too young

Tonight is Mormon Prom for our church. You have to be 16 to attend. Karlee is 15 1/2. So...these girls decided to have their own kind of fun tonight.

They got all dressed up and went out to dinner with their dads. I have to brag a little. We found Karlee's dress at Goodwill for $7!!! Jackpot!!  A friend of mine altered the bodice to fit better and that's all we needed.

They all look amazing!!

After dinner the dads left them at a friends house to eat and watch movies. I think it's a hit!

maple sugaring

Not far from our house we learned how to get sap from a tree to make syrup.

The boys learned how to drill a hole for the spout.

We learned that the sweetest sap is in the Spring. The nights need to be below freezing and days above for the sap to flow. The sap is 97% water.

Once the sap is harvested it needs to boil for 27-48 hours. The sap will thicken and darken when it becomes syrup. 40 gallons of sap will make one gallon of syrup.

They even had samples for us from a "sugar bush" from central Illinois. Soo good!!!

Now we wish we had a sugar maple in our backyard.

 

just keep running...

Bailee ran her first 5K today!! She sent me these pics and texted me her time which was 32:37. She also added that she ran the whole thing!! I'm so proud of her.

I wish I could have ran with her. I loved running a 5K with McKinzie and Karlee last summer. Maybe this summer I can run one with Bailee.

I'm currently training for a half marathon. There was a time, not long ago, I thought I'd never run more than a 10K. I guess I needed to prove to myself I can do hard things. Or, I can do this because so and so did. That's probably it. 

It's hard. When I ran 8 miles for the first time I thought I would die. My legs hurt for most of the day. Thursday I ran 11 miles and at 10 1/2 I had to walk a bit. But I'm doing it. It feels good, the next day after my legs stop hurting, to know I'm accomplishing my goal. 

blue and gold

A few weeks ago was the Blue and Gold Banquet for Cub Scouts. (I don't know why I'm so slow posting this. Oh well, better late than never.) The Cubs with their dads had to make a cake. The theme was "Flying High".

They did a great job!!

 At the banquet there were some airplanes races.

 These cakes were our dessert.  Super yummy!!

 

Carson also earned his first bead.  He's close to earning another, plus he's earned two arrows. (If they could award them.)

spring?

Monday and Tuesday this last week was beautiful. Sunny and warm enough to melt a significant amount of snow! Carson was loving riding his bike after school again. 

Then Wednesday we woke up to 3-4 inches of snow. Will this ever end?! It was beautiful!! The thing is I want Spring. We ALL want Spring. Carson just about cried when he saw snow. He wants to play football at recess. 

It's suppose to be 50 on Friday. So ready for Spring!!

baby gift

I made this for my friend Ruth K and her baby boy. He was weeks old when I finally mailed it. I'm kinda slow.

I made this teddy bear when I was still in Texas. My first appliqué. I think he's super cute!! I also appliquéd a lamb and a pig.

ice ice baby

My baby spent an hour and a half at a local pond ice skating for scouts tonight. He was loving it! As he was skating, it was hard to believe it was only his second time on ice skates.