Back to Blogging

Noone reads my blog anymore. I remember the days in Dental school and everyone had a blog. Everyone blogged and everyone read everyone elses and posted fun, cute comments. You actually thought that people cared about you and the stupid crazy things your kids do. Not anymore. A little thing called Facebook. I would say 90% of the people that are on my blogging list don't blog anymore. Several of them have deleted their blogs, and I still haven't deleted them from my blog list. I think I secretly want them to start blogging again. But the truth is, Facebook is so much easier to post pics. Plus the added realization that everyone has accumulated 2-3 more kids since then, and they don't have time to blog. That would be me. But....This is a piece of history, and since I don't write in a journal, this is my journal, and someday I will turn it into one of those blog books and presto, I will have a very cool journal with pics and everything. So there! So lets back track a bit..... Since Drew's birthday falls 6 days before Christmas, we decided to have his Birthday party in January. He had an Army party this year, and everyone came in Camo. His friends were Crew Branson, Ryder, Ridge, Jacob and Owen. I found the cute idea for this party on line, but can't remember what the blog was. Sorry I can't give you the credit, but thanks for the great idea! His invite was cute. Can't find the original we made, but it was on camo paper and went something like this. Dear Private______________ Your service has been requested for a Top Secret Mission called "operation 6th Birthday". Basic training will be held at Ft. Sanders on Saturday January 28th. Please report to basic training in your fatigues at 11am. and be prepared to engage in intense combat situations against enemy forces until 1p.m. Please notify Sgt. Sanders if you will be in attendace on this mission. Sincerely, Sgt. Drew Sanders When everyone arrived, they got all geared up with army hats and face paint. Then they did some basic training which the girls helped out with. It involved jumping jacks, push-ups,a nd a lot of bouncing on the trampoline. From there, they had to open their Top Secret Mission which read: Soldiers of the Elite Team: Our nation’s security is under attack by a rebel group who is armed and very dangerous. Sources tell us that they have just uncovered the location of our President’s secret treasure and they are planning to steal it. Your mission is to get to the treasure before the enemy does and bring it safely back to Fort Sanders. You will first undergo serious training that will prepare you physically and mentally for intense combat situations. This mission is considered very dangerous and may even be deadly. Please follow all directions very carefully and hopefully all of you will make it back alive. Good luck gentlemen. After that, Owen got them going in a few missions which involved obstacle courses and such. They all had to work as a team and they all had a good time. After each mission, we drew names to see who was injured during the mission --example Your team was attacked by snipers on the rooftop across the street! 1 or 2 of you have been shot in the leg and will have to hop on one foot for the rest of the mission! -Your team was hit by a roadside bomb leaving one or 2 of you blind. You will need to cover your eyes with your headband for the rest of the mission. -Your team was ambushed and 1 or 2 of you lost an arm and will need to tuck it inside your shirt sleeve for the rest of the mission. But.....they didn't go for it. I was pretty bummed cause I thought it would be hilarious to see a couple of kids hopping around, or pretending to be blind while crossing through treacherous terrain, but these kids would not go for it, and I wasn't going to make them. After the mission, the kids had lunch, ice cream and sorbet for Drew and opened presents. Drew had a nice party and we kept it pretty low key and simple and I think that's all you really need to do with kids.

All the gear set up and waiting for the troops to show up

waiting for their drills

basic training

getting ready for their mission--war paint!

one of their missions--walking on cans

lunch and ice cream!