Practice Runs

Next Wednesday is the long awaited for Pinewood Derby.

Turning 8, for Jake, meant scouts and the pinewood derby! It is here at last.
Logan didn't want to be left out of the fun and made a car as well - not to regulation weight, but he doesn't need to be.(Logan's is the red one and Jake's the black.)
This past week at den meeting we had a weigh in and some practice runs.
These were the runs for Logan to put his car in (since he won't race next week).They boys had so much fun and wanted to keep racing their cars, as the dads kept trying to keep the boys from over-racing their cars.
Next week will be the official races! We can't wait!

Our Own TV Personality

Throughout this past school year, Natalie and her friend Lauren have done little video clips used during school announcements. Some have been "HallSmart," an information video and some have been "commercials" (in " " because they are usually just for fun).
They have done such a good job that they were asked to do the new school video - the one the incoming 6th graders watch, the one they show visiting guest or people moving into the area, and it is also the one they put on the school website! (look down the right hand side for "OCMS Video") or Click here to watch it!
(It loads a little odd, but it works.)
Our own budding TV personality!
I'll try and link to or load some of the other videos on the blog.

High School Sports

With Alyssa in high school, she's now in high school sports - a whole new world.

In the fall she lettered in cross-country.
She ordered her jacket later and finally got it back!This spring she's on the JV soccer team.
She is improving her skills and plays the whole game.She has 6 more games before the end of the season. I wish we didn't have to pay to watch her play - we'd go to every game. Instead we just enjoyed the two we went to and cheered for her loud enough for all the games!

Oh . . . kindergarteners!

Logan was excited to write his teacher a note that he knew all his sight words. He called out from the kitchen to ask how to spell his teacher's name.
I found the following note for her in his backpack:

Once I figured it out, I chuckled and showed Natalie. Once she figured it out she chuckled. He wondered why we thought it was funny - he said he had written all the word. I guess he forgot you start on the left.
Our thinking it was funny made Logan self-conscious and he said he would just tell his teacher and not give her the note.

I did email the teacher and typed in what he had written - she loved it too.
This cute kindergarten stuff is great!

Blue&Gold

The Cub Scouts' Blue & Gold banquet was coming up and I had a spurt of creativity. Our den was in charge of desserts and I remembered a decorating technique called "frozen buttercream transfer." I thought it would be a great way to decorate some sugar cookies to bring to the Blue & Gold.

I was quickly reminded that I should test out a new technique before wanting it to look good for a party or event. I had done this before for Jake's birthday cake last year, scroll down to the cake - but will probably still forget next time.
With a few trials and errors (all needing to be included in what I brought), the cookies turned out pretty good. And when something tastes really good, you can get away with some mess-ups (I kept the really bad ones at home!).
I got all the awards/badges ready for the cub scouts in my den. They have all earned their Wolf badge!
I'm so excited for all of them.We had a great time with pizza for dinner,
skits,
and singing.
Here are the Wolf and Bear dens in our pack with myself and the Bear den leader.We have great scouts and I can't wait to continue having fun with them.

Just Downloaded

We have been busy with school assignments and activities and it seems like forever since I lasted posted. I recently downloaded the pictures off my camera and realized I am late in posting two of our latest activities.
The middle school band and chorus does a combined fundraiser called The Taste of Oconee. Tickets got you in to sample food from various restaurants from the area and there were a bunch of items that were raffled off. Throughout the evening the band and chorus groups entertained the crowd.

The elementary school had their Curriculum Night, where each grade sets up different activities for the students and families.

We got to make cotton ball sheep and blow them down the path to the pasture.

The boys loved looking at the rocks and minerals.

In Logan's class we made foil boats and tested to see how many plastic bears we could get on our boat. We put on 26 bears before it started to sink, we should have used the small bears - we would have gotten a lot more on!

Magnets are always a favorite and we have to try them out each year, especially separating out the iron from iron fortified baby cereal.

We had a great time trying out all the activities and experiments.

I'm a Mormon

I finished my "I'm a Mormon" profile and put a link at the side of my blog.
Although I don't claim it to be eloquent, it's from my heart.