Cub Scouts

Lucas has joined the Cub Scouts. He is a Bear this year and has really loved it so far. He is very motivated by the patches and belt loops so that certainly helps.

His den of 8 has 2 leaders so it's very well organized and really a lot of fun. I had a hard time picking which pack to enroll him in but decided to stick with the one at his school. I am really glad I did and have heard great things about how active they are.

He has done some cool stuff so far and we are only a month in. At the first meeting, they made marshmallow guns using pvc pipe which they cut themselves. It was pretty neat to see how hands on they were. Then they had the marshmallow fight :) Next meeting they made Alka Seltzer rockets which was a huge hit. Then they built a cardboard fort and had a battle with soft balls. Finally, they made a toolbox out of wood. Super fun!


Lucas got his Bobcat Trail badge last night. He also presented the colors at the meeting. They will be doing that at the Veteran's Day assembly at school and he is super excited he gets to wear his uniform to school.

Fall is in Full Swing

Fall must be here! Back to school, soccer and the pumpkin patch. It has always been a very busy time as we rush from school to the soccer fields, as I fall into my volunteer work at the school.


The kids are growing up so fast. 2nd and 3rd Grade. I am so proud of both of them: they were both elected by their classes for ASB: Associated Student Body. They will help plan the monthly service projects and spirit days at the school, as well as help the special needs kids in their classrooms.

We hit the pumpkin patch last weekend and came home with 85 lbs of pumpkins. Of course Ellie picked a gigantic one!






Soccer is going great! Coaching Ellie's team has been a lot of fun. The growth in the girls has been fantastic to watch! I love that all her friends are on the team and they just love each other. Tia and I worked our magic on their team shirts. They used to be a deep maroon color and look what we did! We are the cutest team on the field!


This year I am heading up Social Services at the school. This means running all the food drives, the toy drive, mitten trees etc. In years past, the school has worked a lot with Hope Link and most of our drives go to benefit them. This year, I have a broader vision for our community outreach projects. I want to reach out to our school community, our local community and our global community. My plan is to cover all 3 with service projects this year. In a school of 900 students, these projects are a lot of co-ordination and my budget is $65 :) So it will be a lot of time but I can't think of a better position for me to really sink my teeth into.

I'm also room parent for Ellie, helping with writing in Ellie's class, Art Docent for Lucas' class, working in the Student Store and running the Sunshine Club at the school (meeting needs of families going through a tough time). I really do love being a presence at the school for the kids, my own and many others.

Serious Stuff

Who ever thought baseball was serious stuff at age 8?

We are having so much fun with baseball. It's Lucas' first year playing. He did do t-ball about 3 years ago but it was just a summer program through the Y. But this year, we are in the big leagues! It has been a lot of fun watching him play and practice. The improvement has been terrific and he loves it all.The team is undefeated so far and won handily 9-2 last week. Could we go-all-the-way?? It's a pretty exciting thought.

The boys get out there on the field and stretch together counting "1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8" out loud and in unison. They run to warm up together. They communicate on the field..."let's do this guys!", "be ready, 2 outs!!". Lucas is thriving on being a member of the team, just as he did with soccer. He is in his element.

The team has 3 very dedicated and focused coaches. I cannot say enough about them. So positive and encouraging and they really focus on the right skills and form. They put so much into the kids!

An exciting day came last week when Coach told him he was ready to pitch in a game. That? is big time. I loved seeing such a huge smile on his face.


Love this shot of Lucas at bat and Daddy as the umpire :)

Lucas also made it on the swim team and practices start soon. Can you tell I am proud??!

Glitter Nails: DIY

A couple of weeks ago, Ellie and I decided to try making glitter nails on our own. They turned out really well!


First, I filed her nails on the top of each nail (helps polish stick better). Then put a coat of clear polish on and before it was dry, sprinkled the glitter on top. Do one nail at a time. Let them dry and repeat. Then, swipe a top coat on top to seal the glitter.

Once you are done and it's all dry, you can rinse your nails under cold water and get the residual glitter off the skin with a nail brush or old toothbrush.

The result was very glittery, pretty nails and a sweet happy girl!

Green Month

With March being St Patrick's Day and all the plants and trees renewing their lives, it just begs to be dubbed the Green Month in our house. My mantle is decorated for spring, all in green and white. So our thoughts are with how to GO GREEN this month.

What are we up to? Well, I have started doing the countertop composting thing. I keep a container on the counter and all food scraps and compostables go in there. Getting the kids involved....they take it out to the yard waste every evening. I am a little concerned about this for the summer, preventing fruit flies etc.

Talking to kids about the earth and what it means for the earth if we don't do these things has been easy. They genuinely want to do the right thing. Lucas has started keeping his nightlight off. His reason being "I want the earth to always be green". (Julie J, I think the Cars light has seen it's last day!)

We have also been scrutinizing the stuff we put into the garbage. Is it recyclable? Is it compostable? Stopping to think before anything goes in the trash.

Getting ready to put the garden in for this year. It will be an expanded one, and will try out a potato cage . Garden plans include tons of green onion, cherry tomatoes, purple heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, herbs.

Just want to challenge everyone to make March your Green Month too!

Celebrating Gold

GO CANADA! Finally a gold medal on home soil! A great reason to craft something, right? ;)


How cute is this? There's a cookie in there!



You will need:

• Nice big cookies
• aluminum foil
• gold paper cut into squares and circles (to cover the back of cookie after wrapping)
• scotch tape
• ribbon
• hot glue gun

First, we helped the kids wrap up the cookies with foil. You can make this project even easier by buying gold foil or just making "silver" medals. I was just too cheap to pay the $9 for the gold foil :)


Next, place the cookie face down on a square cut from gold paper and gently wrap it up making sure to keep the edges nice and round. Don't worry about gaps in the paper as it will all be covered in the end.



Finally, we took the lengths of ribbon and hot glue gunned them onto the back, then cover the back with a gold circle to cover everything.



We had a little fanfare and "medal presentaion" and the kids loved them. This would be a great favor for parties too or sports events!

Inspired by Skiptomylou