Preston was most excited to graduate from Wolves to Bears in cub scouts. He really wanted Jenny Majestic to be his den leader because they always do such cool things. She has a system for cub scouts I tell ya. The first week of the month they earn a requirement from the book. The 2nd week they go on a hike or adventure of some sort (a field trip). The 3rd week they earn a belt loop. The 4th week is Pack night. Sweet huh? I want to be a Bear too!
Every year we let the kids pick a theme for their birthday party. This is something they help plan and LOVE to do. They usually start planning their party for the next year a month after their birthday! Too funny. Well this year Preston was NO different. He wanted a Wimpy Kid party. I figured by the time his birthday came around he'd change his mind. Nope. Not.A.Chance. I was beginning to fret about how in the world I would pull off a Diary of a Wimpy kid party. Doug and I made the invites:
Front
Back
We ended up setting up an outdoor movie theater in the backyard. Yes I said, backyard. Usually we have the kids' parties at the park because so many kids want to come and DO end up coming. Doug reassured me that the party would be easier if we just did it at our house. So I eventually gave in and said yes to the ordeal. Let me tell you, we had over 70 kids show up (yes that is more than he had invites for but his always happens). That many kids is a LOT in our backyard. 
Oh it was crazy! It was hard to get them all in the backyard to because we had the trampoline set up in the front. Lol.
I only had one game to play. I made 60 shrinky dink bracelets. Some kids didn't get to play (the younger ones and a couple older ones too). I bought really cheap plastic containers and traced (with a Shrapie) the stinky cheese from the book. Then I cut them out and baked them. Instant charms. Added a few beads and that was it. I had 2 special bracelets that had different beads on them. The kids that ended up with those bracelets got a Diary of a Wimpy Kid poster. The kids went NUTS when they found out this was the prize. Too funny. You wore your bracelet and if someone caught you saying cheese you had to give them your bracelets. The person with the most bracelets won a Diary of a Wimpy Kid Movie book, bookmark, and stickers. Again, the kids went crazy!
We served cheese, Nachos, licorice, sodas (an entire Aquafina fridge full), cake, hot chocolate, smores (gotta have the hobo fire right?) and popcorn. Melanie let us use her popcorn machine again (Yay!). 
The party was a hit! Preston is a great kid with lots of fun friends.
Thank you all for coming!
Chloe has gotten all of my kids obsessed with lady bugs. She spends her entire recess time at school hunting and collecting them. Which also means she comes home with dirt in all her crevices and a lunch pail full of ziploc bag lady bug houses. Throwing away sandwich baggies full of dirt, grass, pebbles, and dead lady bugs has become part of my daily routine. When Chloe got in trouble at school for collecting the insects we figured we needed to do something about it. She got into trouble because there came a day when her mom didn't give her any ziploc bags in her lunch. Ha ha. Outsmarted her I thought. Nope, Chloe still collected the bugs. She stuffed them up her jacket arms to keep them safe. Too bad it was a hot day and when she walked into class she just had to take off her jacket. Out flew about 20 lady bugs. This made the kids go wild I bet. Oops.
Doug and I both remembered a couple years ago while hiking up Ice House Canyon we saw literally thousands of lady bugs. We thought it must have been this time of year. So we planned a family trip. One day after school we went to Ice House Canyon to hunt lady bugs that we could keep alive. We persuaded Chloe top quit collecting them at school since they were dead by the time she got home anyway. We let her know we'd get her ones that would stay alive in her room (for a few days--oh, we may have forgotten to tell her the "few days" part). Doug made a nice lady bug home in a water bottle. It had air holes, dirt, grass, and a few pebbles. Chloe was happy with it.
Hiking up Ice House Canyon was super fun. The kids felt so adventurous and free. We ended up not seeing thousands of lady bugs but we did find about 20 to keep. Preston had his Davey Crockett hat on and he and Derek took turns wearing it. Two boys with a coon hat equals one big imaginative play period. 
I loved seeing their little imaginations go wild. Running and jumping around in the woods is the best for little boys.
Happy Easter! Before the kids went to bed they started a bragging war. Yes, that's right an all out WAR. They were discussing, um, arguing, about who was going to be able to find the most eggs in the morning. I thought great, our kids are going to be so busy arguing over eggs in the morning that they won't get to later enjoy the true meaning of Easter at church. I should not have worried. The Easter Bunny is so incredibly smart. Super. Duper. Smart. We woke up to find this on our table. 
Easter baskets full of goodies. Bags with our names on them for egg hunting. A personal letter from the bunny. Feast your eyes on this beauty from the bunny. 
Oh yeah, fighting avoided. Thanks bunny! Everyone had their own color of eggs to find. Brilliant idea. The boys were so happy about receiving Club Penguin stuffed animals. 
All 3 were excited about the chocolate bunnies!
We are truly blessed to have the atonement in our lives.
Chick-Fil-A has the BEST family events! We did not want to miss their Easter Egg hunt. How many kids can say they hunted for eggs with a cow? Mine can!
Chick-Fil-A gave them bags to hold their goodies and even offered a prize to whoever found the special Golden egg. This picture makes me cringe because the egg hunt was so early in the morning and the kids had overslept a little. Chloe had convinced me (in the manner of saving time) that she could do her own hair. She brushed it and put it in a nice headband. It looked great for about 20 seconds. I hope she still lets me do her hair until she's 18! Haha! 
The cow came in his pajamas! 
Derek did not want to get too close to the cow. Preston and Chloe didn't mind. If you've been to Chick-Fil-A lately you may have seen this picture---they have it on their fan wall! 
We ended this perfect day by inviting our friends over and dying eggs. Thanks for coming Taylor and Clover.
Awhile ago Joe told us about this cool place to camp by where he lives. He talked it up pretty HUGE and let us then know that it's FREE to camp there! We were so excited about a free place to camp with the kids! We couldn't wait to try to find a date that we could all go. We decided to go during Spring Break. We set a date 3/31 to 4/01. Joe and his family were going to go too. The plan was we'd meet at Joe's house and then head out to the campground. Well, the day of came and the weather decided to be yucky! It looked miserable all day. The news fore casted a BIG storm for the evening. We were scared but determined. Joe kept calling us and asking if we were still on. We were game. Right before we were going to drive out there Joe called again. He and his wife thought a better plan might be camping in their backyard. This way (to the kids) they were still camping and if it started down pouring, we could all run inside. Sounded reasonable to Doug and I. We left for their house. Joe set up a tent in his backyard. By the time we made it to the Knapp's house, it was raining. We ended up camping inside the Knapp's house. We had a great big slumber party! The kids loved it! We roasted marshmallows in their fireplace. The Knapp's have enough toys to entertain a rather large army of children so the kids were constantly occupied. Preston and Braden played the Wii non-stop. The adults even got to play card games. The next morning Joe and Chloe cooked us a wonderful breakfast and we hung out for awhile. Doug had to go to work so we had to leave (much to all the kids' dismay) at 1pm. Thanks Knapp family! We are still looking forward to going to the FREE campground sometime soon though!!
The Super Heroes ( I was surprised Chloe wanted to dress up in BOY dress up clothes):
This is more like our Chloe. She convinced all the younger boys to play house with her! 
Chloe and Joe cooking breakfast: 
Around the table:
Derek's turn FINALLY on the Wii: 
Doug and I took the kids to visit my Aunt Carin at the beach. It was a beautiful day but pretty cold. We hung out near the Ocean Institute in Dana Point. Carin and I hung out on the sand chatting, catching up. Chloe played in the water (a tiny bit). Doug took the boys on a walk. He had the camera and took some cute shots of the boys. 
After the beach we ate at Carin's house. This was such a fun day. We really need to get out there more often!
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