A couple of weeks ago, Justin raided his piggy bank and bought a rocket kit.  He wanted to shoot it off the same day he brought it home, but it needed to be assembled and then we had to wait for a calm day to launch it.  Since it was finished a couple of days ago, he's been watching the weather and today was the day!

We took three engines with us, so the parachute had to be re-packed after the first two launches.

After I showed the boys how to get ready for launch, it was pretty much out of my hands.

Jeremy got to launch it one time but only after I interceded on his behalf.

I tried to capture both the rocket and the smoke but the rocket was too fast.

There were smiles all around and the boys were glad that they'd finally talked me into an afternoon excursion.  I'm glad that we live close to a park that has a large open area and very few guests making it ideal for our purposes.

Since we only took half of the engines, I'm sure we'll be taking another short trip and shortly afterwards Justin will probably want to raid his piggy bank again.

Tomorrow Dean and I will celebrate our anniversary, but the celebration plans began weeks ago when the boys realized that it the day was approaching.  They began saving their money and planning to fix a meal for us.  They made a shopping list and on Saturday I took them shopping so they could get supplies.

They began their preparations Saturday evening when Jeremy baked a cake and poured sweetened condensed milk over it.  As soon as we got home from church on Sunday, Justin applied the whipped cream and candy crumbles.

After making a big pitcher of lemonade, they began assembling the sandwiches they had planned.   I left them in the kitchen while they worked after I had given them a few pointers.   

After they were done, they cleaned up their mess and even wiped the counters and then called us to the table for our special treat.  It was delicious and they had made enough for our supper as well.  Dean and I were blessed to watch them excitedly plan, prepare and serve us a celebratory meal.  We are blessed, not only by the marriage that the Lord has given us, but by our sons who wanted to make our celebration special.

Jeremy and Justin have the wonderful opportunity to know great-grandparents.  I think it has something to do with the fact that Dean was the oldest grandchild and had young grandparents.  I wasn't the oldest grandchild, and even though my one great-grandfather lived to the age of 92, he died when I was 8 years old.

This past weekend, we spent a little time with Dean's grandparents and we had a very nice time with them.  They had fixed a delicious chicken-corn soup and made sure that we all had enough to eat.  The boys were in and out of the house, but stopped long enough to get their picture taken with the greats.  It's always fun to visit with them and they always ask us to come back - something which I'm sure will happen.

I usually shoo the boys outdoors in the afternoon, but it's wet outside.  They didn't seem to be able to find something to do so I gave them an assignment.  They had to find something to do with each other that would take at least half an hour.  Justin fixed hot cocoa for both of them and they sat down with a game they had been wanting to play.  When I walked through the living room, I was amused to find them in this pose.  Seems like I've seen this picture before, but my boys weren't in it.

I just sent the boys outside to take a break.  No we're not quite done with our school day, but spring fever has bitten hard and it's hard to get work done today.  Perhaps if they jump for ten minutes, they'll have more enthusiasm for their final tasks of the day.

 It's not unusual for the boys to break into song while they work.  Often the songs consist of bops and do-de-do's that really have no meaning at all.

 We even take some time now and then for complete nonsense.  I don't know why Justin propped his feet on the table and I don't know why I drew on his toes, but he did and I did and then he wanted a picture taken.

As our school week comes to an end, I know that we haven't concentrated as well as we could have, but we did manage to get quite a bit done.  We'll start next week with good intentions, but I'm sure that we'll find time for some lighter moments as well.

Yesterday we picked up the "S" boys for our part in celebrating their mother's last day of radiation.   They were eager to get to the business of playing, and after unloading the van, they were off on various adventures.  Even though it was colder then we all wished for, that didn't keep any of the boys from spending a nice amount of time outside.

The bows came out and N was appointed the squire.  

With four bowmen, he was kept pretty busy.

It's hard shooting while wearing gloves, but I saw quite a few arrows fly.

The trampoline had quite a workout as well,

but the main draw was the Wii.  Since there were five boys and only four controls, we divided the boys into teams with a captain for each team. 

About this time, I forgot I had a camera, but the fun didn't stop.  We set up the tent in the living room so they could camp out and by the time we had every one settled in and stories were told, it was going on ten o'clock.  Around 4:00 in the morning, Dean heard the boys begin to stir and from what we were able to figure out, the three older boys all got up sometime around 4:30, but they were quiet until 6:30.  They were all out shooting and jumping before breakfast and then it was back to the Wii until it warmed up.  I sent them outside where they stayed until Mrs. S came for lunch and to collect her boys.

This afternoon, Jeremy and Justin both had a spell where they could barely stay awake and there were a few tears shed as well.  I'm sure that bedtime won't be delayed in either household tonight and I'm sure that all five boys and at least one mama are going to have a good night's sleep.

As the boys have grown older, their interests have taken different paths and sometimes it's sometimes hard for them to find things to do that they both enjoy.  This afternoon was no exception.  They did take a bike ride together and they did shoot their bows together, but for rest of the afternoon, they pursued different activities. 

I waked into the living room and found Jeremy in the coziest nest possible.  He was so engrossed in his library book that I'm not even sure he knew I took his picture.  Even though he is interested in more than books, it ranks right at the top and he needs to be encouraged to do other things.

Not five minutes later, I snapped this picture of Justin.  He's always looking for something active to do.  If he's not making something he wants to do science experiments in the kitchen.   He does read (and he will proudly tell you that he read a 377 page book last week), but he'd rather do something that involves a lot of action or noise.

We'll keep encouraging them to enjoy many activities, but it's clear to us that they will probably take different career paths.

Saturday evening, I got to thinking about J and decided to give him a call.  He came to the telephone and one of the first things he said was, "I want to come to your house."  I was fine with that, but didn't know what his mother would say, so after I talked to him for a bit, I asked him to put his mother on the phone.  She seemed quite agreeable letting him join us for Sunday dinner and we made plans to pick him up on our way home from church.

It seemed that he had forgotten how much he enjoyed my cooking, but that didn't keep him from smiling about sitting between mama and papa.  

 And he didn't waste any time trying to catch up on hugs.

He talked the older boys into playing outside with him.  Jeremy was glad to have his trampoline buddy back.

Justin and J are still comfortable sitting in the same chair but at the rate they're both growing they'll soon grow out of this chair.

J and I spent time in the kitchen together making cookies.  He cracked the eggs, dumped the ingredients, mixed the dough and ate a lot of it before it was baked.  When I told him I would fix up a bag of cookies for him to take home, he said, "this is my home."  He was brave when it was time to leave, but when I got my last hug at his house, he was just about ready to cry. I told him he could call me sometime and I wasn't surprised when he called later in the evening.  He wanted me to come back and  get him so he could spend the night and he wanted to come to my house on Monday.  Once again I talked to his mother and told her that if she wanted him to come some weekend night, she should just let us know. 

We ended the day knowing that we hadn't finished the grieving process and knowing that our hearts are still entwined.  J will continue to be on our minds and in our prayers and we'll keep hoping for another day to share with him.

The other night as I tucked the boys into bed, I heard a long discourse on "real hunting".  It's not the kind where you sit in a deer stand and wait for the deer to come and it's not the kind where you've been feeding the deer to fatten them up.  And besides that, "Do you know where your food comes from?  And do you know how clean your food is?"  

The next day they spent quite a bit of time outside trying to build a fire.  The boys have a tent and Justin was making plans to sleep outside even though the temperature was forecast to be in the 20's during the night.  I think Jeremy was afraid Justin would freeze during the night and he enlisted my help in making sure that no camping trip was planned.  Even when they put up the tent inside, I heard complaints about the cold and the hardness of the floor.

The boys have had bows since they were four years old, but one bow met its demise under the lawn mower last summer and the boys began shopping for new bows.  Their enthusiasm waned when they discovered it would take them several months to save enough to buy the ones they wanted.  After most of the bow buying talk had died down, we ordered bows and hid them until their birthday.  We hope that these will last them several years.

Even though the weather has been cold, they've spent quite a bit of time target practicing and I saw Justin sneak out the door yesterday trying to surprise a squirrel.  I really don't care if they ever shoot a single animal, but I do enjoy watching them try and dream.

When Dean and I got married almost 17 years ago, we made a commitment to spend every other Christmas in New Mexico.  We've been able to keep that promise with the exception of two years ago when we delayed our trip three months in order to be in New Mexico when Dad and Mom celebrated their 50th anniversary.   In 17 years we've made at least 12 trips and we always look forward to our visits.  Our time this year was limited to five days in NM, but we packed each day full and had a wonderful time.  Since three of my nephews are RN's, we had to work around their work schedules, but we did get everyone together one evening and we took some group pictures.

My parents have eight grandsons

and one great-granddaughter.

We added in my nephews' wives and but there still aren't many girls in the picture.

The younger cousins spent hours together and even though Little J wasn't a part of the sleepovers, she was the center of attention when she was there.

I had fun getting to know my great-niece (otherwise known as my baby brother's granddaughter).

My brother and nephew provided some pre-Christmas dinner music.

I snuck this picture of Dad right before he read some scripture.

I was pleased with this picture of dad and mom as well.

We took my sister's boys and spent some time in Santa Fe one day.  We didn't get far before all their stomachs were talking very loudly and we had to stop our site-seeing to find something to eat.  We found a fun place to eat called the Flying Tortilla.  Between the knife shop and the sheepskin shop I could have spent a quarter of a million dollars if I would have bought the cool stuff that the boys found.  The $2500 sheepskin coats were really cool, but there's no way I'm spending that kind of money to keep warm.

We had planned to celebrate Jeremy and Justin's eleventh birthday in New Mexico.  I helped plan the menu and made the frybread for Navajo tacos.  Little did I know that my family was pulling a fast one on me.  They decided to surprise me and celebrate my birthday as well.  (It isn't until the end of this month.)  I had no idea anything was happening until my sister and her husband came out with black balloons and everyone sang to me.  We had a fun evening and everyone was pleased that they were able to surprise me.

The sixty hours of driving are now a faint memory but we still have sweet memories of the times that we shared with family.  We've already started to wonder when we'll be able to make the trip again and if they boys could go tomorrow they would.