The Black

One of my favorite things is to read with Garrett before bedtime. It started out with him doing most of the reading (he was suppose to read for 30-45 minutes each night for school) and then gradually progressed to me reading. I realized that bedtime really wasn't the best time to ask him to read. He is usually so tired at the end of the day and really just enjoys relaxing and LISTENING to a story. Besides Andy and I feel that it is a bit much to ask a child to read every day for a set amount of time. It was really taking all of the fun out of it. We were starting to see a child that used to LOVE to read, start to really HATE it. Now that we have backed off on making him read I am finding that he is actually reading way more on his own. He usually always has his library book in the car and uses his time in the car to just read. I have even caught him on several occasions reading to Luke, but Shh don't tell him. For whatever reason it always embarrasses

him when I praise him for doing it. So I will continue to pretend that I don't hear him ask Luke what book he wants to read and pretend I don't see the way Garrett stops after reading each page to show Luke the pictures......so sweet! And before you start thinking that is the only time Luke gets read to, Andy usually spends time reading with Luke in the evenings. Sometimes we switch off, but Garrett and I have been reading chapter books now and I don't want to miss any parts! In fact the most recent book that Garrett grabbed off of his shelf was this one...

And when I opened it I found this...

It brought tears to my eyes. You see this was from Andy's grandmother. The very one whose name is Hope. The reason that we have hoped (no pun intended) that we would have a little girl one day to name after her and that little girl is on her way!! Mama was an INCREDIBLE woman for so many reasons. And to this day I can't look at our chickens and not think of her. She too shared a love for them among so many other things.

So upon finding the inscription, I had to stop to go show Andy. He had forgotten all about this little book given to him so long ago and was touched to see it again.

Well, Garrett and I just finished reading the story last night and both loved it. I had never read this book growing up and enjoyed it as much as Garrett did!

Wolves and Bears Oh My

Monday night was the Boy Scouts Blue and Gold Banquet. This is an award ceremony to celebrate the boys hard work throughout the year.

Here the Wolves are getting their patches and pins

Prior to the ceremony all of the boys were asked to make and decorate a cake primarily by themselves. Then the three best cakes were selected to be auctioned off to raise money for the troop.

This year Garrett wanted to decorate his cake ALL by himself. I was so proud of him for wanting to take the initiative, but oh man I had a really hard time stepping back (I know I am a bit of a control freak). Finally I really couldn't take it, so I just walked away for awhile and let him be. When I came back I was totally AMAZED.

Here is Garrett's creation....

And his cake was one of the three to be selected for the auction......yippee! I nearly jumped out of my chair. Ok so I did jump out of my chair, but I played it off so well. I just had to go and take pictures of the cute guy doing the auctioning.

Of course we couldn't let anyone else go home with Garrett's cake, so we bought it back ourselves. Best 20 buckaroos we've spent!

And one of Garrett's good friends, Drew, had his cake chosen for the auction as well.....yeah! I was so happy for both of them.

Drew and Garrett with their cakes!