because I'm the worst scout mother of all time.

Every pack meeting there are moms that bring their SLR cameras and shoot at least 100 pictures of their scout doing nothing and anything at all. I've never even brought my camera to a single meeting. But I decided to finally bring it to Brayden's last official pack meeting/Koston's first. I thought it would be a cute photo and memory for them to both be in their uniforms together. But the reality was that after Koston bobbed for donuts, and Brayden had to blow a bubble with a mouth full of crackers, I ended up locking them up in a church classroom and refused to let them out until I got one measly picture. Koston wasn't having any of it so as you can see he ruined them all & once again, he won, I lost. 

halloween. (seriously?)

As always, the boys chose 'non traditional' slash can't find a costume hanging on a target halloween rack...and I had big plans for them ALL YEAR LONG to be Wreck it Ralph and Fix it Felix. I had all the stuff we needed for those two. Kosty was going to be Ralph (SO HIM!) and had the huge soft fists & overalls already, it was perfect. Brayden's personality matches Felix so I pumped him up talking about spray painting a gold hammer and such. They were totally on board... until October rolled around. Brayden all of a sudden had to be Link. Oh, did you think he was Zelda? me too. Apparantly anyone who knows anything about video games knows Zelda is actually the princess, and Link is the main character. Brayden was keeping close track of anyone who knew this. They instantly became his favorite. Kosty went off the path with his random selection of a banana costume. He saw it at Target, and it was $50 and only in adult sizes. He tried it on and it fit him perfect (oddly enough), but I told him to think about it because I wasn't spending $50 on a banana suit I just knew he would change his mind about. A week before Halloween and the kid isn't budging on the banana idea. Three days before, then two, then, FINE. Off we went to grab the banana. And it was no where to be found. Who is buying banana costumes? I was sure there would be a whole rack for half off by then. So it all came back to bite me because we had to go to several different stores and finally ended up coughing up $30 for a much flimsier version from Satan's superstore: Spirit Halloween. We were desperate. 

But, as always, I end up loving their selections. I even did something I never do, SEW, the Link costume and hat. He wore my pants, my boots, my gloves, and two of my belts. Ha. Who knew I had been channeling Link. My good friend Karen helped me sew I should clarify. I was doing a horrible job until she stepped in & saved me. The ears were the final touch. The night before the trunk or treat, he mentioned that the shield would be the cherry on top. But the only shields were found on amazon for $40 and no way to get it in time. So while he was at school I googled Link's shield, found an old toy shield in our backyard and got to work with good old construction paper. And it made his day. I LOVE HALLOWEEN. 

Brayden's 11th.

when you ask someone to take your picture, you never know what you're gonna get...clearly going for the prize with this blurry shot! 

Brayden had his birthday fall on a Sunday this year, and it was a tricky one. The only thing he wanted for his birthday was a nintendo 3DS, which we said we weren't getting. He has too many video game systems as it is. But, my little brother Chase just so happened to be selling his 3DS & my mom  insisted it would be his gift from them. A $300 gift is a bit much and I didn't want my kids to start a new expectation, so I had to make it fair & basically throw money in my moms car as she drove away. She still gave it to us for a steal. But knowing that she wasn't coming until his birthday eve, we had just a couple dinky gifts for him until the big one. Never one to hide his gratitude, he almost shot through the ceiling when he opened his Costco pack of Martenellis, his all time favorite drink. Luckily my mom came over that night and saved the lame present day. His reaction was totally priceless. I must say I actually did some good things in the birthday cake department this time around. I want the boys to have memorable cakes but I'm not one to fondant or pipe fancy designs. Instead I asked them both what their dream cake would be like. Kosty's oreo cake and Brayden's ice cream cake are still talked about around here. B's ice cream cake had layers of mint hot fudge, ice cream sandwiches, and crushed oreos inside and out. I made it extra HUGE because I thought we would have a few more guests than we did, but Brayden and I got to eat a slice together every night for the next week. 

Koston's baptism

What a good day it was! Kosty had been gearing up for his baptism and started being extra sweet & mature the weeks that led up to his big day. That's a cool change to see happen. 8 is a special age and I get to see a lot of 8 year olds prepare for baptism, its always confirmed to me that eight is the age for a clear reason. Just enough innocence but enough knowledge to make the choice. I think 8 year olds are my very favorite. But I'm pretty sure I say that about every age, so....

In true Kosty fashion, he scoffed at the idea and the pleading for him to wear a suit for his pictures. Then the day before the baptism he suddenly had to have a suit. I was a little more than thrilled to see him in it. The baptism and confirmation went great, and its a special day as a parent to watch as your child makes that first big step following our Savior. 

As soon as we got home for the luncheon, he ripped off his suit, so its just him in his pjs' for those pictures. We had chili and cornbread and "8" sugar cookies again. Not an empty food table like the one in the picture ;) We had our family over for hours, and Kosty enjoyed it so much. I asked him to write his feelings about his day so he would have a memory when he forgot someday. He wrote on a notecard, "Heavy. Then light." 

A few days after his baptism he seemed really angry and quick tempered, moody, and irrational. I'm so thankful for the prompting I had one night to scoop him up in his angry "pretend sleep" so that I could tell him a few things about repentance and baptism. He is a little prideful so I knew he was pretending to be asleep so he didn't have to fight me and avoid the conversation. It made it easier actually. So I took him to our old rocking chair in the spare room and told him I knew he wasn't really asleep so he could hear me and I told him that after baptism he probably sinned, like everyone does. The prompting was that he was severely disappointed in himself and thought he ruined being "clean." I got to talk to him about how we all sin after baptism but that the whole purpose of the Atonement is that we can repent. None of us stay clean after our baptism forever. I talked quite a bit about it and then took him back to his bed. I read all the notecards that his friends and family had written on his baptism day and he instantly changed his demeanor. It seemed like a heavy load came off and he was so sweet and happy. I'm so thankful for that experience with him. Now when I get to visit kids getting baptized I make much less focus on being clean and way more focus on the afterwards. 

Koston's 8th.

I'm laughing as I post these, look at the kid's poor face! So, my sister n law offered to take his 8 year old baptism pictures at the temple. I remembered there was a cool, woodsy location behind our house and fearing we would be short on time at the temple, I voted for the closer location. Little did I know what was about to transpire....
As we were setting him up and she started to take some pictures, he was super smiley and cooperative and everything was going great. I asked her to get some close ups, and as she moved in, a big angry wasp came up and stung him right on the nose. It must have been painful because he's been stung by a bee before, with no crying and hardly even a reaction. But this was screaming and crying and really intense. I scooped him up and my heart was racing because he was holding his eye and we thought it stung him in the eyeball. Once we finally got a look at it, we saw it was the top left of his nose. We rushed home and put some ice on it and he went to his bed, broken hearted. When he got up 15 min later, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry at his sad little face, eye swollen shut, and face SO puffy. That's how I felt for the week while it healed, always on the verge of laughter or tears...he just didn't even look like the same kid, at all. But life went on, and he had a "friend" party at the Power Ranch pool/park. The boys swam, fished, played at the splash pad and playground, climbed trees, ate pizza, and opened presents. We celebrated later with our families with some Oreo cake and ice cream. He asked for a set of black and gold scriptures, a Voldemort wand, and a Minecraft guy. When he opened his scriptures, his face was priceless...even with a swollen eye. He hugged them tightly and said, "They're amazing."