Cameron's Wolf Badge

This is Cameron getting his Wolf badge. He had to howl like a wolf on all fours with fake teeth in his mouth. He had a great time and he thought he was the coolest thing ever. It was pretty amazing that he got his wolf badge so early. His den leader was really proud of him, as we were also.

San Antonio Zoo

It's been a while since my last post but this was our trip to the zoo over spring break. We had a great time. It was pretty hot and crowded but it was worth it. The animals were fun and playful. We even got to see the lions playing in the water and the monkeys making faces at us.

Cameron's Crazy Hair Day

A couple of weeks ago during spring break we had the chance to go to dinner at the Cafe where some of Cowan's students had artwork displayed. Cameron was one of those students and his artwork was called "Crazy Hair Day". Their art teacher is pretty intense about making sure that each art piece has a title and making sure that they always do their very best work. Most definitely a step up from when I was in elementary. Only 50 kids in the whole school were chosen by the art teacher to display their work at a local resturaunt for a couple of months and when we went by and took his picture the waiter said that Cameron's piece always got the most compliments. He said that the patrons really liked looking at all of the kids work because it was fun but that Cameron's was the most interesting and showed the most imagination. Cameron was pretty excited about that. Either way, we were pretty proud that Cameron had this opportunity.

Our little snow day

Austin never gets much snow at all but every once in a while we get a little tease. This year we actually got flakes, BIG ones, that lasted all day long! Well, they were on and off all day long. The kids still went to school and we could still drive in it since, as you can tell, it didn't really stick to the streets. It was still beautiful. Jenna did no work all day long because she was too distracted and she and Carter built a sad little snowman with a nose bigger than his body. It was still snowing when the boys got home from school and they were able to go outside and play in it also. Cameron and Jenna spent the most time out there and had blast. I have to say that as pretty as it was, it was so messy! The snow mixing with mud made a HUGE mess in the house and it was so cold. While we had lots of fun that one day, we don't want to live somewhere it snows for months at a time, it would certainly lose it's wow factor.

Jacob's 6th birthday

Jacob had his 6th birthday on Thursday on today we had his birthday party. He decided he wanted he would like to celebrate Easter a little bit early so we had an easter egg hunt and dyed easter eggs. We also played musical chairs. We made fun bunny cupcakes that weren't such a huge hit because they had coconut on them but I like coconut so I'm not complaining too much:)
Jacob has declared that this is the best birthday party ever, which is my judge on whether I've done a good job or not. I don't care about the adults or even the other kids too much, as long as the birthday child was happy and was satisfied with the celebration, I've accomplished what I've set out to do.
There are many birthday parties we've been to that are a little "rich" for my blood. I prefer simple. My kids pick the theme and most of the activities. Sometimes they need a little prompting and I'm happy to give suggestions but I always give many suggestions so they feel it's THEIR party not mine. I've also found that it's much cheaper. I feel the need to feed everyone and make sure everyone has this and that, my kids just want to have fun and it is much easier, stress-free, and cheaper to go their way.
We had a great time, so did the adults, and the other kids. Of course, we always only invite family and my best friend and her kids, which we consider family anyway:)

the WORST four weeks EVER

The past four weeks have been absolutely horrible and I am going to complain about them, I feel I have earned the right. It all started with Jacob, he got a really bad cold and with his asthma we decided we needed to take him in to the doctor to get checked out. He just needed some steroids and some more regular asthma treatments which we've been through before. No big deal, right? Well, we didn't think so either. We had to go back in for a follow up and found out that even with steroids he developed a walking pneumonia. That was scary. I kinda freaked out about that one. We got some medicine and moved along. Then, about 3 days later, Carter woke up with a really bad cough and Cameron said his eye hurt really bad. When I looked at Cameron, I just laughed. I thought, well, no wonder your eye hurts you have some pretty nasty pink eye going on in there. So we went back to the doctor. Carter was diagnosed with walking pneumonia and Cameron with, no surprise, pink eye. Much of a surprise to me, pneumonia is actually contagious to people with respiritory problems like asthma, I had no clue. It was originally explained to me that pneumonia was a secondary condition and only the first virus was contagious. Anyhoo, after the doctor, we went back home and decided it was going to be a rough week with Carter sick but as long as we got medicine in Cam he could go to school. During this time, Kendall and I developed some kind of cold/flu that was pretty much kicking our behinds. We were pretty tired and were having a hard time putting one foot in front of the other much less taking care of sick kids. Then to make everything all better, on Tuesday morning at 3 am Cameron woke up throwing up with the most violent stomach flu we've had in about 5 years. It was bad. Not only did Cameron get it, it went through the ENTIRE family.
I am tired. I am sick of sick people and if someone else gets sick or tells me they feel bad I may jump out a window. I am a little dramatic sometimes. I sometimes act like my world will end because of what's going on, but I will tell you that the last four weeks was awful. I do not want to experience that again.
I hope beyond all hope it is over. Maybe our illness will be done for the season. With any luck......

Jenna's first Temple trip

Jenna had her first Temple trip this month. She had a really great time. Of course, she and her friends had a hard time keeping reverent but that's 12 year olds for you. There was an older couple that came with us and the wife was able to baptize her mother and that was really special. It was a really great thing for the girls to be able to see the reaction of how spiritual it can be when you love someone and you want them so much to have the gospel in their lives. It can only touch your heart to see the girls touched by that baptism.