The Robertsons Visit

We were so glad that Janelle's family was able to come visit us and to see Nathan's play!!

Funny story though.  Apparently, in all the pre-play business, Nate missed the fact that they were coming at all.  When he came home after the first night of the play and saw their car in the driveway, he was like, "Wait, why is Janelle here?"  Ha-ha.  We died laughing about it.  

Here are some of the priceless photos during their visit.

Just after arriving...relaxing to watch a little Lion King

Some serious Cranium action with James and Alan

Mom and James in a drawing challenge

Alan's excellent mushroom during the molding challenge

Lucy with her yummy ice cream...

...and James and Alan getting in on the ice cream action, too.

Look at those faces!!

Playing in the toy room - Lucy trying out for the part of Darth Vader. 

James isn't so sure.  :)

"Here, Lucy.  Let me show you how it's done."

Nothing like some fun reading time with Grandma....

...and Grandpa.  Love these guys!!!

Some fun tub time (not shown).  

Here's a scary monster with some of the remaining bubbles, though.

Since the Robertsons were here a little before Easter, we decided it would be fun to do a pre-Easter egg hunt with Alan, James, Lucy and Evan.  Here's Alan enjoying the hunt!!

Evan getting in on the egg hunt

There's another one for James

"Look Grandma, I found TWO!!"

Before the kids left, I wanted to get a selfie with each one of them.. Some were more willing than others, but here is the result.

Jamesy and Grandma

Grandma with Alan....( He looks so big here, I think)

And sweet little Lucy - willing but not thrilled about the opportunity!! 

Thanks so much for coming to see us, Robertson Family!!

Seneca Singers, Big Fish, Daffodils, and All Things Nate

I thought it might be a good idea to write a little about Nathan's happenings during this, his senior year of high school.  He decided to try some new things and has also continued with some of his well established likes and talents.  It's been fun to see him beginning to spread his wings.

One of the things that Nate was able to finally fit into his school schedule this year was Seneca Singers, his  school's acapella choir.  He has learned so much and developed his talents, not only in singing, but also in music theory and appreciation.  The group has some very talented singers which has allowed them to tackle some pretty intricate pieces.  He has loved it!!

He also decided to try out for his school's spring musical, Big Fish.  We had seen the movie by the same name, and really hadn't liked it that much, so we were curious to see what the play would be like.  Let's just say it was much better than the movie.  The score was amazing and the calliber of the cast really made for a moving, beautiful production.  So much fun to watch!!

Janelle, Scott, and their family came down to see it, too, and loved it.  I'm so glad he decided to give it a try!!

 

About a week before the actual play, the cast had a fund raising dinner theater as kind of a preview of the play.  This photo is from that night as members of the cast actually helped serve dinner to those who came to the event.

I was hoping to actually get a photo of Nate in costume after the play, but he changed before coming out to meet his adoring public.  So here he is with Grandma and Steve after the play....

in his BYU sweatshirt.   :)

Daffodils were heavily featured in the play.  So to help raise money, they sold daffodils as a fundraiser beforehand.  Here are some of the ones we got.  They were so pretty!!

 We were able to use some of them in our Easter decorating!!

In other news, Nate was very serious about the AP exams that he took this spring.  So much so that he decided to order these monstrous books that came in the mail.  Crazy!!  Sometimes I'm really not sure where this kid came from.  

Nate also submitted his mission papers in early May.  We took this photo to submit, but apparently the resolution was not good enough.  So Brother Hawkins helped him take a better one at the stake center (wearing Brother Hawkins suit coat because Nate wasn't wearing one that day.  :)

And here he is with his four Latin medals.  One each year....pretty good!!

I'm not sure which years are which colors, but I know that as a Sophomore, he got a perfect score/gold medal.  Way to go, Nate!!!

Cherry Hill Women's Conference - Just Soaking It In

So this is just a one picture post....but I had so much fun that I had to include it.  This was my first Women's conference in a very long time that did not involve me helping in any way.

The whole conference was devoted to family history - great classes, great food, and wonderful company!!  Here I am with some of my magnificent Medford Ward ladies.  Love them!!

Happy 11th Birthday, Evan!!!

Can't believe it but our (not so) little guy is eleven!!  

Here are a few photos from his several days of celebrating.

As per his request, a cookie cake with a BYU theme.  March Madness may have been involve in his choice since BYU got into the tournament this year.  

Just before opening his presents at Grandma's house..

....and blowing out his candles!!

Thanks so much, Grandma and Grandpa!!

OK....I think there's a theme here.  An air pump......

...a helmet....

....and....I thought that might be it.  Just what he wanted - a new bike!!!

Happy Birthday, Evan!!

A COLD Winter

Wow, was it ever a cold winter!!!  We got a decent amount of snow (although we paled in comparison with Boston) but mostly it was just plain COLD!!!  Steve wanted to go look at the Delaware River since it had frozen completely over in some areas.  Here are some of the photos we took that day.

Evan near the Delaware River in Riverton, NJ

You can see the ice heaves pretty clearly in this shot.

And here is a pretty picturesque winter scene of our back yard.

Cold, but beautiful!!

Arrow of Light Award at the Blue and Gold Banquet

What can I say....I love cub scouts!!  In the first part of the year it's traditionally Blue and Gold Banquet time.  Families are welcome at all monthly pack meetings, but the Blue and Gold is a special time when we have a dinner and make it a really fun night for the whole family.  This year we decided to also invite the three boys and their families who will be joining our pack during this year.  This banquet was especially cool because we had two Webelos who were "graduating" into 11-year-old scouts.  Traditionally they do a bridging ceremony to commemorate the occasion.  What made the evening even more special was that each of our bridging cubs had earned his Arrow of Light Award.  And what made it even more special for our family was that Evan was one of the graduating cub scouts.  :)  Here are some photos of our fun night.

Some of the cupcakes for dessert in the shape of the Arrow of Light symbol

Our cool, invented Cub Scout - Boy Scout bridge.  It's amazing what you can do with a palette, some blue paint, two ladder ball standards, and some crepe paper.  Turned out pretty good, I thought!!

Our blue and gold decorations complete with balloons, of course

For our activity, our cub master, Brother Scheimreif, had people write down scenarios that cub scouts might find themselves in.  Then he put all the ideas in a hat and had the different families act out the scenes.  Some of them were pretty funny!!!  This one shows the Wright family doing their acting.  Jonathon will be joining our pack this coming year.

Our family shared a table with the Lonegans.  Kevin is also one of our up and coming cubs.

A photo from the evening

The Malone family taking their acting turn.....

....and also the Penrods.

Jacob Clay (assistant Webelos leader) joined in with the Scheimreifs

The Lonegans give it a go

Payson Chapman receives some "progress toward rank" beads

Tennyson received one, too.

Carter, receiving his Bear award

Ayden Malone receives his Arrow of Light

Evan, receiving his Arrow of Light....

..and giving mom the obligatory hug.  :)

Ayden crossing the bridge with cub leaders on the far side and boy scout leaders at the near side to welcome him.  The cub scout leaders took off the boy's Webelos neckerchiefs before the boys crossed and then the boy scout leaders put the new black scout neckerchiefs on the boys as the crossed over.

Evan was just a little excited to cross over!!

There he is, our new boys scout.  Great job, Evan and have a great time going forward!!.