February

February was filled with many Scout related activities and also several other fun times....

Catholic Schools Week - Student appreciation Day 

Nicholas and other student council members thanking parents at carpool on Parent Appreciation Day

Sam and Nathan were paired up assembling care bags for school service project on School Appreciation Day

Henry went to 5th grade Cotillion!!!!  I'm sure you can tell by his expression he was so excited to be here and had a blast :-)

At least he looks happy when he dances with his mom !!!

5th grade service project - Hoops for Hearts - putting on a fun fair for disabled children/teens

Grace played her clarinet in her first band concert

I celebrated my birthday with a homemade cookie cake by Grace

And even a homemade "squishamellow"

Scout Sunday

Samuel was awarded his Light of Christ religious emblem

The annual religion bee - Nicholas, Grace and Henry all were the top winners in their grades. Henry competed against 6 others in the iPod and placed 3rd.   Nicholas and Grace competed against each other and a 7th grader in the middle school bee - Nicholas won and went on to the archdiocese bee.

So proud of you Nicholas!!!

Pinewood Derby - Samuel was first place in Wolves

Henry was first place in AOL's

And Sam brought home the trophy for fastest car of the whole pack (with Henry's in second by a fraction of a second)

He also won best sports design for his KC Chiefs car

Nicholas was given a Den Chief award at the court of honor

We had fun at the mother-son 5th grade basketball game

Fun times at friends house

Grace and I had fun together at a mother/daughter Challenge Retreat

Nicholas was invited to the Hudkins for fun friends valentines dinner

Happy 11th Birthday Henry!

Dear Henry,

How can you be 11 already?  Seems like just yesterday, we were brining our little blond baby boy home from the hospital.  You are growing into a very sweet and fun young man.  You still love the outdoors and yard work.  If only you loved school work as much.... you really enjoy the social part of school, and do make mostly A's with an occasional B, but you are a kid who likes to do the bare minimum to get by when it comes to school.  You do enjoy learning about history and love reading non fiction books, especially from The Who Was series.  You enjoy collecting and trading baseball and football cards and talking sports with your friends.  You are big talker in general, known to talk a big game and be pretty funny as well.  You love playing basketball with your friends on the QA CMLA team and also with your brothers at home.  Running is your favorite sport though - both cross country and track - you like to run long distance and have been really improving quickly, regularly placing in top 10 at meets lately.  You've made some great friends at school and on your Alpha Crush running team.  You enjoy time with your siblings and tend to be the silly one.  You really enjoy scouting and just completed all ranks of Cub Scouts and crossed over into Boy Scouts.  You love serving others, whether it is alter serving at mass, safety patrol at school (where you are captain) or cooking food with Mr Travoto and Dad for the youth group, you do have a wonderful servant's heart.  Henry we are so proud of you and love you so much.  Keep up the servant's attitude and always remember to be grateful for all your blessings!  We are so blessed to have you as our son!  We love you!!!!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Baseball cards and pages

You've become a big KC Chiefs fan lately

"Yard work rakes" art by Samuel

Star Wars drawing from Nicholas

custom hand sewn gardening apron from Grace

outdoor ring toss game for camp outs

Super Bowl champs shirt and light from the Grays

lots of non fiction books for you

A new scout binder for the new Boy Scout

Collector baseball cards and Cardinal hat from Grandma

A fit bit to track your runs

A baseball glove to play with Sam

Grace made the cake from scratch - all chocolate (and we ordered the topper)

HENRY'S FAVORITES AT AGE 11:

Stuffed animal - "Crag" the squishamellow

Food - any seafood

Movie - Remember the Titans

Show - Star Wars Rebels

Clothes to Wear - UA shorts with Chiefs t shirt and Cardinal hoodie

Game - Farkle

Snack - trail mix (sweet and salty)

Animal - arctic wolf

Song - Believer by Imagine Dragons

Book - The Hero Two Doors Down

Friends - Coli, Gabe, Rory, Elliott B., Nathan, Elliott R., Wyatt, Loe, Jacob, Jude

Drink - lemonade

Outside Activity - yard work

Sport - Cross Country and Track, and also really like basketball

Park Activity - throw the baseball with Dad

Inside Activity - fuse ball

Place to Go - Grandma's

Fruit - watermelon

Vegetable - celery

What do you want to be when you grow up?  a priest

What brings you joy?  time with friends and family

What makes you sad?  people dying

What do you think heaven is like?  each individual's paradise - mine would have everyone happy and I'd be best friends with all the top sports players, and there would be no school