Cub Scouting...

Well this is 'our' 2nd year in cub scouts. I use the would 'our', since it is truly a family affair. We go to most everything we can and help when we can. I have lead the last 2 den meetings for Austin's group. 11 2nd grade boys can be a challenge, but I think I faired well. The meeting in Nov was the week before Thanksgiving so I had them color, cut and assemble a turkey that held a sign that said "Give Thanks" On the feathers of the turkey, they had to write what they are thankful for. It was a good project and kept them busy and QUIET. (that is something that is hard to do at our meetings.)
I also did our last meeting on Dec. 1st. Our Den leader got called to work during that time..so I helped out. We covered basic info on taking care of cuts, protecting ourselves from germs and from the common cold. We talk about hand washing, too. I let Caitlin be my example of a good hand washer. So she got to pretend to wash her hands. She is awesome at it...very thorough!!! Then we made Christmas cards for Recovering American Soldiers in the Army hospital in Washington DC. I wanted to express to the boys the importance of thinking of others and doing good deeds to those you may not even know. They really got into this and so did several of the parents. I encouraged everyone, including the parents and siblings to help make cards. We had stickers, foam pieces and coloring sheets. We sent 23 handmade cards and 10 colored sheets. I then walked around giving each boy a kit-kat after the project was done. I told them that, "good things come to those who do good deeds for others". Needless to say they were very excited about the chocolate and I hope they learned a good lesson in the process.

If you would like to add the soldiers to your Christmas card list..here is the address:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave., NW
Washington, D.C.
20307-5001

Then this past weekend we had a orienteering event with our whole pack. Orienteering is where there are flags placed in various spots and labeled on a map and the kids have to tell direction and find these flags within a certain amount of time. Our pack does this every year and it is a blast. Our team won last year and not bad for it being our 1st one. We ran the entire hour we has to find the flags.
This year we split into our teams/dens and they decided to add a sibling pack. So I decided to lead them. (since Caitlin was with them) Well we kicked butt. Our team worked hard found all but one flag and got back FIRST!!!!! We beat ALL the cub scout groups. The 2nd group that came in about 2-3 mins behind us and then the rest of them came in 20-30mins later. We were all dead tired and sweating when we got back, but we won! :-) And NO one found the flag we skipped..so that was good. Of course, did I mention it was only 31 degrees when we started...hehehe we are not use to those temps. We were layered up with clothes, but lost many layers throughout the day. After the flag hunt we had hot dogs and then had a rocket launch. We just watched, since our rocket was lost last year when Dan and his dad took Austin out to do his and they never found the rocket. :-) haha
Now we have a pack meeting this Friday where they get awards and I am making my siblings group a flag to display! :-) We rocked!!