He's 7!

This kid has grown so much this year.  He can put together Lego sets all on his own (sometimes making pretty cool additions), doing great at gymnastics, getting good at golfing, has come far on his reading, has better penmanship than his dad and can now ride a bike!

His teacher told me that Will has many friends at school and is well liked by all.  I can see why.  He is tenderhearted and yet determined.  But still loves a good laugh.  I love this kid.  Sometimes it makes me a little sad that he is growing up so fast.  But at the same time I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Will's favorties:

Color: Red

Toy: Legos of course!

Animal: Dog

Show: Star Wars the Clone Wars or Star Wars Rebels

Book: Lego Star Wars Encyclopedia

Friends: Nolan and Trevor and Cora and his Dad of course

When he grows up he wants to be: a scientist

Army birthday party

We weren't going to do a party for Will this year because we did one last year, and hey, they can get expensive fast.  Besides, I only really remember having a couple of friend parties growing up.  Couple as in two.  This boy has already had several.  But then I realized that he has so many friends here and it's close to the end of the year anyway that it would be a good way to celebrate with all of them before we move.  I picked an army theme because I thought it would be easy and they always play it after school anyway.

The quiet before the party...I planned on having his party outside because we have a perfect back yard for boys to run around in.  However, a couple days before his party, I noticed that it was supposed to rain that day.  I'm talking 100% chance of rain.  Oh man, I'd invited 14 boys to come over and do all sorts of crazy army obstacle courses and stuff...what was I going to do?  Man up and make it through the 2 hours, that's what.  And then during the party we actually ran out of time.  That's how it goes.

So we got them some dog tags and cut up camo fabric into bandana's.  We also got them some water guns, but since it was just raining, we just passed those out at the end.

So big!

We set them up for some army drills.

Then they painted up and got ready for their obstacle course.

I'm not going to lie, Jeremy did a pretty good job at setting up this obstacle course the night before, this was the scariest part but the kids loved it.

He had them running cones, crawling, jumping jacks, crabwalking, push-ups..it was awesome.

Then we stopped by the mess hall for some grub.  After that we played one more game where they had to go rescue one of their wounded warriors.  They ended up saving one and then all ended up playing dead until it was time for cupcakes and presents.  I wanted to then let them play war...but parents arrived even before we were done with presents.  They had fun, it was loud and crazy, but Will said it was great.

Blue and Gold Banquet

We decided at the beginning of the year to sign Will up for Tiger scouts because my friend April was going to be the den leader for the schools pack and many of his friends were going to do it.  He has loved it and has gotten into getting his badges and belt loops in addition to going on some surprisingly fun field trips.  I thought his favorite would be the jail or the newspaper, but so far it has been the bank.

This is Will and his best buddy Nolan.  It's so nice when your kids best friend happens to have a family that yours gets along very well with.  We love this family and are really going to miss them!

These boys were selected to be flag bearers for the ceremony.  They were all SO excited.

These two could talk forever.  

These are his patient and wonderful den leaders Kris Humphries and April Prescott.

They had 21 Tiger cubs to deal with at each pack meeting talk about patience!

The scout committee had asked us if we could hold the ceremony at our church, and we were happy to oblige.  Now I've helped multiple times with Relief Society events or meetings in the multi-purpose room, but I don't think we've ever set up almost every table and chair before.  It was a lot of work but turned out beautifully.  We had a lot of compliments on how nice our church was and felt.  A couple of funny things about it, April asked if there was anything the pack could do to say thank you and I almost told them that they should come to sacrament meeting the following Sunday...but chickened out!  Why do I do that?  I've regretted not saying that ever since.  Next time...

He looks so little here...but really is only about a foot shorter than me now.  I guess that isn't saying much though is it?

So proud of this boy.

Starved Rock

A couple weekends ago, we invited a family over to BBQ since it was so nice outside.  They asked instead if we wanted to go to Starved Rock State Park.  So we said why yes, yes we do.

Jeremy's attempt to dump Cora in the river.  You can see she's laughing.

Checking out some side canyons.

My little hiker finally got out of her pack about 1/2 way.  For a little while anyway.

There is a little waterfall in this area and it is a beautiful little canyon.

Jeremy and Will did a bit of climbing.  Jason and Aiden followed up

Checking out some cool bird nest way up high.

Me and my girl.  Right after this photo we decided to head back, at which point Cora informed me she had to go potty.  So we just tried to have her go behind a bush.  For some reason, I didn't take off her underwear and pants, just had her sit back and go...right into her pants and underwear.  I thought she was far enough away from them.  Nope.  Next time we'll just take them off. 

We love this little park and were so glad to be outside enjoying the warm sunshine.  By the time we stopped for dinner and then got home, it was late, like 10.  Since these kids go to bed at 8 I totally expected them to pass out and not get up until 8ish the next day.  No, they passed out all right but were still up at the crack of dawn.  At least they had the decency to just play until we got up too.  Hooray to unexpected fun days!

Easter 2015

We decided to go to Cantigny the Saturday before Easter.

They saw the Mrs. Easter Bunny after trading in the eggs they found for a coloring book...

Climbed on numerous tanks

and then we let them just run for awhile.  It was chilly, but the kids had fun and actually enjoyed going through their war museum.

Easter Sunday coincided with our LDS General Conference, we always make scones to enjoy while we listen to the prophet and leaders of the church from the comfort of our home.

You can tell the kids love this tradition.

Then it was time to find some eggs.

Will found almost all of them on his own, we had to give out some hints for the well hidden ones.

Cora thought this was the greatest thing ever and asked every day after for a week if we could do it again.

She's so cute.

Love this boy.

Boys are so funny, for some reason sitting in a chair is way too easy.

It was so nice to have it warm enough to enjoy being outside!  Happy Easter!