Leader of the Den

I'm now officially trained as a Cub Scout Webelos leader!! I had my full day of Den Leader Outdoors training yesterday. It was COLD!! Considering that we've had 90% humidity on top of 75-80 degree days up until Thursday, then a cool front blew in and temps dropped into the upper 60s to low 70s, it was really chilly! The wind blew a lot, which didn't help as we were under a pavilion most of the day. It was warm in the direct sun, but we weren't out there much--only for the campfire/cooking section of our training.

We made foil packets for lunch. It really doesn't take that long to do. You only need a square of foil, plus your ingredients (which hopefully have been pre-chopped for you!). Layer your ingredients in whatever way you want. They offered us potatoes, hamburgers, onions, green beans and carrots, plus a "cream of" soup to use. I put potato slices on the bottom, my burger on top of that, then onion, green beans, carrots and finally, the soup. I should add that I also used garlic salt and paprika to flavor it. You wrap your packet up to make a square, then put it on HOT coals. It needs to be turned at least once, but that's it. Very nice meal. Hot and quite tasty!

We talked about campfires yesterday as well. There was much discussion about fire rings. You don't want to create a fire ring...use an existing one as it's less invasive and easier on the environment. They did mention not to pull dead branches off trees. For the kindling, gather only small pieces of twigs and whatnot. You'll probably have a firestarter with you, so you'll use that to start your fires.
In a lot of ways, it's a scary thought that you'll have 9 and 10 year olds around fires, but that's the first step toward being Boy Scouts. They have to know how to build a fire *safely* and how to tend to said fire as Boy Scouts. That's a lot of what I was learning yesterday.
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We talked about conservation a little, plus Leave NO Trace. I seriously would like to take my boys up to visit a friend who is a Forester. I believe she could train them much better than anyone else. It's also a pity I can't bring her down here for a Den Meeting. That would be soooo beneficial!! Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to do that yet...and taking 7 boys across state lines and into another country requires a thousand pieces of paper in the form of permits that I don't want to even THINK about!

I'm now going to jump into planning my next Den Meeting. I'll have to push it back a week since I'm going to another meeting this coming Wednesday. Ah, the fun of planning. They emphasized making plans and sticking with them, so I'll have to work on that. I've not been a planner. Now I have to start. Yikes.

Busy schedule

This should be a busy year for us. I'm now volunteering to chaperone at the football games, plus I have Cub Scouts. The Cub Scouts is really only 2 times a month--the Den Meeting and the bigger PACK meeting. I haven't figured out where to fit in my martial arts either.

I am sure that I'm a bit on the overwhelmed side at the amount of things the boys have to do to earn the various badges and whatnot they have to work on. I definitely have to plan more than I did last year. I hope the boys will assume enough responsibility to do their own things without me standing over them. We also have to go camping many times this year. That's a chore for the husband. I'm doing band with our daughter, HE gets to go out in "the wild" with the boy.

With the classes Miss A is taking, too, we have many projects going at once. She had to make ratatouille for her French class to work on learning the culture aspect of things. Then there's a "questionable topic" she has to work on for English. She has the topic of the War in Iraq. NOT my idea of a fun research project, but I didn't like her other topics (thankfully one was already taken...*I* had issues with it!). There's Biology, Health, Geography...you name it. This girl has a full plate. I'm exhausted thinking about it and it's not MY schedule (although I'm doing my bit to help her, so that does take a little time in and of itself.)

Mr. A just has the normal fourth grade things to work on--the reading, writing, etc. I've currently got him sitting down, reading his Webelos book to familiarize himself with the requirements for Citizen. Once he finishes that, he's going out with the hubby to go watch football at a local restaurant with his friends.

Sunday reflections

Last night was the End of Year banquet for Cub Scouts. I am proud to say that my entire Den was able to be promoted to the next level, to Webelos. That's a great thing! I'm really proud of the boys. They all worked hard to achieve their ranks.
We had to hand out their Bears first for the ones who didn't have them along with their other achievements. I gave my assistant Den Leader the opportunity to hand out the awards. I figured he could do that. I'll have to work on my public speaking...but that's something that can be done at almost any time.

While I was out with the young man last night, hubby got to chaperone our daughter and a friend. They played video games until Aidan and I got home. We finally chased them off to bed at 11:30, but when I got up this morning at 6:30, they were up in Amanda's room, giggling and laughing. We found out just a little bit ago that they didn't sleep all night. UGH. I can't deal with a lack of sleep. I don't know how they did it. I guess they're more resilient than I am, but still...it's crazy in my eyes.

Not a lot is planned for today. I need to work on my one steps. I have 1-4 memorized. I want to advance to the next four and get them nailed, then I can work on the next four. I'm going to get them done in increments. I like the idea of learning more. It feels good to learn. I may drag the hubby outside and practice on him.

Whirlwind

It has been a really busy week! I traded hours with someone at work so that I wouldn't have to work until 6:30 pm on Monday. Tuesday, I took Amanda to her "First Steps in Band" practice. She had a blast. I was impressed by it and have to admit to suffering from "Helium Hand". I volunteered to help with the March-A-Thon the band holds every August before school starts, to raise money for the band. I'm going to walk with the kids about 3-4 miles. We'll be walking about a mile to get from one elementary school to another. The kids play their instruments during this March-a-thon. I think I'm more excited about it than Amanda is.

She did get chosen by a Drum Major to try out for his squad. Basically, what it means is that a Drum Major earns leadership points or something for teaching a Freshman to march. We're going to the school on Sunday for her to work with this boy. I"m going to be there, walking the track.

We also have Cub Scouts getting ready to end for the school year. I'm going to be the Den leader next year too, as Aidan's in Webelos (that will be his next rank). We have a camp coming up next month that I need to get ready for. After that it'll be Amanda's Band Camp in August. One of us will have to drop her off at the school practice field at 7:30 and pick her up (unless she gets a ride home from someone) at 3:30. It's going to make for a very long day for her. I kind of hope her friend, Sammi brings her home. It'll make things easier on us.
The first week of August is the Freshman camp, then there's the full band for the next three weeks. Their first performance will be the last Friday in August, in Longview, TX, which is 3 hours East of Allen. THAT ought to be fun!!

I spent the greater part of today in major stress. I'm not going to go into details, but I've decided that I'm letting it all go away. I'm not holding on to it.
Tomorrow is a new day.

I have letters to write that I have started and put off. The people I owe the letters to are extremely patient with me. I think it's time i sat down and scribbled out a note or three while I'm running my virus check tomorrow.
That's another day..