Birthday, boy scouts and taking command!

As always we have been VERY busy. There isn't a single day in the week we aren't running off to do something. If I haven't already asked you I am seeking crock pot recipes because I don't even have the time to cook anymore. These are the things that we are doing and we wanted to share them with you. Our homeschooling is chugging along and if I can ever get it to load on here I have some cool science experiment videos to share. Thanks for being patient with the photos I try but I really never have time it seems to get them on here.

I hate having my picture taken and I also really don't like my birthday but the kids and Daddy tried to make it as painless as possible.

The cake Pheenie baked and Sam and Daddy helped her decorate it.

Flowers from my Grandmother, Aunt Susan and Uncle Thomas.

Opening the card the kids made. (It was 10pm on a school night by the time we celebrated so they are wet because they were getting ready for bed.)

A beautiful fairy card from my dear friend Janiese. As you can see the kids like it too.

Spiders from Nana. Sam is absent from this picture because he REALLY hates spiders. I will have to hang them somewhere far away from him. Perhaps we can put them by the skeleton Seraphina is terrified of.

THIS NEXT SERIES OF PICTURES ARE A VERY VERY BIG DEAL!

This is the change of command ceremony. If you don't already know Jeff is now the commander of the 150th and 160th Engineer units for NJNG. We are so very proud of him and all of the hard work he put in to get this position. If you blow up this picture you will see the 1st Sgt. taking the Engineers flag.

1st Sgt. gives the flag to the old Commander as his final act of loyalty under her command.

The old Commander relinquishes the flag to the Colonel exemplifying the return of command.

The Colonel presents the flag to the new Commander (Commander Punkin as I like to call him) as an example of the faith he has in his ability to lead.

The new Commander presents the flag to his 1st Sgt. as a sign of confidence in his ability to work with him for the unit. The 1st Sgt. then returns the flag to the unit as a sign of new leadership being in place. (Sam took all of these pictures and he missed that last one but it happened really fast so it isn't his fault)

Addressing the unit as the new Commander.

These are the flowers the unit presented to me. A payoff since they will be hijacking my marriage with Army business for the next two years apparently. These flowers are not going to be payment enough for that ;)

Most of you know I am still terrified of highway driving so we got up at 4am and went off to the armory with dad. There is a very nice park right across the street so we spent most of the day after the ceremony playing there while we waited for Dad to be done and come home. These are the pictures of us playing. Dad played for a little while but then had to get back to business.

As these are banned at most playgrounds now our kids had never been on a merry go round. Ironically these other kids were going on their first rides ever too. As you can see they all enjoyed it.

That little dot over there is Sam.

Sam is now officially a boy scout. Here is a normal picture.

Here is a silly one.

As you can see there has been a lot going on and we have a lot to be proud of. We send our love to everyone.