Crossing Over

Tonight Drew and his fellow Webelos officially "crossed over" into Boy Scouts. It was a really cool ceremony put on by the Order of the Arrow.

Snapped a pic of the boys before starting the ceremony.

Drew receiving his Arrow of Light badge, the only badge a cub scout can earn that they can wear on their Boy Scout shirt. He also received some pins that he earned.

The Crossing Over ceremony has begun. Aiden had been a little squirrely till these dudes came out and then he sat wide-eyed through it all.

Drew lighting his candle.

Crossing over the bridge.

The mispelled cake thanks to HyVee Bakery. Apparently they don't know what a Webelos is. It almost sounds obscene doesn't it??

Cubmaster and Son

The boys and their den leader.

It was a nice evening and Drew loved every bit of it. He came up to Todd before bedtime and thanked him for everything he did for the evening and gave him a big hug. I think it made Todd's night. Drew is definitely a great example of a Boy Scout. I am so proud of him.

Week in the Life-Saturday

Getting behind on my pictures again.

Saturday was wonderful, it was a lazy kind of day, nowhere to be. Too bad there isn't more of those days. We had Matt, Beth and kiddos over for supper and to hang out. We had fun as usual.

Here we got the 5 youngest kiddos sitting and ready to eat. Todd made 2 kinds of homemade pizza, salad with his homemade dressing that is so yummy. My big contribution was cutting up some fruit and buying fudge bars and ice cream for dessert. Yes, I love lazy Saturdays. :)

Drew was nice and let the boys in his room to dance to the tunes on his ipod. They were cracking me up. Ty was rocking the guitar.

Beth snapped this without me knowing but I love it. I'm hanging on the couch with a glass of wine and my daddy. We're watching Ellie play and the Little Mermaid was on the TV. She had a rough day with falling and getting stitches on her forehead so she had a few not so happy moments. She came out of it though and enjoyed her evening.

This was a shot I took out of my bedroom window in the morning. I was opening the curtains and noticed 3 fat, fluffy bunnies hanging out in my backyard. They are just too cute.

Week In The Life--Friday

On Fridays, Aiden goes to school so it's my "free" morning without kids. Today Beth, Ellie, and I went garage saling and had a ball. We got some great bargains and ended up getting cold and soaking wet in the rain but we had fun anyway.

After school, Aiden and I took advantage of the cool rainy morning and made homemade chicken noodle soup. At 1:00 we headed down to the Early Childhood Center for his speech therapy.

We came home and since his therapist said he worked so hard and it was still yucky out, Aiden and I made a big bowl of popcorn and curled up with a movie.

The boys came home from school and we went through our Friday stack of papers, notes, etc. Today they each had a surprise in their backpacks.....midterms.

Drew's Midterm Grades----I was one very proud mama.

Noah's Midterm grades--once again, very proud. I loved reading his teachers' comment.

Supper at Applebee's to celebrate great midterms. We kept busy waiting for our food by playing hangman, tic tac toe, etc. Here Aiden is practicing writing his name and was tracing his hand.

Drew dug into his cheeseburger and fries while Noah enjoyed a Riblet basket.

After supper we headed to my mom and dad's to check out the new carpet they put in their basement. Then we headed home. I finished up a couple of craft projects I had been working on. (pictures to come) and then we curled up and watched Noah's baby video. Aiden kept asking where he was and we kept trying to explain that he hadn't been born yet. Seeing Noah as an infant and Drew as a 2 year old tugged at my heartstrings even more.

One thing the boys love on the weekend is musical beds. Tonight we tucked Drew in his bed, Aiden into Noah's bed, Noah into our bed and I get to cuddle, I mean sleep, with him and Todd is supposed to go in and sleep with Aiden in the twin bed. We'll see how that goes!!

Week In The Life-Thursday

A few random pictures from our day Thursday. The pictures are in no particular order because for some reason blogger is being a butt and not letting me rearrange them. I'm tired of messing with it!!

Every day around 3pm you will find Aiden and I anxiousl awaiting the arrival of bus #41. I love watching my two oldest boys hop out of the bus and run into the house.

I finally figured out how to use my camera timer. Yay! Even with our busy schedule, we always make time to have dinner together every night, even if some nights it's a bit rushed.

Aiden had preschool thursday and he was so excited to see that I was picking him up on my bike and trailer instead of the van. Instead of coming right home, he wanted to ride around for awhile. He had the cushy part of the ride. I realized that my legs were out of shape for the bike.....and extra weight trailing behind me!

On beautiful sunny days like this one, you will often find our cats enjoying the breeze and sunshine through the windows or the doorway.

Playing in the backyard after lunch.

His favorite thing to do this week. His mix and match super hero book. You can pick a head, a body, and legs of any of the super heroes and each combination makes a different story. Do you know there are over 200 different combinations?? I think we've done them all 10 times. And after he makes each one, I have to guess which one it is and then it's my turn to make one.

We all relaxed before bedtime and watched old home movies from when Aiden was a baby (see tv screen), Noah was 4 and Drew was 6. Such a sweet time in our life and it passed us by in a blink.

A Week In The Life

I'm doing A Week In The Life with Dianna and Beth. Ali Edwards does this every so often and I have always wanted to join in. It's basically documenting an ordinary week of your life in pictures, journaling and some scrapbooking. I started a couple of days later than D and B due to a crazy schedule but am finally snapping away and having fun with it. I just sat down and went through my pictures from the first couple of days.

I always start my morning with coffee, one of my favorite creamers, and a favorite cup.

An ordinary day around here always involves shooting some hoops. All 5 of us enjoy it.

Ooops, hubby caught me texting and on the internet at the same time. Yes, this is a very ordinary part of my day! :)

Waffle Cone Wednesday at TCBY.....a Klauser favorite in the warm spring and summer days. Peanut Butter Delight...need I say more?? I can't even try any other flavors now, I am so in love with this one. I dream about it.

One of my favorite parts of my day.....tucking my sweet boys into bed. We cuddle, talk about our day, discuss what's coming up the next day, and of course.....those sweet, sweet kisses and hugs. My day isn't complete without it.

More to come...................

Easter & Maiden Voyage of the Kayak

This was the warmest Easter I can remember since Aiden was a baby. I even enjoyed the thunderstorms that hit us that evening. The Easter bunny was good to us at our house that morning. We then hit church with my family and headed back to mom and dad's for a yummy brunch. We managed to get the kids wrangled for a few family pictures.

The Klauser Five

Beth, Matt, Ellie, Ty, and Aiden

The John Bozarth Family

Us being our goofy selves....or as my sister in law said, The "Real" Bozarth family.

Love it! We always have fun and laugh at the stupidest stuff. Family pictures courtesy of my SIL and her camera timer!

Easter Egg Hunt Saturday night at the big Klauser family dinner in Mendon.

Drew watching.....his first year where he was too old to participate. He was fine with that and enjoyed helping Grandpa Ken get it set up. My big guy.

Easter Sunday at Grandma Tunie and Grandpa Ken's he got a chance to find some eggs!

Noah
Some attempts at some pictures of the boys. They weren't really feeling it but they humored me for a bit anyway.

Lakeside. Aiden looks like he is going to fall asleep and fall off backwards.

My Big Guy

My Medium Guy

My Small Guy

*****Kayak Alert*****

Not too long ago Todd got a wild hair to build a kayak. He bought the plans off of ebay for $12 and then was obsessed for the next few weeks. Since he was saving money by building one, he decided to make TWO. Makes sense right? (but not cents) Anyway, the first kayak is complete and we decided to take it on it's maiden voyage Easter Sunday and his mom and dad's house because they have the perfect lake behind it.

Here they are loading it at the paddle boat dock. It's floating!

Drew got to be the first to take it out. Now before everyone starts tsk-tsking me on life jackets, they always have to wear one. But the storms were coming in, we were in a hurry and all they did was a quick circle out and back. I promise my kids will be safe. :) We also did a "tipping" test and the kayak is untippable. Makes me feel better and I am more likely to ride in it now! :)

Todd gets to try out his new "baby".

Noah gets a turn with Dad.

Aiden gets to try paddling.

The family is going to have so much fun with these kayaks this summer both at his parents lake and my dad's lake out at his cabin. Todd made sure to make them big enough so all the kids can ride with an adult if they want to. I have visions of kayak races. :)