April

I can't get over how quickly the months are rolling by! I feel like it was just January, and now here we are at the end of April! (Part of the confusion there may be that we've had some January-like weather this month, which is just ridiculous, if you ask me!) Here are the highlights of another full and fun month:

• We got to spend time with my grandmother and parents in Haskell on Easter (and I managed not to take a single picture).
• Clay and I got to go on a real date.

Date night at Chick-fil-A

• Weston attended the Camporee with the Scouts, where his troop engaged in friendly competitions against some other local troops. And, he got to do that in freezing temperatures! But his troop got second place overall, so he didn't mind too much.
• Ruth marched with the CAP Color Guard in the Medal of Honor parade in Gainesville, also in freezing temperatures.

Nighthawk Color Guard
(Ruth is carrying the blue CAP flag)

Enduring freezing temps is worth it
if you know you're going to load up on candy!

• Clay earned his yellow belt in his "croty" class.

Proud of his yellow belt

• Clay attended the Cub Scout campout, where he finished up the last few requirements to earn the Tiger rank he has been working on since he started in the Fall. 

Our sweet Tiger Scout

• Weston got to go on a tour of Love Field with his Boy Scout troop. He was most impressed with how quickly the safety slides could be inflated. (3 seconds, if you're curious)
• Ruth's CAP flight assisted with an equestrian special olympics event, and she marched with the Color Guard for the opening flag ceremony. (Again, I managed not to get any pictures!)
• Ruth went to Six Flags with one of her best friends as an early birthday celebration.
• Ruth and I got to have a special mother-daughter breakfast at Mango's.

Fun times!

• Max and Clay participated in a Ninja Warrior contest at the gym where they take their lessons.

Taking the leap into the outdoor course

Tire hopping with a little guidance from Coach Josh

• Weston and Max presented their Faces of History research papers at CC. The FOH project involved doing research on a person important in U.S. history, writing a paper with at least five paragraphs, coming up with a costume, preparing a snack representative of the person they were writing about, and presenting their papers in front of a fairly large audience. They worked many weeks on this and did a fantastic job!

Abraham Lincoln

Thomas Jefferson

• Nana stepped in and helped with 3rd grade Math one day, which impressed us all. 

Special math teacher

• Jeff and I booked a trip to Costa Rica for a week in August. We will be celebrating our 20th anniversary and wanted to give each other a new country. 😊
• We visited Mimi and Grandpa and got to play in the lake. 

Clay was more interested in collecting
bluebonnets than playing in the chilly water

Max and Weston had the best time
cruising around in the tubes

• Max, Weston, and Mimi ran in a Foam Fest fun run.

Before...

...After

• We attended the Llano Crawfish Open, and I ate crawfish from their shells for the first time.

A "flat" of crawfish

• We attended Nana's birthday party and had fun celebrating this wonderful woman and spending time with family.

Clay did an oil pastel drawing for Nana's birthday

• Ruth received a promotion to the rank of Cadet Airman First Class with CAP.

Cadet Airman First Class Watts

• Jeff travelled to Washington D.C. for the third round of Foreign Service Officer testing and the in-person interview. He got a very high score and has now moved into the security clearance stage. 

So proud of this handsome FSO candidate!

• Ruth had her wisdom teeth out, which wasn't any fun.
• Max participated in a Mud Run with his Ninja Warrior team.

Running plus getting dirty? Yes, please!

• Ruth enrolled at the local community college for the fall semester.
• Weston received the Boy Scout rank of Star, which he has been working hard to complete before we leave on our summer trip. Very few 12-year-olds achieve this rank, and we are so proud of him!

Star Scout

• We wrapped up all our school work for the year and can put 4th, 6th, and 10th grades behind us for now. 1st Grade is behind us for good! 

Max taught Clay how to play Multiplication
Squares on the last day of class

The Sad Story of Duck's Demise

I'm going to tell this story to you just the way I heard it. Every word is true.

[Scene]
A small six-year-old boy sits on a stool gazing out the windows of the sliding patio door. His mother enters the room for some purpose other than conversation, but without moving a muscle or shifting his gaze, the boy begins to speak.

Boy (somberly): One of my "puffets" died today.

Mother: Really? I'm so sorry to hear that. Which one?

Boy: Duck.

Mother: What happened?

Boy (now turning to face his mother, but still somber): Well...First, he had to suffer. {dramatic sigh} Then, he fell off a rock cliff. {shakes head} And, then, the earthquake got him.

Mother (amused and horrified all at once): Oh no! That sounds awful! What kind of suffering did he have to do?

Boy (earnestly and without missing a beat): He had to travel through a dark, dusty cavern.

Mother: Wow! That is some intense suffering.

Boy: Yeah. He had a dust allergy. So he started sneezing and fell off the cliff because he couldn't see where he was going.

Mother: And, did he die when he fell off the cliff?

Boy: Oh, no. His friends, Rabbit and Panda, who had been smart enough to go over the cavern rather than through it, rescued him when he fell off the cliff and took him to the hospital.

Mother: Oh, so he died at the hospital.

Boy: Yes. The earthquake hit just as the "ambleeince" pulled up to the hospital, and it fell right on top of Duck, and he died.

Mother: Goodness. How did Rabbit and Panda escape?

Boy: They had gotten out of the "ambleeince" and gone inside to wait for Duck. But, of course, Duck died. I buried him.

Mother: Where did you bury him?

Boy: In my wallet. In the living room.

Boy (glancing back out the window): Look at that bee. Do you know what kind it is?