Pinewood 2014

The boys had their pinewood derby a couple weeks ago.  It;s fun to see how the plans for their cars come together.  This year, Andy has Marcus do most of the work on his car.  One of the nice things about this scout pack is that you can tell the scouts do most of their own work instead of the parents taking the lead.  I think the pinewood derby is one of the things the boys look forward to the most in scouting.  So, here are some pictures from this year's race.

Here are the cars for the adult group.  Andy made the purple octopus for Liam, who likes to be included in the racing.  I'm pretty sure he considers himself a cub scout, even though he is 4. 

Some of the scout cars.  

           

More cars.  4 cars over (the gold one) is Marcus.  Then Cale's and the silver one on the end is Ewan's.

           

Getting ready to race.  Marcus on the end, Cale in the red lane.

Ewan on the end in the yellow lane.

The boys and their cars.  They had some good races.  Ewan's car was in the running for safest driver.  I think we built our cars for looks this year rather than speed.

The purple octopus ready to race.

Snapshots of Tuesday

Things are running on normal here. 

The Scooby gang has gotten back together after being separted by vacations and heat.

Liam was completely taken by my shirt today and called me "supermom" all day.  Talk about a confidence booster.  Liam also felt moved to wear his superman pajama shirt today, with cape.  Yes, we were matching. :-)

Everyone got a bath tonight.  That is always an accomplishment.

While we are hanging out at home, Andy (who was home for less than 48 hours) and Marcus are roughing it at Webelos (Boyscout) Adventure Camp.  From what I here from talking and texting with Andy (they're not that far from civilization), it sounds like Marcus is having a good time.  Andy's been nice enough to send me several pictures today.  So, here we go.

Marcus and his fire-I'm guessing he had the chance to build and start a fire.  Side note:  basically the entire state is in a burn ban=so no outdoor fires.

Marcus at work on a service project.

Service project group

The campers got to go "mountain climbing" (you know, on those big mountains in central Indiana).  The mountain was inflatable and they got to climb to the top.  Fun!  The other photo is Marcus participating in color guard. 

Marcus and Andy come back tomorrow.  Closing ceremonies are tonight, but tomorrow morning there will be open activities for the boys to do, if they want.  Since the weather is slightly better (90 degrees instead of 100), they will stay tonight instead of coming back late.  We sent Marcus with a disposable camera, too.  Can't wait to see what he thought was cool to photograph!

kite flying

To end the year, the boyscouts' last meeting had a special guest that showed the boys how to build and fly kites.  The scouts had fun and it was cool to see all the kites in the air against the moody sky. (it had finished raining before the meeting)  Cale built and flew a kite while Marcus helped take bags of food the scouts collected to the rescue mission in town.  What a great way to end the scouting year!  To say that I am excited to be done is an understatement.  I will be so happy on Wednesday to not have to bring dinner to church to feed the kids and be able to feed them at home.  And our schedule gets a little easier...

Here's Cale and his kite to the far right

I know, the sky looks omninous.  I promise there was no thunder or lightening.  (I did feel a little bit like Thomas Jefferson with all the kites in the air, though)

How fun and so glad that Grammy Pammy got to see it, too.  And, she helped watch the other kids, too!

No meetings till the fall!  Yippee!

Rank advancement

The Blue and Gold Banquet was Saturday.  This is the Boy Scout awards ceremony where the boys get their animal badge (Tiger, Wolf, Bear).  Cale and Marcus were excited to get these new badges and add them to their shirts.  And, there was a meal afterwards, so they got to eat at the church twice that day!

Cale got his Tiger badge.

Marcus got his Bear badge.

There are 3 more meetings for the year.  Needless to say, as the Tiger Cub leader, I am slightly more than excited that the year is drawing to a close.  I have one more meeting that I have to plan for, and then we have a pack meeting and then at our last meeting, they build kites-a pack tradition.  It was a fun year, but I am ready to eat dinner at home on Wednesday nights instead of in 10 minutes between scouts and Wednesday night church. 

Good work boys! 

let's do some car racing!

The pinewood derby has been taking up some of our time recently.  All three of the older boys participated, Marcus and Cale with their Cub Scout dens, and Ewan (who of course wanted to make a car like his big brothers) got to race in the "big kid" race.  Since so many of the grown-ups like to get very involved in helping the kids make the cars, the pack added the "big kid" race to let the "big kids" make their own cars. 

Off to the races!

Thanks to the computer software, it seemed like there were a hundred heats for each den.  Not really.  The top 2 finishers from each den moved on to compete in the fastest car race.  Both Cale and Marcus came in 2nd in their dens!  (this picture shows Cale's car in the yellow lane)

an avid fan

the gold car is Ewan's.  it is lined up with some of the other grown-up cars

a close-up of Cale's car

The end result:  Marcus got 3rd place overall for the pack!  He was very excited and got a little trophy, too.  It was a little harder for Cale:  even though he made it to the fastest car race, his car came in last in almost every heat :-(  Poor kid.  It's hard to be a competitive person and not get to win.  But, it's a good lesson for Cale to learn and he did get 2nd place in his den.

What about Ewan?  Oh, his car was super fast, too!  In fact, he tied for 2nd place in the "big kid" division.  Ewan was so excited to race and had to be super-patient, since his race was not until the very end of the derby.  He had a big grin on his face when it was time to start and he liked seeing his car cross the finish line first in most of his races.

We love car racing!  At least the pinewood derby kind!

Tiger Cub outing

the scouts and Ryan G.

..and then Liam and Ewan wanted in a photo

You may know that I am the den leader for the Tiger Cub group at our church.  Part of their program to earn their tiger badge is going on little field trips.  Last night, we went on a tour of a local radio station in Kokomo.  It was a great experience, since I had never been to a radio station before.  The evening on-air person gave us the tour and his was very patient with our group which consisted of 2 adults, 3 scouts and 3 extra children (Ewan, Liam and Kella).  The boys all especially liked being able to talk like a chipmunk into one of the microphones and liked seeing all the lights and buttons in the studio.  I was glad to give the kids the experience! (and glad when it was done and I could corral my kiddos back into the car)

the final push towards Christmas break

Today is the end of a busy week and a busy first part of December.  I'm ready to be able to just sit around the house and not have to go to a sport practice, game, or boy scouts.  Here's a run down on the first part of December....

*basketball-after Cale's practice tonight (the Friday to start break), we will be off until Jan. 3rd.  They continue to improve and I'm pretty sure that Cale is carrying his team in scoring.  I haven't been to one of his games yet due to work, but I will be able to make most of the rest.  I see improvement with Marcus, too, from last year.  Another parent even said they thought he was getting better-which is really funny to me, because I can't tell if any of the other kids have improved, although there is the general improvement that being another year older brings.  Marcus had a double header last night.  Two games in a row on a school night-nice.  He was exhausted this morning, but managed to pull himself together for one more day of school.

*boy scouts-their Christmas party was on Wednesday.  Calling it organized chaos is charitable, to say the least.  This leader hung back and set up for one game.  I only have 2 kids in my group, so I only claimed a very small portion of the chaos.  They played a relay race game involving putting on oversized clothes (thank you to Andy for the loaners), they played some jumping game, did a craft and got awards.  The kids had fun and I'm pretty sure they just had cupcakes for dinner that night.

*preschool-their program was on Thursday night.  So, after watching Marcus's first BB game, I took Cale (along for the promise of dessert after the program), Ewan, Liam and Kella to church.  Liam DID NOT want to go to class and threw a tantrum of epic proportions.  I finally had to go get him to sit with me during the program.  He calmed down in time to go up on stage to sing with his class, which is nice because singing time is his favorite time at preschool.  There are a couple pictures of the kids on stage.  My camera is not awesome in low light, so you kind of have to look hard for the kids.

There's Ewan in the green.  He has on antlers, a red nose and a fluffy tail.  The look on his face when he walked into the auditorium was like, "I am slightly embarrassed to be dressed like this."

Ewan, again

Liam is the second one over in this picture.  It's hard to tell, but he did not want to wear his nice shirt, so he is sporting a blue tshirt with a yellow dragon on it that says "St. George Dragons".  He is also wearing an elf hat.  He did all the songs with the motions great.

Then, they got to meet Santa.  Cale asked who it was, really.  I said it was a Santa that reports back to the big guy.  Cale wasn't sold on that answer, so I told him to ask Santa.  He never did.  Marcus is starting to ask some questions, too.  But, so far, everyone is still a believer.

Liam had no problem climbing into Santa's lap

then Kella got a turn

and Cale

and here is Kella's new game-taking toys out of the bucket.  She loves it and we love that she is entertained.

I just need to get our Christmas cards out and finish some baking.  Then, Santa will be finishing up shopping for the little ones.  Busy, but fun times!

Raingutter Regatta

The Boyscout activity this weekend was something call the Raingutter Regatta.  The boys each got a sailboat kit and had to build and decorate the boat to sail in a, you guessed it, rain gutter, propelled by their breaths.  So, we've been busy, and waited until the night before to make the boats.  The boys did a little bit of painting and then decorating with some decals.  The racing was not as easy as the building.  The boats are propelled by blowing into the sail at just the right point.  My boys, however, had a hard time mastering it.  But, they got tons of turns to try, since it seemed as if each boy raced every single other boy there-and those were just the prelims.  The top 2 from each den made it to the finals.  Cale made it since there were only 2 Tiger Cubs there.  Thank goodness he did, because he was having some serious non-sportsman-like conduct issues.  Neither he nor Marcus won any of their races, but Cale, as always, took it harder than Marcus (or at least externallized his emotions more).  Overall, I think they had fun and enjoyed being around their friends.  In the spring, we get another chance to race-with cars.

Tiger Cub field trip

My little Tiger Cub troup had their first field trip last Wednesday.  We are supposed to be learning about community helpers and I decided to take them to get a tour of the police department.  I have been on several tours of the fire department, so I needed a change.  The tour went pretty well.  The boys behaved great, including Ewan, Liam and Kella.  They got to see the interrogation rooms(they swore they could all see through the glass window to the other side), the police cars(and climb around inside one), some (unloaded) guns and the taser (the officer showed them the electrical current-cool!), among other things.  The officer sometimes talked over the kids heads, but that was okay, because the adults enjoyed learning stuff as well.  I call this trip a success!  And, thank you to the Kokomo Police Department for a great experience!  Now, to plan for more of these outings...

Cub Scout campout

Last Saturday, Andy was able to take Marcus and Cale to a Boy Scout campout for their pack.  Since I had to work that night, they were not able to stay the night, but they did get to do all the activities.  It was a whole bunch of guy stuff-geochaching, bb guns, archery, hayride.  Apparently it was at Andy's "dream house"-acreage, woods, isolated from society...They definitely had fun and were totally worn out, and that, in itself, made the day worthwhile.  And the having fun part was nice, too.

I told Andy that he was a brave person to stand in front of the boys with the guns.  He said he felt pretty safe there.  Apparently, there were no marksmen-in-training at this camp.

my little scouts

Here's a picture of Marcus and Cale in their Cub Scout glory-styling it with their gym shorts :-).  In an interesting turn of events, it was Marcus who was eager to have his picture taken.  It's still fun, with 2 meetings under our belt.  The Tiger Cub den (run by moi), has their first field trip on Wednesday.  We are going to the police department for a tour.  After years of preschool visits to the firestation, I was ready for a change.  I'm hoping for a strong turnout of 3 Tiger Cubs-Cale plus 2 others.  Of course, Kella, Liam and Ewan will be there as well.  Ewan should be made an honorary scout-I have to include him in the den activities to up our numbers during games.  He'll have it down pat when it's his turn to join.

let the scouting begin!

We started a new adventure on Wednesday-Marcus and Cale joined Cub Scouts!  We've been thinking about doing this for a while and signed them up for the pack that meets at our church.  It's not the closest group to our house, but it's the one that works best with our schedule since we already have Wednesday nights blocked for church.  When we first told the boys we had signed them up for Scouts, Cale was excited.  He likes to be part of a group and to get to wear a uniform to make him look special was an extra bonus.  Marcus, on the other hand, promptly told us that he hated Scouts and did not want to do it.  He hated everything about it and it was the "worst day of his life" (exact quote).  We kind of ignored this outburst (okay, we just ignored it) and didn't bring up the subject again for a couple days.  I guess that didn't matter, because the next time we mentioned it, again, major drama.  In fact, I was a little worried about how Wednesday night would go until I saw Marcus and Cale comparing their handbooks yesterday morning.  No tears, no drama.  That afternoon, he willingly put on his scout shirt.  In fact, he was happy to go and had a blast at the meeting (probably because they practiced bike safety in the pouring rain and then got to ride the bikes in the gym).  You know, that is just Marcus's personality.  He has to be given plenly of warning before a new activity starts.  Now, he will probably have lots of fun and really enjoy himself. 

And, Cale?  Well, I think Cale had some fun too.  Turns out, I got slightly guilted into being the den leader for his group-the Tiger Cubs.  I agreed to do it because they had no one signed up to do it and I was told it was a lot of delegation of activities to the parent helpers.  (I do like to delegate).  We didn't do as cool as an activity as bike riding, though.  Our topic was family and we worked on starting a scrapbook :-).  Last night, I had three Tiger Cubs in my group, plus Ewan, Liam and Kella (my honorary scouts).  The meeting went okay and after some remedial scout counseling by one of the pack leaders, I am starting to have a clearer picture of what I should be doing.  And, Andy is helping as he can-which I am thankful for. 

This should be a fun year!