Do you EVER read?

Austin loves to read!

When he gets interested in a book that is all he can think about!!

He will wake up early to read, stay up late to read,

his entire day will be consumed with reading that book until he is finished!!

We were discussing the latest seris of books that he began reading at the end of school

Seekers

He is impatiently waiting for the sixth book in this series...

In the middle of our conversation

"Mom, do you ever read?"

Well, duh....

Ok, so I didn't answer him like that, but I thought about it...

So today we headed back to the book store,

he found some Star Wars book--

He can tell you all about it cause he's been reading it since about 4 o'clock

and I got this...

I will show Austin that yes, I do read and hopefully I will gain some insight into

balancing it all together

and just for fun~ I got this

Hee hee hee-- I am thinking a run to Gigi's is in order!!!

So, my goal this sumner is to spend some time reading and prove to my 10 year old that mom CAN read!!

So, what good book have you read lately?

I might have to pick up a copy...

unless it's Twilight...

Austin said I can't get into that..

it's a love story and that's just gross!!!

Work in Progress

I have dreams of one day being SUPER organized...

I realize that this may be a pipe dream but

 a girl's gotta have gaols, right?

This was my Mother's Day present that I picked out--

Yes, Scott thought I was nuts.

I wanted an old TV armoire to make into a Gift Wrap Cabinet!

Enter Scott's eye rolling here....

I had the idea but knew that I didn't want to spend $500 on a cabinet to just put some paint on it and put it in the scrapbook room~ and I knew Scott wouldn't go for that either!

I watched Craig's List for a few weeks and then there it was--

Even thought this is not going to be seen by anyone, I still wanted it to be pretty and loved the way this one arched at the top!  So I e-mailed the guy, batted my eyes at my wonderful husband and then we went to pick it up one day when it was suppose to rain!

My loving husband even wrapped it up in a tarp to make sure it didn't get too wet!

We looked like we were hauling around a coffin.

My plan was to paint it white, put some peg board on the back to hold all sorts of Curling ribbon and such

and then to have Scott make some "holders" on the sliding doors to hold a few rolls of wrapping paper.  

I am on the lookout for some cute baskets that I will put on the shelves underneath to hold bows and such.

I can't wait until it's finished!!!

Scott took out the shelf that the TV sat on and is going to put it back in for me on drawer slides so I can have a little table to pull out to put presents on while I'm wrapping them.  I also have a big table down in this room that I can use to wrap bigger boxes at Christmas and such.

My wonderful, awesome, handy and perfect husband has been painting it for me.  I did start painting it and then he started helping and I have stopped.  I need to get down there and help finish it so it can get out of his garage and he can get back to doing his projects instead of mine.

So the rest of my house may be an unorganized pile of mess,

but when I need to wrap a present~

it is all gonna be right here!!!

I am on the lookout for some neat little peg board organizers that I can store tape and such in --

Ahhh, when it's finished

all will be right in the gift wrapping world.

It's a step in the right direction!

He's a Workin' Man Now

Austin spent last week working at Cub Scout Camp as a

Junior Counselor.

He has so much fun and made so many new friends-- he's even been chatting with one

almost every day since they have been home...computers are so nice some times!  Our parents would have been telling us that we had talked enough and that we needed to leave the phone lines open!!!

Scott would take him and drop him off on his way to work and Kimberly would graciously take all the boys

to Point Mallard every day at 7:00 AM~  That is too early for summer break!!

This year they were celebrating 100 years of Scouting.

Austin worked on a special award this past year in honor of this celebration and it continued over

into the theme for Camp this year.

The boys were all excited that they got to wear the Staff shirts this year!  I am just happy that this week I don't have to wash that shirt EVERY night!!! 

Austin and Amos were together most of the week with the same group of boys.

Austin had a lot of fun and met lots of new boys.  I think it was a good opportunity for them to go and help out the boys that are younger than them.  Hopefully he learned a little about responsibility and will look forward to doing this again, year after year!  And since they volunteered~ this week of entertainment was FREE!!!!

(thanks kimberly for posting these pics on FaceBook so I could swipe them, since I am a bad mom and didn't take any pictures of them on Friday when I was melting in the summer heat!!)

Growing Up Too Fast

On May 24th, we attended Austin's

Bridging Ceremony into Boy Scouts.

He has never been into sports but in First Grade he started Scouts and has stuck with it.

He has learned a lot and made some good friends.  They have gone on some really neat adventures

and it has been a wonderful thing he and Scott to share.

Here he is on the day of his first Tiger Cub meeting in First Grade.

Here he is earning his Wolf Badge, I believe.

He thought it was a lot of fun getting his face painted when he was

little, as they grew up, yeah... not so much.

Heading into Webelos in the Fourth Grade.

His Third grade year and his Fifth grade year they took and

overnight Field Trip to the USS Alabama and spent the night on the ship. 

I think Austin would say that these were two of

the best trips they took!  He really enjoyed hanging out on the ship

and exploring every inch on that giant ship!!

Another great memory from Cub Scouts was coming in Second Place in his Pack Pine Wood Derby.

He and Scott (mostly Scott) would work so hard every year trying to make a winner,

and his Fourth Grade year, they almost did it.  Austin was so proud of his car and his trophy!

It was a great day.  Even though he didn't win, he was so proud of 2nd Place!!

And here he is finished with Fifth grade and now finished with Cub Scout!

He was waiting his turn to walk across the bridge in Big Spring Park downtown

to join his new Boy Scout Troop!

Once we crossed the bridge as a family, Dayton was waiting to put on his new shoulder loops and his new

 neckerchief welcoming him to the troop.

Austin still looks so little standing next to him, but his is also REALLY tall!!

Here are all of the new Scouts with Troop 21.

They are looking forward to many new adventures!

And I am a little scared, before in Cub Scouts, they would have their dads with them,

in Boy Scouts, they learn to do it on their own...YIKES!!

After it was all done, we had some cake and ice cream and then headed

home to start our summer!!!

We only get one week of sleeping late before Austin is off to volunteer as a

Junior Counselor at Cub Scout Camp!!!

Very Proud Parents of a Very Good Young Man

(and Jackson-- he's still got a long way to go-- ha ha)

End of 5th Grade

On Friday May 21st, Austin had his awards day at ABS.
Here is is scanning the crowd looking for us.  When he found us
he wanted to take Jackson back with him-- um, NO--
did he really think Jackson would sit there, quietly,
um NO!!



Here he is on stage receiving his award for all A's
in 5th Grade!  Whoo Hoo!!
Way to go!!!

He is the second from the end on the far right side of the photo.

On the following Monday they had a end of year party and spent some time
out on the playground!
We got everyone together for a quick shot
on the monkey bars--

Pretty soon they are going to be too big to all
hang out on the monkey bars, sigh,  they are growing up too fast!

Miss A and her 2009-2010 5th Grade Class