Scouter Jen

I have become quite the scouter. I have gained a testimony of the great program of the Boy Scouts of America and the Cub scout program. I am a den leader for our church ward. I think a lot of why I became so enthusiastic about it is because this is something I can do with my boys. All of them.
It all started when #1 was about 4. We put him on a soccer team while we were stationed in Italy. He was so cute out there in the field but he just wasn't into it. I felt so sad. Husband and I dreamed of our boys wanting to be professional baseball players. We quickly realized that #1 was not going in that direction. So I was worried what he would be interested in...
then when he turned , we put him is cub scouts. I didn't pay attention at all to him being in it and frankly found it irritating to take him to den meeting each week. That was in Iceland and he was part of a den from the base.
Then we moved to Alaska. #2 turned 8 and was ready to join cub scouts. Their leader became one of my best friends here and she had such a great time as their den leader. I volunteered to help her out. #2 was really into doing what he needed to to get his awards and I was bitten by the scouter bug. Now I am a den leader for the ward and I am on the District committee. I am loving it. I love the boys who are my den with me. #3 has joined now that he is 8 and I am excited about that. #1 has now moved on to Boy Scouts and I have so enjoyed learning about that program as well. Scouting is my full time hobby now. I haven't even read the last Harry Potter yet. Isn't that sad!!! I will though.
Now I am on to the next Boy Scout Adventure. 2010 is the 100th anniversary for Boy Scouts and they will be having a national jamboree in July 2010. They host about 40,000 boy scouts. I plan to leave 4 of the boys at Grandma's and be on the staff out in Virginia. How cool is that. (I am such a geek!) #1 and #2 will go as part of a troop from the state of Alaska. I am so excited about this opportunity.

No more baby

Well we have officially left baby world now for toddler world. #6 turned 1 on Thursday. #6 was not on my plan of kids. I always thought I would just have 5. I liked the odd number. After #5 was born I really wanted to be done having babies but Husband and of all people my own mom talked me into it. I never thought that would have happened. Every time a stranger saw me with all the boys they would ask me (and still do) if I am going for the girl. I would say no and I still do but now I say no I was trying for a blue eyed baby. I finally got one. It took 6 times. But he has my blue eyes and red hair to boot. He is a happy toddler. Loves to be with his brothers. His face lights up when they get home from school.

He can't be more than 28 inches tall but he has been walking for about a month and getting better every day. Today he even walked the long halls of the church building. His red hair is curling all over the place. So adorable! He is also trying to talk more. He says mama. He is getting the hang of a sippy cup and goes for his brother's every chance he gets. He loves the chocolate milk. He got some soft squishy balls for his birthday. A baseball, football, soccer ball and basketball. He has loved throwing them around since. He also got this toy that shoots balls into the air and he has had a big time with that. Oh the simple pleasures of life. He is a very easy going boy. I needed that since #5 is not so easy going. It is helpful that #6 is. I know my B-I-L RY doesn't exactly agree with me on this issue. He babysat him one time when I went to Boise to visit and the girls went out. He cried the entire time. He was in a strange place with a stange man. I wouldn't be too happy about that either. But he really is quite easy going.

I am enjoying watching this toddler learn and experience the little things in life for the first time.

I am so happy they talked me into having him. Our family is complete now.

#5

I think I should write about #5. He turned 3 years old this past Saturday. We actually celebrated his birthday on Friday evening with a family party. We had cupcakes and he loves cupcakes. By the time #5 came around we were worried about where we would get his first name. We actually just liked his name but that name is in both families, my great great grandfather shared his name. It is a great name. #5 was born in Iceland. How cool is that! We were stationed there with the the Air Force for 2 years. Someday we hope to take him back to the country where he was born so he can see the beauties of Iceland.

#5 does really well at keeping up with his older brothers. He gets right in there and plays with them. He especially likes playing with #4. Each morning he wakes up after the other boys are gone, he asked me where each one is. It is cute. He loves to play with his wooden Thomas the Tank and friends. We get them out and play just about every day. For his birthday he got some new tracks, and a Birthday Thomas engine. One of the things #5 has to do each day is take a bath. He loves to take baths in my tub because it is very deep. He has turned the jetts on but doesn't like them too much. He just likes it deep. He has a favorite toy shark that he plays with in the tub. For his birthday we got him a whale to play with too.

He has some favorite movies. His top three are Cars, Finding Nemo and Lion King. We usually watch one of these every other day or so.

He is a good big brother, loves to play in his room with the baby. #5 does have his own room since he is still waking up during the night. Sometimes I get very aggravated about this and I hope he will grow out of it but he has been waking up ever since he was born. He is the only one that does this. All the other boys have always slept all night. He just has a short sleep time I guess. By 4am he is ready to get up for the day. So #5 does not take naps anymore.

He is a smart guy, and his brothers have helped him learn to count and he knows his colors. He is very busy, always needing to be doing something. He has so much energy. I wish he could pass it on to me.

He is a cute kid and so lovable.

His Greatest Compliment

When I was a little girl, I watched Little House on the Prairie every day at 5pm. I know all the episodes by heart. My sister and I would play little house. I was bossy Mary and she was Laura. My grandma made us dresses that looked like theirs. We would play Little House school in our basement. I always loved the comic situations Laura would get herself into. As I grew up with Laura, I wanted to marry someone like Almonzo Wilder. But as I got older, I realized that I wanted to marry someone just like Charles Ingalls. He always took such good care of his family and his children were able to talk to him. He was a hard worker who did what ever he needed to to provide for them. He could do many things. Just about anything. He wouldn't back down from his values and he never seemed to let things bother him too much. He was pretty happy and I liked his smile (some of this is the fact that Micheal Landon played this character).He had dark wavy hair. I always found him to be charming.

So I waited for my Charles Ingalls. He found me on March 19, 1993. We met at a dance at church. He knew right away that we were going to marry. He kept his hair longer then, (the AF doesn't let him now) and it was dark and wavy. I loved it. I was smitten right away. And although he didn't have a great job or any real prospects at the time I knew he would take care of me and love me always. I wasn't afraid to go out into the world with him. I knew he would work hard to provide for me and our future kids. I was ready for the adventures that life would bring us. We got married on March 19, 1994. And we have had many many adventures in lots of countries these past 14 years. Husband can do anything he puts his mind to and if he doesn't know how to do something he figures it out or gets someone to show him how to do it. He has so many talents. I am excited to see what adventures we will embark on in the next 14 years.

Some months ago, I was talking in front of our church congregation,(some 200 people) and said how thankful I am for MY Charles Ingalls. I am sure that some people chuckled that I would refer to him as some fictional character from a TV show but to Husband, he said it was his greatest compliment.

So I say again, on our 14th anniversary, Thank you husband for being MY Charles Ingalls all these years. I am so happy you chose me. I love You!

Six Years Old!

#4 turned six yesterday. I thought I should write about him. He is an adorable kid. His first name is my grandmother's maiden name. It is a cool name though. We tried to name all of the boys' first names after someone in our families.

#4 was our smallest baby and his delivery was the most surprising and took the least amount if time. Just 45 minutes! He came out with bright red hair. He is actually the first one to look most like his mom. One of these days I will post pics of me when I was a kid. Well, #4 has always been a self contained little guy. He has been such a blessing since his older brother can be very demanding at times. When he was a baby, in an infant car seat, he would kick his legs so that he rocked himself in the seat. It was so cute and he would get himself going so hard we thought he would rock it right over. He never did but he was always happy and content. He LOVES pajamas. Every day when he comes home from school, he changes right away into his jammies. He has his favorites, the ones that zip up the front. He loves to be comfortable. Each Christmas and Birthday he gets at least 2 new pairs of jammies. This year he got Cars and Transformers jammies. He also has a bear that he is very attached to. A neighbor gave it to him when he was very small, I think it was even bigger than he was at the time. His name is Teddy.

#4 is in Kindergarten. He loves going to school. In fact, during spring break he was sad that he didn't have school. I wish all the boys felt that way. He really likes his teacher. And he loves learning. He is doing great at learning to read and learning math.

Cute story about the photo. Last summer we went on a trip to Valdez and the boys went fishing for silver salmon. The inlet was boiling with fish so it was pretty easy for them to catch one. #4 was so proud of his catch that he hauled it up the rocky bank to show me and his great grandma (who was visiting). The funny thing was, he didn't want to touch it without those gloves on. They sure were stinky when he was done with them.


He has been such a blessing in my life and in the life of our family.

Can't wait to be Eight

In our religion, turning 8 is one of the most important birthdays ever. #3 turned 8 this last week. He had one exciting birthday. He got the normal gifts but he also got Baptized. He was so excited that he couldn't even get dressed by himself. His dad, who baptized him, had to help him get dressed after the baptism. When #3 was a baby his daddy blessed him. We were living in Italy at the time and had some good friends who had a boy 3 months after we had #3. They blessed the boys on the same day. This year, we are living near friends who have 7 children and one of them is only 10 days older than #3. So as tradition has it, they were baptized on the same day. It was cute!

Now that was the highlight of the day, but it started off pretty cool too. Since Husband is active duty, we have certain privileges on base. You will recall that #3's passion is the F-22. Well, Husband got permission to climb all over and under one. Yes that is right! We went over to the hanger of one of the only active squadrons in the nation, (there is only one other one) and got a close up and personal tour of the newest jet in the USAF. That was so cool!

I hope this birthday was as memorable for #3 as it was for me.

Flowers

I love flowers. I like all kinds. I don't have a favorite. I love yellow roses. I love Irises, and daffodils. I used to walk down our driveway as a kid and look for all the wild daffodils and Irises. I love the smell of lilacs as I walk down a neighborhood street. I think that is one of my favorite flower scents. I love getting red roses from my husband.

And I also love seeing wild flowers in a field. It is an ocean of flowers.

So I am adding this link that my uncle sent me. It is a flower garden for all of you.

Just click on your mouse and move it all over your screen. I just wish I could smell all those flowers.

ENJOY

http://www.procreo.jp/labo/flower_garden.swf

Did you know....

This was fun and I never do these things.
Enjoy

A- Attached or single: Attached for 14 years- WOW!!!
B- Best Friend: My husband, he watches BONNET movies with me. Isn't that sweet. And all my sisters and girlfriends are important to me since I don't have any daughters of my own.
C- Cake or Pie: Both? I like both but I eat cake more often
D- Day of Choice: Any day I can sleep in
E- Essential Item: My phones and my computer, I need to talk to people.
F- Favorite Color: Most shades of green.
G- Gummie Worms or Bears: Neither, we eat scooby doo fruit snacks.
H- Hometown: Wherever my family is since we move around every few years. I think that will end this year and we will stay in Alaska for a while. YEAH!!!
I- Indulgence{s}: Right now it is buying a huge box of Junior Mints. Yummy!
J- January or July: January since it is my BDay and July since it is summer in Alaska.
K- Kids:6 cool boys and my husband who never has to grow up.
L- Life is incomplete without: my hot chocolate in the morning and kisses from my boys every day.
M- Marriage Date: March 1994
N- Number of siblings: 2 sisters, 1 sister in law, 1 brother and 2 brothers in law.
O- Oranges or Apples: Red delicious apples
P- Phobias or Fears: getting old alone!
Q- Question to Ask God: Why couldn't I have girls?
R- Reason to smile: My boys' jokes
S- Season: All Summer
T- Tag Three: FnFD, FnFD, FnFD
V-Vegetarian or Oppressor of animal: My diet right now-see food eat food.
W- Worst habit: I don't have any bad habits, HA! Why would I give that information up!
X- X-ray or Ultrasound: Ultrasound- I loved watching the boys wave at me.
Y- Your favorite food: I just found Wal-Mart's deli sweet and sour chicken- YUM!
Z- Zimbabwe or New Zealand: BOTH- I love to travel. I am trying to come up with a travel show for the travel channel where they would pay for all 8 of us to go and travel. Wouldn't that be a comedy travel show, traveling with 6 boys under the age of 13. I think so. We have gotten ourselves in some pretty good messes in Europe.