Arrow of Light Recipient!

The Arrow of Light award is a big deal.  It's the highest award you can earn in the Cub Scout program, so we were VERY happy when Wade earned his award last Thursday at his final Cub Scout pack meeting.  He will turn 11 this month and move on to Boy Scouts!

The pack meeting was wonderful--there was a good turnout and a good spirit there.  Our Cubmaster Stan Loughmiller let parents say a few words, and that was neat to be able to do that.  Our friend Sandi Collins came, too--yay!  One of Wade's Webelos leaders, Judith Bal, a good family friend of ours, made arrows for the boys.  What an awesome keepsake!!!

We are proud of Wade and hope he'll carry this work ethic into Boy Scouts!

Wade and his friend Jon Nation received the award that night

I love this--too funny!

Arrow of Light selfie!

The box on the table was fun, too--they dimmed the lights and had parents and Cub Scout leaders add glowsticks to the box.  The arrow lit up nicely!

Thank you for all your efforts, Judith and Kiahna!  Wade was blessed with amazing leaders!

Support from his big sister

So glad Sandi could make it on such short notice!

Another of his Webelos leaders, Sister Williams--Wade has had a great time in Webelos and will miss these ladies!

Introvert

The Knights of the Round Table Cub Scout Camp ended today.  16 hours of crazy fun!!!!  It was really well done, and a LOT of work went into it!!!!  I was glad to do my little part as a craft volunteer--we used gobs of duck tape at my station, haha!

However, my internal battery was seriously depleted by the time Wade and I got home today.  The interesting thing was that Wade was ready to go way before I was.  I had to bribe him to get him involved in the water games, the Best Activity Of The Week, where 50 other boys were running around crazy having the time of their lives on the water bounce house and water "wars".  I probed him with questions--were the boys in his group being nice?  Did he feel well?  What was wrong?  It was a little frustrating, but I understood how he felt, too.  To watch him with other boys at camp, sometimes he seemed like he was 10 years older than them!  He said he'd had a lot of fun, but after 4 nights and 1 long day he was just. plain. done.

Too much of a good thing for us introverts, maybe?

For kicks I took this online introvert/extrovert quiz, based on Susan Cain's book Quiet.  Here's the link:  

QUIZ.

Sure enough, even on a few answers where I wasn't sure, I was a definite introvert.  It explains some things: why I really do love having friends and being with people, but enjoy quiet nights at home with my family more.  Why I can substitute teach and have demanding church callings but NEED that quiet time at night to read and recharge.  Why talking on the phone can be torture sometimes.  And maybe, just maybe why I feel a LOT more comfortable writing than talking, haha! :)

That said, I was grateful for the quote on the website, too:

Remember, though, that no one is all introvert or all extrovert. Introverts attend wild parties, and extroverts curl up with their favorite books. As the psychologist Carl Jung put it, "There is no such thing as a pure extrovert or a pure introvert. Such a man would be in the lunatic asylum."

Thankfully I'm not to that point yet! :)

2014 Knights of the Roundtable Cub Scout Camp

Wade is having fun at Cub Scout Camp this week.  We're two nights in and he's already made a shield, a PVC catapult, a box fort, tried some ironworks, and fought his way through a really fun obstacle course.  Tonight his Blue Knights group gets their turn in the Armory (bb gun and archery stations)--those are his FAVORITE!  

He likes his den group a lot--nice boys and some great leaders!  I get to spy on him from across the room while I work at my craft station, helping groups decorate cardboard shields with massive amounts of duck tape.  I'm enjoying myself and really, really happy that I've been able to have my station indoors because the wind has been CRAZY the last two days.

At the end of the week the boys will get to "defend" their castles in a catapult battle.  Not sure how it's going to work yet, but I've heard they're going to flip wet cotton balls from their catapults and see if they can get them to stick to other forts around the room.  Should be interesting.  The boys will also be making PVC/foam insulation swords on Friday, and I'm hoping I can exit the building before I see too many concussions.  SMART camp planners to wait til Friday to make those, haha!

Update:  Wade had a BLAST at the archery and bb gun stations!  He said his coaches were great.  He was excited to hit some bulls eyes!  One of his instructors took this shot and texted it to Jason--nice shot, Wade!

2014 Feller's Cake Bake

Wade has done some fun Feller's Cake bakes for Cub Scouts.  One year was a baseball cake, the next was piano keys for his sister's birthday, and this year he did...a Lego Movie Benny the Astronaut Cake!  It turned out really great!

Pedal to the metal

For Webelos this month we've been working on the Sportsman badge.  It's been SO much fun!  Tomorrow night we'll go for a bike ride with 8+ boys around the neighborhood near the church, and, believe me, I'm looking forward to it, crashes and all.

Rhiannon graciously let me borrow her bike for this thing, and I hopped on it this afternoon for some practice and rode with Wade over to his piano lessons.  We're talking a 2-minute bike ride, but it was exhilarating, ha-ha!

I miss the bike I had in college that was stolen.  Boo.  Time to think about getting myself a bike!

Wade's last official Pinewood Derby!

 It's a little bittersweet to write that this was Wade's last official Pinewood Derby as a Cub Scout.  Where does the time go???

Jason and Wade spent a LOT of time together on this car, and, boy, did it turn out perfect!  Wade called it the Spider Mobile.  He didn't place at the races and was pretty bummed about that, but he gets 5 stars for a SWEET car!

So cool!

Happy boy!

Gangstas at the derby

Wade took this with my phone.
I
LOVE
IT.

So glad to have Howard and Sandi there with us!  Thanks, guys!

Jason was on business travel in Tucson, but Wade and Rhiannon were texting and FaceTiming with him during the whole thing.  I was off handing out Red Vines to the masses.  :)  It was a great night!

Webelos Day Hike to Sand Canyon and Pretend Campout

Time for some serious blog updating, folks!  Rewind to last month when Jason, Wade, and I joined others for a Webelos day hike to Sand Canyon.  What a gorgeous day!  We had a great turnout from both parents, family members, and Webelos boys.  

Jason did a great job leading the boys on a 3-mile hike, we did a clean-up service project, and my friend Judith put together a fun orienteering activity for the boys.  Everyone brought a sack lunch.  It was a fun, easy morning.  Last year's day hike was my very first foray into being a Webelos assistant leader.  We did a lot more at that one, like building a fire and swimming in a pond, but both Judith and I felt this year's day hike was more enjoyable because it was laid-back, quick, and easy to plan for.  The weather was better, too.  Win, win, win!

A couple weeks after that, the boys joined us in the Nation family's backyard for a pretend campout to finish off the Outdoorsman badge.  What a blast!  We roasted hot dogs and made S'Mores, and the boys put on some really funny skits for us.  I think Wade was back at the table getting food--wish I'd gotten him in this picture.  I absolutely love being in Webelos with him.  What a blessing!  The boys are great and I get to work with one of my best Ridgecrest buddies, too--Judith and I have known each other since our kids were babies.

2014 "Go For the Gold" Blue & Gold Banquet

Last year when the Cub Scout Blue & Gold banquet rolled around, I didn't get involved.  I came, I ate, I enjoyed, and then I left.  A part of me still hadn't recovered from the banquet I'd helped with in 2012, when everyone but a handful of us left and we were there a long time cleaning up.  It left a bad taste in my mouth, especially since the event had been so well-attended and there were lots of people who could have helped but didn't.

The lesson learned that night was one that has helped me a lot since then:  if you want help, ASK FOR IT!  It's not fair to others to assume that they'll know what's going through your head and what you need help with.  People aren't purposely turning their backs on you--they just haven't been clued in.   I've been a lot better about asking for help since that fateful night, ha-ha!

Fast forward to last night, our 2014 "Go For the Gold" Blue & Gold banquet with a Winter Olympics theme. There was a HUGE turn-out, it was loud, messy, crazy, and fun, and....I loved every minute of it.

So what was the difference?

A.  Attitude--my own, that is.  Cub Scout events are not quiet affairs.  They are noisy and crazy. You kind of have to embrace that because you can't change it, ha-ha!  Some days I'm oblivious to it, and other days I want to pull my hair out over it.  Also, it was Wade's last Blue & Gold, so I felt I owed it to him to not get annoyed and have a good time.  Good thing, because HE was the one who ended up being annoyed with the little kids throwing balloons up in the air and stuff.  Normally that would bother me, too, but it didn't last night.

B.  Classy, simple decorations=easy clean-up.

C.  Games geared towards kids  (Minute-to-Win-it style, they were a blast).  This was important because I'm pretty sure kids outnumbered adults 1,000 to 1, and we planned for 150+ people....

D.  Simple program, no speaker, just a regular pack meeting format.

E.  Most important, we asked for help with clean-up and people really came through.

F.  Our Cub Scout committee really came through, too.  There were lots of little things that needed done, and we pulled it off via division of labor. :)  That doesn't mean that I didn't worry about ALL of it, but it was great to see it all come together.

G.  I got home an entire hour earlier than I thought I would.  It was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some fun pics that my friend Kristin Hawkins took...I'm very grateful to her because she stressed and fretted with me and did so much to help with the decorating!

Kristin's snowflakes were the perfect touch!  I liked how my balloon stands came out, too.  The little circles on the walls were paper plates with pictures that the Cub Scouts drew, to go along with the Olympics "rings" theme.

Another Kristin creation--she'd made these felt country flags a long time ago and had the great idea to put them up for the Olympics theme.  I loved it!  Kristin also printed up paper games like word searches for people to work on at the tables.

One of our Wolf leaders, Ryan, did a great job MCing the Minute-to-Win-It games on stage.  He drew kids' names randomly, so not everyone participated.  That kept the excitement level up, too--so many kids were hoping for their names to be pulled!  Kristin made "prizes" for those who participated--the Snowman Poop was my favorite. :)

These boys were there early, helping out!

Some of our Webelos getting awards from Sister Grant.  We have 10 Webelos right now--they're awesome!!!!  Especially that 3rd kid from the left--love that boy. :)

For our menu we had hot dogs, chips, water to drink, and then guests brought either a salad or dessert to share.  Our Cub Committee chair stayed busy in the kitchen boiling the hot dogs--everything else was just grab-and-go.  We went heavy on desserts, which was probably a good thing. :)  And we made a few announcements reminding people that we could use lots of help cleaning up afterwards--it made all the difference in the world!

I did have one failure that I'm still laughing about.  I wanted to do something special for Sister Grant, who was recently released after serving over 4 years as our Cub Master.  She is an amazing lady who always has a smile on her face and puts up with a lot of cranky parents.  She's still acting as Cub Master until her replacement has been called, and she did SO MUCH for the banquet.  So, I got our 10 Webelos boys and we did this little cheer for her using the letters of her name, Karen Grant.  K is for kind, etc.  Well, it came off perfectly when we practiced it, but when we did it for realz one of the letter plates was missing.  I asked the kid which letter he had and he said, "Reliable," so I grabbed another plate and wrote R on it.  Well, when the boys got up there it said this:

K. R. R. E. N.  G.R.A.N.T.

Apparently "reliable" was actually "Always reliable," with an A.  The crowd got a big kick out of that, and so did I.  It was an epically funny fail!

Engineer badge



Wade's floor plan of our downstairs--it was challenging to think about our house from a bird's perspective!

I've gained more appreciation for Jason by working in Cub Scouts!  We're covering the Engineer badge right now in Webelos and it is a lot of fun.  A couple weeks ago we had guest speakers come in and talk about different fields in engineering.  Jason talked about aerospace engineering, and we had an electrical engineer and  a software engineer, too.  Last night the boys made floor plans and created simple electrical circuits using a D-battery, wire, and a flashlight bulb.  We'd turn off the lights in the room each time the boys made their flashlight bulbs turn on--it was fun and the boys loved it!

"Engineers are problem solvers!"  I couldn't agree more and I'm thankful to be married to one!

The other cool thing was that Wade had a good time.  He'd had a VERY busy day that day with back-to-back activities.  Straight from school he went to piano, then dinner, then flag football practice, then Webelos.  He was a little stressed out and just wanted to be lazy!  He felt good on the way home from Cub Scouts, though.  After that long day, Wade said, "I had a lot of fun tonight at Webelos, Mom.  It was relaxing and fun, just like you said!"

Fasting works

I had to laugh at this definition on the Merriam-Webster site this morning:

worrier

noun

 

Definition of WORRIER

 a person who is inclined to worry <she's a mother—being a worrier is part of the job description>

 

Synonyms: handwringer, worrier, worrywart

Related Words: defeatist, fatalist, pessimist

Near Antonyms: optimist, Pollyanna

 

 

 

Well, sort of laugh anyway.  I hope I'm not a defeatist or a fatalist, but I KNOW I'm a handwringer and a worrywart!  If there's nothing to worry about, I find something.

 

Take, for instance, our combined Cub Scouts packs.  We were having some issues and hadn't had any awards to hand out at pack meetings for several months.  It was a problem.  The boys were earning stuff, they just weren't getting those belt loops and badges in their hot little hands.

 

So the summer went by and we got a break from pack meetings, and a little breathing room.  But our first pack meeting of the school year was looming (it's tonight!), and we didn't have the awards.  I was starting to worry I was going to wring those hands of mine right off, figuratively speaking.  I kept thinking about some of the parents who were openly disgruntled, as they should be, at the last pack meeting, and I really, really, REALLY wanted to avoid that.

 

So, I pestered people with questions. 

 

"Are the awards here yet?"

"What can I do?"

"Have the awards been ordered?"

"Do we need to cancel pack meeting?"

etc, etc, etc.

 

I worried, and I worried, and I worried.

 

And then Fast Sunday came around this past weekend, and I decided to fast and pray about this issue, among other things.  I added it to the list of things I was fasting and praying for and tried not to feel silly about it.  I thought to myself, "We can pray to Heavenly Father about anything, at any time, anywhere, right?"

 

I was still worrying last night, thinking about pack meeting coming the following day.  I said prayers and tried to calm myself down and be at peace.

 

Then this morning I got the following email from a friend on our Cub Scout committee:

 

"The awards came!!!"

 

 

I know there are SO many more things I could be worrying about.  Syria.  Obamacare.  The US economy.  California.  Global warming.  The zombie apocalypse, for crying out loud.  But it's comforting to know that God is in the details of our lives and that He cares about us and our problems, no matter how big, or how trivial, they may seem!

 

Waiting for the cable guy

Today I'll be waiting for the cable guy to show up sometime between 8am and 5pm to set up phone and TV service.  Goodbye, DirecTV, and hello to less-expensive bundle service!

While I wait around, I've got a nice long list of things to keep me busy so I don't go crazy:

--prepare beef stew in crockpot
--dust well downstairs
--vacuum whole house
--do a few loads of laundry
--catch up on ironing
--clean off my desk
--finally get around to organizing my Young Women's church binder
--walk on the treadmill
--update blog
--write in journal
--take a nap
--throw balls around outside with Oscar
--clean up kitchen
--watch an episode of The Office on Netflix
--put my feet up and read

So, it should be a full day. :)

Last night we attended the Cub Scouts Blue & Gold banquet and had a good time.  It was the first time in 3+ years that I didn't help plan and carry it out.  I learned (yet again) that life doesn't revolve around me and that people do go on and accomplish amazing things without me!  The cultural hall was PACKED with people from both wards--it was a great turnout.

Tonight Jason and Wade will have some guy bonding time while Rhiannon and I go do a little service project helping another ward.  Hopefully sometime this weekend we can all sit down together and watch The Bourne Legacy--it finally came in the mail this week.

Scouting for Food in the fog

This morning Wade, Rhiannon, and I met up with the Cub Scouts to hand out Scouting for Food flyers all over town.  The Cub Scouts hand out the flyers, and then the Boy Scouts go around the following week and pick up the canned goods for local food banks.  It's a good system! 

We got to the church at 8:00am, and Ridgecrest was covered in a THICK blanket of fog.  It hung around almost the entire two hours we were out, making our walk on the streets very creepy but fun!

picture taken from Google Images;
I wish I'd thought to take a picture of my own!

I was glad to have Brother Eggleston with me, along with his son Joseph and Wade's friends Ben and Jacob.  We had a nice crew and got 3 different routes done.  I told Rhiannon I'd take her to WalMart if she went with us--she was a good sport and a good addition to our group!  She was only too happy to help; she had some WalMart gift card money burning a hole in her pocket! :)

Dad's gotten his run in, and now we're all at home relaxing.  It's a nice day to stay indoors--cold and wet!

 

Cub Scout Camp 2012

Hi, this is Wade.  I'm talking and Mom is typing.

For Cub Scout Camp we shot BB guns, did archery, made picture frames, made rainsticks, tribal masks, did an obstacle course, and played games. 

(What was your favorite thing?)  BB GUNS AND ARCHERY! 

(What was your group called that you were in?)  We were the Burmese Pythons.  We did this cool song called Boa Constrictor, but we called it "I've Been Swallowed by a Burmese Python."  It went like this:

I'm being swallowed by a Burmese python, a Burmese python, a Burmese python.
I'm being swallowed by a Burmese python, and I don't like it one bit.
Oh, no, he swallowed my toe.
Oh, gee, he's up to my knee!
Oh, my, he's up to my thigh!
Oh, fiddle, he's up to my middle!
Oh, heck, he's up to my neck!
Oh, dread, he's up to my...
(make a sound like you're being swallowed--gulp!)

(Did you  make any new friends?)  Yes, there was Max, Sean, Derrick, and some others.

(Did you make life easy on your den leaders?  Did you wish you'd been in your mom's group?)  Yes.  And yes.

(What was your favorite thing on the last day?)  The giant water blow-up slide!  It was HUGE!  It was the only thing I wanted to do on the field.

(Oh, one more thing.  How'd you do on the bb guns and archery?)  On the last time I got to shoot the bb guns, I hit the 10!  And for archery, the two times I did it, I got bulls eye both times!

The End.

Fellers Cake Bake

Tonight is the last pack meeting of the school year, and then we take a Cub Scouts break for the summer.  Wade will go to the Cub Scouts camp in a couple of weeks, but they won't meet for regular den meetings, etc. 

Jason is out of town on work travel this week--I should have grabbed a friend or hometeacher to help Wade make the cake, but I got lazy and decided to help him myself.  We had a good time!!!  I think I need to get Wade in the kitchen more!  Good job on your "Play Ball!" cake, buddy!

Wade's First Pinewood Derby Experience

After a month of hard work teaming up with his dad and Howard's power tools, Wade experienced his first Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby last week.  He named his car Lightning McDerby and miraculously came in 2nd place with over 20 contenders!  Way to go, Wade!!!!!  I am so thankful for all the time that Jason put in to help Wade with his first car--there were a lot of things that Wade couldn't do (POWER TOOLS), but he learned a lot and had a great time doing it.  Designing, cutting, sanding, painting, weighting, and lots of waiting between paint coats....it all paid off in the end!

Wade had a lot of support at the event from some nice boys, too--every time Wade's car went up to race, you'd hear "Wade!  Wade!  Wade!  Wade!" really loud in the gym.  I don't know how that started, but I know the boys' support meant a million bucks to Wade!

Enjoy the pics!

The Lightning McDerby "team" got 2nd place and Most Awe-Inspiring Design

2nd place Winner (and one very happy boy)

These were pictures Wade took at the activity--he did a good job!