. Sadly the grass didn't make it. (This is where the bunny likes to sun himself.) After 5 hours of work it was done. It looks so much better. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the after!