~My 2nd Teenager~

Jared is now a teenager! 

 

His birthday was on Saturday so he got to race in the afternoon... I think it may have been his favorite birthday!

 

Aaron put the candles on the cake for me...

 Jared wanted his normal cheese steaks and sour cream and onion chips for dinner... and, of course, chocolate cake with peanut butter icing.

He knew he was getting a bow... but we also got him a target, archery gloves and a bunch of arrows.

~First Race Day 2013~

I didn't get to stay at the track all day... but my racing team did a great job!

 

I dropped Kiersten off with friends for the day.  She loved being with Mr and Mrs Shirk.  She got to spray the hose when they cleaned lawn furniture, she took some walks, played games and took a good nap! I'm so glad I didn't need to watch her, it was a crazy day!

 

I set up the snack shack and got everyone signed in.  I even got the scoring sheets ready.  All our normal helpers have changed from last year and I needed to go over things with a lot of people.  I left the track before the kids got started racing.  A long story for another day:-)

 

This week was just practice... no points.  Eric and Jordan both won!

One of our members painted a backboard for our winner photos!  I think it looks great!

~Ouch~

Saturday nights are normally filled with showers and getting ready for Sunday.  Some of our boys showered and went back outside.  They made up a fun game with golf clubs and a soccer net that was too fun to stop playing. 

 

 

I had just gotten Kiersten clean and dry and heard Gregg bring Eric in the house who was "bleeding really bad."  Blood everywhere on his face and hands.  I got him clean enough to find the wound.  A nice slice right around the eye.  The neighbors came over to put the rest of the kids to bed while Gregg and I took a trip to the hospital... not a normal Saturday night... but what is normal anyway?!?!

 

Eric did a great job and ended up with one internal and three external stitches. 

We had to wake him up in the night because they were afraid of the head trauma.  He was just fine and never even took a pain med.  He was uncomfortable with the swelling, but that didn't last long. He didn't bruise too badly either. Stitches come out on Friday! 

~May~

~April at a Glance~

What a month!  We had a lot going on this month... way too much to do but a great time together.  I've got some photos trapped on my camera (I can't find my cord!) but most of the month wasn't photographed anyway.

Jared and Aaron had their testing, the three older boys enjoyed a few days of work with Dad, some spring cleaning, a missions conference, spring cleaning at church, dr and dentist appointments, and a few fun outings.

I was unable to see my grandparents over Christmas because our family got sick.  We promised to go visit as soon as we were well and not busy... well, that was this weekend.

Grandpa is 90 and Grandma... well, she isn't telling her age.  We had a nice visit in the morning and then we took them out to lunch.  After lunch we played boccie ball.  It was a new game to Grandpa and I think he enjoyed it.

Grandma told a few stories from her childhood.  I learned a little bit about her dad (an excellent marksman... he couldn't join the war so he did his part training men here) and that she broke her arm twice.  I really need to make it a point to visit more often!

~Snow Day~

We haven't had much snow this winter...  that means everything looks dead and dreary.  My feelings are if it is going to have to be cold, it ought to be pretty.  Well, not this winter.  We did have flurries but nothing ever amounted to anything. 

We were supposed to get dumped on last Monday and while it wasn't as much as we wanted, we did get to play in it.

I had the 4 wheel drive, so I took the kids to our local sledding hill...

They enjoyed the park as well... till our feet were wet and cold anyway!

 

Sorry, I can't turn this video... listen for the giggle!

 

~Progressive Dinner~

We got home from vacation and hit the ground running.  We had our LIFE ministry meeting on Tuesday, church Wednesday, grocery shopping on Thursday and we spent some quality family time Friday night preparing food for the youth group Progressive Dinner.

 

I enjoyed having the appetizers again.  Jordan cleaned the pepper for the popper, Jared washed the mushrooms for stuffing and Aaron wrapped the smokies in bacon.  Gregg did a bunch of helpful things as well.

 

We had 26 people!  They split the teens in half... girls and guys were even so we split that way.  I really should have made more food!  Some of the teens were disappointed that I didn't make my pepper jack bread loaf... I guess I'll have to make that for them later!

Gregg handled the guy group while I followed the girls to dinner and dessert.  It was a fun night out... and I'm always thankful to have the kitchen clean by Lovie while I was out partying!  (He actually volunteered me for this... so, you know, it was his own doing:-)