Pack Meeting

Tonight was this month's Pack meeting at Scouts. Kristjan participated in the flag ceremony, and both boys received some beads and/or belt loops. Next month is Blue & Gold. Both boys will have ranked by then (yay!).

Flag Ceremony

Kristjan receiving his awards

Clifford receiving his awards

Clifford Turns 8!!

Last Sunday was Clifford's 8th birthday. We took him to the arcade to celebrate with a small group of his school friends. It was two hours of (slightly) controlled chaos. Kids had pizza and cake, played arcade games, some lazer tag and a round of miniature golf. Then later that evening, I made Clifford's favorite dinner for his birthday dinner request: chicken fettuccine with steamed broccoli, then cookies 'n cream ice cream for dessert.

It was a great day. Pete and I are so grateful to be able to provide Clifford with a fun, special day. We can't believe how quick time flies by and how big he's getting. We love him so much!

Clifford's Halo birthday cake

A few moments with Clifford before the party started

Pizza, Cake, and Present Time!!

The birthday gang

The group getting ready to play some lazer tag

Playing some miniature golf

Clifford with his (favorite) birthday dinner

Pinewood Derby

Last Saturday night was Pinewood Derby. This was the first year for our boys to participate (last year when we signed Clifford up for scouts he had just missed it). It was definitely a learning experience. For weeks I had the cars painted all nice after Pete cut the shapes out and boys sanded them. Well, of course, we waited until the night before to finish assembling them. And, of course, Pete had to drill holes into the nicely painted cars in order to add weights. UGH!! Had I known this, I wouldn't have painted the cars prior. So after basketball practice on Friday, we got in to add weights and wheels. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought of us as we stood on our back patio late that night, using the blow torch to melt fishing weights in a tin can. It was after 11pm when I finished repainting the cars. So Pete and I went to bed late, only to wake up early Saturday morning. I had cupcakes to finish frosting in order to bring for dessert that night AND finish creating a thank you poster for scouts to sign (to give to Papa Murphy's for donating dinner). This was then followed by Clifford having basketball pics and a game. BUT on the bright side, with all this crazy hecticness, we managed to make it to Pinewood Derby on time! The event started off with dinner. Our pack leader, Bob, is a professional photographer. He set up his equipment and took pics of every scout and their car before sending them off to have their car weighed, which Pete was in charge of. The derby finally began with the races. Both boys lost, which Pete was happy about. Our boys weren't really into putting work into their cars (we did most of it). Pete was hoping that by losing, it would give them incentive to want to work harder to make a faster car next year, which they do. I felt so bad for some of the boys who lost. Some were hysterically crying. I was proud of Clifford and Kristjan. They took losing very well, and I made sure to just constantly smile and reassure them that they did awesome :)

Clifford and Kristjan with their cars

Here's Pete doing his official job of weighing in the cars

The awesome sign Pete created for me to use to advertise Papa Murphy's Pizza for their generosity of donating dinner to us!

Our boys arm wrestling with friends to pass the time while waiting for the races to start

Kristjan and the other Tiger Cubs for the Flag Ceremony.

Let the racing begin!!