Cub Scout Adventure Weekend, Matey.

We just got back from the Cub Scout Adventure Weekend. It was fun. The kids had a blast. The weather this year as tremendously better than last year. The theme for the camp was pirates, so all the activities were piratey. AAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGG. LOL

It's Lucas the Pirate.

And Griffin, his first mate.

What a gnarley crew.

David, aka Lady Constance.

Planning out the pirate flag.

What an awesome pirate flag.

Boat race with Griffin in the middle.

Boat race with Lucas in the back.

Griffin racing in the Rain Gutter Regatta.

Lucas racing in the Rain Gutter Regatta.

And the best use of duct tape goes to....

Brian Mason for his emergency volley ball net. For the MTTM youth camp, the kids spent a day at Thetford Forest. Between the BBQ, bike trails and hiking, they managed to squeeze in a few games of volley ball, thanks to Brian and this net. :)

Youth Camp

So, I helped out at the MTTM youth camp over spring break. It was nice and the kids had a blast. The event was held at Letton Hall. It was beautiful.

This is the front of Letton Hall. I wish the camp had been held later in the spring, then I am sure the vines on the front would have been much prettier.

I sure am going to miss things like this when we leave England this summer.

The List Is Out

Actually the list came out last week, but I have been busy and haven't posted about it. :) So, here are our choices. :)

Melbourne, Fl- It's a training job so we are putting it as our first choice.

Dyess, Tx- several of our friends are moving there or have moved there this year so this is our second choice.

Grand Forks, ND- It has the planes Dave wants to work on, so it's our third choice.

Mountain Home, Id- I have friends here, but Dave doesn't want to work on the planes that are there, so we aren't putting that on our list at all. However, that doesn't mean we won't get it.

Seymour Johnson, NC- Dave doesn't want these planes either, so it's not going on the list either. LOL

We should find out where we are going on May 15, then it's the flight of the bumblebee to get everything scheduled and ready to move by August. Fun for us.

Easter Weekend

It's Easter weekend. A time to praise God and thank Jesus for his sacrifice for us. What do you have planned?

Tonight the boys and I are going to dye eggs. They are also going to put the tent up in the back yard and most probably camp out there tonight.

Tomorrow I am baking. I am going to make dinner rolls for the church dinner. We are also going to make sugar cookies. I thought the boys would like that. Not sure how we are going to decorate them, probably with colored sugar and maybe sprinkles. If I'm feeling really froggy, we might actually frost them. LOL I am also thinking about making a cake. Probably carrot, but maybe chocolate, if I can find a recipe that uses ingredients I have here at home. I also need to make a pasta salad.

We are all going to church on Sunday, even Dave. :) After service we have the dinner I mentioned before and they are doing an egg hunt for the kids, I think. It should be fun.

I hope that you all enjoy your weekend and remember all that God has done for you.

UGH

So I am sitting in the chair, surfing the net and watching Emeril Live. (in other words, avoiding folding the laundry.) Both the washer and dryer are going. All of a sudden the washer makes this weird noise as is shifts from the wash cycle to the rinse/spin cycle. So, I get up to check it. It no longer spins. Great. Of course there is a full load of towels in there. This means that I am going to have to wring out the load one towel at a time by hand before I get them in the washer. It also means that I am going to have to call the appliance repair people and have them come out tomorrow. Of course you never know when they are coming, they give you a time window of around 2 hours. Fun Fun
I planned on going and working out, but I guess I will have to work out at home. I have a perfectly fine elliptical machine here acting as a clothes rack. LOL Of course the boys have haircuts as well tomorrow afternoon, but they should be done with all the washer stuff way before then. I just need to remember to call them first thing in the morning. Hopefully I can get a new washer. I was going to call them anyway about it. There are spots where the enamel has worn off and the washer tub has rusted. I think it's putting rust spots on my whites. That's not good.

Well, I am off to watch the rest of Emeril Live, then I am off to get the kids from school. Then it's back home to wring out the towel load. Anyone wanna help? :)

Thinking...

I have been thinking quite a bit the past couple of months about things I miss. The big one? Babies. I miss babies. Having a baby around the house, the smell of babies, tiny clothes, sweet sounds, nursing, even poppy diapers, sleep less nights and the tons of stuff you are forced to lug around with them. We are done having babies. We decided years ago we were done. It was a joint decision and it made sense. But, that doesn't mean I can't miss them, right? I know I am driving my husband nuts with the baby thing. Making him second guess our choices, wonder if we made the right ones. Of course we did. All the reasons we had then still make sense now. I think it's just that my "baby" is growing up. He started school this year. He's not so easy to snuggle with, he's starting to smell like "boy" and not so much like "baby". I tell my boys it's now their job to have babies. Not right this minute, now, but eventually.

Griffin was admiring my wedding ring the other day while he was sitting on my lap. I told him that one day he would find a woman he loved and she would love him. He would ask her to marry him and he could give her a pretty ring. Then they could have babies and she could stay home and take car of their babies like I do for my boys. He could go to work and take care of his family like Dave does for us. He looked up at me with those big brown eyes with a thoughtful look on his face and said " I don't want to do it that way". ROFLOL I asked him what way he wanted to do it, and he said he didn't know, but not that way. One day he will have babies. One day in the future, far from now. :) He will be a great father, just like his brothers will be. He will pick a wonderful woman of God, they will have babies and they will be blessed just like Dave and I have been.

Another thing I have been missing is homeschooling. I home schooled David for a few years and it was so much fun for everyone. It was stressful beyond anything I have ever experienced in my life. However, Lucas was undiagnosed ADHD and David was undiagnosed ADD, and Griffin was little. It was chaotic to say the least. Now, years later with David's ADD and Lucas' ADHD under control I know things would be different. With that being said, I would not pull David out of High School. He likes it and I don't think he would want to go back to being home schooled. However, Lucas and Griffin are a different story. I look at how my boys interact. They are great with each other. David has tremendous patience. Right now he is upstairs playing Nintendo with Griffin, who is 10 years younger than he is. He gets along so much better with them than most 15, almost 16, year old boys do with their younger siblings. I know that the bond they have has a lot to do with the fact that I home schooled him and they were together a lot.

Lucas and Griffin are not quite the same. They still get a long, but they fight a lot. It could be that they are closer in age. I don't know. I do know they don't spend as much time together not fighting as David spent with them when he was younger. They don't have as much experience in dealing with kids of varying ages. They aren't as patient with each other and with younger kids as David was with them. I think it's because they aren't exposed to as many kids of varying age, like David was. I think they are missing out.

My kids are getting a great education. Without the school system here we never would have known about Lucas' ADHD or David's ADD. Lucas probably would not have learned so much Spanish. He definitely would not have learned it as well if I was teaching it. There are some pluses to having them in the school here and I do not regret putting them in at all. However, I am a bit nervous about going back to the States. We don't know where we are going. We don't know what the schools are like. We don't know how well the kids are going to adjust to a new place. That is probably what is making me think so much. The changes we are facing this summer.

So, I will sit here and think some more and I will probably be thinking about different things tomorrow. :) Things like how we are going to ship the cats back. How much they are going to charge us to replace the carpet in this house? Where we are going? Are there any churches there that I will like? How far from family will we be? What's the weather going to be like? Is Dave going to be gone a lot? If he is, where is he going to be? See, I am never at a loss for things to worry about. LOL But, I know God has a plan and things will all work out for His glory. No amount of worrying or thinking will change that.