A Scary Campfire

At the time I didn't know it but the campfire we had for our Beehive class activity in October was to be my last with my sweet Beehives. We had this fun activity the night before my birthday and as I walked up all my girls started singing "Happy Birthday" to me...it was so sweet! They had also made some birthday signs that they had hung around the table. I was so touched!
For the next hour we enjoyed roasting marshmellows, eating s'mores and cookies, and telling spooky ghost stories.

Even Noah got to join in on the fun since David was out of town. He loved hanging out with all the pretty girls but the s'mores are what really captured his heart.

Savannah reading one of the short scary stories that I handed out for each girl to read.

Even I had to contribute to the spooky atmosphere and told the girls about the ghost tour David and I went on while staying in Gettysburg.  During the ghost tour the guide took us to a spot with heavy ghost activity which was "proven" by the numerous orbs that showed up on the pictures I took of the area. David didn't believe me but then I showed him pictures just down the street that were now orb-free. The girls started to get a little spooked when I told them about the orbs that started showing up in pictures I took in my family room shortly after I returned from this trip. The spook factor shot through the roof when I then related the story of reading in my family room late one night and all of a sudden feeling like someone was sitting next to me on the couch, staring at me. That was one of the most eerie feelings I've ever had and the Beehives got really freaked out!
I definitely need to show the girls this picture of an orb hovering right above Sydney's head!

Although the girls ended the evening a little freaked out, we all still had a great time!

When we got home, Savannah and Noah made me take a bunch of pictures in the family room to prove that there were no orbs, and therefore no ghosts, still hanging out in that room.

Orb free, thank goodness!

The Sunday following this activity I was released as 2nd counselor in the YW program and put in as 1st counselor which means I am now over the Mia Maids. I will definitely miss spending time with my Beehives but I will get a bunch of them over the next year as they move up to the Mia Maid class.

Our Xanderman Is a Decade Old!

10 fun facts about our Xander:

• He LOVES the Orioles!  Almost every day, because they play almost every day from April to September, he sits in front of the TV, waving his orange towel and cheering them on!

• Xander is a voracious reader! Currently he is reading The Rangers Apprentice series as well as books on Abraham Lincoln for a school report AND a different book each month for the Black-eyed Susan Reading Club he joined at school.
• Not only is Xander a huge reader but he is a writer as well and is currently writing a book about pirates. The chapters I've read so far have been very creative and detailed.
• He is currently learning to play the saxophone. 

• Xander is a Momma's Boy; he sure loves to hug me, hold my hand, and snuggle with me every chance he gets.
• School is one of his favorite places to be, thank goodness! He's a great student and really works hard to be the best in his class, especially at math which is his favorite subject.
• He loves electronics and would spend all day (and night) playing if he could. His favorites include the MLB baseball game and Clash of Clans.
• Xander has an extremely soft spot in his heart for babies. The wife of his Primary teacher sent me this picture of Xander snuggling with her little boy in class one Sunday. It just melts my heart!

• He loves to play sports! Every day when he gets home from school he heads to the nearby playground where he meets up with all the neighborhood kids for a big game of kickball. Just last week I even caught him over there passing the football with one of the cute girls that lives just up the street. Unfortunately for her, Xander has quite the arm and was definitely not taking it easy on her. He also loves to head out back with David to play catch with the baseball and has really improved over the past few months.
• Xander continues to enjoy scouts and just advanced to Webelos. Despite the lack of his scout uniform for the pack meeting, he still earned a few awards.

Due to my attending the GWTW movie event, Xander got to have a 2 day birthday celebration! Tuesday evening we gathered to open his gifts.

Some of his favorites included Clone Wars Season 5 (this was Noah's favorite too!);

book 5 of Spirit Animals;

and, of course, Chima Legos!

For dessert he chose my ultra-yummy strawberry pie, a definite favorite of his. I'm so glad Noah was thrilled to join in singing "Happy Birthday" to his brother. We're so kind and loving in this family.

Make a wish, birthday boy!

The next morning, Wednesday, was his actual birthday so he received the traditional birthday balloons...

one last gift - a robot spider...

and birthday donuts for breakfast!

Xander's favorites at 10 years old:

• Color:  Purple
• Food:  Hamburgers
• Movie:  "The Hobbit"
• TV Show:  "Chima" and "Star Wars Rebels"
• Book:  The Rangers Apprentice Series
• Toy:  Legos and Star Wars
• Animal:  Leopard
• Sport to Watch:  Baseball
• Sport to Play:  Baseball
• Sports Team:  Orioles, Broncos, BYU (what the heck??? Thanks, Grandpa Schaeffer!)
• Sports Player:  Adam Jones, Nelson Cruz, Steve Pearce (maybe we should just put the whole Orioles roster down)
• Fruit:  Strawberries, Cherries
• Vegetable:  Onion
• Singer/Group:  Dave Matthews
• Song:  any by Dave Matthews
• Holiday:  Christmas
• Candy:  Nestle Crunch
• Dessert:  Mom's Strawberry Pie
• Season:  Spring
• Restaurant:  5 Guys
• Temple:  Salt Lake
• Scripture Hero:  Captain Moroni
• Place to Go:  NYC, Grandma and Grandpa's house, Camden Yards
• What He Wants to Be When He Grows Up:  Professional Baseball Player, Marine Biologist, Pilot
• Best Friends:  Malik, Spencer, Ashur, Devon, Jordan...and the list goes on

75th Anniversary

In honor of the 75th anniversary of this classic movie, TCM presented a 2 day event - in select theaters nation-wide a showing of Gone With the Wind. I was so eager to go since I'd only seen it once on the big screen, way back in college, but unfortunately the two days selected were a Sunday and my son's birthday. But after a little conversation with Xander, he agreed to celebrate his birthday a night earlier so I could attend this special showing of one of my all-time favorites. What a sweet boy! So, on Wednesday, October 1st, me and three great friends headed down to the closest theater showing GWTW, about 40 minutes away. What a fun evening!!

My fellow GWTW nerds: Kim, Becca, me and El.

It was a late night but well worth it!

Xander's Scout Award

For the past few months Xander has been the Denner in his Bear den, a position that I had no idea even existed until Xander received the assignment. After a little research and help from his den leader, I discovered that a Denner is the temporary youth leader of his den and even gets to wear a special gold double-strand Denner cord over his shoulder. This position allowed Xander to learn about leadership and responsibility for his den. Some of his important duties included helping with the den meeting set up and activities, leading the opening and closing ceremonies, and assigning other boys in the den various responsibilities.

On the last night as a Bear, his den leader invited me in to see Xander receive special recognition for carrying out his assignment. She said that Xander had done an excellent job fulfilling his Denner role.

I was so, so proud of Xander!

Xander and his Bear den.

Crazy boys!!

Our O's!

Yesterday our O's were knocked out of the playoff race and won't be heading to the World Series like we had hoped. Xander shed a few tears but I reminded him that our O's had a great season and we had a blast going to the games as well as watching them play on TV almost every day since April!
In memory of the fun season we had watching our O's I'm posting pictures from the last game we attended as a family.

Towards the end of the season I started to feel like we lived at Camden Yards, we were down there so often!

Watching our guys at batting practice.

What a beautiful evening for a baseball game!

Me and my cute brown-eyed girl!

We will definitely miss watching our O's for the next few months. Opening Day of April 2015 sure seems a long way off!

Our Soccer Girl

Savannah continues to love soccer and we continue to love watching her play. This season she has been playing midfield and has been tearing it up out there!

David told her that he'd give her $25 if she scored a goal off a header. Here was one of her chances...no luck!

She's a toughie!

And down she goes...

They ended up winning this game, 3-2. Her team is having a great season so far with only 1 loss. Looking forward to the remainder of her games!

The Blue Tornadoes

Noah started his soccer season and boy, has it been fun to watch him play! At the start of the season he was so excited to play goalie; that's all he talked about. His coach chose him and one of the other boys to be captains.

And there he is, in the goal! It was mega hot that day and I was a tad worried about him having to wear that long-sleeved goalie shirt.

After about 5 minutes, Noah had decided that being a goalie was not everything he had hoped for. Basically, it's pretty boring!

For the second half he was on the field and I think he's come to the conclusion that that's where the fun is! He's lucky to have a friend from church, Owen, on his team, and they were both pretty sweaty after that first game. They worked hard out there!!

By the second game the boys had finally decided on their team name - the Blue Tornadoes! They are ready to go!

No more goalie for Noah - he's all about playing attack and trying to score goals!

Noah driving toward the goal...

unfortunately I was too busy cheering him on as he scored his first goal of the season to take a picture of it. I did, however, get this picture of him running back to his teammates after scoring. He looks determined here but he was pretty excited and even threw his hands in the air a few times in celebration as he ran back.

Showing off his soccer skills!

Noah really played tough against this other player.

That player decided he had had enough of Noah's tough play and took him down. Poor Noah slammed his head pretty hard on the ground on this fall!

It's been a great season so far with a win, a few ties, and one loss. Noah has only scored the one goal but has played great, running fast, passing to his teammates, and having a lot of fun on the field. Go Blue Tornadoes!!