A Little Surprise

Part of our holiday weekend was spent at my mom's. We headed over on the fourth for a nice little dinner and to visit a bit.

When we got there, she had a little treasure for Nicholas...

What he has in his hand is my grandfather's (his great-grandfather's) pocket knife! Everyone who knows Nick knows how much he loves his pocket knife so my mom thought it would be something special for him. And it is! He loves it and keeps it in a little treasure box. Such a sweet, thoughtful gift :) Thanks Mom!

And since she knew she'd be gifting Nick, she had a little something for the girls ;)

 A cute little locket for Megan.

 And a cute 4th of July pin for Kristen.

So cute! Thanks for the little gifts and the dinner, Mom :)

The Holiday Weekend

Don't you love it when a holiday is on Monday?? I do! We spent the whole weekend enjoying family and just casually hanging out. Of course there was the part about getting Brandon to camp (stuck right in the middle of our weekend)...

Before that though, we did lots of this:

 We picked up that volleyball/badminton set for Nicholas for his birthday with the hope that it would encourage some outdoor family fun, and it did!

Sand art is a must for the summer :)

 We wanted Brandon to be a part of the holiday with us so we lit our sparklers Saturday before we left for the Reynoldsburg fireworks.

There were lots of good things that didn't make it into my camera ;) A visit with Russ and Judy Saturday afternoon (Thanks for coming! We had a great time with you!), grilling out, wonderfully funny movies (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Rodrick Rules is hilarious!), and lots of relaxing family time :) Loved this weekend!

Family Day!

Last night was family night at Brandon's boy scout camp! He's on my mind constantly so it was really good to go see what he's up to. He's doing great! He's not too homesick and he's having a really good time!

So far, he's earned two merit badges. Going to camp seems to be the best way to knock those out ;) Up to this point, we've only managed to fully complete one ;) Today he has some requirements to complete to advance to the next level (first class? second class? no clue) then he's going to try to get the badge work done for two more. Way to go Brandon!

His tent:

 There's two boys to a tent. They have cots in there which I would have got a picture of but their tent is a complete disaster ;)

These three where really happy to see each other :)

 This is the view from their campsite:

 Not too shabby!

The archery range:

Campfire view:

 We walked to the chapel services and campfire together but I told Brandon he could sit with his troop. I didn't want our presence there to disrupt the flow of their patterns, that's not what we came for. I just wanted to see him, make sure he was enjoying himself, and of course, talk about the food ;) When you have food allergies in your family, food is a huge part of everything you do. ugh

I did manage to sneak a few pictures of him with my zoom...then he caught me ;)

 Love that boy!

These two were so very good. We were there until 10:30 that night then had a two hour drive home...it was grueling for them but they were troopers! Megan is still sleeping and it's 9:30 already!

Brandon will be home Saturday and I think he'll be ready to be here again ;) I can't wait!

Sprinkling

Now that our weather has returned to normal summer weather (WHEW!), our yard has seen more action ;) Especially the sprinkler! Megan LOVES playing in the sprinkler and I love capturing that ;) Some of my favorites from the weekend:

The sprinkler was left up all weekend long and will be up until it's time to mow again (which with all the extra watering may be sooner than we think!). The perfect way to cool off after a game of badminton (pictures on the way!).

Fireworks!

Last night we made it to the Reynoldsburg fireworks!! This is the first time we've been in a very long time. The last time we went, fourteen years ago, there was some problem with the fireworks resulting in a fatal accident. We haven't been back.

But this year, I really wanted the kids to go. My plan included not being in close proximity of them ;) Todd thought it was a great plan! So we went!

We made festive t-shirts too ;)

 They put fireworks on their t-shirts using pipe-cleaners dabbed in fabric paint! Here's the tutorial.

 We parked in the Kroger parking lot nice view, not close, and although other people had the same idea, it wasn't crowded at all!

 We even had entertainment ;)

The fireworks were awesome and the kids had the best time! We may have us a new tradition! Happy Fourth everyone!!

Brandon left for camp today! This is a big deal here as we've never had a camp participant before.

 But we do now!

Todd drove him down along with his troop this morning and said he did great! He's really excited and we think this will be a good thing for him. It helps that he's been begging to go since last summer so we know he really wants to have this experience ;) I can't wait to hear about all he does there!

Nine

Nicholas turned nine yesterday!! We had a really good day just hanging around the house together.

Since Todd worked all day, we had decided to have a little party in the evening, but Nicholas ended up getting sprinkled all day with gifts :)

It started in the morning when we let him open the box from Russ and Judy. He and Brandon both played with that set all day! Next, Kristen gifted him as she was heading out to work and would miss the party.

Legos! Perfect! The little pocket tool/knife was a surprise from Todd ;) He just couldn't wait until evening!

Another one that couldn't wait:

Nicholas has been wanting a Pug puppy forever, so Megan got him one ;)

Apparently, our family isn't very  good with the waiting thing ;)

Finally evening! Nick's dinner of choice was Uno's Gluten Free Pizza. Yum!

Todd wasn't quite home yet but I didn't want the pizza's to get cold so we started and he caught up when he got home ;)

Then the presents!

 Sorry for the blurry pic but I had to post it! We saw lots of wonderfully surprised looks from our newly nine boy :)

 Brandon had this shirt first and Nick loved it so much that it made an appearance in his gifts ;)

 After the excitement, there was this:

 Reading, building, just hanging together.

 Then there was cake!! Toad is Nicky's favorite Mario character so....

 Nine candles...

We ended the evening with a movie (Diary of a Wimpy kid, Rodrick Rules....hilarious!!!) and a sleepover in the tent! Nick said it was one of the best days ever :)

Nine! I can't believe it's been that long and yet I'm so very thankful for nine wonderful years :)