Webelos & Arrow of Light

Wednesday night Miles received his Webelos and his Arrow of Light awards at pack night. We did it outside at the church. It was a little cold that night. (There was a "shelter-in-place" in effect for North Concord so we weren't sure if scouts was going to happen at the last minute.) Luckily, Chris Rossi was there and he kindly took A TON of pictures of Miles and me receiving his awards. Miles even gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek that night.We are so proud of Miles for getting both awards. He is ready to be done with Cub scouts and move on, he just has to bide his time for the next 2 months until he is officially an 11-year-old scout.

Our scout troop does this face painting ceremony when the boys earn their big awards. So I got to paint Miles' face. The colors and marks are all supposed to mean something. (But I really can't remember)

Way to go Miles!!

2010 Christmas Card

Snowflake Reflections Cocoa Christmas Card

Get custom photo Christmas cards online at Shutterfly.com.

View the entire collection of cards.

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8EZOWLdo0ZMjK

Halloween 2010

We survived Halloween this year. The girls and I were in Disneyland the first part of the week and then we got sick. Friday night, Caden went with the Rossi's to our ward Halloween party while Alexandra, Miles and I stayed home. (Shouldn't it be illegal to be sick on the holidays??) Tim and Avery went to the Warriors game. Miles carved his own pumpkin and I roasted the pumpkin seeds. We had nachos and french bread pizza for dinner.

Miles "Fear the Beard" Brian Wilson. (Everybody loved his beard!)
Caden the football player. (Wearing his Clayton Valley Falcons uniform.)
Alexandra is Princess Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty (her favorite princess).
Avery is Snow White.
Happy Halloween!!

Boys Trip {June 2010} Chicago & St. Louis

Tim Miles and Caden flew out to Chicago on June 14th.
They went to visit Grandma & Grandpa Doll (aka President and Sister Doll.)

They got to do some sightseeing. Legoland.
They played wiffle ball against a few missionaries in the church parking lot.
I'm sure Miles was trying hard to strike out grandma.
Soldier Field where Da Bears play.
Huge McDonald's.
Chicago Temple.
They went to Medieval Times for dinner and a show.
They also went and saw The Karate Kid and Toy Story 3 and has some deep dish pizza.
They went to Wrigley Field to a Cubs vs. A's game.
The boys got new hats (and tired to keep the bills nice and straight,)
Then they said good-bye to Grandma and Grandpa after 5 days and rode
Amtrak Saturday morning from Chicago to St. Louis.
They went to a game at Busch Stadium Saturday night. Cardinals vs. A's.
Rain delay before the game started.
View from their hotel:
It was really hot and humid in St. Louis so they swam most of the time they were there.They did visit the arch.
Inside the little tram that takes you to the top of the arch.
Caden at the top of the arch.
They had a good time.
But after being away from home for 9 days I think they were ready to come home.
I think the plan for the next "boys trip/baseball stadium experience" is to go to Minnesota. (as long as J.Paul and Tara are still living there!)

Collins Lake {July 2010}

This summer we went camping with the Rossi's and Crawford's at Collins Lake. We decided to go about 5 days before we left. (I think we are better at last minute plans than long term, because something usually comes up these days.) Traffic was bad getting up there but it was such a fun place to stay. We spent 2 nights which is the perfect amount of time for camping.

Cooking s'mores.

We camped right on the water. The water was nice and warm too. There was also a rope someone had put in a tree. The kids loved swinging in it. Especially Alexandra. She wasn't sure about the boat rides so she spent a lot of time on shore and in the rope swing.
ALL the kids liked throwing rocks into the lake. I think a few of them got in trouble at various times though.
We all took turns on the boat and and on the tube.
Miles being brave and going all by himself:
Tim & Chris!
Caden
Avery & Tim on the boat.
There were some funny moments and a scary moment.

Funny:
Tim told Miles to take his shorts into the lake and wash them off since they were pretty dirty. Miles went in the water and started to wash them off. Then Chris jokingly told Miles to stomp the shorts into the ground because that is what got them really clean. So Miles actually did it -- about 4 feet under water. Then Miles couldn't find the shorts. We thought they were gone. (and I had just bought them 2 weeks ago.) So I get in the water with Miles and start using our feet to try and find the shorts. Luckily Miles found them about 10 minutes later.

Scary:
Tim bought a large blow up tube for the kids to play in around the edge of the water. Caden gets into the tube and starts floating around. He has his life jacket in the tube with him but he didn't put it on. All of a sudden Caden and the tube are quite a far distance from the shore, clear out by the buoy's. I start yelling at Tim that Caden needs help. Caden starts to panic and jumps out the tube without his life jacket on but holds onto the tube and is trying to swim back to shore. I yell at Tim again to go help Caden -- because I am not a strong swimmer. Another guy sees that Caden is starting to struggle. Caden finally lets go of the tube and is trying to swim on his own but he has his sandals on and he is getting tired fast. I jump into the water but the other guys jumps in and gets to Caden first and brings him back to shore. The tube is still a good 200 yards away from shore. It was a little scary for a few seconds and Caden was shook up for a while. But everyone was safe and we even got the tube back.

Avery turns 2!

Avery turned 2 on Sunday, August 29th. Since it was a Sunday, it was pretty low key. We went to church and took naps. Ate dinner and had cake and brownies. We "Skyped" both sets of grandparents. She got some new clothes and PJ's and a Princess Belle doll -- that Alexandra pretty much decided was hers after Avery opened it. (Which we thought would most likely happen.)

One of her birthday outfits:

Not sure of her birthday cake, but Alexandra is.

Talking to Grandma Redding on the phone with her Belle doll. (before we got onto Skype.)

We call her "Little Caden" at home because she looks like him AND she is crazy like him. She has no fear (at home). She is climbing up and jumping off things all the time. Her only fear is other people, except her immediate family. If she doesn't like you she will give you this look:or not look at you at all. Don't mess with Avery.