Pumpkin Patch

Okay, that last post took more time than I intended, but it was such a full weekend and so much happened, I thought you deserved to hear about it. We took a quick trip this afternoon to our favorite area Pumpkin Patch. The girls love going here each year and picking out the perfect pumpkins for both carving and their favorite part, the little pumpkins they get to keep. It was a beautiful day for pumpkins:)

And now you are at least somewhat caught up. Can you see why I never get time to blog anymore?? Next week, Halloween party, my friend and I are putting one on together for the Scouts and a few friends. We went from 12 confirmed kids to nearly 25 in the space of an hour. YIKES!! Wish us luck!! Fortunately we rented a place to hold it. So until next week.... Happy Fall Y'all!!

Camp out, Girl Scout Style

Yes, we all slept on those THIN little cots.

Making their own First Aid kits, so cute:)
A Fall Craft.
Learning Chinese Jump Rope, this was hysterical!:)
Knots!
Julia and her BFF taking part in the Flag Retreat Ceremony with the older girls. Love it!:)
"Fairy Glen" the girls spent most of their free time in here by themselves, making up their own games and stories.

Julia and I went on a Leader/Daughter Camp Out last weekend with a couple other Troops in our area. And though the beds were beyond awful and we nearly froze the first night, the second night we put the beds together;), we would absolutely go and do it again. She had a blast and truthfully so did I. It was an adventure right from the start. There were 9 of us from our Troop, 4 Mom's and 5 girls. The two that have actually been to the camp before, were in one van, my bff and I were in the other. After our stop for dinner, they left us getting back on the highway, and we were sure they were miles ahead of us. Well they were, but they MISSED the EXIT! So we found our way in our own, in the dark to the parking lot and meet the Ranger, and end up WAITING on them. THEN, after they arrived, about 20 minutes after us, we had the Ranger's truck loaded with our stuff, and were supposed to hike in. Mind you it's full dark by now. No problem, we're Girl Scouts, we have flash lights and maps, right? One would think. My co-leader, (who is one of the ones that missed the exit) takes the map, because after all, she's been here before, and we start down the road. Only for her to stop after at least a half a mile and say "wait a minute. this is too far down, what was that last trail? We missed ours somehow" SAY WHAT??? So, I get out my cell phone and make the embarrassing call to our SDA leader that is heading up the camp out and tell her we are lost. So back up the road we go, with sketchy directions from her and a promise to send the older scouts to meet us. Happily it wasn't long before we found the start of the trail. To be fair to my co-leader it really was NOT marked, I think we may be doing something about that soon. LOL

So that was the start to our adventure, then came the cabins, freezing our butts off, getting up at 6 AM after NO SLEEP and slogging our way through the day and I know it was every bit of 10 PM when we called it a night after gathering our things to be ready to head out the next morning, participating in a Flag Retirement Ceremony, (seriously moving stuff that!), and snuggling up for hopefully a bit more warmth. The girls made duct tape flowers, duct tape situpons, the activities that the older Troops put on for them that you saw in the above pictures, hiked in the woods, cooked dinner over the campfire, popped pop corn, and made smores. It was a very packed day. Julia and I got home about 9:30 Sunday morning, took a hot shower and by 11 laid down for a nap and slept til almost 2! Yes we were tired!

And while we were gone roughing it, Daddy and Devyn??? What did they do you ask?? Well they went out for breakfast both mornings, hit the carnival in town, and then Daddy, God love him, fixed the hot water heater and shampooed the carpets! Nice huh??!!:) Devyn is already asking when Julia and I are leaving again!! LOL!

Terrific Kids

Yep, that's a lot of Terrific Kids! Our school has a program that recognizes Terrific Kids every quarter. Each teacher gets to put up 3 kids for the award each quarter. So these are 3 kids from each of our 1st and 2nd grade classes. We are up to 17 1st grade classes, and I forget how many 2nd grade classes. So yeah, A LOT of Terrific Kids. Julia and her BFF (in another class) were both chosen the first quarter this year:) Have I mentioned her teacher is a really good fit this year??? I feel really blessed in so many ways to have her in Julia's life, and she is doing wonders building this kid confidence, maybe a bit too much even. Haha. Anyway, of course we were very proud of our Terrific Kid and she can't wait to use all of her coupons for free kids meals! LOL.

Twist me and turn me...

The Brownie story (from Girl Scouts) has a little rhyme, "Twist me and turn me and show me the elf, I looked in the water and saw ...MYSELF" One of our Daisies was ready to Bridge up to Brownies this year, so we had an Investiture/Rededication/Bridging Ceremony all rolled into one to start off another year of Scouts. And I seriously have not stopped since. This was the end of September, I am going to try to update you very quickly tonight with snippets from the last month. I am not kidding when I say it's been BUSY.

Mid-Autumn Moon Festival

We have some new friends in our local Families with Chinese Children group that are trying to get more activities going for our kids. This week marked the Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival you can read more about what those are here. So we got the kids together and had Moon Cakes, green tea ice cream, and they each got to make their own lantern that we then hung in a tree in the back yard. My girls had an absolute blast. The little girl pictured with J has been home with her forever family for about a year now. She and J are the same age and they really hit it off together. I love the pic of them on the couch because it totally looks like they are sharing secrets and I'm sure they were! Hopefully we be doing more activities with this group. Now that's it is cooling off a little I think the next one should be a day at a park :)

Please forgive me for my inconsistent blogging, we really have been right out straight. What with soccer, school, and me helping out with the Girl Scout Troop we have had A LOT going on. I may always be trying to play catch up, but we are always here and always up to something.

Soccer times 2

Well, now you know where we have been:)

Sorry I started to post this earlier and only got as far as some of the pics. That's been happening a lot lately with time catching up with me. This last couple of weeks has been soccer, soccer, soccer. I am not sure how my hubby is holding up coaching both teams, but I have to give him credit, he's doing a fantastic job! He calls it 'herding cats" especially the 3 and 4 year old team. He's doing good to keep them on the field. But they are all appear to having fun and at that age it's what it is all about.

I forgot my camera last Saturday and missed some good pics of J doing her thing. She managed to stop two goals while she was in the goalie position. She let the first one by her and I think that woke her up. She was determined not to let that happen again and threw herself right on the ball. I was so proud of her!! She may never be a star athlete, (and that is OKAY with this Mama!) but no one can fault her on her determination when she decides to try anything. :)