Monday, February 18, 2019

Cub Scout Camping at the Coast Guard Station

James's cub scout pack had a family camp out at the local Coast Guard station for anyone who wanted to participate. James and Rett were so excited to go camping!! I was kind of dreading it, but I pushed through :) While shopping for supplies, I saw these Oreos in the store and I had to buy them for the campout. So crazy!

We got there Friday night and had to set up in the dark since Anthony gets home so late from work. The boys ran off and played with the other kids while Anthony and I set up the tent. Then Anthony and James did a little night fishing and actually caught something! We brought a cooler with ice just in case, so we were able to save it for the next day.

Roasting marshmallows on the campfire:

That night sleeping in out sleeping bags on the hard ground was rough. It was really cold and James woke up in the middle of the night needing to pee, but crying about how it was too cold to step outside the tent to pee in the grass. He kept saying, "but it's uncomfortable!!!" and I wanted to say, "That is camping!!! You are dirty and uncomfortable all the time!!" (Seriously, why do people camp voluntarily?)

This was our view in the morning. It was a beautiful day, even though we were exhausted from no sleep.

We watched the sea cadets do a morning flag ceremony:

Anthony and James went fishing again and this time Anthony caught a flounder! We ate it the next day, it was delicious.

The boys chased a colorful moth and Anthony was able to finally catch it. I have never seen a polka dotted moth before!

After breakfast, it was time to walk on the beach and pick up trash. We actually didn't find very much trash, which means we have responsible beach-goers but made it less fun for the boys :)

After the beach cleanup, I took Rett home with me for a few hours to let Baymax out of his kennel and rest for a little bit. It was glorious, my bed never felt so good!! Around dinnertime we came back to cook tinfoil meals on the campfire and do his den's campfire program. We walked on the beach for awhile before everything started.

Beautiful sunset!

Only two kids in James's pack ended up staying for the campfire program, so it was James and one other boy doing the skit with his den leader. They still loved it though!

They had someone narrating and saying all the ways you can use your bandana (wipe your face with it, blow your nose with it, etc..). His den leader was holding a banana and did all the things she said, but with the banana. He got soooo messy!!

For the end of the campfire program, they all got to throw powder into the fire that turns the fire a different color. I tried to get a video of it. It was a fun, but tiring weekend!

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Beginning of January

Playing "the leaves are lava" on the trampoline:

We've started getting this really pretty olive green colored egg from one of our chickens. We aren't sure who started doing it, but we love it!

I watched the Netflix show "Tidying Up" that everyone has been talking about and couldn't resist refolding all the clothes in the house! This is my tshirt drawer afterwards. Now it is so fun to see all my shirts and pick which one to wear.

James's school has a volunteer reading coach who comes to the school with her therapy dog. The kids get to take turns reading to the dog and petting her. The dog's owner looks over their shoulder and helps them with their reading. I just happened to be there on the day that it was James's turn! He got such a kick out of reading the dog a book about a dog.

Lately when I volunteer in James's class, if the weather is nice I will take a few kids out to help in their class's section of the school garden. We spent one morning weeding all three beds and afterwards I took all the weeds home to the chickens!

I still help with Rett's class on Friday mornings and he loves having me there. He was so excited to show me his city that he built!

Strawberries are looking good!

We put in a few more rows in the garden for our vegetables. We haven't put the seeds in yet, but as soon as it warms up a little bit more it will finally be time.

Rett and James were running around in different costumes from the costume closet while we were working the garden. Rett wanted to show me how he can transform completely into a cactus.


James's school installed a free library. I love these things!

James's class is hatching chicken eggs! I can't wait to see those baby chicks!

Since James's class is learning winter-themed vocabulary, they had a snowball fight with their words. They each got a paper with a word or a definition, crumpled it up and started throwing. When the timer went off, they grabbed one snowball, opened it up and found their match (word to definition). What a great way to make it fun!

Deer poop in our backyard!

I got a Harry Potter decal for my van!

For singing time one Sunday I had the kids take turns coming up to draw a way that they could follow Jesus while we sang the song Come Follow Me. It was so sweet!

James helped Anthony scorch the bee boxes with a small blow torch to get rid of pests. We are hoping to really expand the bees this year!