A Scrap of Life

Oh yeah, it's getting that time. The girl has developed "the look"... that look she gives you when you say something stupid or embarassing or when you do something she doesn't approve of. She's gotten pretty good at "the look", see...

June 26 was Chase's Eagle Scout project. He chose to do a Bike Safety Fair for the kids of Scappoose, something we've never seen in the 7 years we've lived in this community. He put in so many hours planning this event, looking for donations, coordinating schedules and volunteers and gear for the event. There were huge issues in the days leading up to the event that he weathered - the biggest being the "you can't have the area we promised to you for your event." AAAHHH! It was a huge undertaking but he rose to the occasion and did such a fabulous job! The day went off without a hitch... he had it planned so well that it pretty much ran like clockwork. YEAH! Upon arriving eveyone checked in with Grandma (my Mom) at the registration desk. Each child got a big filled with color books, activity books, pamphlets and a Scappoose Police color-changing pencil. Then they were free to wander the stations around the perimeter of the bike safety fair. He had a few...

Every year I'm so excited for summer. By the end of spring I'm ready to be done with teaching for a bit and done with getting up in the mornings, going to school, having meetings, etc. So when summer comes I'm always excited for the chance to not have that structure and chaotic schedule. Yet each year when summer comes here I am again... busy, busy, busy. This year has been much of the same. I've taught 3 summer camps, taken Chase back and forth to National Youth Leadership Training, gone camping with the family and painted and moved the kids into new rooms. It's been a busy, busy summer thus far. And in the midst of it all I'm taking a full score of college classes, one of them being a photography course. I must admit that I love photography and have for a very long time. Lately I've really been trying to work on more beautiful and better composed photos and thought I was doing well... until I started this course. It's much harder than I expected to get...

Sorry I've been bad at posting lately. As always, life gets in the way of blogging. And lots of life has been going on lately. Life is definitely keeping us busy. The good news is that I am DONE teaching summer camps for this season. YEAH! Now summer can actually begin and maybe I can get some stuff done around here ... like cleaning the house! LOL On the other side of the coin, life is still busy, busy, busy. I'm just about ready to head off to take Chase to National Youth Leadership Training for Boy Scouts. He is soooo excited that he was chosen by the troop leaders to go to this week-long leadership camp but even more than that, he's excited to learn how to become a better leader and scout. On a similar note, Chase held his Eagle Scout project a few weekends ago. It went remarkably well. I can't wait to blog about it and share pictures, but that will have to wait for another time. For now, here's pictures of some things I've missed posting. Chase and Carissa ...