ANOTHER CANDLE

Yesterday our baby boy turned 11.  Guess I can't be calling him my baby boy much longer (at least in public).  He was up bright and early like always and ready for his birthday breakfast in bed.  He knew exactly what he wanted to eat...donuts!  Specifically a maple bar.

He enjoyed opening his birthday cards from all the family. 

His list of birthday wishes were constantly changing...like even the day before his birthday.  I returned several items before his birthday actually arrived (it was kinda making me crazy).  There was one thing that we bought him, another controller for his Wii U. 

I also gave him a special letter...or birthday challenge rather.

He has really been into Pokemon Go, and so I had worked on a little surprise for him at school.  He had to visit 11 different teachers throughout the day (at different times, with different challenges).  Each teacher was a poke' stop he had to get to and ask them if they had anything for him.  He was pretty excited to get to school and get to his stops.

For his class treat he really wanted to do something with camels?  Because of his birthday being on hump day!  Honestly this was all his idea.  Possibly because he wanted to wear this shirt...just a guess.

I had a hard time coming up with anything with camels so I made the same treat that I did for Sadi;s birthday, just came up with a different tag.

So...throughout the day he visited each poke' stop and received one of these envelopes.  Some of his teacher's really got into it and made it even more fun by adding their own challenges as he arrived in their classroom.  I loved that he got so many birthday wishes from all these teachers throughout the day.

He did complete the challenge by the end of the day, and was able to catch all of the Pokemon!

His reward was becoming an official Pokemon trainer.  I put his birthday surprises sealed inside this can.

Inside was filled with Pokemon figures, candy, and money (so he could pick out what he really wanted).

He wanted to go to our local pizza joint for dinner.  They have the BEST cheese pizza!  Matt had to work again :( so he missed out on seeing Chase all day (except for a brief moment in the morning). 

Sadly Sadi had cheer that night so we were very limited on what we could do.  He was literally dying to spend his money so we dropped off Sadi and went to the grocery store for him to look....the GROCERY STORE people!  He cannot have money in his pocket.  He found a pricey gift card he could use immediately to buy a Nintendo game.  Just like his presents he changed his mind about 13 times about what dessert he wanted.  He literally changed his mind again at the grocery store and we ended up leaving with some individual sized ice creams.

It was a good day, ended with some serious wishing.....

Leaving the blue

The night before Chase's birthday was his crossover from cub scouts to boy scouts.  He was pretty excited...front row, first one there.

He received several awards including his Webelo patch.  I was sad Matt was unable to attend because he was working.

 

I was also awarded 2 Mom pins, which honestly I earned. 

We wanted to do something special for his Webelo leader who has been so awesome this past year.  Chase thanked her and told her his favorite memory from being in Webelo's with her and gave her a bouquet of flowers.

I was kicking myself for not remembering the camcorder.  It was super sweet, and she loved it.  We sure are going to miss her.

Then it was finally time for his crossover ceremony.  They did a great job of reminding him of all the things he has learned in his time as a cub scouts.  They explained the only thing he gets to take with him is his arrow of light.  They even made him a special arrow to take with him to remember.

This tiny bridge made me laugh.  He had been looking forward to it for so long that I think we both remember it being quite a big BIGGER.

Once he crossed the bridge, it was time to loose the blue and be dressed in red.

His new leader and new scout troop all made it to welcome him, shake his hand, and even dress him in his new uniform :)

He looks pretty good in red, and is ready for a new adventure!

We ended the night with a cake I made (semi-homemade) for everyone help us celebrate his hard work and success.  Time for a new chapter in scouting!

Jet Setting

Recently things at work for Matt have been keeping him VERY busy, so it was nice a few weeks ago for him to be able to enjoy some perks of the job.  He was invited to go to the corporate retreat in Vegas.  No slot Manager has ever been invited to go...so a pretty big deal.  He spent 3 nights in a luxury hotel "working".  He was also invited to fly home with the CEO on his private jet.  I picked him up at the private air field....gotta say I was a little jealous. 

The following day one of the vendor's gave him V.I.P. tickets to the rib cookoff in Reno.  It was a private party with all you can eat ribs from all the vendor's.  This night I got to tag along.  We dropped the kids off with Kelsey for a few hours and enjoyed sampling as many ribs as we could (honestly it's almost impossible to try them all).  *note this was NOT my plate.

And to round off the week, the very next day another vendor invited him to go to the U.N.R. football game.  We were able to get a babysitter so I was also able to go.

Sadly I think he missed most of the game because he was talking work the whole time with the vendor.  I wasn't even able to get a picture with him.  I did meet my little Wolfie at halftime and catch up a little with her.

Although we invited her to sit with us, she choose to sit in the student section.  I think her seats were closer to the field than ours (just behind the goal posts).  But, I think we had the best view as the sun set.

It was a whirlwind of a week, and come Monday it was back to work!