Father Sons Campout

Well, I know I shouldn't make a habit of this as N is the seasoned veteran blogger of the family and I'm just a rookie (and quite frankly I like it that way) but I figured I should be the one to post something about the father sons camp out from this year as the pictures are on my phone and it was only the boys there.

 After taking the boys out of school a little early, we finished getting ready and then N attended the school's art auction while they boys and I headed up the mountain to claim our camp spot.

 The first year that E went of father sons camp out he enjoyed it quite a bit but the second year our tent blew away and he didn't have a very good time. Ever since that year he has never stayed over night. I have always either packed us all up and headed home or I've put them both in the car, headed home to drop E off late at night and then gone back with K to finish the camp.

 I love camping so I've always wanted both my boys to enjoy it and was a little apprehensive about how it would go this year as we made a big deal about whoever went had to stay the whole time. I was worried enough that E wouldn't have a good time that I went looking for bows and arrows as both he and K enjoyed that at a recent scout day camp. Well, no luck on cheap bows and arrows so I ended up getting three sling shots instead. The boys were pretty happy about that and it made for a fun time shooting things and showing them how to use them.

We had planned on hot dogs for dinner  so we took turns digging out a fire pit so that we could cover it back up afterwards and make sure the fire was completely out. After I dug a bit. E took a turn ...

followed by K as I don't think he wanted to be shown up by his little brother ...

but every chance he got, E jumped right back in and really went to town on the pit. He seemed to really enjoy that and I think that made him feel more a part of the whole camp out experience, especially because K was the main help (though E helped too) on setting up the tent.

Who knew that in order to get both the boys to enjoy it I just needed to let them help a little bit and not do everything for them. They ended up both really enjoying it and I think they'll even be up for another camping trip with me this summer.

We ended up getting back home earlier then N had anticipated on Saturday ('cause that lime green tent gets mighty bright by 5am) so she put the three boys to work and we got spring cleaning done in no time. Had the boys (all three of them) realized what they were going home to we might have stayed out longer but it was a fun camp and it was good to get back and get the chores done that we needed to.

{Fine Arts Week}

At our school we celebrate the Fine Arts every spring.

This year both boys gave reciations with their class and made a class project for the art auction.

 This is E's Class quilt that his class made. On the back were hand prints of each scholar with a sentence each scholar wrote....E's says "Even though we come from different families we are kids of God!"

The quilt was my favorite item of the auction and wished we had the extra cash to win that piece....

{Auntie's Grad}

(auntie is the beautiful one waving at me!)

I was lucky enough to go to DC for a quick weekend for Auntie Caitlin's Graduation!

It was a great weekend and I was so happy to be able to go for the few days.

We are so proud of her while at the same time we can't believe she is so grown up. We always will think of her as that little 9 year old at our wedding!

We love you Caitlin!!

2011 Mother of Honor

So I normally just get to read N's blog like everyone else but not long ago I used my Jedi mind tricks on her (yeah, that was just for the boys) and got her to set me up to where I can post or edit blogs. While this would never really be necessary in normal circumstances, I have something that I want to share that I don't know if she'd blog about or not. N was recently named one of five Clark County Mothers of Honor for 2011. She was nominated by an essay that K had written in school about his mom.

When we found out that she was going to receive the honor, we of course wanted to know what K had written but all he could remember was that he thought he had put in it that she was a really good cook. Big help. (his actual letter below)

After much ado and what seemed like way too long to wait to see what it was all about, the day finally came Saturday when we attended the brunch to recognize Nevada's Mother of the Year, Young Mother of the Year, and Clark County's Mothers of Honor.

It was a fun time with many kudos to the hard working women in our lives. N's mom even had a lei delivered from Hawaii for her.

She received a plaque as well as letters from a Clark County Commissioner and Nevada Senator Harry Reid. Pics are a bit fuzzy 'cause I apparently can't hold still with the camera on my phone but you get the idea ...

Afterwards, N jumped onto a plane to go back East to see Auntie C receive her hard earned Master's degree - congrats to her, she deserves it! While it was weird not having N here with us on Mother's Day, I was thinking about her all day and came across some pictures of her being a great mom through the last eleven years. Too many to choose from so here are just a few.

Love ya babe ...