Lion Cub

A few weeks ago, Ben came home with information about Boy Scouts.  The boys had heard a short presentation at school and were went home with a flier about a sign up night.  He was enthusiastic.  I think the excitement came from the fact that the pictures on the flier depicted boys fishing and shooting at targets which is not exactly what they do at every meeting in the elementary school cafeteria but I wasn't going to discourage him.  I was in Girl Scouts and Justin was in Boy Scouts when we were kids and we both liked it so we went and signed up.

It turns out that usually boys don't start Cub Scouts until 1st grade but there is a new program this year for Kindergarten kids called Lions which is kind of a transition program.  They don't have as many meetings and they get a t-shirt to wear instead of the full uniform shirt.  Last week was the full "pack" meeting and last night was the first "den" meeting.  FYI-Den refers to the smaller age groups and pack refers to the whole assortment of ages in one location.  I am familiar with these terms because my classmates were in cub scouts when we were kids but I never really paid attention to specifics.

Last night, since they don't have uniforms to display their badges they earn, the Lions boys made tote bags with decorations on the front.  They left the back blank so the badges can be attached to it.

There is another boy named Ben in the den so BENA is back again just like the first year of preschool!

I was excited to show off my old girl scout sashes and patches.  I have the Brownies (brown with triangle patches) and Juniors (green with circle patches) sashes.  The brownies one even has the patches all sewn on.  Well...I should say it has all there were possible sewn on.  We moved overseas to the Middle East when I was in Brownies and the leader tried to mail me the ones I had earned and they never arrived.  They were lost to customs.  Customs was like a black hole there.  Of all the things to take...Lucky for me, my mom knows how to sew so mine were all actually attached and not safety pinned or glued on.  

The next meeting in October is an outdoor hike at the park across from our house.  That will be fun!  Ben will get to the level of fishing and shooting eventually.  Those activities are generally done at camps.  

I had to take a picture by the rock bed in front of the school on the way home.  He found his rock-it is a red one with the Pioneer "P" on it and he was proud of how nice his P was . 

Oh...I forget the best part of the transitional Kindergarten boy scout program...no fundraising!  I almost ran for the door at the last meeting when the wreath and popcorn sales forms were handed out.  I know school and activity fundraisers will now be a part of life for the foreseeable future but I am still traumatized from the constant fundraising in high school.  I grew up in a family where the general philosophy was that it was the family's responsibility to pay for trips, uniforms, etc. and selling overpriced crap where we only earned a small portion of the cost while constantly harassing the same friends and relatives multiple times a year was not the most efficient way to do it.  Some might argue that it teaches the child to be responsible but guilt tripping people into buying wrapping paper, crummy bath products (that were extremely overpriced and showed up sample sized-that one was my favorite), coupon books and multitudes of other nonsense never felt responsible to me.  It felt awkward and intrusive.  And everyone just bought from everyone else throughout the year.  Just save your money for yourself and everyone pay for your own crap and all your money will go to the cause...how about it?  Sigh...I doubt it will ever happen but a mom can dream...There are better ways that I have personally participated it.  To raise money for prom our classes at my school started working in the concession stand at assigned basketball games starting in 7th grade and accumulated money through the years.  For one organization I was in we sold apple pies in the fall and before you dismiss it as the usual cookie dough/braid bread fundraiser there is a twist...we spent a Saturday in the school home-ec room actually making the pies (with lots of competent supervision from moms and a few grandmothers). Also, if you have those $2.00 boxes of chocolate covered nuts or huge candy bars from World's Finest Chocolate for sale I will be first in line.  We used to sell those for band and to promote them the music teacher would ask a trivia question over the intercom during morning announcements every day and the first person to get to her with the answer got a free candy item.  Usually it was "name that tune" and it always caused a stampede.  

Thinking Ahead to Halloween

This morning, it finally feels like fall.  Previously, this week felt like a hot summer inferno, complete with record breaking upper 90's temps and a forest fire haze that reduced visibility, caused air quality alerts and even led to the public school system cancelling outdoor recess (overkill, in my opinion, but my kids don't have asthma so I guess I should shut up about it.  I happen to be on the downswing of a cold and I admit I felt a bit worse yesterday and I'm sure the smoke had something to do with it.)  It rained in the night, and the smoke is still in the air but not as bad.  I suppose the rain needs to happen 600 miles away in Montana to make it stop.  Anyway, who can resist a cool and crisp September morning that is not actually cold?  After a mediocre night of sleep due to Milo having whatever I have and being feverish on and off yesterday, the morning craziness, meeting the bus, and hiking back up the hill I was ready for coffee and a few minutes on the couch perusing the Internet.  And before everyone starts in with the whole, "must be NICE not to have to WORK!" routine that stay at home parents often hear, I will add that I clearly remember what went on during the first 30-60 minutes at my old desk job and I know what lots of other people with desk jobs do and drinking coffee, Internet catching up and visiting with coworkers is exactly what is happening at offices all over America between the hours of 8 and 9 a.m.  I found myself checking Zulily, the flash sale site, because after a long period where everything I price checked on Amazon was actually cheaper on Amazon I have found a few truly good deals lately.  One of the features of the day was a kid's costume store which made me think of Halloween and Tessa's Elsa costume she has been committed to for months.

Ugh, I really am not a fan of store bought costumes.  They are generally overpriced and complete junk with practically glued on Velcro closures and flimsy mesh fabric everywhere that rips so easily. I can't shake the idea that I should make her a costume.  Never mind that with the fabric, extra materials, pattern and time required buying store bought is almost always cheaper anyway.  I just know she will use it a lot for playing beyond Halloween and I want it to last.  I decided to go where I haven't gone in years-the virtual version of the big table piled with pattern catalogues in the fabric store.  You can now look at them all on the Internet, although it's not quite the same.  After growing up with a sewing mom who made costumes and dresses and lots of other things, I knew the names to find:  McCall's, Butterick, and Simplicity.  Forget the more sophisticated brands like Vogue and Burda-I need easy and fast.  First up:  the obvious choice-Simplicity.  The name says it all.  Alas, they didn't have what I wanted and the patterns were listed at $11.99.  WUT?  Of course, at the store they are always on sale but still...that's almost half of a very low quality and junky store costume without even buying fabric or spending hours cutting and pinning.   So, on to Butterick.  I feel like these must have been my mom's patterns of choice because I think she probably has this exact same pattern in a different adaptation.

Ah, the onesie pajama with animal adaptations.  I just checked my scanned photos, certain I had a picture of my sister and I in our pink kitten and spotted Dalmatian suits that were just like these but it seems I scanned every costume but those.  Oh well.  No one needs to see that anyway.  Butterick had plenty of selection but not what I was looking for.  On to McCall's.  

First I saw this: 

Even the wholesome and traditional pattern companies are catering to this lingerie as a costume nonsense?  The pattern even includes the thigh highs?  OK...

Finally!  And these patterns are only 2.99.  

The Anna dress has way too much applique on slippery material for my abilities but maybe I could pull off the small Elsa version?

Oh...lined...that word in relation to sewing always intimidates me...zipper?  Oh crap.  My lack of being able to learn how to put in a zipper is legendary and that is one duty that was taken away from me at the NDSU theater costume shop where I worked in college.  I got good at sleeves, gathering, and all kinds of finishing stitches but that eludes me.  Velcro?  Maybe not such a bad idea? I also freaked out about the stand up collar but upon further examination it looks like that is for Anna's cape and I'm not going there.  Tessa has mentioned that I could be Anna.  At 7 months pregnant I would not give sweet, innocent Anna such an image.  

I was surprised that I couldn't really find much else for patterns for Frozen costumes since Elsa has been one of the top girl costumes every year since the movie came out.  After a general Google search of course Amazon had the Simplicity pattern I was hoping for all along.  It's not prime eligible though...ughhh!  

I suppose I could actually...gasp...go to a fabric store or the sewing section of Wal-Mart (ugh...I try to avoid it since I have learned that the employees who they place there generally have no knowledge about even basic sewing or fabric terminology) and see what is there in person or get really creative and adapt a very basic girls dress or nightgown by changing the colors to sparkly blue fabrics.  Or I could just buy one for $30 and be done with it. I love a challenge but let's be realistic here...at least we still have six weeks until Halloween!  

Ben is still non-committal about a costume.  Some days he wants to be a solider and some days he says he wants to be one of the Wild Kratts, who are two brothers on his favorite PBS nature show about animals that he watches after school.  They wear khaki shorts and hiking boots.  They are great characters but not exactly costume worthy, in my opinion.  Milo will be Spider Man or a brown bear, which are the 2T costumes we already own.  

Fall Flavors

Well, Labor Day has passed.  This means it would be time to shift to a fall oriented wardrobe but my wardrobe doesn't fit so nothing to worry about there.  I am looking forward to wearing fall and winter clothes and shoes only because I have some acceptable maternity options for those seasons and I just want to cover it all up.  But, alas, the temps are in the 80's as far as the forecast reaches (fifteen days on my Weather Channel app).  There is always a different feeling in the air when September comes anyway, regardless of the temperature.  That is why, while shopping with only Milo this morning (freeeedooommm!) I found myself tossing various limited edition fall flavored items in the cart. 

Everyone makes a big deal over pumpkin spice lattes from Starbucks, which I actually don't know much about even though holding a cup of Starbucks coffee is an established part of the mom running around Target in gym clothes stereotype.  Spending $4-$10 or more a day on beverages just isn't my chosen way to indulge myself.  A $7.00 24 pack of Diet Dr. Pepper for the month and a huge box containing hundreds of Keurig pods from Amazon is more my caffeine consumption style. This morning, I first saw the pumpkin spice non-dairy creamer so in the cart it went.  Then I saw the pumpkin pie flavored English muffins, which I know from experience are good. 

Then, along I went to the seasonal displays thinking maybe I could find some deeply discounted art supplies or backpacks (I know Ben won't want Paw Patrol forever!) in the back to school section.  As an experienced shopper, I should have known it would be already taken down since school started here two weeks ago and there are no bordering states nearby with an after Labor Day start.  It was, in fact, in the process of being replaced by the Halloween display (and you know the first boxes of Christmas lights will be shoved in the corner too!)  Hardly anything was set up yet but there were some aisle ends with candy and I immediately noticed M&M's.  I remembered last year I had tried some pumpkin spice M&M's and I then remembered they weren't very good and I shouldn't buy them. BUT...what was that dark colored package?

They did NOT!  Oh, yes, they did.  Oreo M&M's.  Where have these been all my life?  Hopefully they become a regular product.  My true seasonal favorite flavor of M&M's, the candy cane ones that come out at Christmas, really are only around at Christmas although I don't know why because mint is always good with chocolate.  But Oreos are not exclusively associated with Halloween or any other holiday.  I will do my part of buying a lot of these so the company knows there is a demand. 

As I write this, it is 80 degrees outside, I already have sickened myself eating half a bag of Cookies n' Screeeem M&M's and I have a cup of coffee with some pumpkin creamer mixed in sitting next to me.  Summer does officially last until the 22nd, after all.  It's almost time to go out and meet the bus, which might be delayed because Trump is in town to give a speech about tax reform at an oil refinery.  It's invite only and I didn't get one.  Oh, darn. 

Our Labor Day weekend was fine.  We went to the first Bison game which was a huge blowout with a final score of 72-7.  A snooze-fest if there ever has been one.  We set up the bouncy house pool on Sunday and Milo amused himself by throwing pumpkins in it repeatedly. 

Kind of a strange sight...swimming with pumpkins. 

Having Milo at a game was challenging.  He is not at an age where he will sit still or pay attention to anything.  At least people started walking out after the first quarter when the score was 30-0 already so there were plenty of extra chairs around.  He was pretty good at tailgating. 

In this picture he was smiling at me and just as I was ready to take the photo a dog walked by so that is what he is excited about. 

Tessa's Turn

The day she has been waiting for has finally arrived!  Tessa has been talking about school since Ben started two years ago right before her 2nd birthday when she walked into the room and started pointing out shapes on the walls.  Although she still clings to her often whiny and self centered three year old persona she is definitely ready for preschool!

I was mildly concerned about what kind of clothing she would want to wear for the first day.  I know it's not a REALLY big deal but of course I wanted some cute pictures so I had something in mind.  She had something completely different in mind but I convinced her by saying this skirt made it easier to see her new shoes.  It's hard to see but she has a little braid in her hair (like Elsa-hey I tried!)

She's been heading up the stairs to this classroom for the last two years to pick up Ben so she just marched right in there with no hesitation. 

She grabbed that blue bracelet at the last minute. It's an old cheapy of mine.  When I picked her up it was off and stowed in her backpack and her barrette was nowhere to be found and of course the braid was long gone.  Who knows what goes on during a session of preschool.

It's hard to believe Milo is older (by only a month but still) than Tessa was when Ben started preschool.  Let's just say he's not identifying diamonds and triangles he sees around the school but he knows what he likes and that is rocks. And there is the most beautiful rock display outside the preschool door.  He can barely stand it.  He's enjoying his first morning home with just the two of us in who knows how long.  He even brought me the remote and demanded "Blaze!" which is a favorite animated monster truck of little toddler boys everywhere. 

I say it's our first morning home...we did have time alone on Wednesday when class started but when I signed Tessa up there was only space in the afternoon class and at the last minute a morning spot opened up which is when most three year olds are at their best so I switched her.  Now she is class with a friend she knows as a younger sibling of Ben's good friend from preschool. 

Ben has been doing pretty good.  He started hitting a wall as the week passed.  I think it is sinking in that Kindergarten is every day and he has said he wants to stay home.  Of course, when he gets home he's always happy and he has been mentioning things he likes. For example, his job of the week is the agenda taker, which, in his words, means, "he turns the wheel to say what activity we are on and then if someone is sad because they want to go home they know what we are doing".  So I guess he's not the only one making the adjustment.  I am kind of surprised since he went to full day preschool last year (although it was every other day not daily) and he never once hesitated to go and he seemed disappointed on mornings when he didn't have to go. 

I am enjoying the trip down elementary school memory lane personally.  When he says he wants to stay home I always talk about how I loved school so much and I couldn't wait to go. Yesterday they had their first library day which was always awesome in my opinion.  I loved writing my name on those little cards in the pocked inside the cover and having the librarian stamp them.  And I've said it before but if anyone presented me with an authentic card catalogue cabinet I would not hesitate to make room for it in my house even though the little drawers would serve little other purpose except for cards.  This morning he was talking about how they have a calendar and are going to have a party on the 100th day of school which is a recent thing which I don't remember anyone celebrating when I was a kid.  But how would I know?  No one was posting about it all over social media so maybe other schools did celebrate it!

The bus has been working out fine. Now that Tessa has a morning session I will be driving him on those mornings.  This morning was the first drop off and we were earlier than the bus would have been so he didn't really know what to do with himself on the playground until the bell rang but I did the creepy mom thing and watched to make sure he went and started playing before I left.  I kind of love the bus.  It is fabulous not to have to load up the other kids twice a day.  At least for now-I can see it being kind of annoying to stand out there waiting for it when the weather turns cold. 

So the first full week of school has been chaotic but I guess it's been a success.  It will be nice to have a long weekend though.