11 year old scout camp and Dad's day

 Ryan went to 11 year old scout camp with Hayden (left) and Jonas (right). Supposedly the boys picked to have tie dye shirts for their patrol shirt, but when no one took action on it, I decided to have the boys to our house to make these. They turned out awesome!

 It is so weird that Ryan went to camp without me! I have been going to scout camps with him for years. This time just his leaders went. Day one was rained out and the boys stayed inside a church building doing classroom learning stuff. Day 2 was outside. They worked on first aid.

 He is pretty good at the fake grimace. He practices regularly at our house. ;)

 A perfect 2 cupcake treat for sister and Megan.

 A pic from our annual Black-Pringle/Castaneda FAC trip.

 We had a good discussion about eating raw brownie batter. I know you aren't supposed to do it because of the eggs. But then, don't people eat raw eggs? I reasoned that since I've never actually met someone who became sick from eating cake batter, then it should be alright.

 Why, oh why? He is Ryan, that's why.

Happy Father's Day! We got Dan a new wallet and an engraved business card that says, 'One way or another we are always in your wallet. love, A, R and M' Dan is the best DAD. My children are very, very blessed to have him in their life.

Final Days of School

 Look at our first chair trumpeteer! He made the 3rd band out of 6 in high school next year. Lots of marching and playing in his future!

 We received an invite for this Celebration of Achievement. To be honest, Alex had a rough spring educationally, so we were curious about this ceremony.

 Regardless, his Yearbook teacher must have thought very highly of him since she gave him an award.

 And a hug! He had this teacher for 2 years, intentionally. She helped him find a passion for photography. Thank goodness for Mrs Cohn!

 5th Grade Graduation. Our 2nd is going to middle school next year!

 We love this kid!

 Last day of 2nd grade. Lunch with dad.

 Outdoor fun.

 Mrs Wall was a great 2nd grade teacher.

We had fun outside until the storm came. We rushed back inside and finished off the party indoors.

 One last battle before the end of the school year.

 I requested we go to an FC Dallas game. It was awesome! The weather was great. The youngest player in team history scored his first goal in his first game (16 years 121 days old). The quickest hat trick was scored in team history. And, the 1000th goal of franchise history was scored.

 Look at these handsome fellows!

 Geocaching with Mike.

 We had a lucky find. The city of Plano put out a cache, and we were the first to find it!

 Summer days means lots of driving around for mom. Here Mace and Aubree are hanging out pool side.

 Hurts Donut is a great place for crazy donuts. Lots of fat and sugar, so a once-in-a-while treat!

Pooch after a haircut.

 EFY for Matt and Alex. This year was in Denton, Texas.

They had a great adventure! Definitely going again next year. Dan dropped these guys off and the Bakers brought home. Well worth the trip!

Laura's Wedding and Diamond Digging

 Memorial Day took us to Arkansas. My cousin Laura was marrying her sweetheart Aaron. It was a little bit of a jaunt, but the scenery was so lush and lovely that I didn't mind!

 During our lunch break at McDonalds, we discovered that overnight Alex grew taller than his mommy.

 Laura's wedding was outside in the evening. The weather was perfect. She had games set up around the perimeter of the reception area for everyone to enjoy.

Here is the Daddy Daughter Dance.

 Mike dressed down as soon as possible!

 Group shot with the bride and groom. It was a lovely wedding. I am so glad we went! Our gift to Laura and Aaron was a replica of my Grandma Betty's ceramic light-up Christmas tree. She loved it!

 The next day we decided to visit the Arkansas Crater of Diamonds. Apparently if you are lucky/blessed/fortunate enough you can take home diamonds or other precious jewels.

 We brought home mostly a lot of mud.

 But not for lack of trying. You wash the buckets of mud in these water troughs.  We found a lot of rocks, but no gems.

 And these kids found a mud stream.

 Here we are all cleaned up and ready to head home.

But first we had to have a picture of this cow standing in a pond!