Okay, this picture really has nothing to do with this post, but it was funny. This is how Brayton was watching Star Trek on TV one morning (he's still in his PJ's). He used to always dress up and play in costumes, but not so much anymore. The aging of our boys is what has been causing Chris' funk these last couple days. :~(
Camping
Last weekend we went camping with a classmate from high school, her 2nd husband and his brother (and family). It was okay. There were many boys for our boys to play with, but the "other boys" already knew each other and weren't really inviting to our boys when they did things. Bray would tag along, but there was never an invitation for them to join along. That is always difficult to watch and if you want more accounts of the weekend, I'll save that for a personal discussion. It was just heart-breaking at times. . .
One day at lunch, we were having some chocolate zucchini bread that I made and Taite insisted I take a picture of it and put it on our blog! Now, when I took a picture of the soup and biscuits one night that we had for supper, they thought that was too weird, but now they tell me what I should put on the blog :~) This was the BEST zucchini bread (unless you ask Bray ~ he said there was too much chocolate in it!! hehe)
To simplify, here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chocolate-Zucchini-Bread-I/Detail.aspx I added the whole bag of chocolate chips (I don't understand those recipes that call for a partial bag! And, instead of oil, I used apple sauce~ yum!) I like to use my mini loaf pan from Pampered Chef for this because they are just the perfect size and they supposedly freeze up nicely, so I think I'll make another batch and do just that!
Chris was excited to be camping LOL
Taite was even more excited!
Brayton had wanted so badly to play Elefun (a game where this elephant has a long trunk and these little "butterflies" are blown out his trunk and they have to try and catch them with their nets), but when they dug it out the batteries were dead and of course it uses like 'C' or 'D' (which we didn't have). So to improvise, they threw the butterflies into the air and tried to catch them. That lasted less than 5 minutes :~)
This is the first campground that I can think of that has wild flowers, perennials and annuals planted throughout. It was certainly pretty and they had a very nice mixture of all of these! I guess the picture doesn't really do it justice. . .
For one of the activities, we went to Forestville where they have an old town still there and people who play the parts and are dressed as in the olden days. It was very interesting and fun to see! This is a picture of the boys in the Mercantile. We happened to go the one night a year that they have the place lit up with lanterns. We all laughed at how Taite looks like a giant compared to Brayton in this picture :~)
Out behind the Mercantile, there were a couple of guys playing a cello (I believe) and one more instrument (I know I should've taken a picture of them!) and the song they were playing involved the audience who were grouped into different animals. The kids from our group were the dogs for the song and in this picture you can see them saying the "fff" in 'woof!' I was just a little concerned with the bats I could hear squeaking in the building Chris and I were standing next to while this song was being sung. . . At dusk, the bats came out of the buildings in droves and were swooping wayyyy down ~ too close for my comfort!!!
Here are all the kids that we camped with. They ranged in age from 12 to 1.
The First Day of School
I can't believe our little boys are in 2nd and 4th grade (Taite's last year at the Elementary School ~ *sigh*)! They are already complaining that they don't want their GameBoy's anymore, they want Nintendo DS's ~ which I would love to get them for Christmas, but I'm not sure they'll wait until then.
Brayton's teacher this year is Mrs. Andrews and you can find her website at the school site: http://www.bears.byron.k12.mn.us/se3bin/clientschool.cgi?schoolname=school202 and then go to Academics ~ 2nd grade and find her name. She is going paperless this year, so you should be able to find a lot of information about what Brayton is doing this year! This year Brayton's class has to bring snack for themselves (each classroom does it differently every year!). I inevitably forget to send snack, so to start the year off, I sent him with granola bars, pop tarts, rice crispy bar (left over from this weekend), etc. Just so we'll have a jump on things. . . He came home tonight and told us he is the only kid in his classroom with the most snacks in his desk! I laughed so hard and then he said another kid asked "Why do you have so many random snacks??" I tried to explain to him "Mommy Guilt" and my desire to avoid it at all cost :~)
Here is my "big boy". (notice how much more of the flower thing behind him you can NOT see)
His teacher is Mrs. Musolf (Moose-off) and she does NOT use her website. I will try to keep you posted as to his doings, but so far, the only thing he could remember from the day was that on his birthday, he will get a can of pop of his choice, a candy bar of his choice and a pack of gum of his choice :~)
My Babes
The boys both had an assignment tonight to "fill" a lunch-sized paper bag with 4 (Bray) to 6 (Taite) things that described them as a person. Taite had one last thing on his list and it was a family picture ~ here are a few of our attempts and finally the "good" picture :~)
All good, except 1/2 head, missing:
1/2 closed eyes. . .
All good, except no dog (this is the one we went with) As you may have noticed, there was one more picture where everyone was good, but my smile was terrible. I set up the tripod and called everyone back (Chris was working on the car and had already changed into his work clothes, so he was not too happy) :~)
As each new "season" we set goals in the hopes of being more organized. This year (again) we are trying hard to keep the kitchen and island clean. This will require the boys to clean out any papers that Chris and I need to review and to put them into a basket that sits on the corner of Chris' desk (it's bigger than mine). So, we'll see how that goes as well. We always have good intentions and as the boys get older, we hope they will follow along with our plans. :~)
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