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. 

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. 

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.  

Ethan's new freckles

Ethan's getting more and more freckles this summer.  He has 2 new ones that popped up on his arm perfect for drawing a smile underneath and making a face.  He thought that his grandmother was a hoot for marking on his arm before swimming one day.  

Bicycling with Ethan

Ethan finished up earning his Sportsman merit badge for Scouts this week with an hour bike ride with me one morning.  We awoke to 43 degrees.  It was a little chilly on our ears and chins but warmed  up quickly.  We stumbled across this sidewalk chalk drawing in the park.  It's from one of the kids' favorite shows.  Someone spent some time making this.  It looked great. 

WVLT TV Station Tour

Ethan's Cub Scout pack got to sit in on a live 6:00 newscast last week. We all learned a lot. I'm counting it for a field trip and school hours, definitely!

Ethan's Blue and Gold Banquet 2013

Every February, Cub Scout Packs across the nation celebrate Scouting's birthday with a Blue and Gold Banquet.  Normally, the night is filled with good food, games, friends, skits, and more.  This year's theme was a western one.  All my kids had a great time.  Unfortunately, I was so busy checking in the families and taking money (since I'm the Pack's treasurer) that I wasn't able to get a ton of pictures.  I only shot this cute one of my partners in crime during clean up at the end.  Check out those smiles!  Can you tell they had fun? 

Ethan's Aquanaut Test

For Cub Scouts, Ethan's den, the Webelos (4th and 5th graders) went over to the YMCA on Saturday to complete their Aquanaut test.  It took 2 hours for 4 boys to finish.  Needless to say he had a blast with his friends but he was also dog tired when it was all finished.  We hadn't been swimming since our vacation to Charleston in September. 

For the Aquanaut test , the boys had to swim 4 laps without stopping in the pool.  Then, tread water for 30 seconds in the 10 foot deep water.  They had to show how to properly use a life jacket and swim 25 feet in it.   The boys had to dive in and swim and also rescue a fellow swimmer.  The also played marco polo and even met a gold metal Olympian and heard her speak about her experience.  She teaches swimming lessons at our local YMCA. What a treat to meet her!

Meeting Jenna Johnson

The 4 Webelos Scouts

Ethan swimming his 4 laps

Being rescued

Pretending they need help

Ethan's 10th birthday

I realized that I did not post about Ethan's birthday on the blog. Sorry! I posted it on Facebook and forgot about my little 6TNHills.

Ethan turned 10 this year. I taught him the phrase double digits so he went around telling everyone that he was "double digits."

Jason and I surprised him with a Razor electric scooter. He was so surprised. He squealed with delight. Since his birthday fell on a school day, we continued our Hill Academy tradition of not doing school on anyone's birthday including the teacher.

It was a beautiful and warm day with a high of 72. He got to ride his scooter all day. We even went to the YMCA West Hills park near the house and rode it there with me riding my new Trek bicycle beside him. Jason and the other kids played in the middle of the park. Andrew even took a turn on my bike and rode the loop around the park with Ethan riding his scooter right beside him.

We picked up a Bruster's ice cream and oreo cake that's still in my freezer two weeks later. It was so big that even the 4 kids couldn't gobble it up super fast.

It was a pretty low key birthday but he had fun and felt special all the same.

It's Popcorn Time in Tennessee

It's October and that means it's time to sell some popcorn with the Scouts.  It's a great fundraiser that they've been doing for years.  Our pack even sets up booths every weekend in front of the grocery stores to help raise money for the Cub Scout Pack.  Here is Ethan as we worked one Sunday afternoon selling tubs and tubs of that yummy, buttery snack. 

Ethan the Webelo

Ethan finished all his requirements to earn his Bear Badge this year and has been promoted to Webelos. Here he is in his new uniform looking more like a Boy Scout everyday.

Lego Head Ethan

Ethan says, "Look Mom!   I love Legos so much that I turned into one!"

Cub Scout Camp

 Ethan just returned from his first Cub Scout Summer Camp. It was a long but fun week for him. He shot BB guns, learned archery, built and painted a wooden helicopter and boat, played games galore and learned tons. The total hours spent at camp were actually more than the entire school year spent at scout meetings combined. He earned so many badges and belt loops that the leaders sent home checklists to give to their pack leaders. Here is Ethan during the final ceremony and leaving camp with all of his goodies.

Ethan's Cub Scout Crossover

Ethan finished all his requirements and earned his Bear Badge for Cub Scouts this year.  He officially is now a 1st year Webelos.  Here he is earning his awards and doing the "official" crossover to his new Webelos den.

Silly Ethan

I scored another Craigslist deal.  I bought two Pottery Barn Teen skateboard shelves for Caleb and Ethan's room, two for $35.  After Jason hung them, I asked Ethan what he would like to put on them.  Instantly he knew.  Sock monkeys with ties on.  He loved it and has really enjoyed making all the family laugh too.  

Ethan's new quilt

I scored again on finding a GREAT deal on Craigslist. I have been watching this Pottery Barn Kids quilt and sham for months. It was originally offered at $90 but I talked the seller down to $65. Not bad for little ole me who hates to negotiate. Jason keeps encouraging me to low ball offers and see where I get. This was by far my easiest negotiation. I left the message on the seller's answering machine. I thought she wasn't interested because she didn't call back for a few days. Then she called late one night over the weekend and said yes, and she'd meet me at the mall the very next day. The best part was that it was already monogrammed with Ethan's name on it! How cool!

Ethan really needed a new quilt. The one he had was sun bleached and had holes in it where he ripped the buttons off when he was a toddler. He had had it for 6 years but it looked much older than that. So now he get a better quilt that should last for many more years than my Target ones.

Ethan's new glasses

Here is Ethan in his new reading glasses.

Ethan's 8th Birthday

Ethan turned 8 on Friday. Continuing our tradition, the birthday child chose all the meals for the day. We started with chocolate doughnuts. For lunch we had ham sandwiches, bbq chips, grapes and mini cupcakes. Then for dinner we ate Subway. It was a crazy but fun day. School was canceled for the day. We NEVER do school on a family member's birthday. That would just be too wrong.

So the morning was spent putting together Ethan's LEGO Star Wars that my mom and dad gave him. Before we knew it, time had flown by and it was lunch time, then choir, then care group and poof, the day was done. But this year, Ethan's birthday celebrations continued for 2 days.

Sat morning, we awoke bright and early to clean up the house after care group (only 37 were here last night). Then, the decorating, planning and rushing around to get ready for party began. I made a blue light saber cake for Ethan this year. Also, each attendee received their own brown Jedi cape and rope.

Since it was a cold and rainy morning and actually snowing near Knoxville, we decided to stay inside and complete our Jedi training courses throughout the house. All the kids had fun. We ate pizza for lunch, drank Yoda drinks (Sprite and lime sherbet) and ate light saber cake and ice cream.

Ethan was overheard saying how great it was that he had so many friends. He really had a memorable birthday. They all loaded him up with Star Wars Lego gifts, Nerf guns and more. Just what he wanted. And now he's off to go to birthday party #2 for his friend Riley. He's going to need Monday off just to recoup from his party and Riley's sleepover. Good times, these are, thanks be to GOD!

Soccer Awards

Soccer season is over. Finally! I am so ready to hibernate until spring. At the end of the season parties, each player is given an award from the coaches. Usually it's something like most improved or best defender, etc. Andrew's two coaches this year were UT college seniors. It made for quite a different experience for him and the team. They certainly did not carry the authority like a father coach would and were surprisingly quiet, even at the games. Andrew did learn from them though and had a great season.

So the award he received was "The Secret Agent." The whole room chuckled at that award. It was very fitting. The coaches explained that the name came from the fact that he ALWAYS wore his sunglasses in sun or shade. But most importantly, as the smallest one on the team, he was their secret agent defender. He would surprise most players by being able to defend the goal quite well hence the name Secret Agent. I liked it and so did Andrew. He even has new sunglasses that fit this description even better, They have a yellow orange tint to the lens and are reflective. All you see is yourself. I hate those type of glasses but those were the darkest glasses available for my little vampire.

Ethan's first goal of the season

Ethan, the best little goalie around, got to play forward at Saturday's game. I've been trying to encourage him that he is good enough, fast enough and strong enough to make a goal. He kept thinking that since he was good at being goalie, that he couldn't be good at scoring goals too. After two weeks of encouraging him, he seemed to overcome his doubts. This past Saturday, we saw the same intensity as that of blocking goals go into bringing the ball down field around a defender and scoring his first goal of the season. He was so thrilled! I was too! Very thankful to have seen it too. I was sitting on the corner of two fields at the time cheering for both Hannah and Ethan as they played at the same time. The best part of it all was that my friend, Melanie got pictures of it. She posted them on facebook if you want to see them. All you have to do is go to my wall and see them there. They're GREAT! We're so excited for E!