Cub Scout Pack Meeting

On Wed., Jan 6th we had a great Pack Meeting for Cub Scouts. We planned a game night. This year we went all out because technically it was our last Pack Meeting for the Macdonald Family. I have been released as the Cub Committee Chair and Joe will be released soon as the Cubmaster. So we went crazy for games this year. We created and built a 3-hole mini golf, ring toss, cub hole toss, football/hulahoop throw, and 2 beanbag tosses. Needless to say it was a lot of work, but totally worth it. I only have pictures of the mini golf and ring toss as we were building them. Of course, I forgot my camera that night. Oh well. Thanks to the Colburn's for coming early to help us set up and screw everything together. It made for a great Pack Meeting and all around fun night.This hole has a ramp in the middle of it. We recycled the wheelchair ramp we made for our crossover bridge.
Here is start to finish of the ramp course.
This one doesn't look too difficult but don't let if fool you. The board with the black grid on it is bowed/warped. We put the hole right in the middle and then added barriers down the ramps.

This is before we added the barriers.

The 3rd course had some narrow rows. After we added barriers it was quite the course.

These are our ring toss. I forgot to get a picture of the rings we made out of rope.

In all a pretty cool Pack Meeting.

Charlotte-isms

So I decided I need to record some of my favorite Charlotte sayings. Of course these sayings only come up during our workouts. Gotta love'em!

Here's todays...and those of you who have been to her classes or trained with her hear this often, therefore it is one of my favorites...

"If your thighs are burnin', they are thanking you!!"

Thank you Charlotte!!!

Good news

The good news is the boys are starting to feel better. Aaron is running around teasing everyone like he always does. Jacob is trying to milk it as much as possible, lying around acting tired. And Tyler is beginning to complain about Aaron, although he refuses to eat much. I think it is all a good sign. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

1 little, 2 little, 3 little sick boys

When it rains it pours at the Macdonald house.

Why is it that if your child is going to be sick to their stomach, they have to do it between 1 & 4am?

It all started with Jacob sometime around 1am. The good news...he made it to the bathroom and there was no mess to clean up. The bad news...after he woke me up, I woke Joe up but I never got out of bed and don't recall any conversations about this episode.

Next it was Aaron's turn. There is nothing like waking at 3am to the sound of a child crying, coughing and losing their lunch. And the best part, he lost his lunch right out side my bedroom door. What a mess to clean up at 3am. Joe and I spent the next hour getting up every 15 mins for a different child. Aaron then Jacob...Jacob then Aaron. And of course it all woke Tyler up and he decided he needed to get in on the good times.

Needless to say, it was a long night and is working out to a grouchy morning. Jared seems to be the only one to have escaped the horrid bug...knock on wood.... And I have 3 boys whom I am refusing to feed breakfast due to lack of a replay of last night. Poor Joe had to go back to work this morning. I'm sure he is exhausted as well.

We are hoping this is the same bug that has been going around and passes within 24 hours. Wish us luck!

A 4 year old's sense of humor

Tonight, while we were enjoying our typical Sunday night Mom doesn't want to cook dinner of cereal and eggo waffles, Aaron was enjoying a round of teasing. I'd have to say this was not typical 4 year old teasing. He was on his game tonight. He loves to call his older brothers and Dad "Baby". This gets quite a rise out of Tyler & Jacob. So Jared, Aaron, Tyler, Joe and I were sitting at the dinner table when Aaron decided it was time to tease.

Here's how the conversation went...

Aaron: "Hey Jared, Tyler is a baby."
Tyler: "Aaron, stop calling me a baby!"
Aaron: "I'm not talking to you Tyler. I'm talking to Jared. Hey Jared, Tyler is a baby."
Tyler: "Dad, can I thump Aaron for calling me a baby?"
Aaron: "Tyler I wasn't talking to you so you can't thump me."

This went on for quite a while. It didn't help that Joe and I were quietly laughing behind the newspaper. Aaron has an ability to find the loopholes. I don't know how he figured it out, but he did a pretty good job of arguing his point to Tyler that he was not talking to him. He was merely having a conversation with Jared. The best part was that everytime Aaron said baby, Jared said baby. I think Tyler's head was going to explode.

The Day of Rest...Yeah Right!?!

Today started as any typical Sunday goes. Everyone got up. Got breakfast and started getting ready for church. We even got out the door on time so we could go set up Primary before Sacrament Meeting. Oh how short lived that plan was today.

As I was going to put my bags down in the Chapel to save our rows, Joe had the boys in the Primary room helping set up chairs. Jared took it upon himself to run full speed into the big heavy wooden door. Bang! and we have instant goose egg in the middle of his forehead. So we packed everyone back into the car and headed for the nearest Urgent Care to make sure he didn't have a concussion.

The first Urgent care wasn't open (Phx Children's Urgent Care on Higley doesn't open until 12 on Sundays, in case you are ever in the need). So we headed across the freeway and past the Gateway Hospital to another Urgent Care. 30 mins later we were headed back home. No concussion, just an amazing bump, swelling and bruising. Joe stayed home with him for the rest of Church just to be safe and I took the boys back for Primary. By the way, the red cut is from an earlier bump into the garage door. I think he is going to be the kid who hits his head on everything. Maybe we need to invest in a helmet?

This is what he looked like when we got home from the Urgent Care.

I don't know why he thinks he has to stick out his tongue for every picture lately.

He sure has some beautiful blue eyes...and a nice blue goose egg to go with it! This is what it looked like 2 hours later, after church.

And a side view to see the nice bump.

Mission Impossible

So tonight I was on a mission. Que the music... I was in search of an unwanted Christmas tree. I needed one for a project I am working on, not the whole tree just the trunk. And I figured the best and cheapest way to get a tree trunk was to wait until after Christmas and get one of the left over/unwanted Christmas trees, FREE. I even made my husband assist me in this quest.

See, we don't have a real Christmas tree. Not because we don't like them. Not because of the additional cost. But because Christmas trees set off Tyler's allergies. Therefore, we have a prelighted tree that doesn't cause anyone to get sick.

We started at the Home Depot, we were there already for some other things so I asked around about the old trees. Ahh, but we were too late. They had already recycled them. So on to the corner lot in front of Safeway. Darn if the gate wasn't locked. So I got the bright idea to go to the recycle center for our neighborhood...also know as the police substation. Bingo! Trees! No locks on the gate!! If only that police car wasn't there. But don't you worry, I just waited and pretended to read the information on the signs until he left. I found a perfect tree, in the back corner of course. After much pulling and pushing I was able to free the tree, and it was a big one.

So we put it in the back of the truck and brought it home...cut off the bottom 3 feet...trimmed all the branches from the trunk...loaded up the unused portions of tree...and took that all back to the recyle substation. Mission Complete!! You will have to wait until a future post to learn what I'm making. I can't tell you...it's a suprise!

Just know that my ever supportive husband kept singing, "Bad boys, Bad boys, whata gonna do...." He also kept telling Aaron and Jared in the back seat to say goodbye to mommy, cause "she's gonna get arrested for stealing a Christmas tree!" I'll have you know I returned most of that tree right back to where I got it from. No harm, No foul!

P.S. I think I too am allergic to Christmas trees. After climbing through the pile to get the one I wanted, my nose started running and I started sneezing and now my hands are red and itchy where I handled them! The things I will do for a Free tree trunk.