Gold Diggers

( I know that I have a million and one pictures of those two together but just couldn't find a more recent one!)

The other day, I was feeding Mason and the two older boys were playing legos in the living room. We were watching tv and one of those "cash for gold" commercials came on.

The boys started talking about what they would do if they had millions of dollars. I love listening to them because they always include each other in their plans. No matter what. It is never what "I" will do with the money, or the toy it is always what "we" will do with it. It just makes this Mom's heart happy! Anyway, they decided they would go buy their own house and have their own flat screen tv, wii etc.

After some planning, they decided to go gather up all the gold in their room so they could send it in. I asked them what gold they had. They said their baseball trophies. Too cute. So I explained to them that while it was a gold color, it wasn't real gold. They trudged off to their rooms to go look for more.

A few minutes later they come back grinning from ear to ear.

boys:" Mom we found some more gold and we even found silver to send in!!"

Me: "what is it?"

boys: "Our scout stuff!!" They hold up their kerchief slide and the silver belt buckles that they had earned.

Me: (cracking up!!) well those aren't real silver or gold either."

boys: "how do you know?"

Me: "Well, because I bought the slide for like $2. And if it was real it would cost a lot more to buy it."

boys: sighing, " well can we have some of your gold?"

Me: (because I have sooo much gold lying around lol) "sorry boys but no."

Ethan:" I guess we will just have to save our allowance."

Good idea. Cute little boys!

The Rainy Season

(The pond outside our house. We didn't know we were living in water front property!)

(The back of all the teachers eating at the table!)

(Another side view of the whole thing)

(The boys with their creation. There are the 4 different towers for all the houses.)

(On this one, you can see part of the great hall. The people are the professors sitting at the head table. The big neon green lego is part of one of the towers)


(A side view. I didn't take the pictures, the boys did. But I think this is the herbology classroom)

Ahh Summer. The beach, pool, popsicles, ice cold lemonade, warm weather, right? Well that may be what our life is like during the other 9 months of the year, but summer here means RAIN. And lots of it! Which is not fun when you are trying to keep 4 kids entertained. We have had downpours for the past week. Not a light rain. Down pours. Thunder and lightning, wind etc. We have lost power more than a few times. It has been wild. The kids are stuck inside. They are driving me crazy!!

One day while talking to Ben, the boys sat and asked me question after question. Apparently they didn't notice the phone in my hand. I finally sent them off to their room to play Legos. "But we don't know what to build!" I suggested they go and build Hogwarts. And they did!

It took them 3 days and they did a fabulous job! The boys love to get kits from movies like Star Wars or Indiana Jones. But we don't have anything from Harry Potter. They just used their imaginations! The great hall had all the different tables for the houses. Complete with the professors sitting at the front table. The herbology class had all the different plants that they could find. A few of the men had wizard hats. The potions class had barrels for all the different potions. All the 4 towers were made. They were going to make the stairs to go to divination but had a little trouble with it. I loved seeing all the hard work they put in to it. Now they want me to send their pictures into the Lego magazine!

Down and Derby...

(not the best picture but Ben trying to help Connor with flag)
(at the starting line)

(coolest named car award winner)
(the winners with the scout master)
(so proud! Don't you love how nicely he is wearing his uniform?)
(the end of the track)
Although the Australia news is exciting, if I don't blog about the Pinewood Derby soon my boys won't be very happy!

After a couple of deployments and other delays, the boys finally got to have their derby this past Friday. While working on cars,Ben asked each of them, "would you rather have a car that goes fast, or one that just looks cool?" They both answered, "looks cool".

They loved their cars! I think Connor ecspecially. He had a hard time naming his though. I told him that his cousin TJ had named his car the Scorpion. So Connor, who really admires his cousin TJ (although they haven't seen each other for a looong time) decided to name his the "Flaming Scorpion".

Our den was in charge of dinner so I was busy in the kitchen with the other Moms. Of course I made it out to watch the races though!

The Tigers (Connor's den) had flag that night. They are the youngest den and it was so cute to watch them. None of them could hold the flag up and so had to have Dad's assist them. Too cute.

Connor's had a lot of good runs and so did Ethan's.

Ethan actually tied for 3rd place out of the whole pack. Oh and his car's name was the Pikachu mobile! He got to race again against all the other winners. The other boys were all Weblo's so he was pretty excited. He came in 4th but was very happy to recieve his 4th place ribbon. Connor was awarded with the "coolest name for a car" award. So although there were no 1st places for them, they were very happy.

It is always so hard to watch your kids compete and not win. During the last 4 heats, you could see Ethan's face go from elated to let down in about 30 seconds. In the end, they all went home happy...and that makes Mom happy!

mommy guilt

(watching a magic trick with friend Alex)
(big buddies)
(Listening to his Den mother Miss Nika)
(checking out a magic trick with his friend Mason)
********UPDATE****************************

The throw up is still coming. He is currently sobbing because he is unable to go. :(


When I was pregnant with Harmony, people would tell me all about the good things of being a Mom. Lots of love, hugs, fun moments etc. They also told me about the bad, lots of diaper changes, spit up,breaking up fights with siblings etc. But what no one ever really told me about was...Mommy Guilt. And I suffer my fair share as I am sure most of you do. Let me go back just a little...

Connor and Ethan both wanted to start scouts this year. We did this through the base. Connor had a den leader, Ethan did not. Because of major Mommy Guilt, I said that I would be Ethan's leader. Well, the only way that I could possibly do it, was to have the boys have scouts on the same night. Which basically means, Connor's den leader is his surrogate mother at all Tiger den meetings. Now let me just say here that I couldn't have picked a better surrogate mother. She adores Connor and spoils him ROTTEN.

However, Connor was starting to feel upset that I had not been to any of his meetings.Major Mommy Guilt. So the other night, I finally had the opportunity to go. Just me and Connor. He talked my ear off as we rode to the beach. I loved it. We got to spend some fun quality time together.(All the pics were taken that night) That night, he was picked as the assistant for the month of February. So I am in the process of moving things around so I can be there. Guilt was starting to reside. Until...

In October (?) there was an announcement that all the dens would be going on a camping trip this weekend. Our cub master's daughter, is one of Harmony's really good friends. So they made plans to share a tent. The boys have been dreaming about this day. New tents have been bought, new camp chairs, all the food, batteries for flash lights, a babysitter for Ivan. All was going well until midnight last night....

"Mommy, I threw up all over my bed." I took Connor downstairs got him cleaned up and settled on the couch. I couldn't clean his stuff up because Ethan (amazingly) was still asleep. He cuddled with me until about 2 when we he finally nodded off. Around 3, another round. Got him cleaned up, and finally he crashed. So around 4 I go get in my bed and lie awake trying to think of what I am going to do. Do I let him go camping tonight? Or do I make him miss it? He told Ben, " I promise to get better for camping." So now I get the guilt. If I let him go, and he gets sick, than I feel guilty because I should of made him stay home. If I make him stay home, I feel guilty because he misses out on a trip that he really wanted to go on.The scouts have a rule that boys are only allowed to stay with family, no friends sharing tents. So if I don't take Connor, Harmony and Ethan don't go either. If I don't go, I have to find someone to take over for me as den leader for the wolves. Guilt, guilt and more guilt. It's not fair. Why can't someone else make these decisions?! Why does it always fall to the Mom? I'll let you know how it turns out...

Raingutter Regatta

Last night, the boys had their monthly pack meeting for Cub Scouts. However, this month they got to do their Raingutter Regatta. In case you have not been privelaged to be a part of this, it is where the boys make boats out of balsa wood(?). Then they race their boats in a raingutter by blowing it with a straw. It is a fierce competition, let me tell you!

Did our boys win? Well, no. But they had fun. And that is all that matters right? Ethan's boat was named "the Mayflower" and Connor's was "the Red Rocket". Ben only had 2 colors of spray paint, so they were very Christmas-y boats. They were cute cheering each other on. My favorite part was at the end of each heat, where the boys would all breathe heavy as if they had just run a marathon.:)

So that is it for our social engagements for a while!