The Lost Tooth July 20, 2012

Our little Von Bon lost his first tooth! He has been wiggling that thing for weeks. Every day he'd have me wiggle it a bit to see if it was ready. It would move quite a bit, but I was very surprised when he announced in the car while driving through the Sam's Club parking lot that his tooth was out. It must have been more ready than I thought. It didn't even bleed! He was one happy camper, and couldn't wait to get home and put it under his pillow. He also made us promise not to tell little E when we went up to the parents dinner at scout camp. He wanted to show him in person when camp was over. Too funny!

Gentry's Scout Day Camp (Day #54) 7/20/12

Cub Scouts in our ward have been a little hit and miss as of late. So, I was very excited when the Primary President took me up on my offer to help chaperone the boys up at day camp. It was an early start to the day, we met at the church at 7:00 a.m. with sack lunches and bottled water in hand. We have a fun group of boys in our ward and the day was lots of fun. The boys got to learn a wide variety of things and do some pretty fun activities. They learned how to hold and shoot and bow and arrow, they pulled a hand cart wagon, shot bb guns, built a mini tee pee, and even panned for some gold. My job was pretty simple, just keep the boys in a group and help out as needed. On the river pond boat, I helped facilitate a little race between our group and the group on the other raft. Our boys won, no problem. I was impressed with how they worked as a team and got in a really good rhythm paddling. We enjoyed lunch on a grassy spot under the shade of a big tree; and I had a wonderful time watching G try new things and interact with his scout buddies. I am go glad I got to go! What a fun day!

Glow sticks and the water park Day #53

Before I get too far into this post, I should mention that although today's date is actually August 27, 2012, this post is being written about July 19th. It would appear that I blog, much like I journal....really great and consistent for several weeks, then a month passes by without a word. So, for posterity sake, now I will know the actual day this occurred on, since I can't figure out how to get blogger to let me change the date.

Oh what do you do in the summer time, when every day is HOT!?! Well, you head over to the splash pad, again, even if you've been a hundred times, because that is where the cool/free water is! :)

Later that day....

While cleaning out a drawer in the kitchen, Mr. Gentry found several packs of glow sticks. We decided to open one, and were very disappointed to discover they were so old, they no longer cracked and glowed. So, of course, we had to open ALL the other packages...to find out if they had survived. After some more disappointments, we found several that still worked, and I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of them in the dark to see how they would turn out. We were all pretty fascinated with the results.

National Gentry Day (Day #52)

With JayDee's make a cake with mom day being such a big success, Gentry was very excited to dive right into a day of his own. He was having trouble deciding what to do, craft or baking? Fieldtrip or hang at home. I told him that perhaps we could have a duo-purpose with our day. As part of his cub scouting, there are certain tasks he is supposed to complete with his parents at home. One of which includes planning a meal and making it. He like the sound of that, so we pulled up my "food things I want to make" board on Pinterest, and hauled out some cook books, and got to work. He loves baked spaghetti, so the main meal was easy. For a bread side, he found a parmesan garlic pull-apart bread on my board and dessert caught his eye quickly; chocolate cupcakes with green mint frosting and an Andes mint stuck in each on. (He's just like me, sold on a good photograph...every time!)
We got right to work with the cupcakes so they could cool. Then we moved onto the spaghetti. I taught him to add salt to boiling water, and showed him how to grate cheese...without loosing any skin off his knuckles! ;) We had a delightful time together. When it was about an hour before dinner, we put the spaghetti pan in the oven and started on the pull-apart bread. While that rose, we iced the cupcakes and topped them with the candy bars. We had a great time, and he just keeps me laughing. He always has interesting questions and notices things that I would normally just skim over. I cannot emphasize enough how glad I am we decided to do this. Certainly one of the best ideas my guys have ever had! I am one blessed momma!
Here are some photos of his big day:

using the mixer...without any help!

grating up the cheese

pull-apart bread, ready to rise

risen, baked, and ready to eat!

LOVE that face!

mint chocolate cupcakes!

Baked spaghetti...his fav!

National JayDee Day Day #51

With our oldest off to Scout Camp for a week, the younger kids decided it would be fun to each have a day dedicated just to them. On that day Mom's focus would be mainly on them and we would spend time doing a craft or a project...whatever they chose. JayDee came first, and he's always had an artistic side that I cater to whenever possible. For months he's been begging to make a cake and decorate it with fondant. It was quite the endeavor. First there was scouring the internet for pictures of the perfect cake. Then the baking and layering. Followed by over an hour of coloring fondant to the shades needed. His tenacity was impressive, and he saw it through to the end. His finished product was something to marvel at; he was pleased and I was impressed. I coached him a bit with each phase, and helped him learn how to gauge sizes and shapes for fondant, but he did all the "heavy lifting" At the end I threw in a few more intricate fondant decorations to help the cake feel cohesive, but he made all the large focal points. It was a fun day and I was reminded how important it is when you are in a big family, to set aside some one-on-one time with each kiddo. It did great things for both of us. Here are some photos of his masterpiece from start to finish:

grease it up, and flour it down!

mom was too cheap for another cake mix...but who doesn't love rice crispy treats?

time to dirty ice it

major concentration here!

the turtle is coming along nicely!

the back of the cake

the front of the cake

My artist and his masterpiece!

*Just in case you wondered...it too two days before he was "okay" with cutting into that thing! :) I know just how he feels...every birthday, for every child!