Girl Power

On a happy side note ... Caitlyn, Austin and Reagan all scored straight A's this semester. Reagan even scored a perfect score on the mid year test given to Kindergartners to see how they are progressing. Keep up the great work girls!

Mark and I are so proud!

Cub Scouts (You're Only as Smart as Your Leader)

I have a new calling at church. I'm the Cub Master. When I was asked to take on this calling I had no idea what being a Cub Master entailed. But I said yes to the calling and I was off on the new adventure of learning about Cub Scouts.

You might think I know a thing or two about Cub Scouts seeing that Colin came all the way through the program and earned all of his awards. In truthfulness Mark helped him. You see I have one of those rare husbands who loves teaching his children and so Mark took on full ownership of helping Colin advance through Scouting. I loved this of course, so I offered to help if ever they should need it and checked Cub Scouts off as being taken care of. (I am suddenly reminded that I was the girl who laughed and talked through the lesson on leading music in Young Womens. Later I was called to be the Primary music Chorister.) So here I am once again in a strange and unfamiliar calling trying to find my footing.

It didn't take me long to figure out how short handed our Cubs program is. Our ward was split last fall and all but one den leader were in the other side of the ward. We are in rebuild mode, without people to build with. We now have a Scout Committee Chair, a Cub Master and a Wolf Den Leader, to handle the work of 8 people. I have been volunteering myself for the Webelos for the last month, something I did before I even new what a Webelo was. (It's not an animal, right?)

Tonight was my first Pack Meeting and I was ready... almost. I had spent weeks reviewing blogs, myscouting.org and quizzing two previous Cub Masters trying to learn everything I could about what was expected of me. My biggest concern was that a Webelo was receiving his Arrow of Light and I would have to put on a ceremony for him. I knew this was important and I worried and agonized over whether or not I could do the ceremony justice. I spent hours making a plaque that would hold his arrow and had a friend paint the arrow to represent all of the Scout's achievements. I was sure I was as prepared as I could be. It was all going to be fine and the next Pack Meeting would be a breeze, but Fate had other ideas.

First I was 20 minutes later arriving at the church than I had planned, thanks to some not so helpful but very sweet children. I realized I didn't have my keys, so I sent Mark home to retrieve them, only to discover the Cub Committee Chair had hers, so we called Mark back to the church,only to discover I was missing a light bulb for the candle lighting part of the ceremony. Mark took one of the candles and ran to the store, but they didn't have what we needed. He headed once again back to the house to retrieve the light bulbs I had left behind.

When the meeting started, I forgot to call on a boy to say the opening prayer and then forgot half of my opening speech. We made it through though and it seemed that things were picking up, that is until we got to the awards ceremony. I started by making a fuss over the Arrow of Light Scout, but the poor boy didn't want to do it ... any of it. He kept saying "I didn't do this. My mom did this. I don't want it. She made me do it!" I was so busy trying to rearrange my ceremony (seeing as I was still waiting for a light bulb and the 11 Year Old Scout Master to arrive and welcome him into Boy Scouts) that I didn't give much thought into his comments "I don't want it." It wasn't until I had his 5 month pregnant mother crouched behind a cardboard "Bear Cave" and he refused to enter that I realized I was not in control of the situation.

It was to late to stop what was to happen next. His younger brother jumped up offering to enter the Bear Cave for him. The Welebo grabbed hold of his brother and said, "Okay, you go!" as he threw him into the Cardboard Bear Cave, which came crumbling down with the poor mother still crouching behind it. The Bear Cave was picked up. The Brother was given ice for his red and swollen arm. The Webelo entered the reconstructed Bear Cave to face his angry Mamma Bear. We all sat in silence until he emerged.

I limped through the rest of the ceremony. A Pack Meeting has never been so silent. The boys and parents couldn't look away from the horror show that was unfolding. At this time, Mark showed up with the bulb and candle he had taken and I threw that part in because I just couldn't stop. The 11 Year Old Scout Master never did show, but I made the Webelo walk the cross-over bridge anyway. It's like Mark said, "Unless you set fire to the church, next month has to be better."

P.S. From Mark: After the Pack Meeting was over, a sweet sister took TARA's arm, ran her over to "Mamma Bear", and informed TARA that she was "Mamma Bear's" new Visiting Teacher.

Hallie and Tights

After a morning of fighting Hallie once again to either wear tights or pants, she agreed to wear a simple off white pair of tights. Mark drove her to preschool and I was feeling good that I had sent her off warm, cute and won the battle. BUT... I was wrong. When she arrived at preschool she hugged her father good-bye and then proceeded to remove her shoes. If she was going to remove her shoes she thought, she might as well get really comfortable by removing her tights. That is how I found her three hours later. TIGHTLESS. I had her sit down and we once again put the tights on followed by her shoes, only to come home and within 10 minutes find the tights on the kitchen floor. I think I lost the battle today, but tomorrow she's wearing pants.

Hallie Moment

Hallie refuses to wear tights, but always want to be in a dress or skirt. In the summer time I let this go, but it's starting to get colder, so this is a constant fight between us. Today after an all day struggle I got her in her tights before we went to the park, but not 5 minutes after we were home I found her dirty tights sitting on the kitchen counter. When I asked her why she had taken them off she replied that she didn't need them. I responded by asking her if she wasn't cold. She said she wasn't. I turning to Mark, sighed and said, "those bare leggs make me cold." Hallie's response, "Then you wear them."

I think I'm in for some hard years with this one.

Austinism

Austin, "I'm popular, because I'm the Homemade Girl."

Mom, "What is the Homemade Girl?"

Austin,"I'm the only one of my friends who has homemade stuff in her lunch. I even have homemade rice crispy treats."

I wish I would have known it was that easy when I was in the 3rd grade.

Christmas Break

With two weeks off of school I couldn't wait to play and have fun with my children, but this Christmas has been a little different than I or the kids expected. We battled the flu, lice, and Strep throat. Both of our cars broke down. One that was kept in the shop for a week and a half and one that is still broken. We hope they both have a full recovery. (Note: If you give names to your vehicles and talk about them as if they are family, your children will have a hard time when they visit the hospital (mechanics) and you talk about replacing them.)

There were some fun times. We made cookies with friends, made homemade ornaments, gifts for each other and a gingerbread house. We walked around the neighborhood to see the lights and enjoyed many of the sweets that we save just for Christmas, including The Lion House Wassail (I've been making for the last 13 Christmases). We did manage to attend three parties, and have a small one of our own on the 22nd; we visited the Lakeway Trail of Lights, returned for a nativity put on by all the children, and Hot Cocoa.

The kids built a huge tent fort in the playroom that they slept in for three days, including Christmas Eve. Our Christmas Eve was a small beautiful celebration with just our family. Mark had to work, but came home in time for our traditional candlelight dinner, the kids nativity, the opening of pj's and of course dessert. Colin requested peach cobbler so I made my first peach cobbler pie from the peaches I froze from our neighbors tree last summer.

The kids, like most children, had a hard time sleeping Christmas Eve and when I was woken for the third time around 4:30 on Christmas morning I gave up sleeping and went downstairs to make cinnamon rolls. By 5:15 I was joined by Colin, whom I sent back to bed, but by 6:10, I couldn't hold them off anymore. I joined them upstairs where we prayed and then we came down for presents. Watching our children on Christmas morning has to be one of the most fun moments of the whole year. They are sweet to each other. They patiently watch each other open gifts and they long to have the gifts they have made for each other opened. Then we spend the day playing, eating and laughing with each other.

It wasn't until after Christmas that the Flu and Lice hit. We immediately put the house into quarantine. The kids were so sad to have to cancel all their plans and I must admit that I quickly became drained, but the flu is almost gone and the Lice seem to have left us, just in time for the kids to return to school. I find myself grateful that we made it through and that Mark has been blessed with Monday off. I plan to spend the whole day with him and Hallie. Perfection.