• Life

    Drew’s Eagle Scout Ceremony

    November 19, 2015 - By 

    A couple weeks ago we celebrated Drew’s accomplishment of earning Eagle Scout. Rob and I really wanted to make it special, so we spent a great deal of time. I hope to write some posts about Eagle Scout Ceremony planning, etc. in the future. Planning this Eagle Court of Honor was much like planning a wedding, so many little details. Our day kinda went like this; 8am church, 9am went to Golden Corral for a big breakfast since we weren’t going to eat lunch, 10am head back home so guys could pick up uniforms and any last minute things we…

  • Life

    Memories of the Month {7.2015}

    August 4, 2015 - By 

    This month I was happy about: getting a new camera and lens!! Rating system for books & movies: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great. ✓ = Not much to talk about. X = Awful. Total waste of time. Movies I watched were: Standing Up based on the book called The Goats by Brock Cole ♥ Step Dogs ♥ TV Shows I watched were: Chasing Life (Netflix – Season 1) ♥ ♥ The Bachelorette (belch) – X – glad it’s over! Friday Night Lights (watching again for…

  • Life

    James Baird Honor Scout Award

    June 5, 2015 - By 

    Last night the boys’ Scout Troop held their end of the school year court of honor. Many merit badges nad rank advancements were handed out, as well as the swearing in of new leadership. The final presentation of the evening was the troop’s inaugural presentation of the James J. Baird Jr. Honor Scout Award, which was awarded to Drew! This is an award that will be given out every year at the spring court of honor to the troop’s “top Scout” based on participation in troop activities, demonstration of Scout skills, continuing advancement success, and a vote of his peers.…

  • Travel

    Alex’s 1st Camp Out as a Boy Scout

    May 1, 2015 - By 

    Family Friday A couple weekends ago Alex attended his first Boy Scout campout without Rob or us as a family. Boy Scouts is quite different from Cub Scouts in that campouts don’t include parents unless they are certified leaders. Drew, of course, was there. They went to Cumberland Caves in McMinnville, TN. Here they are before leaving. Here are a few pictures provided by the leaders on the trip. Not only did they enjoy the typical educational walking tour through the cave while learning about stalactites and stalagmites, they also got a true spelunking experience. They covered their heads with…

  • Memories of the Month - Taking time to document the important memories from January.
    Life

    Memories of the Month {4.2015}

    April 30, 2015 - By 

    This month I was happy about: that something miraculous happened and now my blogs are working normally. *fingers crossed* This year I’m going to rate the books & movies. Here’s my rating system: ♥ ♥ = Love it! A must read/see! ♥ = Really good! Highly recommend. ✓ ✓ = Good, not great ✓ = Not much to talk about X = Awful. Total waste of time Movies I watched were: Flight – X – It’s rated high, but we were totally mislead by the reviews. This is a move about addiction and very little of it is about the…

  • Life

    Alex’s Arrow of Light Ceremony

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    Family Friday Last Friday night was big night in the life of our family for 2 reasons. It was the Arrow of Light Ceremony and for those who are not familiar with Scouts, Arrow of Light Ceremony is the highest award you can receive as a Cub Scout, so it’s kind of like the Eagle Scout for Boy Scouts. Alex earned his Arrow of Light Friday night. This was a big deal for 2 reasons, 1st being after receiving the Arrow of Light it is then time to move on to Boy Scouts and secondly, our family as been a…

  • Life

    Eagle Project Proposal

    March 27, 2015 - By 

    Family Friday {Eagle Project Proposal} Drew wrote his plan for Eagle Project Proposal and he before the board last week. So exciting! This is one of the first steps in completing the Eagle Scout Project. Now he has to write the Project Plan and then assemble groups of people to carry out the plan. He is doing his project at Alex’s Elementary School. He is working with the P.E. teacher, who was his P.E. Teacher coming through elementary school and he really likes him and finds him easy to work with. I’ll write more about his plan later. Here he…

  • Life

    Blue & Gold Banquet

    March 20, 2015 - By 

    Family Friday {Blue & Gold Banquet} Last week was the annual Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet. It was our last one, since Alex is moving up to Boy Scouts in a few weeks. This years them was camping in the outdoors. The decorating committee did a great job decorating with tents, sleeping bags, lanterns, fake fire, and even Christmas trees to help really fill it in. The tables were numbered with yellow ‘tents.’ They also made little table decorations that looked like a camp fire surrounded by rocks. Inside of each one they put one of those plastic, battery…

  • Travel

    Boy Scout Ski Trip 2014::Gatlinburg, TN {Day 3 & 4}

    January 31, 2014 - By 

    If you missed my post about Day 1 & 2, you should read it here first. Sunday we got up pretty early so we could hit the slopes before the crowds. We ate breakfast at the hotel, rode the tram back up the mountain, got our ski boots and skis, and then it was time for ski school for most everyone. Waiting for our lesson to begin Not long after we took this pic we saw Drew as well as most of the other boy scouts, flying down the mountain like they’d been skiing for years. The realization hit that…

  • Life

    Court of Honor

    December 16, 2013 - By 

    During the Boy Scout Court of Honor/Christmas Party, Drew and Vincent were recognized for their leadership as Senior Patrol Leader and Assistant Senior Patrol Leader.

  • Travel

    Dallas, Texas

    September 3, 2013 - By 

    Monday we said our goodbyes to Maria and fam. Then it was back on the road headed to my favorite state, Texas!!! We were surprised to see some “mountains” in Southern Oklahoma. We went to a scenic lot and saw that Oklahoma is the hope of the Reflection seismograph . Not long after that we saw this just that made my heart sing. **cue the sounds of angels singing**

  • Life

    Boy Scouts Chill at the Lake

    July 15, 2013 - By 

    Saturday was Drew’s Boy Scout’s Troop chill at the lake day. A fun time was had by all! We enjoyed burgers and hotdogs, tubing, waster skiing, knee boarding, and fellowship. Meeting of the minds… Ummmm…ok 5 Drew on 1 tube…could get interesting! And that it did! After over an hour of joy riding, they managed to flip the tube, causing one of the guys knees to go into the cheek of another guy. The result 2 broken molars and 1 huge headache. Clark Kent Scoutmaster on Skis! Drew knee boardin’ I’ve got some videos to post from the day, but…

  • Life

    Drew’s Upcoming High Adventure Trip to Philmont

    June 2, 2013 - By 

    The guys on one of their practice hikes at Chewacla State ParkIt’s usually this time of year, when I send out the address where you can send Drew cards, letters, money, etc while he’s away at Boy Scout Camp. This year he’s not going on a normal camping trip. On June 14th, he will board a plane to Denver, Colorado where he will spend a few days getting acclimated to the altitude while site-seeing in that area. On June 17th, he’ll arrive at Philmont Scout Ranch (near Cimarron, New Mexico) where he and 8 other boys along with 2 of…

  • Travel

    Trip to Birmingham

    May 22, 2013 - By 

    Drew and the AHS JV soccer team were in a tournament back in April. He went up with the team. Rob and I went up Friday night to watch the 2 games. Drove back to our friends’ lake house in Dadeville, then served at Emmaus Saturday morning and headed back up to Birmingham after that. Alex was with Rob’s mom while we did all this.

  • Arrow of Light Ceremony 2013
    Life

    Arrow of Light Ceremony 2013

    April 17, 2013 - By 

    This past Saturday evening our Pack celebrated the accomplishments of 9 of scouts who have earned the Arrow of Light award. This year we did the ceremony at the Forest Ecology Preserve. Read what the Arrow of Light Ceremony/Award is here on the post from 2009, when the year Drew earned his arrow of light. The Boy Scouts talking over the logistics of the ceremony. The pond down the hill. Here’s Alex standing next to the stack of wood that is ready to be lit. Time to eat! Boy Scouts prepare for ceremony. Bonfire = time for ceremony Boy Scouts…

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    Troop 50 Christmas Party

    December 18, 2012 - By 

    Last night we attended Drew’s Troop Christmas Party. After dinner, the boys tried to stump the Scoutmaster by tying knots and then, he had to attempt to tie it. Needless, to say the Scoutmaster knows his knots. 🙂 Then the Scoutmaster reversed the playing field by stumping the Scouts with a couple games that showed his “psychic” abilities! My favorite part of the night was walking down to the fire station to give toys for Toys for Tots.

  • Life

    Camp Sequoyah

    July 1, 2012 - By 

    This year Drew decided to attend a different Boy Scout camp. Since his troop is so large they usually have 2 different groups go to 2 different camps. The last several years he’s gone up to North Carolina to Camp Daniel Boone, but this year he opted to stay in his home state of Alabama, and attend Camp Sequoyah. His troop leaders are quite tech savy and for this summer’s camp outs, began blogging and posting pics through the weeks of camp. Well, I couldn’t have been any happier to find updates about what Drew had done each day along…

  • Life

    Becoming a Better Leader

    June 18, 2012 - By 

    Last week, Teenager was away at his first camp of the summer. We dropped him off on Sunday at Camp Jamison which is part of Camp Bert Adams, the wilderness part of the camp. This camp was NYLT, which stands for National Youth Leadership Training. This was such a great experience for Teenager. He came back with knowledge to lead, growth from his experiences, and friendships to last a lifetime. The first 2 days it monsooned. On our way home after picking him up Friday night, he told us stories of his group moping around, and how even though he…

  • Life

    Scout Expo 2012

    May 13, 2012 - By 

    Saturday we dropped Drew off at a friend’s house as he would be riding up with another player for the 3rd game of state cup. The rest of us ventured over to Columbus, GA for part of a day. It was the 2nd Annual Scout Expo. Pack 29 didn’t have a booth, but we wanted to go check out the expo. Lots of fun activities, from mystery boxes to making carpenter bee houses. Aubie showed up to join in on the fun Life size Angry Birds Miniature size Angry Birds Making rope Cool car Although, Drew wasn’t able to attend…