Court of Honor

Monday night was our Boy Scout Troop's second Court of Honor. It's a very special evening, when the young men are given all the awards they've earned.

Noah(11) shined.

He is a very goal-oriented boy and Boy Scouts gives him well-defined, attainable goals to work toward.

He is excelling.

It was so much fun to see him receive three rank advancements, moving all the way up to First Class.

He also earned five merit badges, two of which are on the list of those required for Eagle Scout.

As he grows in stature and wisdom, I can see him growing in skill and competence and confidence.

He has learned so much and worked so hard this first year of Scouting.

Our hope as parents has always been that our children would begin to show growth toward young-adulthood by the time they turned 12. Noah is well on his way.

He's certainly not all grown up, but we can at least see that he will be one day!

Since the last Court of Honor in February, the boys have enjoyed an overnight campout at Camp Baker, a night at the Scout Cabin, Spring Camporee, a week of Boy Scout summer camp, an overnight on the field after a Eugene Emeralds baseball game, a five mile hike, installed crosses at a local cemetery for Memorial Day, completed Jr. Sailing School, served at a Lion's Club basketball tournament, and enjoyed many troop meetings on Monday evenings.

Noah has earned his Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class rank.

And has earned, in total, eight merit badges:
Chemistry
Small Boat Sailing
Swimming
First Aid
Mammal Study
Indian Lore
Leatherwork
Landscape Architecture

Great job, son!

Keep up the good work!

Barbecue Review

I came across this gem over at Smockity Frocks.

When my Ducklings watched it, Girlfriend(7) asked if the song were true. From my fond memories of living in the South for a few years, I can say with confidence,

"Yes, darlin', it's all true."

Truthfully, my very favorite barbecue in the whole wide world comes from the illustrious eateries of a glorious land called Dollywood.
Who would've thunk it?

(Although I linked you to the BBQ place at Dollywood, I still love to eat at Aunt Granny's, just because of the name.)

Enjoy!



Wow. That makes me super homesick for East Tennessee. There's no better music than bluegrass!

Photography Blog

Diane's amazing zoo photography inspired me to post a few particularly spectacular shots of my own this afternoon. I am a little jealous of her skills, but I'll try not to be intimidated as I share my best work. Some people are just more gifted than others.

Enjoy!

(As with Diane's remarkable pictures, all of these are straight out of the camera, unedited.)

This is Sunshine(5) swimming in her first ever mini swim meet. She did so well! I wanted to capture the moment for posterity. I couldn't be more proud. She couldn't even swim eight weeks ago. Great job, Sunshine!


Girlfriend(7) swam well, too, this is the ONLY picture I got of her today. Good thing it's such a great shot!

Here, Sunshine is racing freestyle, which she won. Amazing form! Amazing timing!


I also got some great shots of The Boy Scout(11) racing in the mini meet. Freestyle:


Great arm action!


Super start!


D(8) also has shown great improvement this summer. Isn't his butterfly stroke impressive?


Seriously, Diane's pictures are way better than mine, you really should go check them out.

Joy in the Journey

Right at this moment, this is going on in my quiet house:

(No, he's not really reading, just enjoying a book.)

It's a very peaceful afternoon, in spite of the cold, cloudy weather. Yesterday, we did some serious housekeeping and it leaves me feeling so much more on top of things today.

Ahhh...


In the "random" category, I bring you this tid bit:
We went to the restaurant supply store the other day and wanted to pick up a better dispenser for soy sauce. The best option I found was a squeeze bottle, which came in a six pack. When we got home, Girlfriend(7) and I set about thinking of things to put in the bottles. When it was all said and done, I found this oddly satisfying:

Such an illusion of order! So easily created!
(For the curious: BBQ, lemon juice, soy sauce, mayo, ranch, Italian.)

A couple of weeks ago, we ventured out to the County Fair where a good time was had by all and I snapped a bunch of fun pictures. For the moment, this is all I have time to show you. Consider it the Gratuitous Sprout Photo for the day.

Isn't he scrumptious?! Yes, we're still hopelessly smitten.

And a random eyeball. Sunshine's(5) eyeball, to be exact. No particular reason... do I need a reason?

Good News for You!

Since the birth of my sweet Sunshine, I have been a member of an on line group called MOMYS. The name is an acronym for Mothers of Many Young Siblings. All the ladies in the group have, or have had at some point, four children under the age of nine at the same time.

It's a wonderful group of Christian ladies who encourage one another on so many levels. The practical wisdom of these few thousand ladies is immense.

A couple of years ago, some of the ladies decided to organize a cook book of MOMYS recipes. Over 1600 recipes were collected from the MOMYS and compiled into a huge, amazing cook book. There is an amazing array of foods represented and all the recipes are family favorites.

The first printing was 1500 copies and sold out very quickly. Due to all the requests for more copies, the ladies who first compiled it are having it reprinted. You can pre-order here from Marmee Dear. The expected price for this HUGE book is around $35.

The best ever home made brownie recipe is in this book - well worth the price all by itself!

Gloomy

Ack! Send sunshine, stat!

It's cold and rainy here this morning. Somehow, I am supposed to get motivated and get the Ducklings ready to go to swimming and then I'm supposed to sit and watch them swim... outdoors... when it's 50 degrees and rainy...

All I can think about is whether I can stand to wait until the end of next week, when swimming is over, to GET OUT OF HERE and go someplace warm.

In fairness, yesterday was 63 and beautiful.

I just can't stop expecting it to be summer. You would think that growing up here would have conditioned me to think of this weather as "normal." Unfortunately, just a few years living in other places has wrecked my coastal innocence. I remember saying as a child that it was the best place to live, because it was never too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter. Which is so very true.

Anyhoo, thanks for letting me get that off my chest. Tomorrow is supposed to be back to 64, with afternoon sun.

I think I'll go change into sneakers. My feet are cold.

More Summer Fun

It's quiet here for a brief window of time, so I thought I'd get the rest of our summer fun photos up here.

Fourth of July Weekend, we attended a parade in a small town down the coast, picnicked with friends in Gold Beach, saw fireworks here in town, BBQ'd with Generous Grandmother at her house, and saw fireworks in a nearby town. The kids' favorite part was lighting a few fireworks of our own in Grandmother's driveway:

Smoke bombs are exciting and interactive!


The Scoutmaster let the Ducklings try their hand at lighting things on fire.


They are all wonderfully cautious. (Oregon has very restrictive fireworks laws. You'd have to really work at it to hurt yourself with anything that's legal here.)


The Sprout wasn't sure what to think about all the noise and smoke and fire. Grandmother reassured him that it was all so much fun!


In June, The Boyscout attended a Junior Sailing School at the local yacht club. At the end of the week, we all got to go out to the lake for a big regatta. The sailboats were beautiful!


How many 11 year olds do you know who can do this? I'm so proud of him!


They raced around a course marked out with buoys. It was challenging in the changing wind conditions and having to go in different directions, with, against, and across the wind. He did great!


The rest of the Ducklings had a fun day, watching the sailing and playing in the woods and on the beach. D(8) likes to make funny faces.


Girlfriend is looking more and more grown up. Ack!

Sisters.


The Scoutmaster helped out with the sailing school and was down on the dock to watch the race and cheer our boy on.



Sprouty Goodness:


Around home, we've been enjoying the occasional sunny day and playing together when we're not busy running around. D has charmed The Sprout into cuddling with him sometimes.


Girlfriend and D tried out this sidewalk paint (equal parts corn starch and water, with food coloring,) which I read about here. It was really fun! It's a little harder to wash off than chalk, but a fun change of pace.


The Scoutmaster and company tie dyed these cool shirts for the Troop to wear to Boy Scout Camp. (He looks a little tired after being at camp for a week... I wonder why??)


Sweet neighbors gave us another bag of fantastic hand-me-downs the other day. My one of a kind Sunshine put this outfit together. I think she looks very country. Line dance, anyone?


Oh, and she tried these on while The Scoutmaster was away at camp. I guess it made her feel close to him...


The strawberries we planted in our flowerbed this spring have taken off nicely. This is the very first handful of berries we picked. There have been many more since! Yummy!

Summer is, as usual, flying by. We've had such lame weather here this year that it makes it seem even more like I've blinked and missed summer. Thankfully, we typically have some of our best weather in August and September. I'm hoping there are still some sunny days to play outside in our near future.

For now, we have a couple more weeks of swimming lessons, Cub Scout camp, Church Family Camp, a trip to visit friends in California, and a few other fun events on the calendar to look forward to.

Enjoy every minute!