Arrow of Light

We had a light spot today in the middle of all the recent gloom when Ethan was awarded his Arrow of Light and was conducted into the Boy Scouts!  It was a lot of hard work, and I wasn't sure if we were going to pull it off!  I am so proud of Ethan!  Today he received his Webelos badge, Compass Points Emblem, Arrow of Light Award, nine activity badges, and four belt loops.  Way to go, Ethan!

Ethan was specially presented with his awards and crossover by "Chief Williams."

Eric painted on Ethan's first markings, a white stripe he chose to go down Ethan's nose!

Sister LeBaron, our Cubmaster, gave Ethan his second markings in blue.

Brother McKee gave the third, yellow markings in a very creative manner!

Ethan was then presented with a specially handcrafted arrow, complete with a real arrow point, to signify his Arrow of Light Award.

Then it was time for Brother Campbell, his new Boy Scout Leader, to add the finishing touches in green.

Ethan then crossed the bridge to be welcomed into the Boy Scouts, where he received his new neckerchief.

And how could a fun night of awards end any differently than enjoying a smoothie at Jack-in-the-Box!

Congratulations, Ethan!

I'm so proud of my new Boy Scout!

Welcome to Your Own Private Island!

Ethan just participated in the annual Cub Scout Cake Bake Auction! The theme this year was "Oh, the places you'll go!" Eric and Ethan schemed together to create this year's masterpiece:

"Welcome to your own private island! Where the sun always shines and the water is crystal clear! The island is made of extra-dark chocolate cake, made from scratch, covered in a layer of pecan and coconut icing. Soak some rays on the lovely sandy beach. Or hang ten on a white-chocolate surfboard in the pina colada-flavored waters of a sugar-candy ocean. Whatever you choose, you will be sure to have a delicious adventure!!"

Ethan, My Webelo

In September, Ethan was honored at his Cub Scout Pack Meeting for receiving his Bear Badge. It is one of the special honors that comes with a pin for the boy's mother. Here Ethan is carefully securing the pin to my ribbon necklace.

Kind of a goofy picture of Ethan, but this is what I have :)



I am so proud of Ethan and all the work he has put into Scouting. I am also extremely grateful for his wonderful leaders, and all the time and effort they put into serving these very active boys!


Now Ethan is a Webelo. The time seems to keep flying by....


....and I am never going to get caught up on sewing on all those darn badges! Too bad they aren't all pins!

And the winner is.....

On Saturday was the District-level Pinewood Derby. The top three racers from each troop competed together in it. There were 55 racers in all.

The District race was pretty high-tech. It was all computerized, so they were able to track each racers' time, and also post the place it took in the race. Each car raced six times, once in each lane, and the times were recorded. They then averaged out those six scores to determine the overall winners.
Ethan's car took first place in each of his six races. We were all pretty excited to see his times up on the board, and were on pins and needles waiting to see how they compared with the other boys'.

Ethan ended up taking third place overall, and even got a trophy!!! We were all completely thrilled. After his success, Eric is now thinking of planning another Elder's Quorum Pinewood Derby. Once these boys get the bug, watch out!!

Derby Days

Tonight was the Big Night.....The Pinewood Derby!!!

Eric and Ethan worked very hard on their car. Ethan was quite meticulous about how he wanted his car to look, and Eric went out and bought a bandsaw to make sure he did it right...Ha ha!

Eric had a really good feeling about this car....it was fast!! Of course, it didn't hurt that it was practically swimming in graphite powder!!

There were ten boys who competed. In every race that he ran, Ethan took first! He was ecstatic!This is the final winning heat. His car was a full car's-length ahead!

This is the proud racer showing his creation! He was first place overall.

Now in a couple weeks Ethan will take his car to the district competition. We can't wait!

Ethan's Blast Off Cake!

Last night was the annual Cub Scout Cake Bake Auction. The theme this year was "Power Up!" Ethan wanted to make a rocket so we put our heads together to come up with a cool way of creating a rocket.

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On Sunday night Ethan helped me bake the cakes that served as the platform. He also helped me bake some jumbo cupcakes, that were part of our original plan for a jumbo-sized tower of chocolatey goodness meant to be transformed into a rocket.

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Let me first explain our amazing and dramatic plans for this masterpiece:

Imagine a stack of jumbo-sized cupcakes over a foot tall resting on a thick platform made of cake. These cupcakes would then be wrapped with the smooth white of baker's fondent to give a sleek appearance. The fins would be made from King-size Hershey bars cut into wedges. Then to top it off, a giant Hershey's Kiss would serve as the nose to the rocket, in a flaming metalic red! Doesn't that sound fabulous?! Who would have thought it wouldn't work?!

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First we froze the giant cupcakes, so we could trim them easier. Then we tried stacking them with a large wooden dowel inserted for support. The cakes just fell apart around the dowel, so we resorted to wooden kabob skewers. Still, the tower would not hold its shape.

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On to Plan B: On Monday night I baked two batches of regular-sized cupcakes to be sold at the auction. We thought we would try for a skinnier version of the original, stacking the smaller cakes together. The thing looked pathetic. We tried carving it down to make it more even, but there was so little cake left it wouldn't hold together.

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On to Plan C: We stacked marshmallows on a skewer and called it good.

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So what did we do with that luscious giant Hershey's Kiss? Ethan stuck a flag in it and called it an observation dome.

Derby Days

The Cubs had their Pinewood Derby last night. What an exciting evening!

Eric and Ethan spent most of last week working on their car, Ethan mostly on "consult," I would say. He wanted a wedge shape, and BLACK. Those were the specifications, and so Dad delivered! They painted it a really cool graphite color that sparkled in the light. Ethan applied a small glittering racing stripe down the center. We tried to talk him into doing a pair of them, or something wider, but this was what he wanted! He also painted the flaming "rocket" coming out the back. He named it....

The Wedge of Doom

This was Ethan's first race. He's in the front lane, closest to the camera....


And he took first!!!


Overall, Ethan won two or three of the races. He came in fifth place out of fifteen. We all had a lot of fun cheering his car on. Now Eric wants to plan an Elders' Quorum Pinewood Derby. I think they would have a good turnout. I'm not sure whether the boys or the dads had more fun....

Lessons Learned

On February 24th was the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet. This, in and of itself, probably wouldn't have been big news, but in this case I had volunteered to be in charge of it this year, along with my friend Stephanie. Little did I know what I was getting myself into! I was thinking: It's Cub Scouts, what's the big deal? So, as is my usual tendency, I made it into a much BIGGER deal than it needed to be. When will I ever learn my lesson?


My first clue on how challenging this would be should have been at the point where I realized we needed to plan a meal for approximately one hundred guests with a budget of $100! And this also needed to include the paper products (plates, silverware, etc.), decorations, and awards! This called for some serious budgeting! (Not one of my fortes, as is evident in a previous blog.)


Stephanie, luckily, is a fantastic planner. She undertook the majority of the meal planning, which ended out being alphabet soup, salad and rolls. However, she also went on vacation to Mexico for the two weeks prior to the date of the Banquet, coming home the night before. So it was up to me to follow through with everything and figure out the decorations. No problem, I thought.


The theme of the dinner was American ABC's, or all about the many wonders of the United States. I really wanted to have a strong patriotic feel to the room to make it more fun for the boys. I decided to get paper products first, since they were the most essential part of my assignment. First I went to Costco, where I figured I could get more bang for my buck. I was disappointed in the boring choices available, and frustrated with having to buy such large quantities of everything. It cost about $50 just to get the paper supplies! I got them, because I didn't want to have to come back, but planned on trying out some other stores too.


My next stop was Party City, where there is a variety of patriotic party-ware. I did the math and found I could get the fun colored plates and napkins for cheaper than the large Costco packs, so I ended up buying everything all over again there, along with some decoration items. Then, just for good measure, I tried out the Dollar Store.


(Now imagine an angel choir singing here.)


I should have started out there first! I was able to get almost all the paper stuff for about $10! What a deal! So that left plenty more for my decorations. I was so excited! Of course, I had to spend about $100 on paper things alone, to end up spending $10, but it was worth it! I felt a little self-conscience bringing back all the other supplies, but hey, I've got a budget to keep!!


The afternoon of the Banquet I went once again to Part City to get some helium balloons for the tables. This was my big splurge. I wanted two balloons for each of the ten round tables, in assorted variations of red, white and blue. I got the balloons, not thinking about what carrying twenty helium balloons entails.


Have you ever seen a cartoon where a character gets a bunch of balloons and they start to float off into the great unknown? Now picture me, a woman of small stature, in my bright pink coat, fighting twenty red, white and blue balloons in a terrible wind storm.....


I unfortunately parked around the corner from the store, so I had to walk around a few signs and vehicles, terrified that all the balloons were either going to fly off or hit something sharp and blow up. They were whipping around my head in a tornado of red, white and blue streamers, entangling into an absolute mess. But then I had to try to get them into the car!!!! The bunch was big enough to fill the entire back of my minivan, and I needed to try to coax them in despite the fact that I could barely hold onto them. I tried the side door first, but the wind was pushing them to the side, like they were frantically trying to escape. I would shove a few in and five more would make a run for freedom. It was hopeless. So I tried through the trunk instead. Finally I tied them to a seatbelt in the back, held the door halfway down, pushed and shoved, untangled the streamers from around my neck and arms, and slammed it shut, hoping for the best!! Amazingly, they all survived the door.


As I was smoothing down my coat and breathing a sigh of frustrated relief I turned around to get into the car and saw a man sitting in a car close to mine, watching every move, with a snicker on his face. I wiped my brow in an exaggerated sign of relief and laughed all the way to the church! I can only imagine what the whole scene had looked like!


The rest of the night went smoothly. I luckily had a lot of help to untangle the myraid of streamers and ribbons (that project probably took about 30 minutes alone!) And I only ended up losing one balloon, and that was at the church, when they had already made it through all the treacherous parts of their journey! I ended up getting a lot of compliments on the decorations and how well everything turned out. I was really pleased.


Here are the lessons learned:
1. ALWAYS try the Dollar Store first!
2. NEVER buy helium balloons on an insanely windy day!
3. If you have to buy helium balloons, make sure there are no witnesses first!

The Guitar That Took the Cake!

On Tuesday night we participated in a Cub Scout Cake Auction for this year's fundraiser. The assignment was for the Cub and his father to design and create a cake that matched the theme "A-MAZE-ING Games." Eric and Ethan almost immediately decided they wanted to represent the Playstation game "Guitar Hero." I was skeptical at first that they could pull off a design so technical, but Eric was sure they could do it. And he was right, of course!

First off, Eric made four square chocolate cakes. We then froze them overnight so they would be easier to cut and assemble.

Here Eric is cutting the cake to match the template we made.

Eric really wanted the cake to have a nice finish, so he insisted we cover it with fondent, instead of just frosting. He rolled it out thin, covered the top, then rolled out strips to go around the sides.



Erica enjoyed some of the decoration-elements as we worked. Here she's going to town on a licorice stick!




After covering the cake with fondent, he trimmed the edges with licorice strips. We made the neck out of Rice Krispie treats, pressed into a mold Eric made from cardboard.




Ethan assembled the final details. He used gum drops for the buttons and knobs and licorice for other details.

Ethan is showing off their masterpiece at the auction. He named the cake "Rock and Roll!"

We were very excited to discover they saved our cake to go last at the auction. There were about twenty cakes auctioned off, with varying amounts of money they went for. Ours went for the highest amount of $75 to Bishop Barker! Ethan was completely ecstatic! He didn't even seem disappointed we didn't get our own cake back since to him it "won." (I had to tell him it wasn't a competition, there aren't any "winners.") We went home with a delicious marble cake that was decorated with bright red frosting and covered in sparklers and airplanes. (Ethan picked out which one he wanted to bid on.)

Overall the night was a huge success. The Cubs made almost $500! Rock on!