Well Jared is officially nine. It doesn't seem possible, yet it is true. I thought he was just baptized yesterday, not a whole year ago. He had to do a treasure hunt to find this present. Riley was his helper. He's been begging and borrowing Nicole and Riley's Ripsticks, and now he's got his own. He was thrilled. His is a smaller and smoother rolling board. It could be that the other boards around here have been used and abused and thus don't roll as well.

He obviously already knew how to use it. I have no idea how they do that, but I like to watch them. I also like that they get outside and get some exercise. It's not something I usually allow in my house....especially since "the hole in the wall accident". What a bunch of crazies I have!

Don't ask me why I got that look from either of them. The girls are just looking at each other like..."Boys!!" Jared you are loud, crazy, smart, a daredevil, and good boy and we're glad to have you in our family.

Our kids were playing with their friends and they brought in a fat, green caterpillar. They wanted to keep it and see if it would turn into a butterfly. We got a jar ready and let them keep it. Things like this don't usually go well for me. The insect usually dies and then we have to go through a long explanation about why and what and all that. When it looked like it was making a cocoon the next morning, we were encouraged. When it was mostly black and looked really sad by the evening, I told them not to expect much. We decided not to throw it out yet, but to see what would happen over the next week or so.

One morning Sarah was getting ready for school and yelled. She scared me and I didn't know what she was talking about, but she said "It came out!!" Sure enough, this beautiful butterfly had emerged from its cocoon. We were all very happy it had survived and I'm glad I didn't have to explain why it died.

We let it go outside so it could be free and live a good life.

Here's what was left of the cocoon after it came out.

I know it's a bit late to be posting this, but I just uploaded these pictures and I was reminded about our huge snowstorm we had on March 28th! Winter is over by then, but we got the most snow I've ever seen here in OK. It melted the next day and we were enjoying 60 degree weather, but just look at the amount on the ground. Considering I've only seen it snow about four times in the four winters I've lived here, this was amazing.

We had so much fun on our trip. It felt like we had been gone for a month instead of almost 13 days. We went to Disney World, Ft. Lauderdale, and on a short cruise to the Bahamas. I'm posting a slideshow for your viewing pleasure. We definitely have to do something like this again!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jared participated in his first derby this year. He didn't come in first, but he didn't come in last either. He was somewhere right in the middle and that's just great for us. We're not engineers around here, but Jared had fun and that what matters. The leaders did a great job setting everything up and running it smoothly. I was very impressed.

Thank you great leaders!!

Everyone who raced had a lot of fun!

Riley had a Court of Honor and was awarded his 2nd Class Rank and a few merit badges. He's doing well in Scouts, but we all need to get on the ball and finish up some badges he has in the works and get a few more things done on his 1st Class. He conducted this meeting to pass off a requirement for his Communication badge. He did a great job!

Here he is with his leader, Bro. Bingham and Jesse in the background.

I usually have a jacket with a collar when my kids get to "pin" me with something. I really am proud of him for putting for the effort he does for his scouting activities.

Jared played basketball again this winter. He really enjoys it and I'm glad that he wants to do something so active. He really tries hard. Their team had a rough season, but ended up winning their last two games. I like it when I see a team improve. Way to go Jared!

This last picture is during the awards party at Mazzio's. I always appreciate the coaches who donate their time to help our kids.