Scout Camp...Adam's home.

Adam has been at Scout Camp all week and came home yesterday. Hooray! We missed him while he was gone. When Brian picked him up from his Scout Master's house he said, "Mom's got to get a picture of you!" Having sent many boys off to scout camp and seen what they look like when they come home, I wasn't surprised when I saw Adam. He was wearing his week of camp ALL over him from head to toe. I love that he is still such a boy. I keep telling him not to grow up. 
First of all, his uniform is a little embarrassing for me as a mother and fills me with guilt. It's most likely NOT his shirt, but a hand me down from one of his brothers and I'm sure the rank patch isn't right AND notice the "chalk outline" of what was once a patch above his left pocket. It looks like it was "glued" on. It's not the only patch I have glued over the years. Eeek! BUT...he has a smile on his face and doesn't care about his uniform. I might get that right one of these days.

Aside from all of that, let's move in for a closer look....

What I'd like to point out here is the mustache. His fellow scouter and friend, John, told Brian that Adam had a mustache the entire week. I thought he took soap with him. Maybe it wasn't on the list.

The dirty, untucked, half unbuttoned shirt. The t-shirt underneath doesn't 

look much better.

The shorts had to match the shirt. I asked him if he showered and he said, "No, but I jumped in the lake a couple of times, but that doesn't count." At least he changed his underwear.

He said he was the only one who got this many mosquito bites. Hmm...I guess we forgot the bug spray along with the soap. But seriously, with legs that cute, what bug wouldn't want to take a little bite?!

He came home with his watch, which I was very happy about since I borrow it 

every other day.

They were up in Flagstaff at Camp Raymond, but fortunately not near the big fire.

Just stuff he came home with. I am kind of wondering about the two belts, since he was wearing one. I guess we have 3 scout belts now? Anybody missing one??

Basket Weaving and Woodcarving merit badges. Is it only a mom who would get all mushy looking at these little handiworks? I guess I just picture him sitting up there at camp, with his half buttoned, dirty shirt, mustached face and his grubby hands deep in concentration working on his little baskets and remembering the same boy at the age of 3 sitting on the floor of his grandma's house in his p.j. shirt and little boy underwear, deep in concentration with his coloring book and wonder where the time has gone. I guess he's not listening to me growing up anyhow. 

More Scorpion fun at our house.

Well, some of the people at our house seem to have a thing for scorpions and we have plenty of them around should we want to play with them or even cook them and eat them. In fact they are so common that I don't even jump when I turn on the bathroom light at night AFTER I am already in there and find a scorpion on the floor not two feet from my own two feet. I simply look for the nearest weapon...in this case the spine of a very thick book, Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader.( It's a good read. I learned that Michael Jordan is afraid of swimming. It's loaded with lots of other interesting stuff like that, including: more than 90% of Egypt is desert. Betcha didn't know that?!) Then I say a quick good-bye and whack it so hard that it's outer shell separated from whatever was on the inside. They are very resilient, so a light tap is completely out of the question.

Another scorpion encounter...also in the dark:

The other night I came into the dark kitchen and saw a lone cereal bowl sitting on the counter. I peer inside, a little surprised to see a scorpion crawling around in there. I didn't feel entirely comfy with this, so I stuck it in the freezer. Apparently, they don't like the cold. I guess that's why you don't find scorpions in Minnesota.

Jon-Erik, likes them the most and will gladly take you scorpion hunting if you happen to be at our house after dark. All you need is a black light, a pair of tongs or tweezers and something to put them in:

I, personally, would never do this!

No Way!

The next thing that they did was cook and eat them. (You can find out how to do this on the internet, if you want to try this before scorpion season comes to a close) Barbeque sauce was the seasoning of choice. I DO like BBQ sauce, but not even that would entice me...but Adam was game...



It seemed like a good idea earlier.

He gave it a two thumbs up or maybe that's a, "I'm o.k., Mom." but I think one was probably enough. I did not hear him ask for seconds.

Ben & Adam's piano recital

Right before Christmas, Benjamin and Adam had a piano recital. This is the first year they are both taking from the same teacher. Even though we've had at least one or two children taking piano lessons in at the same time in the past 12 years, this was the first time that two of our kids played a duet. I LOVED it! It makes me so happy to see them sitting together at the piano. They played a very lively rendition of "Sleigh Ride". They controlled themselves at the recital, but at home we got that song at every imaginable speed. They had it memorized just so they wouldn't have to worry about turning the pages. But because they were so comfy with the song, they did this cheesy performance smirky thing where every so often they would look at each other and nod with a cheesy smile and kind of bounce their heads back and forth in time with the music. It made us laugh every time. Music has been and continues to be a great blessing in our lives. I'm so glad they had a positive recital experience. Looking forward to May.

Wish I had the performance...will try to record them doing the cheesy version and add it later. In the meantime here are some photos.