What happens when a bear, a sock, Alex and a camera collide?

Disaster.

Our camera is now at the repair shop due to a bear wrapped in a sock torpedo. It misfired and hit the camera instead of Jacob. It still took pictures, but the display screen on the back was toast. This has really been a huge bummer for both Carl and I. We love our new camera, and miss being able to capture all the craziness that is our life. Like today, pouring rain, and it is the middle of the All Star game for Jakes league. That would have been a good shot! Jake was drenched, (so were we!) and they finally called the game after everyone had gotten a turn at bat. So, the game really only lasted about 40 minutes. They couldn't even hand out certificates because they were afraid all the ink would run! Good times!

So, for the next 2+ weeks we will be an all text blog...again...boring!

A Bellanger Public Service Announcement

DO NOT BUY THESE FOR YOUR CHILDREN!!!!!

Ok, so you can, but we highly recommend that you don't! Looking on the package label after we had bought these, we discovered that one bar equals to 60% of your daily saturated fat!!! And that is for adults folks, imagine what the number is for my 5 year old. Well, let me tell you, we will not be getting these again. I mean seriously, a half cup of Breyer's homemade vanilla is only 23%! Where is this extra saturated fat coming from?? The candy shell? Seems kinda freaky to me.

WE SURVIVED!!!

Cub Scout day camp is officially over and we have survived! *whew* Didn't know if that was going to happen or not. The whole experience was fantastic for Jacob. And, as much as I complained, I had a pretty awesome time myself. The activities were usually always fun, and the boys learned a lot. Although, I could have done without the drama/trauma of BB's, I am glad that we went. Here are some more photos from our time at camp.

Woohoo!!

Can I just say that the staff at this camp was awesome?! They were so good working with Jacob, especially the shooting range guy. Here he is telling him that he needs to keep his eyes open when he shoots. Yes, he was closing both his eyes and shooting...only my boy! Unfortunately only so much can be done, and Jacob walked away from camp today having never hit any of his targets. He was very upset, but I told them there was always next year.

The fire dept. came by on Wednesday to spray down the boys, but since it didn't get above 65 all day, they decided to just show them the trucks instead.

Jacob really enjoyed the archery. He was pretty good at it as well, and I am sure that with some practice, he will be able to earn a badge for this soon.

Happy Anniversary

Carl and I have been married 8 years today. Hooray!!!!!

Cub Scout Day Camp

For the past 2 days, I have been with Jacob and 11 other boys from our den at day camp. Well, really there are more like 200+ boys at camp, but I am only responsible for 12! *whew* We have all had a great time so far. Jacob has been able to learn archery and how to shoot a BB gun. He has also participated in a space derby, played 4 corner volleyball and shot off bottle rockets to name a few things. And there are 2 more days left!! Tomorrow the fire dept. will be out to hose the boys off. Here are some photos from today:

CSI here stands for Cub Scout Investigations

Jacob with his space derby rocket, "The Praying Mantis"

Jacob at the shooting range. Poor guy did so well yesterday, but didn't hit the target at all today.

This is the hawk that has been stalking the campers. He must be trying to figure out a way to get one of those campers off the ground to take a nibble! Monday he settled for a squirrel instead.

Fathers Day

For Fathers day. Carl got breakfast in bed, but at 6:50 am so we could get to church on time. He also received a half finished tool box. ha ha No really, it was a good day. The boys decorated kitchen tiles for Carl so that he could display them on his shelf. He also got a wonderful (after it got it's last hole drilled) homemade toolbox from Jacob and a picture of him that he can hang from his key chain. We spent the evening with his parents having some BBQ ribs and turkey. Yum!

Strawberry Festival

Every year, the city of Bellville hosts a strawberry festival. I have never been able to go down to it before, but this was the year! We went down with Mandy, her kids and Laurens friend. Poor Carl once again had to work, so he will not be in this feature. :) Here are some highlights of our day!

These are from the parade. We didn't go to the rest of the stuff this year..too broke!

This is so me when I grow up!!

Instead of getting candy, Trey got a nice packet of silica gel. Yum!

Now that is some logical math!

Jacob and the Mohawk

Well, Carl did it secretly but he convinced Jacob to wear a mohawk for the first summer haircut. He told him he was just going to cut it normal, but then he left the part in the middle there. Jake thought it was awesome after all, so he let him keep it that way. Now all we have to do is convince Alex! So, in gratitude , Carl let Jake give him a trim. At least I got to put it to rights when he was done!

Miss Mary Mack

Jacob it seems has been learning about Miss Mary Mack For those men who don't know what this is, it's a clapping rhyme that talks about a girl who wants to see an elephant jump over a fence and then when it does it goes so high it doesn't come back till 4th of July. Silly stuff, but wholesome and good to clap to. So, he comes home with the verse on a huge poster board and a huge Miss Mary Mack made out of cardboard and set on an enormous dowel rod. look inside and there is stuff in the middle. I ask him what it is., and he replies, "Oh, just some digestive system and a heart and an elephant." It really was the way he said it, so nonchalant like it was something that was totally normal. Oh yes, we all have elephants in our bodies! And the phrase "some digestive system" ha ha ha! Total Jacob!

Kindergarten Graduation

Well folks, it is official...our baby is now a 1st grader. *sigh* Here are some photos of Alex's Kindergarten graduation.

The handsome graduate

Alex receiving his diploma from Mrs. Rozum. Tried to get a better view, but the room was entirely too small for the amount of people in the room!!

Note the upside down diploma...I are a gradiate...

That's better!



Here is a video of Alex and his class singing their graduation song. Yes, we know the shooting is not of the best quality, but the room was SUPER crowded as I said and the camera kept focusing in on the people in front of us. Oh well, you do what you can!!

Belated Pictures

Ok, so here are the pictures finally. I couldn't seem to load them all at once, so I did them individually. They are also all backwards, so the first photo is at the end of the game after Jacob has been doused with the victory water bottle and the last photo is before the game officially began.

Elder Barney getting Jake with his mitt. Gram is in the background.

Quiet repose

Safe on base shuffle

Doesn't it look like Jake is dancing?!

Safe!

Crazy boy

You're out!

Missionaries and softball

Ok, this is a two-parter story.

For those who read this blog regularly, you will know that the missionaries have become a huge part of our lives. We started out with Elders Tams and Robins, who baptized Carl, than we had Gillen, then Barney, and now Nielsen. Last night Barney and Nielsen had an appt. with our family at 5. Softball starts at 6, so we told them that they would have to scoot by 5:30 so we could get there in time. So, what do they do instead? Followed us to the game! Jacob was very excited to have them there. Plus, it was an extra full house with Grandparents, Aunt Mandy and Lauren. So here we are bringing "Mormons" to the game. I figured that everyone would stand far away from us as to avoid our guests, but NO, Nielsen was the hit of the party! While they were there, he took some photos of Jacob. This should be said: Nielsen, before he came out here to devote 2 years to the Lord, was a professional photographer! Cool huh? So here he is, out in the field, suit pants, white shirt, tie, snapping off photos with this enormous camera right? One of the other parents comes up to me and asks me who the photographer is (because obviously these guys are with us)! I tell her that they are some family friends, since I am so flustered by her abrupt question (obviously not my best member missionary moment), and she asks if he can take some photos of her son as well!! Ha ha. So Barney and I go tell him and then off he goes, snapping off at least a hundred photos of Jacob and this other kid, along with some others. I think the coach actually gave him free reign of the entire field so he could take pictures of the team in general! So, I guess long story short, these pictures are all available from Elder Nielsen. Thanks!! Did I mention he's originally from Denmark? So here are some photos and a video of Jacob running into home plate.



Ok, never mind, photos won't load right now, so here is the video at least. I will get the pictures this afternoon.

Painting the livingroom

Well, we finally did it!!! We painted the living room yellow!!!! Here are our impressive photos.

The color "Honeytone"

The first stroke

Alex helping after school

First coat

The final result

Well, we still have to finish the other half today, but we are very impressed so far. We will let you know how it looks when it's finished.

Some pictures for your enjoyment

This weekend we went to the graduation party of some family firends. This morning I got an email with the pictures of our family. I was only going to include the one you see at the top but I figured, what the heck, why not.
Yes, this is my 8 year old and 5 year old enraptured by the baby toy. We would get them outside, only to find one or the other back inside playing with the toy again.

I thought this one was cute. Poor Carl though wasn't looking. Of course this is not his fault as Jacob kept giving everyone bunny ears and so Carl was on the lookout for misbehavior.

Jello anyone? Jake was in love with the spread they had laid out. He got Jello, strawberries, melon and grapes. Good stuff. Hey, like my hair? It's black now!