Chaos

Last week I took Gabby for an orthodontic evaluation, as recommended by her dentist the week before.  We've done this in the past.  No big deal.  She looked, said we'd need to plan for braces some day and sent us on our way.  This past week was different--she needed braces ASAP.  So there is that, scheduled for later this week.  And Katie is getting spacers in preparation for braces.

Justin 'took off' (he's a professor, so no students right now as summer session hasn't begun, but he still works most days) so we could go to the zoo.  Over lunch we discussed a rearrangement of bedrooms that we had talked about before, but we decided to do it right now, while he was home.  We got about a third of the way through the rearrangement before we had to get dinner together and head out the door for a class we were taking at the church.

When we got home, we had an Ellie that wasn't sure about the new plan (which she was very excited about by the light of day), and a hissing sound that I kept hearing in the kitchen.  I finally decided the sound was coming from the dishwasher.  A few minutes of investigation led us to find that there is definitely a leak.  We shut off the water to the dishwasher and started the process of drying it all out.  We'll have to assess further once the sub-floor is dry.

So it's been an expensive, discombobulated week here!  It's all small stuff in the scheme of things, and we are grateful for that, but it is a lot of little stuff at the moment!

Kristy

Troop Time

The big girls finished their AHG troop year recently and Nate's Trail Life troop will be finishing very soon.

Katie and Gabby were both awarded their Presidential Service Award (for the second time).  Kate moved up in age levels and in trying to make the ordering easier (all the girls' awards were ordered at once in March, but her new year didn't start until April), she didn't get to count quite a full year of hours, so she stayed at bronze, with over 50 hours of service last year.  Gabby earned silver, being in a younger age group, also with over 50 hours of service.

This year also was Kate's turn to be up for a level award.  She was able to earn her Lewis and Clark award before she moved up to the Pioneer level (7th & 8th grade).

I'm taking on a new role in the AHG troop at the end of the month.  I will pass off the bank bag and take on the position of coordinator.  I've done bits of that job as our out going coordinator had a family crisis that took her away for portions of the fall, but soon it will be mine and our vice coordinator's in full.  It is a big job.  There are currently over 40 girls, 10 unit leaders, and 5 other board members to make the troop run!

Nate has been plugging away at earning leaves to turn into branch pins for his uniform--Trail Life is set up in a different way for earning recognition than the badge program at the younger levels, though the older boys do earn 'patches,' but instead of sewing them on shirts, vest, or sashes; they are driven into a large walking stick, called a standard.

We've done some camping.  The older two girls and I went to a Camporee in April,

 

and Justin took Nate to a Trail Life Rendezvous recently too.

 The older girls tagged along to find service opportunities, and were able to be sure everyone got the water they needed.

 

Our troop took home the top prize, for winning the most events, our family was the only one who stayed late enough to receive the awards, so they came to our house for a stop before heading back to the troop.

Ellie and I stayed home for the Trail Life camp out, where we cleaned, shopped, went to the zoo, and worked on her 'project,' as she likes to call the wind chime she painted.

That's life around here these days!

-Kristy