Court of Honor

We had Danny and Jake's first Court of Honor together. It sure is fun to see them grow up and accomplish the things they have set out to do. We are so proud of our boys and the choices they have to make every day. Life sure is a lot harder than it used to be and I don't envy them having to deal with what they deal with every day. Keep up the awesome work boys!

Danny being awarded all the merit badges he earned before, during and after camp

Jake being awarded his Scout badge (1st Court of Honor)

Jake's 11th Birthday!

I can't believe another year has gone by and my Jacob is 11. Wow! time sure flies. Next thing I know he'll be graduating form High School and off to college. Anyway, we love you Jake and are so proud to have you has our son. It is so fun to watch you take care of your little sisters. It melts my heart when I hear Abby call you "Jakey" and it doesn't even bother you, even in front of your friends. Jake, I sure hope you have a wonderful day and may all your wishes come true.

First Day of Freedom...I mean School!

There are many reasons to love September. The trees turning brilliant colors, the cool mornings and nights, the smells of new school supplies, new school clothes, but my favorite is the first day of school! Now don't get me wrong, I love my children, but I love to send them away to school to learn many new things and when the time comes to have them come home, I can feel a sense of accomplishment for what I did that day and no one is behind me making another mess. Oh wait, I still have 4 years for that to happen! =) Anyway, I still love the first day of school so I can take pictures of the kids before they go to the bus. Since Danny started Kindergarten, I have taken a picture at the same spot so I can see how much they have grown. This is a great tradition that the kids actually look forward to.

Championship Games

Well after a fun and quick season of baseball. Danny and Jacob's team was undefeated and even won the championship. Danny had a chance to show us what he has to offer as a pitcher and he did extremely well. Jake is doing a fantastic job as well. Bless his heart, he is not the natural that his brother is, but he gives it his all. GO DODGERS! This is the last year that many of the players can stay on this league. Next year will be quite interesting since Danny and Jake will be the older boys on the team. We might even switch to another team since we know the other coach. Only time will tell what happens.

The New Jake

Well, after having an eye test at school and didn't pass it, we took Jake to the eye doctor on June 11th. We were told what we suspected, Jake needed glasses. Both Matt and I are so glad that the selection of glasses available nowdays are so much better than when we were young. You know what I'm talking about if you wear glasses. The nice looking coke bottle glasses. We are so grateful for the way technology has advanced in this area. Jake found some really nice ones and looks so handsome, if I do say so myself. Jake was really cute on the way home from the eye doctor the next day after we picked them up. He could see details and read signs that he didn't know were there before. I feel so bad that we didn't know about it sooner. Jake is the type of kid that hardly complains. I asked why he didn't say anything sooner, and he just simply said, "I thought it was normal the way I was seeing things." Poor kid. Lesson learned on my part. I will randomly ask the other kids what they can read from a distance.

Jake Before Glasses



Jake After Glasses

Jake's 5th Grade Band Concert

With Jake being in 5th grade, we have more band concerts to go to. I love watching them grow with their new talents. They did a wonderful job!

At the end of the concert, the band director announced because of budget cuts, this will be the last 5th grade class to have the opportunity to take advantage of this program. The kids will now have to wait until 6th grade to start band which means, there will be no 6th grade Advanced Band, just regular beginning 6th grade band. I hate budget cuts. =(

Jake plays the saxophone so he is in the back so I was unable to get any pictures of him and i guess I forgot to get some individual shots of him afterwards. I'll do better next time.

I have tried several times to add the video I took with no luck. I will keep trying.

Redner Talent Show

On Friday, April 17th, Jake participated in the Annual Redner Talent Show. He played three songs on his saxophone. Au Clair de la Lune, Donkey Round and Let's Go Blue. He did a great job. I admire my children's bravery. They never hesitate to be involved in things because of their shyness. They sure have a lot more courage at that age than I did. Way to go, Jake!

Pinewood Derby

Tonight we had our annual Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. Jake and Aaron had so much fun. We have about 16 boys in our pack and there were a lot of unique cars. Jake's car was painted like Lightning McQueen from the movie "Cars" and Aaron's car was painted like the Mach 5 from the movie "Speed Racer". Aaron is in the Wolf Den and raced against 5 other cars and he won 1st place within his den. Jake is a Webelos and raced against 3 other cars and he won 1st place witin his den. That put Jake, Aaron and a young boy who was the Bear winner racing against each other. It was really exciting to watch who would be the over all winner. The track started acting up so it took quite awhile to see who would be the winner. The results came in and Jake was the overall winner with Aaron as a close second. I was happy to see that Jake finally won an event in his Cub Scout career. He is so easy going and little things like this don't bother him. Aaron had a great sense of sportsmanship because he wanted Jake to win since this was to be his last derby. Aaron said, " I have two years to win the trophy, so it's okay that Jake won." What a sweet boy. Congrats goes out to both my boys for a job well done!

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet

This months Pack Meeting was the Annual Blue & Gold Banquet. Thursday night Jake and Aaron had so much fun decorating their cakes. This years theme was American ABC's, so Jake decided to make his cake look like the state of Michigan and Aaron decided to make the American flag. Before the kids went to school Thursday morning, they mixed up their cake mixes, put them in a pan and started baking them. I had to take them out and flip them out of the pan. When they got home from school and after dinner, I mixed up some frosting for them and then let them have at it. I was amazed how well they did. If I'm not careful I might lose my job as the family birthday cake decorator. =)

Friday was the big event. Matt says it was a huge success. It was hard for me to say since I was in charge or it and felt like I was running around with my head cut off. I guess that is to be expected at this type of Pack Meeting. We had a turkey dinner with all the fixing. I think the cakes that all the boys brought were a huge success. This year we even invited the 11-yr. old scouts back to help serve the food, judge the cakes and award the boys their cake certificates. All I can say now is, I'm glad it's over!

5th and 6th Grade Band Concert

On Thursday, Danny & Jake had a band concert. I was surprised how well the 5th grade band played. I remember when I was in a beginning band and we had a concert. There were lots of squeaks and wrong notes played. From my viewpoint this band did a great job.


It was equally amazing to hear the 6th grade advanced band. It was really fun to hear them play with this being only their second year. In the sixth grade, they teach them to play in parts. It was neat to see the difference between the two bands.



It has been fun for Jake to have his friend, Keslie Egbert in his band. She is the flute player in the pictures. We have enjoyed being able to carpool with them twice a week in the morning for band. Her family will be moving away in a couple of weeks and we will miss them in more ways than one. As a side note, I wanted to thank Jake Egbert for taking all the wonderful pictures at the concert.

December Pack Meeting

This month for pack meeting the cub scouts did skits. I thought this is one you might enjoy. This is the Webelos group, Jake and two of his friends. Pause the music player at the bottom of the page to hear the skit.

Clarissa & Jake

Clarissa loves riding the four-wheeler.

One Saturday afternoon, she begged her big brother Jake to take her for a ride on the four-wheeler. When it comes to Jake and the girls, he will do about anything for them, so of course he took her. He totally made her day!