Blogger Catch Up- Right to Read Week

The theme for this year's Right To Read Week was 'Community'.  Hmmmm- a tough one to ignite the imagination for sure.  

Earlier in the week, Will went to school dressed as Jack Hanna for Dress-Like-A-Community-Hero Day.  After seeing Jack Hanna cry last summer on the news when speaking about having to shoot those wild animals which that idiot released before killing himself in Zanesville, I think we all gained a new respect for the heroism of Jungle Jack.

I carried the theme into our design for the cake contest and planned a cake based on the book 'Z is for Zookeeper'.  

Who doesn't love an heroic Zookeeper?

Blogger Catch up- Spring Project

I bought this pond boat at an antique fair.  Rick replaced the mast and built a base for it.

I made a Fairy Garden in it. 

Welcome Fairies!

Blogger Catch Up- First Communion

Will and his second grade classmates made their First Communion.  It was a very special day.  Will carried an olive wood rosary that had been blessed by Pope John Paul II which my mother had given to Rick when he became a Catholic and he wore a pin that my brother had worn when he made his First Communion.

I love that my children go to catholic school.  I love the small, nurturing community and I love that they are a part of the same traditions that I grew up with.  

The memories I have of my First Communion are that my mother made my dress and that when they handed me the chalice of wine there was only a tiny little bit of wine in the bottom so I had to tip the cup way up to get a sip and it looked like I was guzzling all the communion wine at the tender age of 8.  

Thankfully nobody guzzled the wine at this year's St Mary School First Communion.

Blogger Catch Up- Soccer

Soren played soccer in the spring.  

Here's an action shot of him looking like a little soccer stud.

Blogger Catch Up - Easter

We were in Bedford for Easter and on Easter Saturday we went down to the town square for the community easter egg hunt.  Yes, it was just as nuts as it looks.

After church on Easter Sunday we enjoyed a much more civilized egg hunt on Grandma's porch.  It was nice of the Easter Bunny to arrange that.

Love these Easter Fellas!

Blogger Catch Up- Gone Fishin'

Back in the spring we joined the Cub Scout Pack out at Camp Falling Rock for a little spring fishing. It was a beautiful warm, sunny day- just right for fishing. 

Rick got the poles all set up and luckily the very considerate fish in the Boy Scout Camp pond liked hotdogs better than worms.  We fished and fished and fished...

And took some snack breaks

Will broke the ice by catching a lovely catfish 

(who knew those fish made a mad growling noise?!

who knew fish made noise?!)

Soren and I hiked around the camp a bit to take in the other natural sights

Will could not be persuaded to leave the pond and he and Rick caught fish after fish late into the evening.

We're calling that a fishing success. To this day, that is Will's lucky fishing shirt.

Throwback Pinewood Derby

The Scout Master of Pack 456 seized upon the idea of making this year's Pinewood Derby a Throwback Derby- in honor of the first Pinewood Derby in 1953.  That meant that all cars had to be cut in the same design as the first Boy Scout-approved 1953 design and all the cars had to be weighted with pennies instead of the fancy tungsten weights they sell at the Boy Scout Store these days.  There were some fans of this plan and some haters, but in the end everyone got a medal because everyone did their best and that's all that matters, right?

It turns out that 1953 was also the first year of the Corvette, so Will selected a '53 Corvette design for his paint job.  Mom committed to the theme by creating classic white-wall tires for Will's car.

Soren had a bit more leeway because he didn't have to comply with the throwback rules. He picked an Angry Birds theme. Rick was against attaching feathers to the car because they would create drag, but how can you have an Angry Bird car without feathers? 

And he did end up winning the Pack Award for best car design.

Yay for Team Smiley!