Venturing Crew - a new adventure

Shiloh is...ALWAYS reluctant to try new things.  However, she agreed to give Venturing a try.  Venturing is the co-ed arm of the Boy Scouts, and it focuses on high-adventure outings as well as community service.  We weren't entirely sure it would be a whole-hearted try since she doesn't like change or new things, but we figured we'd just see what happened and our real focus would be on Cora, who REALLY wants to join when she's old enough (you have to be 13 and have finished eighth grade, or 14).  To our surprise and delight, she came home from the first meeting VERY excited about this new adventure. A group for Venturing is called a Crew just like a group for Boy Scouts is called a Troop and for Cub Scouts, a Pack (you learn something new every day, right?) .She made an effort to get to know people, she enjoyed the ice-breakers, and she was looking forward to the Crew's first adventure - a SCUBA class at a local pool.  Here are a couple of pictures of the new Crew members of Crew 174 in Greene County (there's my handsome husband as the Crew Advisor).  

 

 They had a good turnout for the first meeting - 8 girls and 5 young men.  Since then, another young man has joined them.

 Here are some pictures from their second outing - snowboarding!  Shiloh said she spent a lot of time on the ground, but she still had a good time. :)  Daniel thinks the Crew Advisor (that would be he) should perhaps NOT do all of the activities that the (younger) Crew members do. :)  He was mightily sore for the next three days or so.  He also decided that perhaps his muscles might have liked skiing much better than snowboarding because they might have remembered skiing. :)

We're all looking forward to this new adventure and where it takes Shiloh (and, eventually, Cora).  We hope it opens a whole new world to them filled with new challenges, opportunities to fall on their faces (figuratively and literally with the snow boarding :) ) and then learn how to get back up, opportunities for service and leadership, and, of course, FUN with new friends. :)

And now finally...a birthday BOY

Our handsome boy, Nathaniel, turned seven yesterday!  SEVEN.  On his first birthday home, he looked like this:

And the rest of the kids looked like this:

And let me just pause right now to say...wah.  Time flies by way too fast, n'est-ce pas? :(

 

 And now look at this handsome, huge, TALL, long-legged boy!  Yikes.  He is definitely going to tower over Daniel and me someday...soon. :)

 

Nathaniel had a full day and a half of festivities for his birthday, because we had Oma here to celebrate! The night before his birthday, Oma took us out for dinner after we enjoyed ice-skating at our local rink.  He had chosen Red Robin for his dinner out, but one of his siblings (ahem...the petite dictator) got to him and convinced him that he really wanted to go to Hibachi Grill, so we ended up there (I think he really enjoyed it; I'm just not entirely sure he made the choice without fear of retribution :) ).  The next morning, we went to Dunkin Donuts, (after his siblings finished their math, which he didn't have to do, because the birthday kiddo gets the day off!) then we traveled to Target to spend gift cards and money burning holes in pockets, then we picked up McDonald's for lunch.  The girls had piano lessons and then everyone watched a movie while I "rested my eyes."  Cora and Adah also decorated the dining room for the birthday festivities (man, I never get tired of expounding on the joys of helpful older children!).  We had our birthday celebration as soon as Daniel got home from work because he and Shiloh had a Venturing Crew meeting later that night.  Nathaniel got to open his presents and then have his cake and ice cream - lemon cake and chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (suspiciously, also Abigail's choice for her birthday if I remember correctly - hmmm)

Look at all those giant people!  My mom says that's what happens when you keep feeding them.

Nathaniel is contemplating his pile of presents in this picture:

Abigail handed out all the presents - basically she was in charge of the evening.  Nathaniel did a great job taking the time to read all the cards. :)

Cora snuggles with Oma. :)

I think Abigail was giving some instructions on how order is to be maintained at all times. 

We gave Nathaniel one of those V-tech kid's digital cameras, but of course we can't show him how to use it because we have no idea.  Enter Cora.  That girl can figure out anything electronic.  The rest of the kids don't even bother to ask me how to work stuff - they just go to Cora.

Shiloh and I snuggled in between the present-opening and cake-eating part of the evening.  Abigail told us it was okay.

This is not my greatest attempt at a cake.  I was trying to be humorous because Nathaniel was having a Transformers/Star Wars combined party.  Originally, I was going to put a Transformer on top of the cake and we were going to have Transformers decorations, but Wal-mart didn't have them.  (I know - Wal-mart didn't have them?  I was gobsmacked as well.)  ANYWAY, Nathaniel decided he could live with Star Wars decorations, but then Jackson was REALLY bothered by the fact that the Star Wars decorations didn't match because SOME of them were from the old movies, SOME of them were from the new movies, and SOME of them were from the Clone Wars. ?!?  Meanwhile, I decided to put "May the Force Be With You" on the cake, and Jackson offered the suggestion to continue to include the Transformer theme by adding, "Autobots, Roll Out."  Do any of you know of this saying?  I was not aware that Optimus Prime often says this when the good Transformers are going off to fight the bad guys (Megatron included) until I got the run-down of the show from Jackson AT LENGTH with MUCH DETAIL.  (They watch the Transformers Prime cartoon series on Netflix; they haven't seen the movies!!  I watched it once with them, and here's all you need to know:  fighting, fighting, fighting, going someplace else, fighting, fighting, fighting - it's a guy show)  Okay, let me sum up:  Cake boring; Nathaniel ate it anyway. :)

Don't you see the family resemblance?  Oh, they're growing up to be just like their daddy.  So proud.

I had to include this picture because it looks like Oma is trying to figure out what's hanging from the chandelier...

...and I don't blame her, because here's what IS hanging from the chandelier:

Jackson's Star Wars figures!  Some of them look a little uncomfortable. :) 

We ate our cake and ice cream BEFORE dinner! :)  The kids decided they preferred this method because then they were never too full to enjoy as much dessert as they wanted.   Nathaniel also asked for spaghetti for his birthday dinner (I'm pretty sure that decision was 100% his own) so we finished up our lovely evening with spaghetti, salad, and yummy bread made with the spent grain my neighbor uses to make his home brew. :)  It felt like a celebration all day long!  We are so thankful for our cheerful, thoughful, (he kept trying to share all his birthday goodies with everyone! :) ) snuggly, loveable, giggle box Nathaniel. I can look back at our hardest times with him and see how God has been faithful to bring us through and, we pray, make us stronger as a family because of it.  We can see the progress he has made, and we continue to pray for greater bonds among all of us.  We have great hope for him, and we are eager to see what the Lord will do in his life.  As always, I am thankful for the care and sacrifice of his first mom, and I never fail to think of her on his birthday.  She has given our family a great gift in our son, Nathaniel Erickson.  Happy Birthday, Nathaniel!  We love you!

Twins?

You decide.  Abigail is pretty appalled with the idea, but I see a resemblance. :)  She has cuter ears, though.

I need to take and post pictures of Abigail with all her fabulous new headbands, but I've only gotten as far as getting the camera out to actually take the pictures. :)

Boys

I had heard that boys can sometimes be reluctant readers.  I found that to be the case with Jackson.  Although he LOVED books, he preferred to be read TO, not to read a book on his own.  There have been brief glimpses of the reader he would become - the Sam Cooper Adventure Series comes to mind, and anything related to weapons, warfare, or hunting, but generally he prefers to skim and look at pictures.  I decided that I wouldn't push it but that I would continue to offer good reading material while I continued to read to him.  Yesterday afternoon he decided he would like to read The Hobbit.  He's only eight.  Never one to discourage an interest in reading, I gave it to him.  He's on Chapter 7 today, and he's laughing at Bilbo's antics and reading parts out loud to his siblings and me.

Thank you, Mr. Tolkien.  If I didn't think you were a genius before, I definitely think so now. :)

And now for something serious...

...and also wonderful.  Here is Abigail, who decided to stand in solidarity with her friend Aryanna who is battling kidney cancer.  She decided to do this on her own, insisted that she really meant it, and then went through with it on Friday night (Daddy assisted).  I was concerned that she would be in tears, but she came down smiling.  Here are the things I'm thankful for: 

Abigail's heart for her friend - she humbles me tremendously;

Supportive siblings, who, although they hated the idea of her shaving her head, told her the minute she came down how cute she looked;

Aryanna - who has shown such grace and strength for someone so young;

Daniel - who is mighty handy with clippers;

and the Lord, who seems to be moving in my little girl's heart, inspiring her to a compassion and love that is awesome to see.

 

I'm also very thankful that I did not pass on my weirdly-shaped head to my girl; she has a cute head!  I think she looks like Sinead O'Connor, back in the day.  She is still accessorizing with her sparkly headband, and she has added some hats to her closet for going out and about. :)  I'll post some of those pictures when I get them downloaded off the camera.  She and Jackson also look like twins these days (a remark she does NOT appreciate, so we try to say it behind her back :) ).

Favorites

We were discussing some of our favorite things at dinner tonight.  We weighed in on our favorite dogs' names,  favorite cookies, and then favorite ice cream flavors. When it was Nathaniel's turn, he was flustered.  "I know...I know...it's....it's the one...Mommy, what's the toothpaste one?" :) 

(He meant mint chocolate chip, and I agree with him - it IS the toothpaste one.)

Ode to My Dead Dryer

Alas, you have turned out
like all things made in China,
even though you were made in Germany.
You should be better,
faster, sleeker, more efficient,
like a Mercedes.
Not like a Yugo. (mixed metaphor)
I'm so sad.
Curse you, Bosch.

The Abigailiest

Yes, as my mom said, of all the Abigails she knows, Abigail Emma is the very Abigailiest.

Example:
We were playing Hedbanz last night and it was Abigail's turn.
"Am I a person?"
"No."
"Am I a place?"
"No."
"Am I a thing?"
"Yes."
"Do I use it for a fancy party?"  (the answer was earrings)
"You could."
"Is it a LIMO?"

I like how her mind automatically jumps from a thing to a fancy party to a limo.  Oh, my.

The Scourge of 2013

Since last Thursday, our family has experienced the following:
Fever with Shiloh
Coughing with Shiloh (which has actually been going on longer than that)
Severe headache with Cora
Fever with Cora
Coughing with Cora
Coughing with Adah, Nathaniel, and Jackson
Fever with Jackson
Fever with Nathaniel (his first ever!)
Pink-eye with Jackson
Ear infection with Jackson
Vomiting with Cora
Return of fever with Shiloh
Antibiotics for coughing with Shiloh
1 urgent care visit for Cora
1 doctor visit for Cora
1 doctor visit for Shiloh
1 doctor visit for Jackson

Clearly, there is a plague on our house.  Either Abigail is being spared because of her superior immune system or she is the cause of the plague in some way.  :) She's the only one standing with not even a sniffle throughout the whole thing.  We're still in the trenches and I don't see daylight yet...

Please drop airlifted supplies into the backyard.  Tylenol for them and chocolate for me are a must. :)

Another Birthday Girl!

Abigail Emma turned double digits on February 3rd!! She really had a birthday weekend, because she celebrated with Adah and their friend Aryanna on Friday night at a manicure/pedicure/fancy eats/movie party.  On Saturday evening, she went out to Red Lobster with Daddy where they shared a platter of fish/shrimp/mussels (her favorite)/and scallops.  They returned home to lemon cake with chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream (she always picks the WEIRDEST combinations!).  Oh - before they went out she opened her presents because we were pretty sure there was a shirt in there that she would like to wear out on the town.  There was (see dog shirt below :) ).  Sunday was her actual birthday, and she awakened to her birthday signs in a gymnastics theme.  She received a book about Gabby Douglas for her birthday, because she's currently into all things gymnastics.  We're not doing lessons or anything; she is teaching herself down in the basement. :)  She's also very much into games right now, so we got Apples to Apples for her and Hedbanz.  I tried to get Pictionary, too, but Walmart didn't carry it and I didn't have time to get to Target.  We even extended the party to Monday because we helped Aryanna celebrate the end of her radiation treatments for kidney cancer with Dunkin' Donuts!  My Abigail Emma has been a sweet friend to Aryanna throughout her struggle so far, and it does my mama's heart tremendous good to see her caring for her friend in such a loving way.  Because she is such a chatty, spunky girl, she lifts a person's spirits even when she's not being intentional about it.  She has shared Scripture with Aryanna and prayed for her, and we are thankful to see how God is using her.  Happy Birthday, Abigail!!  You are a treasure.

 Sorry about the red eye!  We are currently in the middle of a plague in our household, and I can't be bothered to try to figure out how to fix it if it doesn't work the first time. :)  Also - our dryer is broken.  That's totally random, but it adds to the general atmosphere of trial. :)

 Do you see the "disco ball" in the center hanging from the chandelier?  :)  Cora created it by brushing glue all over the balloon and then rolling it in sequins. :)  She and Adah arranged flashlights to shine on it, and it really worked when you spun it! That Cora is crafty.

 Abigail asked for a gray cat's face on a blue cake.  Okay, so the cat is a little mauve, but she was satisfied. :)

And thus ends Birthday 2 of the year - Birthday 3 is Nathaniel's on February 26th, and he's FINALLY allowed to talk about it. :)  The rule is that Abigail's birthday must be over before he's allowed to talk about his, because otherwise he tries to monopolize every birthday discussion. I anticipate many discussions in the next few weeks. :)  He hasn't decided on a theme yet.