Flashback

So, what have we been up to all summer? Having too much fun to post! Let's get caught up by heading back to spring and finishing off the month of April. What did we do in April?

We finally felt confident enough in Charlotte's motor skills to give up sippy cups for good. That's right, we packed up all the tops and bottoms and shipped them out forever. It was a joyous day.

We made an appearance at the Svithiod Spring Frolic. It's fun to get a little dressed up, but it's not the most exhilarating thing to do on a Saturday.

They upgraded this year from the one-man band to this actual band. Would have been nice except it was painfully loud and we couldn't hear each other speak. We left before the raffle was even over.

And headed instead to our favorite playground in the area where we met some friends and enjoyed the beautiful spring day.

Charlotte and I practiced t-ball so she would be ready to be the youngest player (at 2 1/2) on her 3/4 t-ball team.

 We attended a family fun night at Noah's school. This cupcake was the best part.

We went on a family hike. Charlotte, the devoted mommy, brought along one of her babies.

Wyatt wasn't feeling well that day, but we thought the fresh air would be good for him.

The turtle came right over to say hi to Charlotte

We also had an after-hike ice cream treat

Sibs sittin' on the stairs

Nick and I had a date night at a Robot Workshop downtown. We selected a racehorse. It was supposed to be moderately easy, but no. So I mostly watched Wall-E and enjoyed the popcorn and beer.

This little guy delivered us our popcorn.

We did end up beating the other couples (because hello engineer present) and our horse worked really well.

The kids attended a gymnastics birthday party for Avery and Ben

We painted tiny ducks

Noah passed all his sight word tests and was awarded this t-shirt. He really loves this t-shirt because he is so proud to have earned it.

Charlotte apparently had very important places to go

We found the remote that had been missing for over a year. Yep, I'm looking at you reclining chair.

Oh more ice cream, because ice cream is delicious.

Charlotte started taking less regular naps and instead would just crash on the couch. Stay tuned for an entire collection of irregular Charlotte naps because I just can't help myself.

Tiger Scout

We have a had a busy year as a full-fledged member of our Cub Scout Pack. In December, Noah and Nick went to the local veteran's cemetery to participate in Wreaths Across America. Noah is the one in front without a jacket on. (Looking at you Nick.)

In January, Noah's car (his first wooden one) raced at the pinewood derby. His car came in first place for his den. He was so proud. He's the third from the right - the only one not wearing a neckerchief. (Again looking at you Nick.)

In February he sold tickets for the spaghetti dinner fundraiser and attended church in his scout uniform to earn his Scout Sunday patch. He was only one of three to earn that patch, so they had a special recognition for them.

In March we did the aforementioned Planetarium overnight. In April we did a hike that was a little too chilly for an April. Wyatt and Charlotte came along as well. This was the first hike that Nick was in charge of as the new co-captain of the Hiking Club.

Later that day at Pack Night we had a cake fundraiser. I didn't realize it was supposed to be a themed cake until the day prior, so I had to think of something quick to do to my applesauce cake that I had already made. I finally decided to make it a MAPplesauce cake (because maps and scouts I guess?), but then quickly realized I still didn't know what to do to it. At the last second while wandering Michaels I bumped into an America mold on an endcap and the rest is history.

Noah helped make the batter.

Nick and I poured a second batch of the cake into the mold and crossed our fingers pretty tightly.

Not too bad, only missing a couple states.

And voila. I didn't ice the map part because I figured it would cover up some of the charm. The rest of the batter we made into cupcakes and they were super tasty. I hope whomever bought our cake enjoyed it as much as we did.

Charlotte was super sad when someone bought our cake.

In May, Nick and the boys were in the town's Loyalty Day parade. Wyatt officially (sort of) joined the pack as a Lion scout in May (it was technically not til June, but he was soooo excited to be a part of Cub Scouts and to wear the Lion shirt).

Nick and the boys also went on the spring camp out and Nick somehow convinced Noah to do the zip line. Well, he promised him he would get a patch if he did it, so flash forward to the next day when I had to find a patch online to buy him.

Charlotte and I also stopped over at the camp out to watch Noah crossover from a Tiger to a Wolf.

Just like the previous year, he walked to the center of the bridge and called his name.

The boys attended the June hike and Noah got super close to having enough miles to earn his walking stick. Wyatt also began tallying his own miles.

They stopped briefly to say hello to this little hiking dog.

Their Den had their final meeting for the year at a nearby park. Noah loved playing kick the can and even brought the can home with him. Wyatt, again, made sure he had his Lion shirt on for the event.

Finally, we stopped by one of the town's Wednesday movie nights to represent the pack. It was a bit of a chilly one, but that didn't stop Wyatt from being Wyatt. Or Charlotte from eating a giant pretzel.