15 and a half

Yep ... Ben has his driving permit!

 We have been in the parking lots and on the back roads practicing a bit ... I wish my car had a brake on the passenger side, lol!

It actually makes him a little nervous,  so we have only been doing about 15 minutes at a time.

Too funny!

Halloween Wreath

I have pinned a lot of yarn wreaths on pinterest and I actually got all the stuff to make a Halloween wreath last year ... but never got around to it.  I got the idea and printable for this one here.  

I think it turned out so cute!

Junior Jam 2012

It is over ...

after months of planning and work - our Girl Scout Troop hosted Jr. Jam this weekend.

{An event for about 90 Junior age Girl Scouts and their Leaders.}

The girls led stations making friendship bracelets and picture holders, singing karaoke and playing deck games!   We all worked our tails off prepping food, serving food, setting up stations, running stations, cleaning and running campfire.  Exhausting for sure ...  but the girls were amazing and they LOVE being in charge!

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of the weekend!

The girls of Troop 2061

We always have to take a crazy picture!

 Swabbie Sugden and Captain Sugden

 Karaoke

 Making Friendship Bracelets

{Susie's Station and probably one of the weekends favorites!}

 Making a human pyramid during the Quest game!

 Leading Campfire

 Best Girl Friends!

Closing Friendship Circle

{2061}

Leaving our troop's mark at Camp Fleming Lodge

Soccer

We are right in the middle of soccer season 

(although a case could be made that that is year round at our house).

Saturdays Sam has games and Ben referee's between 2-4 games 

(he is loving the $$$ and saving up for a car!)

During the week Ben plays on the high school's JV team, and is one of the team captains.  He practices 2 afternoons a week and has games 2 nights a week.

This equals lots of driving around, lots of food (breakfast, brunch, lunch, linner, dinner, 2nd dinner ... etc.), lots of Advil and lots of ice!!!  

Steve goes to nearly every game and I go if Susie is ok with homework and Sam doesn't have gym class.  Tonight Sam and I went over and cheered the team on!  

It makes Steve and me so happy to watch these boys doing the things the LOVE!

and just so I will always remember ...

(It kills Ben that I wanted a picture of this ... but it so captures this soccer season. ) 

as Steve or I drive him to his soccer things he meticulously puts on his socks, shinguards and cleats.  First the socks get pulled up - then rolled all the way down, shin guards are inserted, socks rolled up, then folded a a series of times, and the shin guard band is put in place, finally the cleats go on.

So we are always looking over and seeing this image :)

CSAW

Susie and I just returned from a Girl Scout event known as

CSAW

[Cadette, Senior, Ambassador Weekend}

The girls all had a great time!! 

There were amazing workshops for them to attend including a ropes course and zip line (new this year), tons of friends to run around with, free time and of course a campfire complete with songs, skits and s'mores!!

The cute girls of Troop 2061 

 Hair Bling Workshop led by me

(Making flowers to use as hairpins/barrettes)

 The Fleece Blanket Workshop + note the fancy braid from the Hair Design Workshop

 Tie Dye T-shirt Workshop

Mustache Fun with my silly girls!

So, so much fun for the girls.  The best part is watching how excited they are and what a good time they are having.

But .... it is so, so exhausting for the leaders ... leading workshops, cleaning the kitchen and bathrooms, making sure the girls are taken care of.  I think the lack of sleep put me over the edge and on Saturday I had a bad cold ... kind of a bummer, but I got through it.