January Continued

Hoss is becoming more and more patient with his younger brothers.  Boone sitting on his back is nothing new anymore and he just sits there and no longer tried to dump him off.  It's nice.  I think I could get used to this.

Boone begged to have his picture taken.

 Then stuck his tongue out at me.

We made flag stands at scouts because one of the requirements is to display a flag in their homes for 30 days.  We paired it with the building requirement and killed 2 birds with one stone.

Someone got pretty excited about microwave popcorn.

Grit isn't a fan of tummy-time.

But he is a fan of his brother's attention.  I see these two being inseparable.

Duke found a favorite song.

And snuggles.  Lots and lots of snuggles.  I love snuggles.

Monthly Scripture Hero - Nephi

January's Scripture Hero was Nephi.  The trait for the month was "Obedience" and the requirements were..

1. Memorize 1 Nephi 3:7

Duke was so close to memorizing.  He could easily prompt Hoss on the next word when he would get mixed up, but couldn't complete it alone.

2. When your parents ask you to do something, be obedient like Nephi.

3. Watch chapters 2-9 of the illustrated Book of Mormon.

4. I challenge myself to...
Hoss - Do things when asked the 1st time.
Duke - Listen better. 

What they learned about Nephi...
Hoss - He was very obedient, even when it was hard.
Duke - He was a good boy and listened to his mom.

The Primary Presidency is giving everyone who does all of the activities a new scripture bag.  Hoss was the first person to earn one. 

Pinewood Derby

Hoss got 2nd place in the Pinewood Derby last year.  At that time, he said he really wanted to make a fun car this year, and not worry so much about speed.  Fast forward to last month's Pack Meeting when he got his car kit.  All he's been talking about is how it needs to go FAST.  We reminded him  of his desires last year.  Not a care.  He wants to be competitive.  So, they got to work on their car.  HOURS were spent, designing, cutting, sanding, painting, testing, sanding some more, testing some more.  Finally they felt they were finished.

We arrived at the church, early of course since I'm a leader and have to help set up.  He weighed in, parked his car in the garage, and waited.  Race time started.  He looked pretty good.  He won all his races.  Here's the final 2.  Hoss against Eli Belnap.

Hoss took the gold.  He was overly excited, as was Sexy Farmer.  And now again, he says he wants to just make a fun car next year and not worry about winning.  We shall see if his heart changes again.

Massive Hankie Order

Back in October I had a lady from Wyoming contact me regarding some handkerchiefs for the Star Valley Wyoming Temple that's being built.  She asked for a quote to make 120 hankies.  Well, after some back and forth conversations, she ended up ordering 140 women's and 20 men's hankies.  She needed 20 women's and all of the men's before Christmas and the rest would be for Mother's Day for the ladies in her Ward.  I told her I was right in the middle of moving, but that I would start order order just after the first of November.  I also told her that I was expecting a baby at the end of November, and that I would just get the entire order finished before the baby arrived.

At the end of December, she contacts me again asking for another 20.  I ship those off.  Last week, I received another order from her for 130 men's handkerchiefs that they decided to give to the men for Father's Day.  They forgot to include any contact info for the men's order, so one of our previous Bishop's moved to this very town, so I spoke to his daughter to see if she could help me locate a shipping address.  By the end of the conversation, she orders 50 for her family.

All the while, this cute little man has just sat there while the embroidery machine sews away.  I think he loves the humming noise.  I'm also wishing I was in this Ward in Wyoming.  It seems everyone is getting a hankie for the dedication!

Famous Autograph

Hoss is currently working on the Wolf Cub Scout Adventure - Collections & Hobbies.  Requirement #5 states: "Pick a famous living person, and write him or her a letter. In your letter, ask the person to send you an autographed photo."  After trying to find fan clubs for some of his favorite TV characters, with no luck, he decided on our Stake President, Alan Peterson, as his famous person.  He sat down, wrote his letter, and mailed it off.  He checked the mailbox daily.  Sexy Farmer saw both President Peterson and his wife in separate places on the same day.  Both of them mentioned that they had received Hoss' letter and how cute they thought it was.  Sexy Farmer didn't really know what they were talking about because he wasn't the one that helped Hoss write the letter.  So when he returned home, he asked me what they were talking about.  Then a couple days later, I was tagged in a picture on Instagram.

Sister Peterson had posted about how cute they felt Hoss' letter was.  I REALLY appreciated that she posted word-for-word what Hoss had written because I didn't think to make a copy of it before he mailed the letter.

"President Peterson,

Hi! My name is Hoss Johnson and I'm trying to earn my Wolf badge in Cub Scouts.  The Adventure Loop I am working on is "Collections & Hobbies".  

I picked you as my famous person because you like farming just like me. I also like how you serve everyone at church.  It must be hard to be you.  For my Cub Scout Loop I am supposed to ask you for an autographed photo of you.  I gave you a stamped envelope for you to send it back to me.  I am excited to show it to my den.

Thank you so much for all you do.

Sincerely, 

Hoss Johnson"

Hoss was so excited to receive it in the mail!  He ripped it open and was overly excited when there were 2 pictures inside!  His first comment, "He irrigates in shorts?!?".  This is the message Hoss got in return from President Peterson...

"Hoss,

Thanks for the kind letter.  I do love farming, but have many other hobbies, such as golfing, hunting, fishing, and spending time with my family at our house in McCall.  I also love serving the members of this Stake.

Good luck with your scouting. 

:)

Alan Peterson"

Hoss was so excited when he read the letter. "He likes hunting too, Mom!".  The funniest thing was the next time we attending church, President Peterson was visiting our Ward.  Hoss walked in, saw him, and said, "Mom, is that really HIM?".  When we walked passed him, Hoss was all cool joe, and nonchalantly shook his hand and walked away.  It was hilarious!

Banana Bread

I smelled bananas, but neither Duke nor Boone had one in hand. I went investigating the smell and found this. Duke then casually mentions he is making banana bread.

Monthly Scripture Hero

Today in church the primary presidency passed out some scripture hero cards and a reading chart that was found in this month's Friend magazine.  They challenged each kid to do the reading and all the requirements on the card.  If they did, they would get a reward.

I thought this would make an excellent family home evening.  I did some research on pinterest and found this AWESOME idea on Little LDS Ideas.  I made each boy their own journal and found some of the future scripture hero cards on the LDS website, so that we are ready to go for a few months.

Here is my plan.  Each week of the month for family home evening we will learn a different story about the scripture hero.  They make little action figures of pretty much all of the scripture heros so we will introduce those and it will give them something to play with throughout the month.  We already have a scripture of the month, so we will make it be the one that needs memorized and we will work on that together as a family.  

At the end of the month, they will write down in the little notebook what they have learned about that hero.  Then at the end of the year, I plan to put the notebooks in their remembrance boxes that I keep all their baby/cute things.

Here's to a year of The Book of Mormon!

Grit - 1 Month

Height - 21.75 inches 

Weight - 9.10 lbs

I have always wanted a baby that snuggles.  I finally got one!  We spend most of the day, just cuddled in the nursing chair bonding and figuring each other out.  It's pure happiness.

He doesn't cry much, just loves to be held.  Boone adores him and we find him in the crib quite often.  He's chunking up a bit, which tells me he's getting plenty of food, but he still spends most of his time sleeping.  Which is nice, so that I can help the other boys adjust to a new baby in the house.