Blue and Gold Banquet

Jackson's cub scout Pack had their annual Blue and Gold banquet this past week. Jackson earned his Wolf badge at the ceremony; he is quite proud of it. He is really enjoying cubscouts this year. Tonight they are taking a trip to the Cosmosphere and Space Center for a tour of a couple of the space capsules and rockets that are on exhibit there, as well as a visit to the observatory. Here we are as he is awarded his Wolf badge:
And here he is, with the t-shirt he won as a door prize. I noticed this morning that Luke was wearing the t-shirt under his hoody...I don't think Jackson noticed though, or we would have heard about it!

Jackson's 8th Birthday

Jackson had some friends over to celebrate his eighth birthday. Here they are, being silly:
He got to have a sleepover, his first with more than one friend. I was a little apprehensive, but everything went fine. They spent hours playing Star Wars legos (with a little help from Luke!)

Aubrey's 14th Birthday

Aubrey celebrated her 14th birthday ON her birthday with a yummy Dedra cake in Leoti the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Some years, she gets pumpkin pie, but not this time! She had a party the next weekend here in Hutch with her best friends, Baylee, Loreta, and Megan.

and of course, her brothers were here as well!
Tomorrow is Twin Day at school, so Aubrey and Baylee are dressing alike. Aubrey says they get asked a lot if they're sisters, and her answer:

"Yes, she's just three inches taller!"

Shocking, I know...

Pictures and a blog update from me??? I know you're shocked! I have a backlog of pictures so I'll spend a few days putting them up here; wouldn't want to overload you! Here we go; the last three months condensed:

Jackson finally got his own blanket from Grandma Ann. All the other kids had to wait until they were ten, but he got his a couple of years early. He LOVES his blanket and can usually be found wrapped up in it mornings and evenings! Luke loves his as well; he was sick last weekend and had to stay with Mick and Stacia while the rest of us spent the day at Aubrey's Sousa honor band performance in Lawrence. The only thing he took with him was his blanket... not even a book! And if you know my kids, they are never without a book nearby.

Jackson's cubscout den had a float in the Hutchinson Christmas parade. Here's Jackson and some buddies:
Aubrey's junior high band marched in the Buhler Frolic parade back in October. Can you spot her?
There she is!
More pictures tomorrow...birthdays and basketball...

Here are a couple of clips from Luke's play. We got to the gym 50 minutes early, and still had to sit in the fourth row. Geesh! Luke is Les Elfman, the head elf (wearing a red jacket). I am trying to figure out how to trim the videos, because the best part of the play (when Luke shows off his true acting talent) is in an eleven-minute clip, much too big for Blogger. It's not included below.

The plot: Laveena Demean steals Santa's reindeer. Les Elfman brainstorms some ideas to get them back, including having Thanksgiving Turkeys fly Santa's sleigh. The first clip is when he's proposing his ideas. The second clip is the ending song. Apparently Luke has a lot of energy. Can you spot him? He's the one jumping through the entire song!

Avatar

This is Luke's avatar he made for a school project. He's a big Tolkien fan!

2009 Deer Hunt

Grandpa Ed, Jerry, Luke, Jackson, and Mick (otherwise known as Daniel Boone) preparing for the 2009 Deer Hunt. For those in the know, the "Butt Out" is the must-have gadget for hunters this year. The boys went shopping with Uncle Mick and Aunt Stacia before Thanksgiving, and spied it in the outdoor section of Walmart. I'm quite sure Stacia wasn't in on the purchase. Here it is in action:


Gross. That's all I have to say. Luke said it didn't work very well; just pulled out a bunch of poop. Again, gross.
So the hunt went very, very well, and they bagged three deer in three and a half hours. A new record! Lots and lots of venison jerky!
It sounds like they had a great, great time. Jackson and Luke replayed the hunts for me when they got home.