We started off on the 4th with the Scouting for Food Drive. I am so proud of our boys. Pack 215 may not be big, but they are determined. Our 7 boys collected 324 pounds of food. While the cubs were busy with the food drive, the troop was off clearing cudzoo from the trees in a local park. For those of you who do not know what cudzoo is it is an incredibly invasive plant that grows over and through and around everything in it's path. It was an exhausting job, but they had tons of fun as well. Some of the vines were large enough to play Tarzan on - and they did! Way to got 215!
Nicholas had his 10th birthday party on his birthday. The theme was movies, but they didn't sit around watching movies, they MADE movies. We got out the costume box and collected various props and the boys had a grand time making movies all afternoon. We stopped briefly to refuel with pizza, cake and ice cream, but the highlight of the day was getting to write, direct and star in their own movies. As a party favor we compiled the movies onto a DVD so the boys could show their families what they had done. I don't have any pictures of the party because I was video taping all the clips. Mom and Dad have a copy of the finished product if you want to see all the fun.
February 14th was the day we had all been waiting for. Lake Norman Charter School announced the results of their lottery. After agonizing over whether to apply and then trying to be patient for the date of the drawing we were all excited to finally learn if we got in. Long story short, Nicholas got in!!! Jeremy is on the waiting list for the eight grade. Next year we will try again for Jeremy and hopefully he will get in for high school since he has a sibling who is already a student. In the meantime, Jeremy will go to Ridge Road Middle School and Naomi will be in first grade at Highland Creek Elementary. Everyone is really excited about school for next year. I am adjusting to the idea of sending the kids to school, but I cannot deny that what is happening is what the Lord needs for the kids, and for me, next year. I love that I receive answers to my prayers and know that my Heavenly Father loves me and will always help me if I ask.
Jeremy turned 13 on the 19th. It is hard to believe that he is really a teenager! We had a small family party and did all of his favorite things all day.
The Blue and Gold Banquet was really fun this year. We went with a picnic theme complete with all the picnic fixins, trees, bushes, ants and insect sounds. Everyone seemed to have a great time. The Webelos put on a puppet show for us and the other scouts performed a skit. There were plenty of awards to go around as well. We ordered 6-foot subs from the Walmart deli along with all the sides. The hit of the night was the cake competition. I have included pictures of some of my favorites.
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| Nicholas designed his cake to show the all the beltloops and the golden arrow he earned. |
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| This is pound cake with brown frosting and red gel. It really looked like a giant PB&J |
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| The room decorated like a picnic in the great outdoors |
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| Great use of the picnic theme! |
The morning after the Blue and Gold, Jeremy and I got on a plane for Salt Lake City. I was going for a girls weekend with my mom and sisters and Jeremy was going to keep Grandpa company while we were all gone. It was an amazing weekend full of fun surprises. My mom had reserved a room at the downtown Marriott and we spent the weekend eating at fun restaurants, talking, having a massage, shopping, giggling, sight-seeing, getting hair make overs, etc. The motto for the weekend was "What happened on the girls weekend stays in the girls weekend." I can tell you that we had tons of fun and got to reconnect with each other as our busy lives prevent us from getting together as often as we would like. It doesn't help that I live 2,200 miles away. Another nice feature of the weekend - No Kids!!!!!
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| Jeremy got to spend some time with his Wykstra cousins. He was in 7th heaven the whole weekend and didn't miss me - even a little bit! |
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| On Sunday morning we got to go to the live broadcast of Music and the Spoken Word. I love hearing the Tabernacle Choir sing in the Old Tabernacle. AMAZING!! |
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| Me, Kathy, Jenny and Laura checking out the beds in our hotel rooms. |
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| Dad had roses sent to our room for us. He is such a sweetheart. Apparently it was a tradition to send Mom a rose in the hospital when each of us was born. He wanted to continue that tradition for our girls weekend. |
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| Dad and Jeremy spent some time on the University of Utah campus and got everyone shirts. Now the Cannon Family can help represent the Utes (with Brother Barker) in a ward that is somewhat overrun by BYU fans. |
As you can see, we used every minute of every day during the month of February in order to have a lot of fun and get our list of things done. There truly is never a dull moment in our house.
