October 09

I could just call this Ben's month! He started with his birthday party with some friends, Chipotle burritos and a trip to the movie theater to see the new Star Trek.His actual birthday was a couple days later. (That's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which he really enjoyed.)He ran in a lot of cross country meets.
And he performed in the choir concert with the Sunrise Singers, so-called because they meet during 'zero hour,' aka the hour before school starts. He alternates attending Sunrise and Wind Symphony (his band class) because they are both zero-hour classes.

September 09

September started off with Tim's 9th birthday.
Here's some of the produce from my rabbit-fortress square-foot gardens. (The cereal box is there for size comparison. Those zucchinis are about the size of my thigh!)Tim's birthday party came about a week after his birthday, and consisted of an outing with his friends.Soccer season was in full force, with a game every Saturday. Both Tim and Nate played.At the pack meeting, Tim earned his Wolf badge.

August 09

In August, we went to Six Flags.

We went on another hike with the Cubs.We went bowling (well, we went bowling all summer, but in August Charles went too).Ben went to Band camp.We went to the Scout Court of Honor, and all 3 of our scouts received badges.

Utah visit

After the family reunion, we traveled to Utah for a few days. While there we visited BYU and the Walter Wick (I Spy) exhibit.We also went to the Oquirrh Mountain temple open house.

We did get to visit with Maki's family.And we visited the Prices, and toured Kennecott.

Yellowstone family reunion

The Wren clan all stayed in a log home that Dad rented. (Unfortunately, Maki and her fam did not make it.) We had a talent night, played games, read, did puzzles and chatted. And we visited so many many cool Yellowstone sights! So just a few random photos in this post...

June 2009

In June we did a clean-up service project with the Cub Scouts.

Greg graduated from 5th grade.
Nate lost his first tooth.
Tim went to Cub Scout Day Camp.And we got in the van and drove to Yellowstone!
Where apparently, a kid can be a kid...

My garden

We decided to try square-foot gardening this year. Here are our boxes. Do you love the cage Charles built to keep the rabbits out? It's gonna be quite effective... :)

Ben's turn

And then Wednesday night was Ben's high school band concert. Ben is in the top band. They meet during 'zero hour', aka before school at 6:30 am. Ben made it as a freshman, which isn't very common. I was not able to attend his concert because we were double-booked that night, so Charles took the photos and the video. Charles hasn't practiced with my camera very much, so I can't really post what he took... But I can share this picture I took of Ben before the concert.

Jon's concert band concert

It was concert week, back at the end of May. Monday night was the Jazz band (see previous post) and Tuesday night was the middle school concert bands. Here's Jon:I do have a video clip of the band playing, but it's a little long, so I'll spare you.

Jon Plays Jazz

Here's Jon at his Jazz concert. I have tried to upload this clip four times, and finally had to cut it down in size. So you don't get to hear the two solos that came after him. Sorry. Jon's was the best, of course. :)

Late April to Early May

Look, I'm almost caught up!
Greg earned his Webelos rank and his Arrow of Light and crossed over to Scouts at the April pack meeting. Since Charles is the 11yo Scout leader he was the one to greet Greg when he crossed over. It's a small patrol--just Greg and one other boy.
I love Father/Son campout! I get to have peace and quiet, and the boys get to have fun outdoors. You can see by Tim's face just exactly how much fun they have!

Nate's birthday party

Nate has a best friend who is 6 weeks younger than he is. His mom and I decided to take the two of them to Legoland in Schaumburg for their birthday party. It was the perfect place for two 6 year olds.

The entire Magnificent Mile (downtown Chicago) was done in Legos. Amazing. There's a bit of it in the photo above.
Quinn and Nate got to be the helpers. The explorer told them they had to be strong and brave to protect us. He had them practice showing how strong and brave they were.
We saw two 3D Lego movies (Bob the Builder and one with wizards).
The boys built their own cars out of Legos and raced them on the tracks.
After a potty break...
we headed to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner which both boys loved. It was a great day, with two great little boys.