Movie Night with Friends

The Royals came over Sunday to spend the afternoon with us. After lunch and playing outside (where the tadpoles were caught) we all headed to Cookie's house for dinner and a movie.

GO really enjoyed her new floor toy. It's a cowboy mat with toys hanging from it.

Prince, Princess, B10 and CW enjoyed watching Noah Wyle in the first of The Librarian movies.

(We can't wait for the fourth to come out in the movie theatres!)

Cookie had made a delicious pot roast and everyone enjoyed it. I miss Cub Scouts on Sundays, but this is a nice to have summer evenings with friends.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

I've Got This Little Boy

He may seem like a big boy, he's nine and almost as tall as I am, with huge feet and long legs.

And sometimes it's hard to be his Mummy, especially when his attitude seems as big as he is.

But sometimes, he shows up at my bedroom door - and it's 10:45 at night (he's suppose to have been asleep for 15 minutes by now) and he's crying. He's scared that the tadpoles he caught earlier today are sitting ducks for the cats at his grandmother's house. And his heart is breaking.

So, I put on my shoes and pick up my phone and we drive to Cookie's house. And we find a bigger tub for the tadpoles (with rocks for them to hide under and shade if they want it from the sun tomorrow). And we feed them a little fish food. And we sit with them to say goodnight.

Then I stand in the bathroom as he scrubs his arms from fingertips to elbows and listen as he says "thank you for listening to me". And we head home so he can fall into bed and sleep.

And I know it's tonight that he'll remember. Nights like this. And I'm so proud to be his Mum.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Special Night Out

Today I had to go out to the town where BooSheep lives for a parent's meeting. The Caterpillars have Cub Scout Camp next week and I had to pick up shirts, handbooks and generally get the lowdown on how camp would work.

Hubby decided that we would all drive out there, then he would take B10 and CW to the library while I took GO with me to the meeting. Then we would have dinner together. (I wish we could have met the Sheeps, but they were having a great day of their own.)

We went to our favorite Japanese Resturant, where GO politely slept until we were about half-way through with dinner. (She was wearing her first pair of jeans! We had to roll the bottom, but it's JEANS!)

B10 had sushi (his favorite - squid).

I was so proud of B10, after he finished eating, he asked if he could hold GO while Hubby and I ate.

It was a nice family dinner, just the five of us.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Geocaching

The Caterpillars finished their schoolwork for the week early, so the four of us went geocaching.

I had found 3 caches online, but we had a disappointing outing - we didn't find a single one!

And I was so looking forward to using my neat new labels that Minnie Mouse and Granddaddy made me. :(

Where one of the caches was, there was a wierd crazy cat village...literally... There were shacks for over 25 cats. We didn't see any and I think that's a good thing!

Ah, better luck next time! The exercise was good and GO enjoyed the sling (and we all enjoyed the outdoors) so it wasn't a wasted day.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Veggies?

After GO's doctor's appointment, I ran to Publix to purchase "real food" for her.

She had eaten a bit of rice cereal before today, but this was her first taste of sweet potatoes.

Hrm...I'm not sure she's a fan yet!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Four Month Check-Up

Hubby couldn't come with us to GO's 4 month check-up. Sadly,we also had a misplaced Abigail! Luckily, Miss Alligator seems to calm GO down a little (not as much as Abigail, but I wanted to bring SOMETHING).

GO is meeting all her developmental milestones, but is having a bit of an issue with her growth. She's only gained 12 ounces in the past month, which puts her completely off the chart (on the bottom...which is not a good thing).

We've been told to begin her on veggies and more cereal. Hopefully she'll gain weight, but either way we'll be back in the office at 5 months to check again. If she is still showing very small, the doctor will begin some testing.

Her current stats (it's like she's an athlete...see the Colts outfit?) are:

10 pounds 13 ounces

23 inches

size 0-3 month clothes (finally!)

Please keep her in your prayers.

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Memorial Day

For Memorial Day we spent the morning and afternoon with Cookie and Doc.

Doc wanted us to visit the Southern Museum of Civil War and Locomotive History, then have a quick lunch at McDonald's before going to see Star Trek (yes, again!).

Cookie fixed breakfast and had the educational handheld games for the car rides and we headed off!

The drive was about an hour and a half, but was very nice. The museum had many sections, including a rotating special exhibit hall.

The current special exhibit was about cardboard models. Everything was made of cardboard and was so cool!


In the special exhibit area they had a place where you could "build" your own model. CW did the "easy" one himself, while Doc helped him with the more advanced folding models.

GO was wide awake, and didn't cry much at all. She moved between her Daddy, Cookie and myself and kept a happy face the whole time.

Near the Forge area, the Caterpillars could use crayons and take a rubbing of the various types of trains.



Doc enjoyed walking the Caterpillars around the Forge, where they showed how the actual trains were made.


This was an awesome exhibit where the Caterpillars shifted their bodies and the cameras picked up the movement. By doing this - they "moved" the train. (Even Hubby got in on it, after the Caterpillars moved to the computers.)

The Caterpillars did enjoy dressing up in the Children's Room. I would have had a ton of pictures, if I could have gotten them to sit still longer!


Cookie and Doc with the Caterpillars. It's hard to believe B10 (and CW) are going to be taller than Doc when they are grown!


Towards the end of the museum there was a 25 minute documentary about Andrew's Raid and href="http://www.greatlocomotivechase.com/">the Great Locomotive Chase (a story imortalized by Disney). I was surprised by how much the Caterpillars enjoyed the movie. GO simply slept!


This is the actual "General" from the Great Locomotive Chase. The other engine involved is also restored, but in another location about 50 miles away.


Mum wanted to get the Caterpillars something special, which worked out perfectly, because both Caterpillars really wanted a bag of marbles! (Which were very reasonably priced - only 15 cents per marble!!) Then Mum took a moment to snap a quick family photo at the old traincar outside the museum.
After our movie, we had a great dinner at Mere and C's house. C loves to grill -and does an amazing job every time! It was such a great Memorial Day!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Out to Lunch

Today we went out to lunch with Hubby's mum and step-father. CW was getting a little bored sitting quietly at the table, but enjoyed taking my camera and taking a few pictures.

I managed to get the camera away from him to take a picture of his silliness!

~Lone Butterfly )i(

Cub Scout Camping

Our Scouting Family

This weekend was our Spring Family Camping for Cub Scouts. Hubby took Friday off work, so we could get everything together and leave early. I was in charge of planning this camp along with one of my friends in the Pack.

We arrived at the campsite early (around 2 p.m.) and set up the tents rather quickly. Then Hubby took a break to love on GO while B10 and CW ran around with their friends.
She likes nature, but didn't enjoy being put in the swing while we were setting up! She was ready for her daddy to hold her.

We camped in the same spot as we did during the Fall Camping Trip. It was so great to be with King and Queen and also have one of our new friends close by.


The Scouts hung out, eating popcorn and smores. I hadn't planned any activities for Friday night (so people could get set up) and that worked pretty well. Both CW and B10 enjoyed being with their friends.

I took all the older Scouts (and some siblings) on a night hike to search for bugs, which was well received by everyone (even CW). Then we crawled into our tents to sleep (later than usual for a camping night).

We woke up early this morning to bad weather reports. The Cubmaster and I made the decision that we would compact the Saturday/Sunday activities into one day and finish by 4 p.m. That way people could leave on Saturday if they wanted. Except for the groups staying until Monday - everyone else decided to begin packing up. This meant our Opening Ceremony was a bit later than we had expected. It was very cool, though, how the oldest Scouts were the Honor Guard carrying the flag to be hoisted into the tree.

There were four science stations that were planned and Hubby's station was first, out in a field of red Georgia mud. He was doing the Mentos in a Diet Cola trick and also helping the Scouts make plastic bag bombs out of vinegar and baking soda. As you can imagine, it was a very popular (and sticky) station!

Three of the four stations were under the main pavilion, as was lunch. A few of our Dads cooked hot dogs over an open fire and everyone brought a dish to share.

GO sat in her swing under the pavilion, at least while napping. When she was awake, someone was always ready to pick her up.

The final station had a few cool center of gravity tricks that the Scouts got to try. Some of them got very frustrated when they couldn't beat them!

We took a few pictures of the Caterpillars and the other Scouts their age. Almost all of Hubby's Den came camping, while both boys in my Den were there.

(Looking at these boys, I swear it's like two Tom Sawyers and B10 is the barely put together Huck Finn in the middle...)

The rain came right at 3:45 pm - right as we were gathering to have our Closing Ceremony. I can't tell you how excited I was that we finished all the activities and everyone who was leaving had enough time to pack up their cars (with the exception of a couple of tarps that belonged to the Royal Family).

We headed home, with a brief stop at McDonald's (with the Royal Family) for dinner. The Caterpillars spent the night at Cookie's house (B10 really wanted to sleep with his kitten, Jezebel).

GO was just excited to have a bath and be clean! We will sleep good tonight!

~Lone Butterfly )i(