The Camp Out

Saturday evening Team Danger attempted to have a camp out.Two Christmases ago, I gave Carl and the boys a tent and sleeping bags which have remained unused to this day. The Cub Scouts campout is coming up in a few weeks, and I thought it would be a good idea to practice with the tent and with camping.

We started out with a campfire dinner.

Using the chiminea, we roasted hotdogs and s'mores.

Since the weather was windy and on the chiller side, we had decided to move the campout inside earlier. Thus, the tent construction didn't start as early as it would have if it had been outdoors.

It didn't take long for Carl to decide the tent was not the easiest to  construct. I found the whole thing rather amusing - he is an engineer, after all - and when I attempted to take a picture of the amusing situation, Carl responded accordingly.

Carl then decided the tent was too large for the living room, and that its size (it can sleep eight people) was the problem. So he moved the construction outdoors.

After a few phone calls to friends and family seeking tent assistance, he had made some progress.

The boys, however, had since fallen asleep on the couch while waiting for Daddy to finish up their tent.

The next afternoon - after a visit from Grandma and Grandpa  - the tent was completed.

Hopefully this coming weekend the weather will hold and the campout can occur. In the meantime, Ryan came home from preschool with his latest masterpiece: a drawing of the weekend's fun.

That's Alex sleeping in the red tent, and Carl and Ryan are standing next to the brown mountain with their sleeping bags. :)

Ryan the Raptor

Ryan had his last basketball game with the Raptors on Saturday.  He played a great game, and even scored two baskets!

 

This was one of his shots when he missed the basket. Somehow, the ones where he actually made it in, I was too busy watching the actual game to shoot correctly. ;)

And this picture I love because it exemplifies how fun it is to watch the 4-6 year old kids play basketball. As soon as a shot is made, all they can think about it getting their hands on the possible rebound. And they all crowd together.

Ryan excelled at guarding this season. He would guard constantly, even when his own team was on offense. Clearly, his position should be defense when it comes to basketball.

We had a small celebration afterwards,and Coach Peter handed out their medals and certificates. Ryan was thrilled!

Spicewood Carnival

Today was Spicewood's spring carnival.

Everyone had a great time, and I managed to get a few pictures before it was my time to sell tickets.

Playing the Wheel of Fortune.

 

Alex's class art project. We lost the silent auction bid. :(

 

Ryan bowling. He knocked all 10 pins down. :)

Alex bowling. He did not knock all 10 pins down. :(

 

Alex and his buddy, Liam.

AlexGATOR

Our AlexGator had a fantastic basketball season with the Gators.

 
His last game was last Saturday, and we celebrated with an end of season pizza party at the park.

 Its been a lot of fun to watch him grow as a basketball player over the past three years.

  (Alex is number 9, about to make a basket)

I just love the way he protects himself from his guard, dribbling the ball with one hand, and holding his other arm up to block his guard. He looks just like a real basketball player these days! He's definitely come a long way since he was playing with the Y.We've been very happy playing with Town and Country for him - its so worth the extra money over the Y's league. And its been great to be on a team of all Spicewood boys. We knew five of the nine boys before we started, and the other four have all quickly become good friends.

 

Tomorrow will conclude the end of Ryan's first season playing basketball.  Not to mention Sunday we have two soccer games! Let the fun begin....

Water for Elephants

I've watched this trailer for the better part of an hour last night.

I swear, there should be a crime for anyone to look as beautiful as Rob does in this film. Sigh...

The Big Mac

Last weekend, between the boys two' basketball games, we ran some errands and then had agreed to get them some of the dreaded McDonalds for lunch. Unbeknownst to me, it was the grand reopening of the McDonalds we stopped at.

They had a bounce house.

An artist giving caricatures.

A balloon clown.

 And a face painter.

The face clown told Alex she could give him a zombie face. Mind you, he was about to go off to his last basketball game of the season. NO WAY was I letting him play basketball with a zombie face. After some negotiating, we agreed upon an alligator, since his team is the Gators.

Ryan didn't want any painting done, so the baloon clown gave him a second one, a soccer ball this time.

And best of all is that the boys were the first kids to do everything! No waiting! No fees!

Still... its kind of an odd McDonalds. The playground is gone (!) so I doubt we'll go back there much. They put an outdoor eating courtyard in, but really, is there ANY point in going to McDonalds except to let the munchkins run around??

Black Belts

All the Swanson boys now have Black Belts.

Ryan now has his Tiger Cub Black Belt, his last belt in the Tiger Cub levels.

Alex didn't test this last cycle, which gives him a rest so he can concentrate on his other activities. Ryan had fun being the star of the evening, and is looking forward to powering through his white and yellow belts.

He can't wait to start sparring his big brother and Daddy!

Blue and Gold

The Cub Scouts had their annual Blue and Gold banquet, when Alex officially graduated to a Tiger Cub, all all the Scouts move up to the next level.

The evening had a western theme, so the den had taken pictures of the boys dressed up and turned them into place mats for their dinner. The place mats came out so cute! I just love this one of Alex.

The boys were encouraged to wear western clothes, although since we had to wear the Scouts shirt and scarf, there wasn't a whole lot of options for us. I settled with the Woody cowboy hat.

Much to Carl's dismay, each den had to put on a skit, and the three dens of 1st grade boys all got together and sang a song together.

After all the skits, it was then time to call up each den to graduate to the next level, and to receive their new patches.

Siblings not in Scouts were not invited  (due to space) so we knew we had to do something extra special for Ryan.  So we arranged for Ms. Lindsay, his most favorite teacher in the whole world, to come over. I hesitate to use the word "babysit," because as far as Ryan is concerned, this was the best play date ever. He was in absolute heaven.

Spring Cleaning

We've been so busy (and sick) in February that we are way behind where we need to be with gardening, pruning and lawn care. So with the gift of a few hours of sunshine and free time on Sunday afternoon, we attacked the front yard.

Alas, the back still needs to be done, and that's always much more work than the front. But at least we've started things now.

Mr. Darcy

It was a big night for Jane Austen fans across the globe tonight.

Mr. Darcy won the Oscar for Best Actor!!!

In honor of His Royal Firthness, here is the moment that made him famous.

Could I love this man any more?

... And more LEGOs

Back in December, I had received a free pick-a-mix-LEGO box as a gift with purchase with the Police Station. Since they would only give me one of those free boxes, I decided to save it as a birthday present for Ryan. Combined with some of his birthday money, what could be better than a trip to the LEGO store?

Ryan was unbelievably thrilled to make this trip - especially since I took just him and left Alex to work on  his Pinewood Derby car with Carl - and carefully examined each and every possible box as an option. Usually when the boys get money or checks for their birthdays/holidays, I spirit it away and deposit it in their savings accounts. Its generally not as if they *need* any more toys, after all. But the card from his great-grandmother Rita arrived late, on Valentine's Day, actually, so I thought it was a Valentine card, and he opened it before I could stop him. He was puzzled over the piece of paper, but I explained to him that it was worth money if we took it to the bank.

Now, Ryan does understand what money is. He's been receiving an allowance since September, and he is all about the power of the dollar bills, and how they relate to his LEGOs. So I decided to let him keep this check (especially since I managed to keep the other great-grandparents checks away from him) and off to LEGO we went.

After Ryan checked out all the different sets out - would it be the new spinning Ninjagos? More Star Wars? His own Harry Potter set since the other ones all belong toAlex? Atlantis, with which he has some odd fascination? Nope, for Ryan it was more ... wait for it... police LEGOs.

 

After picking his Grandma Rita present (whom Ryan described as his 'cousin' to the LEGO cashier), it was time to turn our attention to the back wall. As our chief LEGO master of ceremonies, I knew we needed certain pieces more than others. But this was Ryan's gift, so I was determined to let him fill up the box how he wanted. Imagine my pleasure that Ryan also seemed to grasp which pieces we needed the most. Lots of the big, long ones, and the smaller thin base plates. He crammed that sucker full - so full I thought they might make us put some back. And when he was done, he went to the bin of the smallest pieces and through a handful of them in, too.  Way to get our money's worth, Ryan!

He held his box the whole drive home, and began assembling it immediately. Grandma and Papa were coming over for dinner, and Papa oversaw the assembly, but it was all Ryan.

One very happy, proud little five year old.

This Year's Pinch Pot

One of the things I find most annoying about our elementary school is that they never send any of the children's artwork home until the end of the year, after they have a big Gallery Night. Its incredibly frustrating, and made even more frustrating by the fact that Alex doesn't exactly give us the best description of what he does each day, especially when it comes to art or music class.

Last year I was up at school one day and discovered a pinch pot Alex had made on display.

A pinch pot I had never even heard about.

When we asked Alex about his day that evening at dinner, and received the usual non-descriptive response, I asked if he had made any pinch pots lately. "Oh yeah..." he replied. So we practiced that night, us asking Alex about his day and what he did in school, and how an appropriate response would be, "I made a pinch pot! Its black and red and out of clay."

Over the past year, the "pinch pot" has become synonymous with reminding Alex to tell us some of the more important details about his day. If we don't receive enough details out of him, our next question is usually "Did you make any pinch pots today?" which prompts a sheepish grin and some juicy details about what happened during the eight hours we were apart.

And as a whole, he's gotten much, much better at telling us about things. We'll hear all about the story Mrs. Stading read during storytime, and about how they played with cups during PE, or who got goals during the big entire first grade soccer game at recess. We've been rather pleased with the details we receive, and I don't even have to cross examine him to the extent I did in kindergarten. Another parent even expressed amazement at the details I had received one day - a huge source of pride for me. I was feeling good about being a good parent.

So you can imagine my surprise this morning when I noticed some 1st grade artwork on display.

Artwork that included Mrs. Stading's class.

And one clay shark scene crafted by one Alexander Swanson.

Something that he obviously spent a great deal of time creating.

Something we had not heard about at all.

This year's pinch pot.