Stinky Boy Scouts

Aaron has gone camping as a Cub Scout many times.  This past weekend was the first time he went as a Boy Scout.  He was a bit nervous, but he had a great time.

He was excited to tell me all about the new knots he learned how to tie, orienteering and cooking in the dutch oven.

As a side not he said, "Oh, there weren't any showers so we didn't shower all weekend and not everyone brushed their teeth."  I just nodded.  What I wanted to say was, "As if I couldn't smell that when you all got out of the cars."

One of the big differences I see between Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts is the amount of leadership skills the older Scouts seem to possess.  I was very impressed with the older Scout who was making sure the younger Scouts had all the proper gear.

Here is a picture of Aaron and his best buddy, Coleman, while they were still clean.

Band Geeks

The band from Rachel's school went to Six Flags and I was able to chaperone.  It was nice to get to know some of Rachel's friends better.  The kids were allowed to split into groups of four.  Rachel has been friends with one of the four since we moved here, but the other two are new friendships she has made in middle school. 

It was also nice to hear how much the band director cares about his students.  Safety was truly his number one priority.  Next year when Rachel is in eighth grade the band makes a trip to Orlando and goes to Disney World.  I don't think PK or I will be able to make that trip and I was really concerned about letting her go.  I still have reservations, but seeing the band director in action away from the school has lessened my fears.

One of her friends won this squid hat.  It was all the rage.

I can't believe that is the only picture I took.  I was trying my best to be reserved and not embarrass the living daylights out of her which isn't hard to do to a middle schooler.

One Is Silver

Rachel is finishing up her eighth year of Girl Scouts.  All six of the girls in her Cadette troop earned the Silver Award this year.  The next big step is the Gold! 

Rachel and Ms. Maria.  Maria has been her leader since we moved to Marietta.  Maria had brain surgery last year so I jumped in to keep her troop going.  I was the co-leader this year, but will be stepping back into just being a parent next year.

Ms. Maria pinning on the Silver Award

All the Cadettes (minus one) and Ms. Maria



Thanks for the Reminder

The kids' elementary school partners with the Kiwanis Club to sponsor a program called "Terrific Kids."  Each month each classroom teacher selects a student who they feel has put for their best effort in an area.  All of our kids have been selected multiple times.

This month was our friendly reminder from our local elementary school and the Kiwanis Club that our kid is TERRIFIC.  Aaron was facing some challenges in reading.  He is a capable reader and exceeded on the standardized test in that area.  He was reading a series of books that was below his reading level and his teacher didn't think it was a very good idea.  I, on the other hand, think that when reading for pleasure one should get to choose the reading material that is fun.  That is another blog post.  Anyway, I told Aaron if he would read the Harry Potter series that I would read along with him.  It became a contest to see who could finish first.  It really doesn't matter who won or how long it took the winner to catch up on chores like the laundry.  Aaron scored a 100 on every AR test he took on the books.

His teacher noticed and chose him to be her Terrific Kid for May.

Our Terrific Kid

All of our terrific kids

Easter

We started the morning before sunrise.  PK had to go to work and since our time with Hannah "believing" is short, we wanted to hunt eggs and do the Easter Bunny thing before he left.  Aaron and Hannah were ready to go.  It took a bit more encouraging to get Rachel moving.  The Easter Bunny left them some goodies in new pails to use at the beach this summer.  Since it was still dark and the Easter Bunny didn't want to hide eggs outside in the pre-dawn hours, the eggs were hidden in the livingroom and diningroom.  As is his usual fashion at our house, the Easter Bunny filled the eggs with coins instead of money.

Hannah was really excited because those shoes have a littl heel on them.  It wasn't what I wanted for my eight year old, but I am old and tired and she won that battle.  The leggings were also not a part of the original ensemble, but again, she won.

Aaron is always ready to throw on a tie, but he was pretty happy with this look.

The look on her face is so silly.  She wasn't trying to be silly, but really just didn't want to pose.

All three Sweet Baby Rays.

Easter From a Heavenly Perspective

Dear Grandma,

How are you?  Do you know Easter will make almost seven months since you went to Heaven?  Some days it seems like yesterday and some days it seems like it has already been years.

Let's see...what have you missed?  I'm sure everyone in Evansville has more news for you than I do.  Brandon's mom passed away suddenly a few weeks ago.  It was a massive heart attack.  It was really hard on all of them.

 P.K., the kids and I are doing great.  Can you believe I turned 40 this year?  Ugh!  Aaron was confirmed in church last Sunday.  As you know, he gave his heart to Jesus years ago, but this was just a public statement.  I am so proud of him.  He has such a hunger to learn more about God and he's so tender to His Spirit.  I decided to join our church that Sunday as well.  We have been attending there for about a year and a half so I guess it was time.  I still enjoy working at the preschool.  The kids are cute.  It is still hard at times to adjust to not being home all the time and figuring out how to get everything done around here.  The kids have been on Spring Break this past week.  It was a needed break.  Rachel has had so much homework this year.  She had a Social Studies project where she had to interview someone "older."  She said it was too bad she couldn't talk to you.  I agreed.  I told her you would have some good stories to share.  Hannah is just Hannah and is happy as long as she can have fun.  Aaron's snake shed again this past week.  I guess he is about 3 feet long.  Well, I think that about covers the usual things you would ask me.

After your funeral, Uncle Dennis dug up some bulbs from your Easter Lilies in your yard for me to bring back down here.  I planted them along the fence in my front yard.  I really didn't get my hopes up because I don't have a green thumb.  A couple weeks ago, I glanced out my window and there they were punching through the ground.  They must like this red Georgia clay.  They don't have flowers on them, but the leaves are really green.  I think that is o.k.  I researched a little and they don't always bloom the first year.

I went for a walk this afternoon and as I was walking, I realized this would be your first Easter in Heaven.  That made me wish I could ask you what it is like to be getting ready to celebrate your first Easter there.  Are there Easter lilies and daffodils for you to enjoy?  Do you all just sit back and laugh at all of us down here as we hurry to find the perfect shoes to wear with our new outfits on Easter Sunday?  Are you laughing at me because my biggest concern about Easter day right now is when we should eat?  I really want to have friends over for Easter lunch right after church, but since P.K. has to work, I want to wait to have our dinner when he gets home.  I know that is so not where my mind should be focused.  Is there a special celebration remembering the Resurrection of the Lamb or is that just every day?  Does God whisper a special message to all of us down here to remember on Easter of all days that the enemy was defeated on the cross and we just have to hang on a bit longer before we get to see Him face to face and celebrate our first Easter with Him?  I'm sure your experiences the past seven months would be hard to explain.

I miss you!

Love,
Jody

The Road to the Middle of Nowhere

Some of my blog posts may interest other people and some posts may leave people wondering why I felt I needed to share.  I write my blog to record our family memories.  If someone happens to enjoying it along the way, that is great!!  I had an experience yesterday and when I mentioned that I was going to write a blog post Rachel said, "This is really one of those You-Had-to-be-There-Moments."  I told her that was fine.  When I look back a few years from now and read this post, I will remember how funny it was for me and the kids.

Our friends Becky, Matt and their two girls are visiting for Spring Break.  One of the things on Becky's list of "Things to Do" was to visit the Wild Animal Safari in Pine Mountain.  The kids and I love going there so we tagged along.

We had planned to be on the road around 8:45 a.m. in order to make it to the park around opening time.  Becky sent me a text about 6:45 a.m. (Yes, she texted me when we were both in the same house.  It was really a great idea.  As we have people scattered in different sleeping arrangements throughout the house, I didn't want to get up and wander around the house and needlessly wake someone up.  She sent me a text when she got up to see if I was awake and we had some quiet coffee time before anyone else was up...I digress.)  About 7:30 we discussed waking everyone up to get ready to go, but we were enjoying our quiet so much, we decided to wait. 

By the time everyone was up, had eaten breakfast and got ready to go, it was 10:30.  That meant we would get there about lunch time.  Our big decision...did we want to pack sandwiches or just grab something when we got close?  Feeling lazy, we decided we would just grab something when we got close. 

We were in two separate vehicles.  Rachel texted Becky (Relax...Matt was driving...no texting and driving here) and we decided we would stop just before getting off the interstate.  Who would have known it was going to be a scenic highway with nothing in sight?  We both checked out the GPS and found a Subway about 5 miles away.  It was past the animal park, so really only about 2-3 miles out of our way.  Here are the text messages that followed.

Rachel: Cool. We found one and it's our new destination.

Becky:  Shake Rag Rd?  We will follow you.

(Oh, yes.  It was really on Shake Rag Rd.)

After driving, and driving and driving...

Becky: Is this Subway in AL?

Rachel:  Ha, ha.

We finally turn onto Shake Rag Road.  As we were turning, I was quite certain there would not be a Subway this far in the middle of nowhere.  When the GPS said we were arriving at our destination on the left, all I saw was a cow pasture.

Becky:  Is the Subway in some Hillbilly's garage?

Then we passed this large pink stucco shack.

The next thing that looked remotely interesting and/or close by (according to the GPS) was the Purple Cow Cafe.  This took us on some more middle of nowhere roads.  When we passed the sign that read, "Prison Detail" I locked the doors.  We didn't see any prisoners.  Matt told Becky they must have escaped.  By this time we were already slap happy. 

Rachel:  The whatever colored cow thing better be open and have a bathroom because my mom needs to go potty.

We came to a four way stop with signs directing us to the highways.  I made the decision to follow the GPS toward the Purple Cow. 

Rachel:  That stop sign was probably our only road to civilization.

Becky calls and says, "Why didn't you turn toward the highway."
The road that the GPS told me to turn on did not exist where it said to turn.  At this point we were back to the highway.  I pulled over and called Becky.  She said, "Well, why don't we just take the highway until we find something."  I asked her if she wanted to try north or south.  She suggested south.  Worse case scenario, we will hit Columbus.

Rachel: How could driving this far out of the middle of nowhere still leave us in the middle of nowhere.

Becky:  Matt's doing an I told you so.  He voted to go north.

Rachel: Mom says she didn't vote.  She just followed your advice.

Becky:  Yeah, I know.  But seriously, this has got to be the only stretch of interstate in America without some sort of fast food every 5 miles.

Rachel:  Hannah says, "If we would've gone to the animal safari we would have been done by now and could be getting something on our way home.

We passed a couple exits that had only gas stations.  We finally saw a blue sign that had three hotels listed on it.  I thought for sure with three hotels, there would be at least one restaurant.  We had been thinking fast food, but after searching for an hour backwoods of Georgia, Cracker Barrel or something similar would have been fine. 

The next sign had a title for gas stations and listed two or three.  Underneath the gas stations was a title for food and then it was blank.  Again, tears from too much laughing.
We were on the outskirts of the Columbus before we found a Burger King.  I'm thinking taking the two minutes before we left to grab the cooler and throw in some turkey and chips would have lost us a lot of laughs!!