BOOOOO Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

This afternoon the boys hung out at Mom's and carved their own pumpkins. They were upset before we left because it was not dark and they wanted to see them burning but I told them that we would put a candle in them tomorrow or Sat night. Scott is still not feeling well so he stayed home and when we walked into a very dark house there was the pumpkins glowing bright on the kitchen table! Go Dad! He scored points with that one!!

Tonight we went trick or treating down town and met up with one of the hsing families.... The boys had fun with their friend and he was very proud because he made his costume by himself! E. does a cool thing and closes down one whole part of town so there are never any worry of cars or w/e.

The little girl is my Tuna's young one in CT.... She is so cute... lol... Tuna said every other year she is something gory... I think it is great! You go Banana!
Hope everyone had a nice Halloween!

"Come with me All Hallow's night We'll frighten everyone in sight
Such pranks for once, are justified And fun and frolic amplified."
-19th Century Halloween postcard

Christmas Card List.....

When making out your Christmas card list this year please take a moment to add this to your list:
A Recovering American soldier

c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue,NW

Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

(thanks Karoline!)

Our Week, My beautiful Sister!

Monday has been spent writing (so far no keyword articles) but have done a few reviews! The boys have done their school work and Quentin printed off a science project that he and Z need to do. The boys have Karate belt test tonight. Pamela and I are going to start working out at the same place as the boys take Karate so we will start tonight even though I am sick (well, struggling NOT to get sick...) Scott is going to work out with us as well but because it is the end of the month his week is shot and he is coming down with a cold as well; tonight he will come home, have some soup and go right to bed. Good Luck to my boys!!! Heroes tonight with Mr. X and Pamela will round out the day and then I will get back to writing my articles.

Tuesday my plan is to write in the morning while the boys do their school work and maybe head over to Judy's to clean in the afternoon and then meet Pamela at the gym to work out. I am so looking forward to working out in the gym and using all the equipment! I will resume running about every third day once I shake this cold but for now the gym is going to be fun! We can hopefully go to Bailey's game and then carve pumpkins at their house if everyone is feeling okay.....

Wednesday will be two science projects, schoolwork, more article writing, meeting Pam uptown at the gym and then of course Halloween! Hopefully it won't be in the 30's and we will enjoy a cool night without it being freezing while trick-or-treating uptown! I think we are meeting up with the H's and maybe? L, L, and H?? Last year we had a good time with them!

Thursday will be off to Master's and I will go clean and then back to the gym to work out and then of course more keyword articles.

Friday will be more writing, some needed paperwork, cleaning and preparing for the party and schoolwork.... With a possibility of a HomeSchool play date.. (hopefully) There is always the fruit that needs to be cut, decorating that needs to be done and the necessary cleaning that we have to do.

Saturday bright and early is a Karate demonstration on the square and then back home to get ready for the party. So much to do!!!!

Sunday I might be working on the house one last time. I am waiting to hear back from Shala when she wants to do it, she said she needed me one more day. We shall see..... Then we start again....

My sister JenJen got her hair cut and I had to show you...... She is so cute... Here is before and after!

Sat Night, Sunday..... So Long Scoutland!

Ok, Seriously, lights out at 10pm on a saturday night and we were wrapping up at 10:21 and got yelled at by some uptight mom in the next campsite..... Give me a break! Does that surprise anyone that I got yelled at for talking after lights out??? shouldn't! Oh well.... 10:21pm every night will always bring a smile to my face..... After we got the kids settled I called Kati from our tent on the phone.. I could not get the words out for laughing so hard about getting yelled at... Long into the night were howls from all around us because it was CAMPING ON A SATURDAY NIGHT! We were all in bed but there were many others who were not... Wonder if she went around to all of them to tell them to be quiet??


The boys were exhausted anyway and we were not moving to quickly by that point.... We knew that we had a lot of packing up to do and had to leave before noon in the morning so we all crashed.

Part of the boys "chores" was to gather wood for fire and to go get water. Water was not the easiest task and the first time they were very excited to do it, each time after it got a little harder but never once did they say no.... They had fun tending to the fire...
Packing up on Sunday was not bad and the van did not have as much in it coming home because we did not have the wood that we had coming down. We also did not get lost going out and that made the trip home much shorter than on Friday.

The boys were upset to be leaving but calmed down and played with the walkie-talkie's between the two vans...... A shower was in all our futures and boy it was nice to get home. We stopped for something quick to eat and said our goodbyes to the S's who continued on home...... Cold and dirty but fun was really had by all...

What I like about camping is you can get really dirty.
Either you're all by yourself, so no one else sees you,
or everyone you're with is just as dirty
as you are, so nobody cares.
~Anonymous former Boy Scout, quoted in Highs!

The Hike, The slide.... Camping Cont......

Scoutland is actually a Boy Scout camp and they put up a neat "cub world" that keeps "younger" boys busy while Boy Scout activities are going on. Walter and Scott got back to camp after a couple hours at the bow range and Kati and I decided to take the boys up to the play set. It was pretty close to our camp and we figured it would give the guys a little quiet time after spending the afternoon with 120 cubs and their families...

It was fun watching the boys and Kati and I chatted about this and that....
Braeden went down this one slide and we about died when he came out the bottom of it! His hair stood up and was so funny! We made him do it over and over and then called Scott and Walter to come up and see. There were different people around the play set that kept asking him to do it over and over as well!
It was so funny and he loved the attention! Walter and Scott begrudgingly came up and could not imagine what we wanted them to see that was "so" important! Once they got up there and actually saw him they laughed and then we all tried it.


After the playground we went for a hike down to Council Rock.
It was great fun and because it was on the "Island" the guys went back down to the beach and hunted more spear and arrowheads.
It was getting late and we decided to take the boys back to camp and make dinner while Scott and Walter hung out for a while. Dinner was done when they got back and we enjoyed a great meal..... It was just a good day.....

Nightfall came with cooler temps than Friday night and Kati ended up spending most of the night in the van with Braeden. The poor kid was not happy at night even though he was grins all day long..... Our boys slept in the tent with Walter and Bailey and even though they fell asleep very quickly they were excited to do that!

But the place which you have selected for your camp,
though never so rough and grim,
begins at once to have its attractions,
and becomes a very centre of civilization to you:
"Home is home, be it never so homely."
~Henry David Thoreau

Saturday morning Camping....

Saturday.... Our first night under our belt and we did ok... Well, for the most part.. Little Braeden was cold and Kati could not keep him asleep... So she had a rough night but stuck it out like a trooper and Braeden woke up smiles and giggles like he had the perfect night.

After we had coffee, cocoa, cereal and Quentin ate noodles, and more coffee, we dressed and headed down to the scout shop and then off to scout shop and to leather working. We arrived at leather working about 11:15am to find that there was no more leather for the project!
We were not pleased and happen to run into the dude who was organizing it and gave him (a little) piece of our minds about the situation.... Then we found out that the guys (Scott and Walter) who had been asked to do the Bow range, were going to have to be there all afternoon.... Not to happy making.... We walked off a little steam going to see the lake and walk around it for a while... It was nice to see but not nice that there was so much beach and not so much water...


Walter happened to look down and find an almost perfect spear head! It was missing the tip but it truly was the most incredible thing I have ever seen! We all looked for a while and then finally headed back to camp to have lunch and do the afternoon activities.

Lunch was fun and then the guys left to set up the bow range and we cleaned up a bit and followed.
Kati got a call that they had gotten more leather and were holding some for our three boys! The boys were thrilled and when they got done with bows we headed to the scout shop and kati bought the last 6 leather bands and we headed up to pound leather... It was neat to do and we enjoyed it!

Quentin and Bailey did the three legged race and tied with the other group that they were running against. It was a spectacular finish where all four boys DOVE for the finish line, impressing everyone around them at all their determination to win!

Camping: The art of getting closer to nature while
getting farther away from the nearest cold beverage,
hot shower and flush toilet.
~Author Unknown

The 1st Cub Scout Campout..... Friday night

Friday Scott took the day off and we packed..... And packed and packed..... We had to meet up with Kati and Walter about 4ish..... Scott did a great job packing the van and with the wood that we brought, there was not an inch of space. We had to put chairs under the boys feet but we managed to fit everything that we needed in the van. Next time we will take out the seat and it will be much easier.

Unfortunately we were told there were signs at EVERY stop sign pointing the way but we drove around on the 7 looper lake roads that Scoutland was supposable on. We drove around and around, following and turning around with about the other dozen cars that were doing the same thing! We finally found Scoutland and checked in, yelling at the people for the lack of signage! (seriously? would you expect any less from me?) Braeden was fast asleep and we left him that way, knowing that it was going to be a long night.....

Setting up camp was just a barrel of fun in the dark :):) Our first task was to get the fire started so we had some heat and light. The temps were dropping down into the 40's and it was a bit chilly. The S's just purchased a new tent, one like our old green one and the next time that we go camping we will have one like theirs... It is the cabin type like our old one but MUCH easier to put up than our old one. They were unsure how to put it up so helped us with ours and then the 4 of us worked on theirs.

We brought our electric pump that we use in our car and Walter tried to pump up their air mattresses with a foot pump that made an UNGODLY screaming noise that brought children flocking to see what the noise was. Needless to say that went back in the car and they used ours.... We got sleeping bags set, pillows in and settled around the campfire. The boys were starving even though we had stopped for dinner but they were so excited that they did not eat alot. I made soup and they each had some and then they cooked some marshmallows and when they were sick of doing that I suggested to Quentin that he cook his nuggets over the fire. He went and got them and when he appeared back at the camp fire he had the marshmallow fork stuck through the box of the nuggets ready to "heat them up".... Come on? Got that image in your brain?? It was too funny! Still laughing about it now... through my sleepy haze......

We finally put out the fire and settled in for the night...... Freekin Freezing~! nuff said....... Photos are just dispersed through out, trying to fit ones in where they go........

The fire is the main comfort of the camp,
whether in summer or winter, and is
about as ample at one season as at another.
It is as well for cheerfulness as for warmth and dryness.
~Henry David Thoreau

Last Game Night.......

60 degrees and we were freezing by the end.... Well, okay, not freezing but it was cold. Tonight was the last game of the season for our boys and they have come so far. Quentin played a big of offense this game and was right up with the rest of his team when they scored their first game tonight. His games all have been tied or really hard fought for wins. Tonight was our night to bring snacks and as I was handing it out I listened to his coach talk to each member of the team and talk about how well they have done and how far each child had come. Quentin really has come a long ways this season and we have enjoyed watching him improve!

Zachary's last game was exciting as usual. I believe that he had the asssit in one goal but there were so many kids down there that I could not really confirm it. Unfortunately I think that he was getting sick because by the time we got home he was a wreck and we wrapped him up, put vicks on his chest, gave him some cold medicine and sent him to bed. He had a good game and even though he did not score tonight, he still has that one under his belt!

The boys had a crowd cheering them both on, Nana, Grandpa and Mimi where there as well as Mr. X and Pamela.... Our special guests were Kati, Braeden, and Bailey and we really enjoyed having them there. The J's were also sitting with us because Quentin's team played their little girl's team and Zachary's team played their little boy's team! So all the spectators for just the boys took up half the sidelines! It was nice to see everyone come out and support them as usual....

After the games we went to DQ where we met up with the J's crowd and the kids decided to squish into one booth so that they could have a "kid's table"... thankfully we were the only ones in the restaurant because there were 9 kids all eating, laughing, playing, etc... at the same table... (yup, look close.. 8 boys and 1 girl...... )

We said goodbye to everyone and headed home where we loved on Zach a bit and sent him off to bed and gave both boys a big hug for a good season with happy thoughts of the wonderful weekend we have to look forward to.... Our first official Cub Scout weekend at the BoyScout camp in Gainesville! We are very excited....

Scott headed off to bed and I settled in to finish my writing assignments for the week, giving me all day tomorrow to pack and get ready for our weekend..... Have a couple quick writing things to do tomorrow but otherwise I am free to relax, pack and clean up my house a bit..... or maybe, just once... sleep in????

Have a good weekend everyone!

Trick or Treat from LeeLou!

Please Take a second......;

please take a minute to click HERE to say thank you to our troops..
You don't have to do anything but click a card, put your name and hometown down and then click a message... They will send a CARD to our troops.....

so please take a minute and click HERE .... and remember those that are serving now and those that served then......
thanks tuna for sending this to me!

Here is your Cake!

Scott and I would like to thank each of you have taken the time to comment on the boys blogs! They have been really enjoying sharing different things with all of you and including everyone around them in their blogs.....

Here is your thank you cake..... (actually it was mom's 60'th birthday cake made of wonderful Popey's ice cream) I would sure love a piece now and be able to share it with everyone of you!

Time4Leanring makes my kids silly at times.......

I love these photos..... The boys were working on their school work the other day and decided that it would be more fun to do science together. As you might or might not know, Time4Learning is their curriculum this year and it really has helped us so much in so many areas.

This morning I was surprised at Zachary who breezed through his math, a subject that he struggles with. Zachary was learning the concept of rounding up and he seemed to grasp it very well. I was happy when he took his test and scored 31/32 problems, actually getting one wrong with my help! I miss-read the minus for the plus and directed him incorrectly, all the while saying that the problem was not fair because it gave him to many steps... You would have to see it to understand but trust me when I say that because of my "blond" moment he did not score 100%!! OOps....

Quentin and Zachary made sure that we put Mentos (mint candy) on our shopping list as well as a cheap bottle of diet coke for a science experiment that they are going to do when Scott gets home! They are very excited to do it and have their notebooks at the ready waiting (not so) patiently.......

I believe that both boys are doing well with their lessons and being able to work at their own pace is really working out well for them. We are pushing Quentin a little harder these days, trying to get him to advance where he really needs to be. He tends to love to learn but also tends to be a little lazy...... Hmm.. shocker there!

"The aim of public education is not to spread
enlightenment at all: it is simply to reduce as many
individuals as possible to the same safe level,
to breed a standard citizenry, to put down
dissent and originality."
~H.L. Mencken