Catching up

I finally had a moment to just catch up. Below are a few posts of things that I have been working on. Happy reading.

Cub Scouts - Pockets

For Cub Scouts this month, they have an odd theme ----"pockets". I know, weird huh. I guess the point of it is that you can tell a lot about a person by what they have in their pockets. Today at den mtg, I had the boys empty out their pockets, and low and behold, they had all kinds of things. It was cute, because it really did describe them. So, I tried to be creative and gear their achievements that they have to accomplish around the theme of "pockets".
One of the achievements they had to work on was "participating in a flag ceremony". So I made a "flag ceremony pocket-guide book" that the boys could use whenever they have to participate in a flag ceremony.
I found the ceremony guidelines online with diagrams even.

Then I put it all together with those rings.

I had the boys practice a few times using the guide, and they all seemed to get a kick out it. So, if you're in Cub Scouts, this was a successful idea you could use.

FHE Lesson - Consequences

We've been on a roll lately with quality FHE's. This past Monday, Randy gave the lesson. I find that the simple lessons are the best. Randy felt it was important to teach the kids that with every decision and action we make, there are GOOD as well as BAD consequences that can follow. After discussing this, to get his point further across, Randy showed us this video clip from Seasame Street. I thought it was great, and the kids got a kick out of seeing some vintage video. The understood the lesson, so hopefully, more thought will go into some of the decisions our children make.




The last part of our FHE is usually an activity. That night, Leigh had us play "Telephone". We had a lot of laughs starting messages and ending up with totally randoms words. Kara was refreshments. We've been trying to save money, so we were creative and used what we had --- HOT CHOCOLATE. Randy helped Kara get the cups of cocoa ready and instead of whip cream, the put a little scoop of ice-cream with a dash of cinnamon. It was great!!

In case any of you were wondering, what does this have to do with me and my creativity. Nothing. My husband and daughters were the creative master-minds behind this successful FHE, that I just had to share.

FHE lesson - Holy Ghost

My 8 y.o was in charge of FHE lesson this past week. She chose to do her lesson on the Holy Ghost to help her with her Faith in God. I helped her come up with this simple game to teach the rest of the family, as well as herself, what the Holy Ghost does for us.

Each picture is a symbol. The compass for guidance, the dove for peace, the shield for protection/warning us of danger, the bed for comfort, and the last one is supposed to be someone putting their hand on the bible swearing to tell the "truth". She and I both came up with the symbols and got to work to drawing them. It's just a simple matching game. Every time someone found a match, then that person had to figure out what the symbol stood for and then we all discussed examples of how the Holy Ghost does that thing for us. The kids loved the game and I think the message got across to them. Very simple.
For our activity, we played Book of Mormon charades. Each person took a turn acting out their favorite prophet from the Book of Mormon. It was fun seeing what the kids chose and how they acted it out. Our refreshments for the night were blueberry scones, courtesy of Micah. I should have taken a picture of them because they did look like a 6 y.o. had made them. They were delicious nonetheless.

Spider-Man Cake

Here's my latest creation. We're trying to live on the frugal side, so I looked up ideas on the internet of how to decorate a spider-man cake. It is not the best but I thought it was a start. I have always been interested in cake decorating. I still hope to take a formal cake decorating class.

Plinko!!

Randy needed to teach his Deacons their scout responsibilities. He was worried that the boys would be bored, so I suggested he make it into a game. Well, I told him not to worry about it, that I would take care of it. This is what I came up with.


For those of you who don't know, Plinko is a game that comes from the popular game show "Price is Right". You drop a disk in from the top and watch it go down. The fun thing is that you never know where it's going to land.

I bought a foam core board and some screws. I measured the size of a jar lid that I was going to use as a plinko chip. I spaced it out a cm larger than what it was and then spaced it from there. It only took me a couple of hours to do. I ended up cutting out circles from the foam core to use as the chip. It was lighter and easier on the screws.

Randy reviewed with the boys the information. Then they had to answer questions about it. Every time they answered the question correctly, they earned a plinko chip. Whatever number they landed on, that was how many pieces of chocolate they got. Randy said it turned out great.
My kids love to play with this. Micah will play and add up his points. This week is ward camp and we always have a Penny Carnival. This is our game we are going to have for it.

Scrapbook Pages

Here are the pages for this month for my den's scarpbook. In case any of you are in Cub Scouts, here's what I'm doing for June. The 1st den meeting, talk about camping. We're going to plan a dinner menu for the boys to cook for their parents. Our ward is going camping and at the camp, the boys are going to cook foil dinners and dessert for their parents. There is an achievement for wolves, bears and webelos for cooking outdoors, preparing a meal, and dessert. This also counts towards a Faith in God "serving Others" elective.



















This month our den went on a hike and cleaned up the trail along the way. They were working on both their "Conservation Project Award" and "Leave No Trace Award", as well as an achievement in section 6 for the bears. We had also done all of Achievement 5 at the den meeting prior.

Money Problem Solved!

Well. At least the kids'. I had the problem of kids getting money from birthdays, chores, and other random things and keeping it. They would leave it lying around, then we couldn't remember how much was there, did we pay tithing on it . . . you get the picture.
I came across this idea on another website - "meckmom.com". It looked cool, so I tried it and it has been working wonderfully. I definitely recommend this to any parent who has the same problem as me.

I got a binder.


I bought a pencil case for each child to put their money in.


I made up a record sheet so that each child can keep track of their monies.

I had to be willing to get out the binder whenever the kids wanted to use their money, that way, they felt that they had some control over their money. I think because of that, this idea has worked. I try to get them to fill out the sheet whenever their are taking or depositing money. When they save up so much money, then I will take them to the bank to deposit their money.

Next task ----- BUDGETING (cue the scary music).

Dinosaur ---- ROAR!

I am quickly realizing that lately, a lot of my creative energy has been going towards Cub Scouts. Can you guess what my calling is? This month the theme was "Jurassic Pack"
Here is an art project that I found and had the boys do. It turned out exactly the way I pictured it. It was very inexpensive to make as well. The bones are just pipe cleaners (we used about 10-12). You can buy them in packs of 100 for $2.50. The scraps of wood I got from Ace for $1.00. I had enough for 12 boys. Not bad.


I also started a scrapbook to keep a record of what we've been doing in our den. I'm not a scrapbooker by any means, but I did happen upon a cool digital scrapbook software that is so easy! I couldn't resist. So here's this month's pages. Voila!

Cub Scout Board

Here is a project that I started sooooooo long ago but forgot. I probably forgot because I had hid this board under my bed. Out of sight, out of mind I guess. Anyhow, I had a spare moment today, so I headed down to the BYUH Copy Center and finished it. I am so happy with it. I learned that I am a consolidater. I like to have everything I need in one place I guess.
I'm not 100% finished.I'm gonna put a picture of each boy up when it's their turn to be a denner above their name. Below that is gonna be the assignment our den has for pack meeting. This month it's a skit. I glued this envelope on the back to hold their names in it.

After School Snacks - Low Fat Gingerbread

Here's a snack that I make every so often for my kids. It is low-fat gingerbread. Usually I make it when I cook Chicken Noodle Soup for dinner. I don't why, but I always do. My kids love it and it's healthy.



Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup molasses
3 Tbsp melted butter
1 cup water
2 egg whites (I usually sub it with 1 egg intead).

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet and mix well. Put in muffin tins or bake in bread pan for 20 mins.

Bentos

I've gotten on this bento kick. What is a bento? Well, from what I can deduce, it is the Japanese art form to making lunch. Japanese have taken making edible art to an awesome level. I've been researching ideas on ways to make a bento.

The picture of the bento on the left is all made from food. I'm always in awe of how great it looks. I'm learning all the tricks and now want to start collecting bento boxes. Yes, there is even a special box it is put in.

Today was the first day I made a bento. It is nothing compared to what real bento makers do. They are really cool. Maybe one day with practice I'll get there. For now, my kids will just have to be happy with a smiley face rice ball.