Lisa and John

After posting about Cal’s Arrow of Light I realized that I never posted about Ivan’s bobcat.  (The pictures were in a different folder on my computer and I forgot about them!)  Ivan became a Cub Scout when he turned eight in December.  At the February pack night he received his BOBCAT rank.  In our pack, if you advance to the next rank you get to wear the BOBCAT hat.  It is from a real bobcat that Brother Pappas (our Cub Master) trapped.  His wife made it into a cool hat.  The boys just LOVE getting a chance to wear it.

It’s GREAT to be a CUB!!

Calvin has moved through all his Cub Scout ranks.  The highest award that a Cub Scout can achieve is the Arrow of Light.  Calvin earned this award and it was presented at a special pack night in June.

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Bro. Pappas is our wonderful Cub Master and he brought his gun for a special Arrow of Light ceremony.  There were two boys that received the award that night.  He spoke about the early hunters in America who cherished their guns.  This particular gun is a Hawkins Rifle.  50 caliber.  Muzzle loader.  Black powder rifle.  It was a great gun.  (Still is–he has taken down deer with this rifle.)

As part of the ceremony, both boys were able to go into the church parking lot and shoot this awesome gun.

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Here is a picture of the Pappas’.  These are their mountain man outfits.  Sister Pappas makes most of their stuff by hand.  Very cool!

We had a fun Cub Scout Cook Out with our wolf den in early June.  We made ice-cream in a bag and cooked s’mores and pigs-in-blankets.  It was so much fun.

My neighbor Sister Nelson graciously allowed us to use her back yard.  It was the perfect setting for a fun cook out.

We brought DUCKIE along with us.

My fearless co-leader CeCe.

I’m not sure where Ivan was when I was taking pictures.  But he was there as well.

It’s great to be a CUB SCOUT!

I’ve been busy working on some home projects.  First, I rearranged all of our rooms.  We made the small little room into our “master” bedroom.  Our king sized bed just BARELY fit!  I had fun painting it and John and I both love our little honeymoon corner.  It is very cozy.

Next I began to tackle the living room.  This is the before picture.  I really needed some more color.

BEFORE

And, here is the after.  The color is called “Organic Sage”, but it really is more of an apple green.  I love it and it makes me happy.

AFTER

My next dilemma is window curtains.  I am pretty sure I want my accent color to be a blue of some sort.  Maybe turquoise-y.  But, what color for the curtains?  My red couch doesn’t really go with the green and although the black chairs look nice, I think they are too large for the space.  So, the furniture needs some thought….  This picture below was taken during the painting process, so things are a little out of order.

Do you have any ideas for me as far as colors go?  I’m open to suggestions.  Feel free to comment here or send me an e-mail.  I really love cottage style, but the more contemporary cottage style.  Elizabeth says my colors are modern.  I love the colors, but modern isn’t the look I am going for.  Am I difficult or what?

Help…..please…..

Calvin turned ELEVEN on the 17th of June.  We had so much fun fishing and swimming last year so Calvin wanted more of the same for this year’s party.  We went to Spanish Oaks Reservoir and we all had a great time.

Calvin is 11 years old!

The scenery was beautiful.

The boys had a great time fishing.  No fish were caught, though.

We ate sub sandwiches and had a yummy CHOCOLATE TRES LECHE CAKE.  It was very rich and wonderful.

Happy Birthday, Calvin.  We love you so much!

Well, she probably didn’t NEED a haircut, but it was looking a little bit scraggly in back.  She was wiggly and I’ve never cut hair on a girl before, but it turned out alright.

“My little baby’s growin’ up” <sniff, sniff>

We got in on this fun gardening opportunity that is mainly down in Arizona.  Somehow we got a chance to have a residential bucket garden.  It is kind of like square inch gardening.  These boys volunteered their time to install the garden for us.  Thanks, guys!

More info and pictures to follow, but if you want to know more, go to

http://thegardenmaster.com/

or

http://readymadegarden.blogspot.com/

Yes I am a guinea pig….  This is sand in plastic bags.  The bags last about 17 years.  There will be a trellis system and I spray the plants every three weeks with some organic nutrients.  Can’t wait to see what it produces.  I have some stuff planted and will continue to add more as the weeks go by.  A new adventure.  No weeds.  I can do this!

What do you do when this little cutie shows up on your doorstep?  All the way from Georgia?

And this one?

You give their mom a hug!  Sorry about that pic, Tauna!

All the kids played well together for our 3.25 hour visit.  Then, our dear friends were off to complete the rest of their journey.

This is our little duck that hatched last month.  Of our eight eggs, only one hatched.  This photo was taken on May 16th.  It is amazing how much he has grown.  I’ll post some updated photos soon.  And, some videos.

Avy LOVES the duckie.  And, the feeling is mutual.

Here is a picture of our first hatchlings.  They are even way bigger now.

Here is picture of the duckling right after it hatched.

These chicks hatched the next day.

Baby chicks are so sweet.

We had fun playing with bubbles at the park last week.  It was pretty windy, so the bubbles went fast and popped too soon.  But, it was still fun.  Here are some pics.  Oh, and the other day Avy was wearing this cute little hat crocheted by my friend, Blanca.  So, hat, then bubbles….

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