Saturday, March 19, 2011

Just Stuff...

Last weekend I was away at a weekend long training. I run a day camp for cub scouts in the summer and I had to be re-certified this year. We spent 14 hours on Friday doing some learnin', and 14 hours on Saturday. And I had to sleep in dorm bunks (we had the training at a campground facility) with women I didn't know. AND we lost an hour to daylight saving time.  Bah-larg.

But enough whining... (I could probably do more whining, but I think I've reached my per-post quota.)

While I was gone, the boys had a great Saturday! The scouts held their pinewood derby. Both of the boys did really well and they MADE THEIR OWN CARS.

Why is that in all caps? Because I am a firm believer in that if it's a Cub Scout Pinewood Derby, then the derby cars should be made by the Cub Scout. For some reason, the dads get way too crazy about this race. They make 2 and 3 cars each...and then present them like the boys did them. Really? Your six year old, the one that's picking his nose right now (hey - I'm not judging, they all do that), made that car that looks like Spongebob? The one where the painting is so precise, it could be a sticker? Lol...

Bailey technically wasn't going to race this year since he's no longer a Cub. But he and the other boys in their troop decided they wanted to make cars so they held their own Boy Scout Pinewood Derby. Bailey enjoyed working on his car. Here it is here:

Bailey's is the one that says "Need for Speed."
He came in 3rd!! This is a big accomplishment for him because in prior years, his cars didn't do so well. Not only was his car 3rd, but between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place cars, there was only a .10 of a second difference!!!

He was SO proud!
Braeden had just as much fun making his car and was really looking forward to this race. His first race was last year, and the pack had decided that they would have a trophy for every boy that participated. Since they couldn't have more than a 1st, 2nd and 3rd, they had a lot of trophies with cute little phrases. Braeden ended up with a trophy that read "Best Fuel Economy" with this under that: (slowest car).

Of course, that was probably deserved. It wasn't a fast car. But that trophy TORMENTED him for an entire year, lol.

Anyway, he felt like he had to redeem himself this year. So this is the car he thought would do that:

See that big blue splotchy thing?  That's Braeden's pride and joy. :)
Braeden decided he wanted an RV instead of a car. So rather than cutting out a car shape, he rounded the corners and left it as a big rectangle. :D

You know what? That must have worked. Guess what he did?


HE WON!!!

He was so excited he couldn't stand it! There were only 2 scouts in his age group, but that didn't take away his joy (nor should it!). Not only did he win 1st in race, he also won a ribbon for Best Block of Wood, lol!

The rest of the week went well. There was some recuperating from the weekend at the beginning of the week. By recuperating, I mean staying in our PJs and piling up on the couch. :)

The boys got to work on some St. Patty's Day themed spelling words this week. The site we use for spelling and vocabulary has some great holiday spelling lists laid out by each month. Since we love ALL things Irish around here, we enjoy that particular holiday!

I have also been playing around on the homeschooling forums for our curriculum. We have made some changes from groups to forums and I'm excited for the changes.

That's about it for this week. Soccer practices have started, so our evenings are pretty much spoken for until sometime in May, lol.

I would like to leave everyone with a request. My heart is breaking for the people in Japan. And for those in Hawaii...everywhere that has been affected by the earthquake and tsunami. I'm asking for everyone to say a prayer for those people.  Don't care what God you pray to.  Just ask for faith, courage and healing for everyone. If you feel like making a donation,  you can do so several ways. You can visit the IFRC. You can visit the American Red Cross. Or you can do what I did - text the word REDCROSS to the number 90999 and make a $10 donation that will show up on your cell phone bill.

Thanks everyone! Hope you guys have a great week!

4 comments:

Kerry said...

Super congrats to your boys!!! We missed out on the whole derby thing somehow....this post made me sad about it! :( Maybe with the grandkids??? Hee.

Unknown said...

Thanks, topsy! :)

Patti~~~ said...

Belated CONGRATULATIONS to your boys! The smiles speak louder than words. Good old-fashioned fun can just never be beat, no matter what our world comes up with to distract our children. Thank you for sharing!!

Unknown said...

Thank you SO much, Patti! :)