Introducing .... Pickles!

It all started when we heard about a Chihuahua puppy at the pound. Cory called on it and it wasn't very good with kids, so that was out. But they had a Rat Terrier named Pickles that was not only sweet, but likes other dogs as well. This was at 5 p.m. By 7 p.m., Cory and the boys had come to hijack me from work and we had gone and picked up the poor pooch. She had just been fixed earlier in the day, so she was scared and drugged up and skinny. Now, two weeks later, she is a pistol. She's really loving and sweet and sleeps with the boys. She's also deaf, we think, which is kind of a challenge, though more for us than her, I think, since she can't hear us yelling for or at her.

Sean turns 7 years old

We did carry on the nature theme at Sean's 7th birthday party, but we just had it at the house. We made leather tags and walking sticks and then played leap frog, caught fly crispies on our mouths and ate dirt. OK, dirt cake, which is awfully chocolaty.

Austin Nature and Science Center

Sean's 1st-grade class went to the Austin Nature and Science Center to learn about frogs and other swampy life. We were originally going to have Sean's birthday party here, but the trip ended up being the week before his birthday.

Blue & Gold

Pack 61 held the Blue & Gold Banquet at Small Middle School. At this banquet, the older Cub Scouts cross over to Boy Scouts and all the other boys earn their rank. Each Den decorates tables based on a theme. Brian's Den 7 had architecture, so we made a UT tower. Sean's was medical so they made a medical snow man, xray place mats and surgical glove balloons, along with a blood-pressure check station.

Pinewood Derby Race

Gentleman, start your ... um .... cars. Pack 61 brought it on at the 2005 Pinewood Derby at Summermoon Cafe. We had 94 cars racing four heats. It was a lot of fun.

Marathon Kids

Each year, RunTex and other companies like Whole Foods sponsor something called Marathon Kids, where boys and girls run a marathon, one mile at a time, during school. They start their first mile at the University of Texas campus track and finish at Burger Stadium, a high school track. They usually get to meet Longhorn and Olympic athletes, and this year they got free massages. Sean was a little speedster!

Yu-Gi-Oh Party

OK, there are these collectible cards ... no, TV show ... no, a game ... OK. there's this phenomena called Yu-Gi-Oh that has taken over our children. At first, we thought it was evil, then we watched the show. There are some redeming social values ... about friendship and taking care of each other. And then the kids learn about value of things and bartering ... OK, and cheating and dishonesty and ... So there are a bunch of life lessons to be learned.

Brian and Sean wanted to invite their friends over for a Yu-Gi-Oh party, so it was a wild couple of hours of dueling and pizza eating. The boys had fun and no blood was drawn.

Science fair

For the Science Fair this year, Brian made an electrical circuit and tested various materials to see if they conduct electricity. Sean did his on wearing seatbelts. He took his Pinewood Derby car from last year and put a walnut in it and ran it down a ramp ... with and without a seat belt. Sean placed 2nd in his grade for experiments.

Building Pinewood Derby cars

What a shop! A special thanks to Mike for letting the Den 7 boys come over to use his equipment to start building their Pinewood Derby cars. Mike has everything from band saws, to drill presses to belt sanders and more. And he let us come back to finalize weight and get everything in tip-top shape. The Den 7 dad's really enjoyed the shop, and I think the boys had a little fun, too.

Various ...

Some various shots of dfferent cute things the boys did that didn't fit into any other category. Like ganging up with the dog to choke Dad, playing lacrosse in the steet and striking up the Texas version of a garage band ... in the back of a pickup truck.