School days

Ready for 1st grade!

As usual, September means that school is beginning again. This year, Cole is in his (gasp!) senior year in high school, and Zach and Alex started 1st grade at the Catholic school in our parish. I don't think Cole would be overjoyed at having pictures taken on his first day of school, but fortunately for me, Zach and Alex still are - so we took pictures of them as they went off to the bus stop. :)

Sept was a bit of a tough month for Zach, who suffered a broken collarbone when he got tackled in flag football.  Grandma Pat happened to catch some of the aftermath on camera, and in addition to the pain poor Zach suffered, the pictures show a moment of brotherly love as Alex helps comfort Zach as they leave the field.  Fortunately, the injury didn't slow Zach down much and he's right back to his energetic self.

Along with these pictures, the Sept-Oct 2012 album includes a fun day at our church's annual Fall Festival fundraiser and the Raingutter Regatta races at the October Cub Scouts Pack meeting (hence, the kids in costume), along with some other odds and ends - including some videos of Z&A reading and Papa playing the accordion!

Also, I've added a couple new photos to the Basement album showing the work I did on the basement bathroom - a new tile floor and wainscoting on the walls. Slowly but surely, it's getting done!

Scouting fun

Alex and Zach with Den Leader Mommy

We had a couple of fun Cub Scouts events in August - a camping trip with the Pack and a day camp specifically geared towards Tiger Cubs (first graders).

The Pack camping trip was the first "real" camping trip for Zach and Alex, spending the night in a tent somewhere other than in our backyard. They, and the rest of the Scouts from Pack 324 who attend, had a fantastic time. We did some canoeing, did some geocaching while we were out on a hike, made pizzas and s'mores on the fire, played some games and just had lots of fun. Z&A can't wait for the next camping trip - they're hooked!

A week later, they and two other friends from their Tiger Cub den attended a one-day camp geared just for kids their age. They did all sorts of fun activities while earning some of the achievements towards their Tiger badges, but I think their favorite activity was archery. They were so excited to try out the bows and arrow!

The pictures from these activities have been added to the July-Aug 2012 album. I also have a Tiger Scouts album to show all the fun activities they're doing in this year of Scouting (I'm having a lot of fun as the boys' Den Leader!)