Strawberry Time

Continuing with our family tradition of picking strawberries every year, we headed back to Halls, TN to the Fruit and Berry Patch in May. Jason and I were cleaning and prepping berries for days but it's so worth it.   We picked so much that it filled up two full sinks. 

Prepping for a trip

Andrew and Ethan's Boy Scout troop decided to start going on harder camping trips this year.  They are going on real backpacking trips where they walk for a few miles, carrying everything they need for the weekend on their backs.  They haul their food, camping stoves and fuel, sleeping bags, pads, tents and water to name a few items. It's hard work especially for those first year Boy Scouts like Ethan.

  I had intended to train them for these trips at the YMCA every week but only got in one true treadmill walk with a backpack and 20 pound weight inside.  Swim team and scouts has sucked up my summer time so far.  Hopefully the boys are surviving especially after seeing and hearing the afternoon storms that are going through today as they are hiking.  Here's a radar screen shot that I took a while ago when the storm was hitting the troop and us in Knoxville. 

Order of the Arrow

Andrew was elected into the Order of the Arrow this spring. It's the Boy Scout's Honor Society.  Every new OA scout goes away for a weekend called The Ordeal.  It's hard, challenging, and they come back exhausted but proud that they survived it.  Here's Andrew with two other scouts from his troop that were elected in as I dropped them off at Camp Buck Toms in Rockwood, TN. 

Caleb's new clothes

Caleb grew a few inches this winter and spring and we had to pull out the tupper wear boxes of saved clothes from the attic. He gets Andrew, Ethan and his cousin, Austin's hand me downs.  Austin by far has the coolest shirts as seen here.  Caleb put on the Run DMC shirt and new running pants and stated," I kinda feel kid a new kid in my new clothes, Mom."  

The best part was seeing all the grown ups we ran into that night smile and comment on how they liked his cool shirt.  He just smiled ear to ear.  

Before we went out that night, we did school him on who Run DMC was and taught him the lyrics

to Walk This Way.  

We are training our boys up right! ;)

Hannah's 9th birthday

Hannah asked to have a "camping" birthday party this year to celebrate her 9th birthday.  We had a handful of friends over.  They enjoyed dinner, watermelon, s'mores, sparklers, and even camping in  our big ten person tent in the backyard. Hannah and all the girls had a great time  and we actually all did sleep well that night too. Bonus! 

Hannah's AHG Spring Camping Trip

I was so busy enjoying our mother/daughter camping trip with Hannah's troop that I forgot to take many pictures.  Here's two from the weekend to Big South Fork in Oneida, TN. 

Caleb's Aquarium Sleepover

Jason and the three boys were able to join up with the Cub Scout Pack for a sleepover at Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies in Gatlinburg.  They even slept in a tunnel with sharks swimming all around them.  There were crafts, games, scavenger hunts and pizza involved.  It was our pack's thank you to all the scouts that sold popcorn that year.  What a treat to be blessed with such a great pack.  

Downstairs bathroom remodel

The downstairs bathroom closet was a chore for Jason to complete.  We had plumbing pipes to remove, wallpaper to rip out, patching holes, repainting, and then new shelving to put in. The end result was well worth it though! 

Spring garden

It's a super-sized spinach leaf that's the same size as Hannah's torso!  I'm telling you, a raised garden bed is the way to go. 

Easter, 2014

My Boy Scouts

Andrew advanced to Star Scout and Ethan earned his Scout Rank at our last Boy Scout Court of Honor. Andrew's goal is to get his Eagle by 14 years old. He already has his project in mind.  It's a highly ambitious goal but one he can do! 

 

Playing tag

These two girls had a blast one Saturday morning playing tag together. They really did. Hannah and I were shocked how much fun they had together. 

Fire building competition

Andrew and Ethan had a fun scout meeting recently with s'mores and a fire building competition. First group to have their fire burn through both ropes won. It was fun to see the scouts put their training and skills to work. I saw a glimpse of these boys becoming young men right in front of me. It was pretty cool. 

Nasty Stomach Bug

April came in hard with a one, two punch to all 6 Hills.  A nasty stomach bug wiped us all out, one by one. Andrew caught it first, then Caleb, Hannah, Ethan, me, then Jason. As soon as one of us got better, then the next family member caught it. It was aweful! 

Ethan woke up looking like this. His blood vessels always pop around his eyes. Poor guy looked like a zombie. 

Sweet Caleb

Ethan came running to me one morning to come take a picture of Caleb and Molly. They were sleeping the same and Ethan thought it was the cutest thing. I agree. We love those two sleepy heads.  

Ethan's 1st job

Ethan got a lawn mowing job for the summer.  He'll be mowing our neighbor's yard for $25 a week.  He can't wait to have his own money.  Time to start saving for his first car. 

Easter Egg Hunt

It's weird to bring only two kids to a neighborhood egg hunt instead of four. I miss those days when all four would run with joy after candy filled eggs. I am thankful these two little ones still love it though. 

This year, the older boys stayed home alone playing on the PS3.  

Hannah and Caleb's baskets were almost overflowing to the point that we gave some to other kids who didn't gather as much.  

By the way, Jason was not walking around drinking a beer at 10 am in the park on a Saturday. That's a Neuro Fuel in case you were wondering. Haha 

Spring front porch

For years, I've always bought Boston ferns for my front porch planters. This year, I decided to add some color instead and put the ferns on my back porch. Here's what I came up with. Hopefully, they'll fill in and grow as big and tall as the ferns always did. 

Ethan's haircut 2014

Ethan wanted a haircut.  He asked for a clipper cut with a 5 blade.  What he ended up with is not what he envisioned.  Yes, he's growing it out again and surprisingly we all agree.  We like it longer than shorter.  

Bathroom Remodel

Two areas in my house that never got a full remodel after we moved in was the downstairs' bathroom and laundry room. With the thought of putting the house on the market this spring, it was time for some demo.

The bathroom closet had this awful 1970's wallpaper that was almost R rated. There wasn't even a shower or tub in there but someone felt this paper was pretty cool to put in anyway. Can you imagine looking at a full wall of that stuff? Check out the lady. Scary!

 I also found the wallpaper in a closet under the stairs when we moved in but I took it out years ago. Between raising kids, pets, homeschooling and activities, I never got around to fully removing the wallpaper. Mostly it was covered up by all my Rubbermaid boxes so it didn't bother me. Now that I see it, I cannot believe that I didn't remove it earlier.

We added new flooring, vanity, and a planked wall.  I always wanted a planked wall bathroom and Jason agreed to try it. With the help of his friend Mark who is a full time carpenter/contractor, they knocked out that wall in no time. The bathroom still has some work left to do on it. We have to rehang the mirror, hand towel rack, and toilet paper holder. We need to finish the closet and lastly add accessories. I just had to show the pictures of what's been accomplished so far because it's a world of difference, don't you think?

Multi-tasking

Multi-tasking today includes cleaning bathroom grout while supervising E's grammar lesson. It's not one of my more exciting days but I'm thankful to have time with my kids. 

Field trip day to the Smokies

Caleb's crazy antics

Ever since Caleb has been born, I have asked the question, "Why would he do that?"  Here's a perfect example. I caught him stuffing dirty paper towels down the Window bottle.