The sweet moment of my day

was playing Go Fish with Kate and eating mini Robin Eggs while Noah slept.

Cub Scouts

There are 2 boys in our Primary who are Cub Scouts and because of them, we have a Cub Scout pack at our church. Several years ago, Anne, who is now the mother of an Eagle Scout, was asked to start up the pack and to recruit boys from the community to join. She did and has been doing a wonderful job with the Cub Scouts! As a Primary Counselor, I volunteered to take the scout training and be on the scout committee at church. I was willing to help Anne out in any way that I could. Anne was grateful for my willingness to help since she was starting classes in January that would take up her Wednesday evenings until May. I didn't realize that I would be thrown into a leadership role until after I offered to help. GULP. With snow days, missing the 1st Wednesdays for PTO, and parent involvement, I haven't had to do that much, though.

Anne was in charge of the Webelos, so that became my responsibility. The way things turned out, I only led one meeting with the 5 boys before 4 of them moved up to Boy Scouts. Then I was left with 1 boy in webelos who has been joining the Bear Den for company.

I was in charge of my first pack meeting this evening. The blind leading the pack. I have been dreading this meeting all day, but it turned out to be quite fun and I'm glad I did it. For those of you who have been to a pack meeting before, ours I'm sure was way more casual than most, but I would say it was a success. We had our opening, I gave out beads (and hope that the cub scout was right about which beads to give out!), and we played games.

It has taken me several months, but I finally know all the boys' names now and I learn more of the parents' names each week. I feel like I'm finally getting settled in as a Cub Scout leader and that I'm not an outsider anymore.

I will be a pro at Cub Scouts by the time Zach joins us. :-)

It may be time to buy a scout shirt. I've been putting it off because I have no desire to sew on the patches. If you know of a way to get the patches on without sewing, I am all ears!

49 Degrees

I told the kids that we would start going to the park after school when the temperature hits 40+ degrees. It was windy and too cold for my liking, but the kids had a great time at the park this afternoon.

Haircuts

Matt cut Noah's hair on Saturday and I got my hair cut this morning.

Zoe's Clam Basket

Zoe completed this clam basket yesterday in her woodworking class. Very impressive! Since we're not using it for clamming, any other ideas of what to use it for?

FHE

We received a couple of movie tickets for Christmas that were going to expire on the 31st, plus we had gift certificates, so we had our FHE at the movie theater last night. We saw Gnomeo & Juliet. I think it was a fun time, even with Noah acting bored through the movie, Zach wondering if the movie was ever going to end, and Kate saying she didn't like the movie when it was over.

Spring Snow

Kate and I spent some time outside this morning while Noah was sleeping. It snowed last night and we woke up to sticky snow, so we had to make a snowman! The sweet thing about snow in the Spring is that it melts quickly. Our snowman was half melted by this afternoon. I wasn't surprised, but Kate wasn't too happy about it! I enjoy the snow this time of year because it is warm enough outside to play in it. :-)

Zoe's Party

Finally...lobster time!

Zoe put the lobsters in the boiling pot and she dug the meat out of the shells all by herself. I liked that! She is a true Mainah!


My parents and my grandmother came over after we ate to watch Zoe open her gifts and to have cake and ice cream.

Eleanor was Zoe's helper.

Grandma always sends great gifts and they are hidden in such cute packages!

Zoe burst into laughter as Emily imitated John Bytheway saying "church journal". Now, Zoe has one of her own. :-)

Zoe made a cover for her sketch book with the tissue paper and paper flower from Grandma. :-)

Matt made Zoe's cake. It was yummy and now the other kids are requesting a cake from him on their birthdays. Matt has no intention of taking over my mother's job of making cakes, though.


It has been quite a birthday weekend for Zoe! We have had a lot of fun and we have created fun memories. :-) We love you, Zoe and we hope you create many more fun memories this year!

Zoe's 1st Temple Trip

Massachusetts...here we come!

Amber, Zoe, and Kayla. The "girls" talked, looked at Zoe's new Calvin and Hobbes book, and we played the story game where someone starts a story and then each person adds to it. We had some interesting stories going!

We were undecided about where to eat in Portland until we saw the sign for...
Cracker Barrel!




We stayed in Woburn, MA for the night. Patti and the "girls" stayed in 1 room and my parents, grandmother, and I stayed in the other room. I stayed in the uneventful room and I was in bed by 9:30pm with no interruptions until the alarm went off at 5am. Patti and the "girls" on the other hand, didn't get much sleep as Amber was up early this morning throwing up. She was a trooper, though. What a great attitude this girl has! She never complained and she wanted to be involved as much as she could, even though she didn't feel well. Patti and I are both sad that Amber is moving next Saturday with her family. We will miss her great attitude, personality, and example.



The girls had a wonderful experience in the temple. Zoe and Kayla went into the temple very nervous since it was their first time there, but they left with smiles on their faces and they are now looking forward to going back.

Zoe also enjoyed her first Stake Youth Activity. They played many fun games and they were fed pizza, salad, bread sticks, and cake. I was too full to eat since we had stopped at Applebees before the activity. Zoe is great because she was willing to jump right in and participate in all the fun activities. She met up with a friend today that she knows from a ward she had visited with Matt when he was on the High Council, and I'm sure she made new friends as well.

It was weird to see Zoe at a youth activity and it was weird to be at the activity as a parent and not a leader. It was also exciting, though. :-)

P.S. Matt was sick last night, so there are no stomach flu survivors left here at home.

A Birthday Morning

Zoe is 12 today! She opened her gift from Jerry & Judy

a paper weight

and she opened a gift from me and Matt (a hair elastic ball).
Cake was part of Zoe's breakfast this morning.
Everyone else drank water. Matt is the sole survivor here against the stomach flu attack.
I am going to pick Zoe up from school this afternoon and then we are off to the temple! What started out as a Mother-Daughter adventure has grown into a family/Young Women's trip. We are excited! My parents, grandmother, Patti (friend and Young Women's leader), Kayla & Amber (2 of our Young Women) will be joining us. The plan is to stay in a hotel near the temple tonight and attend the temple tomorrow morning at 8am. My parents & grandmother are going to stay at the temple for the day tomorrow and the rest of us are going to drive to Waterville for Zoe's first Stake Youth Activity. They are having a Youth Leadership Training/Dinner for all youth ages 12-18.

It will be a weekend celebration! We will have our family party for Zoe on Sunday.

HAPPY 12TH BIRTHDAY, ZOE!

2 more down

Kate was sick last night and Emily is sick tonight. Matt and Zach are still avoiding the attack.

Sick

The stomach flu has hit many families around here and we did not escape it. Zoe came down with it Sunday night, which ruined her perfect attendance record. She is slowly recovering. It hit me and Eleanor last night. Poor Matt was looking forward to a good night's rest last night, but it didn't happen. Noah acted like he was going to throw up, but he didn't. He waited until this morning. We are bouncing back pretty quick, which I didn't expect since Zoe has been down so long. Hopefully, Matt, Emily, Zach and Kate will escape it.

Random Pictures & More

Trying to get a super cute picture of Kate with her braids...



There it is!

Zach brought home his first homework assignment on Tuesday and he enjoyed doing it! He had several sheets of paper to do and he had a week to do them, but he insisted on doing them all at once. Then he wouldn't have any homework to do the rest of the week. Smart thinking!

Noah received this warm, comfy sleeping bag for Christmas. It is going to come in handy when we go camping!

One minute, Noah was wide awake and listening to Zoe play on the keyboard

and then the next minute...

he was out!

Zoe, Emily, and Eleanor had their first experience at Great Skates on Saturday and they loved it!

We brought Daisy and Anna with us and Zoe met up with a friend there, which was not planned. I watched them go around and around and around. I just may have to join them next time. :-)

Zoe had her last day in Primary yesterday. She completed the Faith in God program, so she received her certificate yesterday. She is so happy to be going into Young Women's next Sunday!

Look Who Is 6!

Zach opened his gift from Jerry & Judy before school.

All of the kids enjoyed the bubbles he received!
At school, Zach was Star of the Week. He shared pictures of himself from when he was a baby until he turned 6 years old. He felt pretty special to receive a birthday card & a pencil from his teacher AND be Star of the Week!

Eleanor read Zach's cards to him during his party. My parents and my grandmother came over to celebrate with us.

$6 for being 6!


Zach received several zhu zhu pet tunnels and play areas. The girls put most of it together.

Now where to put it???


Zach received a life jacket from his Grandpa & Grandma, but I didn't get a picture of it. He is excited to wear it fishing!

Last, but definitely not least...a new Nintendo DS that has 2 working screens!

The kids were content to play with Zach's new toys, but the adults wanted cake, so we convinced the kids to take a break from playing. The cake had some appearance issues, but it sure tasted yummy!

Happy Birthday, Zachary! You are one smart, lovable 6 year old! We love you!