tst: aggie girl

Gig 'em!

eagle project day 3

Day 3 of Noah's Eagle project, I arrived after the scouts used bow saws to shorten the fence posts to the correct heighth. Next step was to screw in the fence rails. Hubby manned the power saw to cut the rails to the correct length.

Here's Hubby-Dale, Mr. Cariaga and Mr. Barger conferring with Noah and other scouts while the rails are cut to order.

The fence pickets wait patiently on the little hill.

Installing the rails gave the older scouts the first crack at using the power drills.

Lots of power cords were onsite.

Cody and his crew start installing pickets.

While I was cleaning up the area where the rails were cut, which happened to be inside the church preschool playground, I spied a carpenter's square and a little plastic toy wrench. Too cute to pass up!

Scouts learning how to build a fence.

Ah, the fun part - power tools!

Mr. Cariaga helping get that tricky corner picket in the right place.

Mr. Corpening giving tips to the scouts.

Scout masters supervising.

Noah getting praises from Mr. Corpening on how things are moving along.

Noah keeping an eye on things and supervising the progress.

A thing of beauty!

At last, Noah's Eagle Project completed. It's not only looks great, but it will also provide some outdoor storage space for the church. Great job, Noah! So proud of our soon-to-be-Eagle scout.

make it happen: eagle project day 2

Noah's t-shirt choice was quite appropriate for Eagle Project day 2.

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Yes, that is Cody James Willyumz, Noah's #2 best friend and fellow scout.

Hey, where are all the other scouts? Yes, those younger boys had to be herded back to the work site every now and then.

Getting the post holes in just the right place.

Finally getting to set the posts in cement. The scouts enjoyed working with cement much more than digging holes (notice the return of the younger scouts.)

Making progress!

Fence posts - done. Day 2 took seven hours onsite and one extra hour for Noah at Home Depot to return extra cement bags and buy more wood. A big thank you goes out to Mr. Cariaga for his time, his truck and the loan of his neighbor's trailer to transport all these supplies to the work site from Home Depot.

Once our business was done, Mom, Dad and Noah walked from Home Depot to Taco Cabana to have some dinner before we all took our tired selves home.

Two days down and one to go!

tst: philmont2 + bonus (eagle project day 1)

This is Noah's troop shirt from his Philmont trip. He brought it back covered with dirt and tree sap after participating in an environmental project on the first day. I have a "take no prisoners" attitude when it comes to laundry stains. It took me days, but I won the battle. He wore this shirt this past Sunday, the first day of his Eagle project. One day down, two to go!

Bonus shirt: Jesus + Awesome = JEAWESOME

That's Kevin - Noah's best friend - weilding a mattock at the Eagle project, which involved removing about 18 large bushes around some AC compressors at our church so that a privacy fence can be built in their place.

Kevin, Noah, Thomas and Dale

These four have been together since Noah and Kevin were about six years old. They enjoyed years of camping together in Indian Guides and then joined Boy Scouts when the boys turned 12.

Here's a glimpse of the bushes in place, about to be removed by a crew of Boy Scouts and some very dedicated Scout Masters.

Mission accomplished. This phase of the project took 4.25 hours.

Now just pray for perfect weather next weekend for the fence building to commence!

tst: how we roll

" How We Roll "

by Wil Wheaton

(pumpkin pie - under all that whipped cream - by me)

the end of home school time

I remember the words of David Miller (home school dad and dedicated volunteer at HCYA Sports Day) on May 13, 2006, at Emily's high school graduation ceremony. Mr. Miller announced to the graduates and their families that this was officially the end of home school time in their lives. I thought to myself, "Nah! I've got another home schooler to graduate in about four years." Then I gave it more thought. He was right. With Emily out of high school, taking on college classes and working, she would now have a rigid schedule. No more freedom to do what we want, when we want as a family.

I'm thinking about this because today Noah starts classes at Lone Star College. Now, in our home, in our lives, there is no more home school time. We started home schooling the year Emily finished fourth grade and Noah finished kindergarden, both in public school. Home schooling has blessed our family, and I feel it allowed our children to become the people God wants them to be. And I am grateful that we live in Texas, a home school friendly state.

Our extended family has always been supportive of our deicision to home school. And while we may have been able to do more in our home school days, I know that Emily and Noah will succeed. Emily is already in her senior year at Texas A&M University, majoring in Education. Noah's not quite sure what he wants to major in, but there's a whole big world out there to choose from. I know he's going to embrace this new phase in his education and prove himself an awesome college student, just like his sister.

So here's to the end of home school time! We will miss it and always remember the blessings it brought into our lives. And here's to the future and the many blessings and challenges that lie ahead of us!

tst: Philmont

Noah picked up this t-shirt this past summer

while on his awesome hiking adventure

at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico.

Happy T-Shirt Tuesday!