{pinewood}

I love that the church has such a strong affiliation with the Cub Scout program. T gets extra time with good friends from church & learns all kinds of truly useful skills (like making his momma eggs or cookies.) We get all stressed out over pinewood & end up putting the wheels on the day of, but once we get ourselves to the church & get that thing weighed we take a deep breath and enjoy the friendly competition. The past 2 years have been hard with Rod's schedule. we get lots of help. Last year Bryan Carlson bailed us out last minute. This year My dad carved the car out with T weeks in advance, and Rod helped with the paint job and I went ahead and ruined it in the end by mistake. But hey...do we want pretty or fast?!  The Oliveros Family helped with the graphite this year & so ...there were many people involved in Tre's taking of 2nd place. We are so grateful for all the help!!  It was a really tight race! Everyone had such fun cars! Britt & Maddox are anxious for their 8th birthdays so they can be a part of the fun! 

{picnic}

The weather was pretty so we picked up some chicken & headed to the park for dinner. When we get out as a family the children are drawn to each other. They really are such good friends. Tre loved watching the babies swing & try new things on the playground. He is such a tender hearted boy. Maddox was brave & found himself a bit higher than he was ready for on the ladders & ropes. Britton wondered about enjoying the fresh air. Britt is our boy who would rather stay in than go out. It took some convincing to get him to come along, but once he was out & exploring it was easy to see he was enjoying himself. Presley enjoyed it most of all. All smiles the entire time...well until we said it was time to go. Cooper loved swinging. If the swing stopped he would bounce and kick in an effort to get moving again. All this was Rods spontaneous idea. He called at 3 & suggested we head out side for dinner & let the kids play.  It was such a fun evening. 

{Secret of Sclaters...ancient mystery}

Without fail these songs make us laugh so hard each year & then as soon as it ends we have a good pout & cry (Rod pouts.  I cry & nag him to take me on an Alaskan cruise with Tar & Craig this spring. --its Tar's gift for finishing med school. Go Tar!) This years was particularly a hit with the children because well...what kid doesn't know that crazy song about what foxes say? The kids picked up the lyrics fast & love singing it EVERYWHERE! We miss them & I went ahead & stole a really hott picture of Craig & Tar off tar's Facebook page to put to this years song. We want to make a video of our own, but that would involve Rod being in the same place as us. Maybe someday. Love you Sowbys!! 

my favorite parts involve me sending flirty nurses in herses and Rod paralyzing people. 

What do the Sclaters say? from Jennifer S. on Vimeo.

{potluck}

We shook up new years eve this year.

Last minute the street through together a block party/pot luck. 

It was a rowdy good time. Nick set off a ridiculous amount of fireworks and scared some children & even caught Brian's jacket on fire. The children lit sparklers & rode bikes in  the dark. There was chili & Gabby made something similar to what I grew up calling American chop suey. Everyone gobbled it up. All my neighbors are amazing in the kitchen. We had so many laughs & made some silly memories. I was freezing to death and lost feeling in my toes, but Tre was having a blast & I was getting a kick out of our conversations. we even called Rod on speaker phone wishing him a happy new year & letting him know the whole street missed him.

My parents were sports and went with the flow and change in menu & plans.

The younger children slowly went inside one by one as the cold air & late night wore them out.

By the time Tre & I came in the children were sleeping & my parents were off to bed for the day of travel that was ahead. 

Tre & I kissed when the ball dropped. 

I tucked him in bed & quickly went to sleep myself, with thoughts of Rod. 

Bring on 2014!