Arrow of Light

Luke has been quite the successful cub scout.  He worked to receive all kinds of awards during his three years there, just look at that shirt!  (Yes, mom read the books and kept him on track and absolutely forced him sometimes so I'm pretty proud of that shirt, too!)  Since his 11th birthday was coming up and he'd be going to Boy Scouts, he worked hard and earned the highest honor in cub scouts, the Arrow of Light.

Here he is receiving his award from his Webelos leader, Bro. Zechman.

Two other scouts received it, too, (James Law and Ethan Wilhelmsen) and they had a small ceremony as they presented them with their arrows that showed all that they had accomplished in cub scouts.  

Congratulations Luke!  

We're proud of the young man that you're becoming and excited to see you progress and learn and grow.  We love you!

Pioneer Day 2012

Our ward planned a Pioneer Day celebration again this year.  Every year they've had one, there has been a bike parade where all the kids decorate their bikes and get to ride together in a "parade".  So they announced they'd have it again this year and that the kids had better get their bikes decorated.  But my kids decided that they wanted to make a wagon for the parade.  I gave them some materials and they spent a couple days working on it...themselves! 

Here it is in progress.

And here it is all done.  

Somehow Luke got wrangled into being the horse.

Awww....just had to post that picture.

Luke beat every boy that he played the stick pull with.

So mom stepped in to keep him humble.  (And I did!  Hahaha!)

Then the Maia gave it a try.  GO MAIA!!!!

Well, she gave it a good effort!

And then the parade!  There's Luke pulling all his sisters.

He must've gotten tired because next time I looked they had a ride. :)

The cutest pioneers EVER!

4th of July

We decided to make a quick trip up to Coeur d'Alene for the 4th of July since Ryan and Tina are there for a little bit.  Here are all the cousins together!

We went to the parade and the Batmobile was there!!!  Even Casey was excited!  But then...

Yes, that's Maia about to be hit by the Batmobile.  She wanted to see Batman and he was on the OTHER side. Luckily Batman has some quick reflexes and stopped before tragedy struck.  But he took off pretty quick after that.  I don't blame him!  

Then we went to the park to wait until dark for fireworks.  The kids had a blast playing, as you can see!

This toy was like an elevated merry-go-round.  Katie Belle lasted one trip while clinging for dear life. (She's in the purple.)  On the other hand, I could hardly get Maia off that thing.  She sat up there F.O.R.E.V.E.R.  I had paired the kids up so no one ran around alone and Luke had Maia.  The poor kid was so bored!

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.

They finally did and they were gorgeous!

But since we hadn't had a chance to swim in the lake, we took the kids back the next day to do just that!  

Look at those nerdy kids!

They swam...

they were buried in the sand...

and they had a blast!

Summer 2012 Begins!

We had planned to go camping this summer so we looked for a good deal on cots and got one for each of the kids.  Because it was summer, we decided to let them all sleep on their cots downstairs and watch a movie together.  They ended up doing this ALL summer long!

Katie Belle got to go Camp Invention this summer and here she is ready for Alien Day!  She enjoyed learning and creating and making new friends.  She loved it!

Maia's a First Grader!

I know, I know, please refrain from going into shock at a blog post from me.  :)  I realize it's been awhile.  I will try to get things a little caught up so for now...Maia's Kindergarden Graduation.

Here she is holding her certificate. 

Her best friend, Aunna.  

She has Aunna in her class again for first grade and was so excited!

Here is Marcus, Maia's first kiss.  :)  

I told her no more of that until she's like 25.

Her teacher Mrs. Thoeny. 

Maia is growing up fast and is excited to be a first grader.  Congratulations, Maia!  One year down and only, you know, a few more to go!