Saturday night was Cross Over for my boy scouts. Instead of having a tiger and a wolf, I now have a different wolf and a bear. No wonder I often feel as if I live in a zoo. The ceremonies were pretty long, but each den got recognized for their achievements, and many boys were singled out for achievements. DS#1 got awards I didn’t even know he had earned, LOL!

Here are some pictures.

DS#2 heading back to his seat after receiving his awards. That’s his den leader in the background.

DS#1 receiving his awards from his den leader.

1)Tigers waiting to [tag]crossover[/tag]. That’s me with DS#2 at the end of the line. Can you say “big hair day”?
2)DS#1 before crossing over.
3)Bears ready to cross. You can find me by the HAIR, and that’s DS#1 with the hair lady.

Click these little ones, and presto! big ones will appear.[tags]wolf scout, bear scout, boy scouts[/tags]

Today, DS#1 has completed his Wolf Scout badge requirements by planning, preparing and cooking an outdoor meal. Those are hamburgers on the grill. We’re eating it inside due to chilliness, but we have all the fixing’s, and DS#1′s little fingers have been on all of it!

We’re not getting a boat charter to celebrate, but we are pretty excited![tags]grilling[/tags]

Today, we finished up one [tag]Tiger Scout[/tag] with a trip to the local copy center. I was surprised that we had one here in “Bitty-burg”, but we do! The lady was very friendly, and took all of us on a tour. Yes, I had 5 of the children with me, all my official students.

Then we went to the [tag]library[/tag], and re-newed cards, and got a couple of new ones, as you can see below. Everyone is very happy to be able to check out their very own books now.

My educational priority this week is scouting stuff. The scout year is coming to an end, and crossover is on the 17th. Each boy just has a couple of things left to earn their ranks for the year. They will be moving to the next level and will not be able to back up and earn these ranks after that. Today, I will be making a list of what I need to do with each one, and that’s what I’ll be working on until it’s done. I don’t want to be skating in on the 16th, either, so I am really going to focus on having it all done as soon as possible, and not later than Saturday. If I can get DD#1 to help with a little baby-sitting, it should be sooner than that!

Then I will need to plan something fun for the girls. I’ve been wanting to do some soaps with them since they were way too little to do such a thing, and then they got big enough, and I got too busy. I’m thinking I may pick up supplies to do that sometime this week, and next week we’ll take a chance to do that. I’m trying to teach them to do things that will be profitable later. I’ve read just this morning about a couple in Hawaii who are marketing handmade soap with some success, and I will share that information with them as well.

So, that’s my teaching agenda, and we’ll also be doing as much of the regular stuff as we can squeeze in.

[tags]soap making, handmade soap, boy scout crossover[/tags]

Someone mentioned that I never talk about my girls and their scouting endeavors. I do have a reason While the boys have monthly awards ceremonies, the girls have yet to have even one. Additionally the boys are required to have a parent with them because of their age, while the girls are not, and so I have much less idea what actually goes on in their meetings.

I may as well mention that I think the [tag]Boy Scout[/tag] program in general is of a much higher caliber than the [tag]Girl Scout[/tag] program, as far as teaching values, and even skills. I used to be a GS leader back in the day, and even then the program had slipped from it’s early foundations. It’s not getting any better, but I am limited in options.

I don’t know why I still bother to plan, because my plans always change! Well, yes, I do. It’s because if I have a plan, I at least know which direction to go and without a plan I just wander around aimlessly.

Instead of doing the genealogy, the cleaning and the schedule, I re-applied the patches to my sons’ scout shirts, and the whole family went to the scout event. For some reason, I had thought I would be home with the babies and not get to go. I guess I am just not used to having that van yet, because for the past I can’t even remember how long, one parent has stayed home with part of the kids while the other has gone.

Anyway, after that, we didn’t get home until after 4, DH went to the grocery store,and then it was girls to youth and a nap for me. If Mr. Insomnia shows up tonight, I may hand him the mop!

We had a lot of fun at the Blue and Gold today. DS#2 was part of the color guard.

Both the boys got awards.

And that flat cake took first place in the “flattest” category of the [tag]cake contest[/tag]. It was not eaten, since it could not be cut, or broken.

Dh is now in the kitchen doing up the dishes (from the cake making) for the third time in 14 years! Yes, he double checked with the scout leader to make sure he, and not I, had to do it, ROFL!

I have to tell you that DH made another [tag]cake[/tag] with the boys this morning. This time he used a mix. We’re taking last night’s disaster to see if it will win the prize for “flattest cake”. Think they have a chance?

I have to tell ya’ll. When you tap this “cake”, it sounds like you are tapping a board! You can actually just pick the layers up and they won’t break! And, yes, that’s three layers there in his hands.