3 weeks and counting....

Today I am officially 37 weeks along. My last OB appt. showed no changes -- no dilation. That is typical of my pregnancies at this stage. Hopefully more will begin happening soon, though. I've been feeling well overall, just getting much slower at getting up and at walking. Sleeping is not easy, that's actually what usually bothers me the most at this point. I want sleep so bad, but am very uncomfortable at night and get up several times. But all of this just makes me more aware that soon - SOON - I will get to meet this precious new person. =)

In other family news, the older 3 kids had a fun night at youth group last Wednesday. It was the first night in the new student center so the leaders went all out and had a "Thrift Store Prom", complete with red carpet. The students were to dress up in prom attire -- the funnier or older the better. The boys raided Scott's closet for shirts & jackets and I picked up a couple ties from the thrift store. Also found Brenna a cute dress. They had a great time. Here's just a few of the pics:

Chase's serious look =)

Once a month or so, we try to have a family movie night. Sometimes I rent a new movie, other times we watch an old favorite. If possible I also try to have a theme. Friday night we watched "Kung Fu Panda" again, so Chase helped me make Chinese food. We used these recipes from Food Network: Sesame Chicken and Lemony Egg Soup . We also had wontons from our local Chinese restaurant and fortune cookies. Brenna helped the younger 3 boys make Chinese lanterns for decoration.

The weekend was incredibly busy. Early Saturday morning Scott dropped Brenna's cat off to be spayed, then took Aiden to his Cub Scouts rocket launch. The weather was cool and wet, but his rocket flew well and he had a lot of fun.

Meanwhile, I took Conner to an all-day state bowling tournament. He spent a total of 10 hours at the bowling alley that day. The rest of us attended a graduation party for friends of ours.

Sunday was church and Conner was busy again with bowling, a friend's birthday party and another friend's graduation party.

I keep waiting for some time to relax before baby's arrival, but this coming week isn't looking to promising either. Maybe it's good my babies don't come early? LOL

A Boy Scout!

Chase had his Blue & Gold ceremony today. He moved from Cub Scouts up to Boy Scouts. He earned all 20 of his pins and the Arrow of Light award and we're so proud of him!


These are the 3 boys that are moving on to Boy Scouts. They are all going to different troops:

Here is Chase with his new scout leader and a few members of the troop:

Project 365 - Day 33

Klondike

Day 26

Today Scott and Chase attended an outdoor Boy Scout event called Klondike. The Boy Scouts actually camp out all weekend but Chase is still a Webelo for another week, so he just went for the day.

Here he is warming up a bit in the tent.

The troops each designed and built a sled to race. The troop that Chase will be joining hung a hammock on theirs.

He had a great time and we're all looking forward to the adventures he'll have when he moves up to Boy Scouts.

Day 12

These were our spoils from the Dad-Lad bakeoff auction for Chase's Cub Scouts today. We purchased 8 cookies and a brownie cake shaped like a remote control.





Each boy in the Cub Scout troop and his dad were to bake some kind of goodie for the auction. All money goes to support the troop. Chase and Scott baked a Chocolate Cherry Chip Cake and it sold for the highest amount -- $36. Chase was pretty excited about that.

This was Chase's last official pack meeting as a Cub Scout. He becomes a Boy Scout next month. He received quite a few awards today.

Way to go, Chase!

Volunteerism

We had a great opportunity this week through the Scouts program. We met my son's Cub Scouts troop and my daughter's Brownie troop at COMPA food ministry. Last weekend the ministry received a huge amount of donated food items through a local news station's collection.

We went through many, many large boxes of items to separate them into smaller boxes of either canned goods or dry goods. All the kids there worked very hard, I was so proud of them.

Cub Scout Camp Pt. 2

Last weekend, Scott took Chase camping with his scout pack again. This time, the Boy Scout troop ran the whole thing. They cooked all the meals and were also in charge of the activities. Chase is in Cub Scouts until February, when he'll move up to Boy Scouts.

Chase and Brian playing chess in the tent

Rope-tying

They also went on a 3 mile hike.

So far scouts has been a great thing for Chase to be involved in. He plays baseball in the summer, but when that ended last fall we looked around for something for him to join. He didn't want to play any other sports so I tried to contact a scout troop in our area. Nobody ever got back to me.

We moved on with our school year, and then later in September a friend from church mentioned her son was in scouts. It turned out it was a homeschool troop and they also offered Girl Scouts on the same day, at the same location. Score!

So I enrolled Chase in Cub Scouts and Brenna in Brownies. He has loved it ever since. He is very creative and inventive, and he really gets to put those qualities to use within the troop. It's been a great match for him.

Running Goal

My son Chase's Scout troop is participating in a program called Kids Running America . They run a total of 25 miles on their own or with the troop between now and October 13th. On that date, they will do their final mile at the Denver Marathon's Kid's Run.

This is a great opportunity for the whole family to exercise. So we're all going out with him to either run or walk 2-3 times a week. I'll chart our progress on the above ticker. Wish us luck! =)

Cub Scout Camp

Scott and Chase went to a 2-day scout camp this past weekend. Chase was overjoyed, he's been wanting to camp forever. We realized the last time we went as a family was 5 years ago! Oops. We'll have to rectify that when the baby is a bit older.

I sent Scott with a camera and orders to take lots of pictures and he listened. What a great hubby!

These are the platform tents they slept in. It was 2 people per tent.

There were a lot of activities set up. The scouts were put into color groups, and rotated through each activity.

Chase lining up his shot with the BB gun

His target

Trowing a Tomahawk

Preparing for Archery

They also went on hikes, had campfires and flag ceremonies, and had free time. Chase chose to spend his swimming and kayaking.

They came home sore and tired, but Chase didn't stop talking for over an hour, telling me all the details. Wonder who he gets that from?? It was a wonderful bonding trip for them, too.