We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

Rylan attended his first merit badge clinic, one of the badges he wanted to complete was basket weaving, which is a lot harder than it sounds! Other badges he worked on were, space exploration, art, and woodworking. One day in January, Rylan came home from school and said, "oh yeah, I'm trying out for a play tomorrow."   What? We were very surprised that he had the guts to sing a solo in front of his classmates and teachers.  The play was Shrek the Musical and he landed the part of a Duloc performer and one of Pied Piper's rats. He had practice after school 3 days a week, learned all the songs, and two dances. We were so proud of his dedication and how he wasn't nervous to perform in front of an audience. About 3 weeks before the play had its performance, I got a call from the costume chair for the play, she said, "Rylan says that you sew all the time and that you could help me with the costumes if I needed it,  . . .well

We have an official boy scout, Rylan earned his arrow of light before moving up to a 11 year old scouts.  He worked hard to memorize the scout oath and law as well as the other requirements.     He was presented with a really neat arrow with a real arrowhead tip. Each of the colored stickers on the arrow represent an accomplishment he has earned.  Like the rubber band around his kerchief?  Yeah, we are resourceful!  At his middle school 5th graders can participate on the cross country team. Since I forgot to sign Rylan up for community flag football (I think I kind of did it on purpose) he really wanted to do a sport this fall and so he thought he would try it out.  We took him on some practice runs at our favorite forest preserve. That red and blue blur are Scott and Rylan running up ahead while I stayed back with Maddy on her bike and Ian in the stroller. He has practice 3 times a week after school and a meet once a week.  So far he has done pretty well es

As a Bear, Rylan participated in his Blue & Gold Banquet this year, the theme was Knights of the Round Table and so he wanted to make a shield.    The only thing I did was cut the shape and he decorated the whole thing by himself with his neighborhood friend Megan. They were knighted by the King, did sword fights, and jousting.  We ate chicken drumsticks, grapes and vegetables, and each family made a crest to represent their name.  I am on the scout committee so I was able to help plan this activity and it was so fun!  I think the boys liked it too