The kids all got some Nerf guns for Christmas, two years ago.  They had a year in storage, but have been well loved the past few months.  We once again find orange bullets in all sorts of unlikely places.  Matt decided to add fuel to the fire and ordered a few more off Amazon.  They arrived last week.  They can arm themselves, plus a few friends now.  The girls had a couple friends join in yesterday, but they mostly worked on target shooting (part of their arts and crafts time was spent making a target to tape on the door).  As soon as the oldest three Rampton kids come over next, watch out!  Stay out of the line of fire!  We don't care if they shoot all over the house; there is nothing they can damage.  My one rule is they have to wear glasses or goggles.  Sunglasses are fine.  They have two pairs of Nerf glasses with orange lens but can't currently find them so they are relegated to using the causty science safety goggles from k12 which we have in abundance.  Of course most of these pictures are not during pitched battle and don't have the required eyewear modeled.

According to the Stars and Stripes, Heidelberg base is closing.  As of the end of this month, next year, it will be no more.  That is just hard to get my mind around.  Back in my day, Heidelberg was our biggest sport competition.  We had youth conference there one year.  Hmmmm.

Makenna is back on a horse again.  She started up a series of lessons at the Polo Club which is less than 5 from home.  They cost more, but none of us are missing the 45 minute drive to and from the old place.  It is a MUCH nicer facility.  The horses are beautiful! and very well cared for.  She loved her first lesson.  We have to go shopping for new boots though.  Her toes have grown since last time she put wore them and are now very scrunched.

Makenna walking Sahaam back to his stable with her Irish instructor, Greg.  

I feel like I failed my first Sunday as Primary President.  It didn't matter that I had a great sharing time planned, when our secretary thought she was released and didn't come (I hated telling her "nope, sorry you are still the secretary and desperately needed" after church when I didn't know if it was good news or bad.) which meant I didn't know the prayer/talk/scripture/AoF or where the big cards were.  We had to wing it, but meantime, one teacher didn't show, our pianist isn't back until next week, we have 4 kids visiting, two new families that I need to get info on.... It felt crazy. Jr. Primary got so big overnight.  We went from 2 Sunbeams to 5 and my old class is up to 13.  Plus nursery gained 5 more in one week.  I feel like I'm in survival mode, when I need to be in planning the program and stuff for next year mode.

Matt has been coming home exhausted.  Work is really busy for him.  He likes to be busy, but it's still tiring.  Days off should be a treasure but we had a series of unfortunate events.  None alone would be a big deal, it's just lame when they all fall together.  A/C repair needs follow-up, fixing computer issues, but ends up with a corrupt hard drive, a set of curtains got pulled down when caught in a vacuum, and then while cleaning a windshield wiper blade, the blade pops out and the arm comes down, THWACK, and cracks the windshield.  But he is awesome and is fixing everything and still makes time to wrestle the kids and hear about their days.  I sure love him.

Isaac had to go to a scout meeting Saturday morning to sign up for leadership positions.  He is going to be the Chaplin for the troop.  It's going to involve a fair amount of work due to the number of boys (around 50) and the diverse religious backgrounds. It is run as an American troop with US flag and pledge, and the majority of the boys are US.  But there are a surprising number of different nationalities as well.  This surprised me.  Why would they want to do scouts??  Scouts was always something forced on boys at a certain age on Tuesday nights.  But this troop is run by scouters who have a passion for it and when you look at some of the things they do, it becomes very obvious why they have a big diverse crowd.  On the schedule for the year there is scuba diving, kayaking, cliff climbing, white water rafting, and for their long trip over spring break they are planning on trekking through the African Savannah.  Wow. All family members are welcome to join any of the outings.  I think I'm going to sign up to get scuba certified with Isaac.  Makenna would LOVE to see animals in Africa. . . . It is an amazing well oiled machine.