Troop 85 returning home

Click here to view this video

This is a video that a friend of mine shot of the boys returning from Camp Saturday. You have to have your volume on & listen to our horn on the bus we have. So funny to hear them coming & going.

I tried to do a video but my little camera that should have worked did not work. Caroline & I are alot alike. We go to the same church, we have great husbands, our oldest boys are in baseball, we do the Scout thing with the same troop, we are trying to raise two boys the best we can & we love our camera's. Ton's of other things in common. Her family is a really sweet Christian family. Go take a look at her blog of pictures. She does a great job. If I don't get the shot Caroline or another mom Tami M. got it. (The things in common can also describe Tami). We do love us some picture taking. Caroline takes her's a step farther than I do.....She Scrapbooks. She also sells the products. Be sure & take a look at her stuff.

Those who know me can get a peek at me in the video & hear my voice. That we could have done without. The "Let's go find brother" is not my brother. She is talking to her little boy.

Mohawk or Not

I am gonna be holding my breath when I go to pick Chris up tomorrow.
Will he have the Mohawk or not?

That is how my last post left off.

Well Chris has been picked up after arriving back to the church from his Boy Scout Camp Out.

(AFTER)

So far he has no regrets.

As long as my 11 year old did not come back with piercings or tattoos the hair thing does not bother me as much.

This is a picture of some of his friends in the group that also got the famous haircut.

By the way...next Saturday my sister is getting married so guess who will be sporting his Mohawk for the family pics?

Chris at Boy Scout Camp

(Chris is 2nd from left)

Chris has been at Boy Scout camp all this week. We had family night Wednesday. All the boys will be back tomorrow & I imagine will be really tired.

I snapped this picture of him while there Wednesday.

Boy Scout Survival Camp was a couple of weekends back & Summer Camp for both boys is coming up. I do believe they will be camped to death soon. I am so thankful we can give them the opportunities we didn't get growing up. Chris seems to have fun spending time with his friends during the summer. Hopefully he will look back & have fond memories of his time at camp.

I got a phone call today asking if it was ok to give him a mohawk haircut. At first I am sure you have shock but when you know the story it is not all bad. The camp has a spirit award they give. Cub Scout's have a Spirit Stick & the Boy Scout's have the Turtle Totem. Each Troop trys to get the award. You get to carry it around until your time to pass it on. Wednesday when I got there our troop had the totem. You have to personalize it with something. One of our Asst. Scoutmaster's told our troop that if they got the Totem for spirit he would shave his head & face & add the hair to the totem. HE DID IT. We have some really great leaders. Here he is in a photo (before of course). Well with our temps reaching near 100 already outside I am sure he welcomed the coolness.

I am gonna be holding my breath when I go to pick Chris up tomorrow.

Will he have the mohawk or not?

Chris leaving for Camp

It seems all we have been doing is packing for camp. Chris left for Camp Yocona Boy Scout camp after church today. Ususally big thing with all the boys that go. Here are just 6 of our newest Boy Scouts. (Chris last on right)

Outside the chapel waiting to go in as a group. We had Scout Sunday.

Lining up to hear last minute instructions.

Chris with his carry on. Heading to the vans.

The STUFF they can't live without. This was just the trailer
stuff. The truck was full also.

Really quite at home tonight with only one child.

Scouts this past Monday

This past Monday was a pack meeting for our Cub Scouts at church. My Tigers had been working hard to earn their Tiger Cub emblem/badge. If you know what it is you know what you have to do. If you don't... well being a new scout (Tiger rank) you have to start out learning the Scout Motto, the Scout Salute & Scout Sign. We also did our Cub Scout promise in front of everyone. It may seem so simple to the older scouts but this is a great accomplishment for 1st graders. My Tigers are so smart. Once they were shown the first time they had no problems. Just like little soldiers. We actually earned it a few weeks ago but really wanted to have the ceremony at the pack meet. It is a parent thing. Photo opportunity. Show off what we know to the older boys. Now that we have the badge we can start earning beads to attach to it. Working out of the book earns you those. Next pack meeting in January we will have several boys earning several beads. 8 of my 12 are in the ceremony. 4 couldn't make it that night.

My oldest son is already a Webelo II rank & it seems like it was forever ago he was a Tiger. He will cross over to an official Boy Scout at the end of the school year. It slips by quick. I have a really great group of boys. I have included some pics of my Tigers. No names for privacy reason's, except my sons though.

Chris (Webelo II (my son) receiving a pin for his uniform from his Scout leader.

Me showing the Tiger Emblem of what we had been working on.

My Tigers growling!!!!

My son Matthew is the 3rd scout from the left.

Cub Scout salute

Cub Scout sign

Something comes to mind. While selling Scout popcorn at Sam's one day some of our Tigers asked someone if they would like to buy some..... his answer was "He didn't recognize the Boy Scouts of America!"

What the...........?

What part could he not agree with.....

The 10 purposes of Cub Scouting are:
Character Development
Spiritual Growth
Good Citizenship
Sportsmanship and Fitness
Family Understanding
Respectful Relationships
Personal Achievement
Friendly Service
Fun and Adventure
Preparation for Boy Scouts

Cub Scouting's 12 Core Values
Citizenship
Compassion
Cooperation
Courage
Faith
Health and fitness
Honesty
Perseverance
Positive attitude
Resourcefulness
Respect
Responsibility

The Cub Scouting colors are blue and gold.

They have special meaning, which will help boys see beyond the fun of Cub Scouting to its ultimate goals.
The blue stands for truth and spirituality, steadfast loyalty, and the sky above.
The gold stands for warm sunlight, good cheer, and happiness.

Sorry I will get off my band wagon now. Just could never understand narrow minded people. Did it phase me? No. I am still the Tiger leader for now. I wished he had not said something like that but he did, it is over & life goes on. The boys never gave it a second thought.

Shoeboxes & Scouts & Dinner

Monday started off the Collection Center in Tupelo for Operation Christmas Child. We all have such a great time together talking, laughing & packing boxes. The table & floor is what 2 churches brought in. The boxes are starting to come in. Today was to be a slow day so a couple of us took it as an off day. I did go by to drop off some things (drinks & snacks for the rest of the week) & found out we are running low on cartons. Pat (regional coordinator) started calling around & a box company was gracious enough to donate some cartons to us to pack shoeboxes in. That will be a lifesaver. I ran & picked those up & headed to Wally World after to finish getting things for my dinner for the China guest. While out 3 people mentioned to me they seem us/me on the news. No--- no one was arrested, shot or drug deal gone bad stuff. It was OCChild getting the attention it deserves. I didn't get to watch the news so I didn't get to see it.

Monday night (last night) the Boy Scouts at church hosted the Cub Scouts at church to come outside & join them in activities. We had a nice camp fire but it was so cold outside. I am sitting here now clearing my throat because of it being sore. It was so cold. Did I mention that it was really cold? Jeff & Chris left earlier to go to a store & get some hunting stuff. Here is what Chris got. Minus the scout pants he still has on from earlier.

Well I am about to go to bed so I will finish it with a picture of hubby & myself with our dinner guest on their way to the door. We had such a great time. We talked about kids, husbands, wives, family, jobs, & cultures. Poor Jennifer sat & listened & did not understand a thing. I did have the guys translate some things but I believe they got sick of that after a bit. We had so much fun. Of all places to make a picture was a worst room in the house. The boys playroom.

Jeff, Ken, Toby, Jennifer, myself

Weekend is here

I had a busy week but tomorrow & Sunday will be really nice.
This morning I was thinking that I would never get everything done. Even if I had 5 more hours in the day I would still feel the same.
Before I took the boys to school a lady I do alot of projects with at church called & asked if I had done something I was suppose to 2 weeks ago. Remember my previous post: "I need to write these things down". Well that was one of those moments. I had to pick up some donated cookie dough for a Courthouse Ministry we do through our church. I got home to shower & dress. I had to e-mail my scout parents. We are working on several things from our scout book so I had to get them prepared what to bring for the meeting Monday. check! done!

Our church has a Christmas Traditions Brunch tomorrow. I had signed up to do a table. In other words to decorate it. I am what you could call a procrastinator here lately. I had not gotten my stuff out of the attic. My silk ponsettia looked ragged so I ran to Hobby Lobby to get a different one. Picked up some shiney fabric, new gold rope for the centerpiece wreath & grabbed a few teacher ornament gifts. Ran short on that time thing. Cut my trip short.

Here is a picture of what the table starts as.

A clean slate.

Then you have to come up with something fabulous. I am not a decorator so fabulous is not in my vocabulary. I did pretty good. You have to decorate with something you do in your home at Christmas. I love Nativity scenes so that is what I used. The church provides the china so that will be added tomorrow. Got my table done.

Check! Done!

After the table was done I had to be home for the school bus to run & get my last born off it. Chris gets off the bus next so I had to have his camping bag packed & have hime at the church by 4:30. Thank goodness it was only an overnight trip or I would not have gotten his bag packed. The Webelo 2's have a big day tomorrow so Chris was pretty excited to do all that guy stuff. The scout trailer & leaders pulled out of the parking lot on time & with all scouts accounted for. Matthew & I have been taking it easy tonight. Matthew has been playing with a hunk of play dough & is quite content. Since the time has changed it gets dark early so when my door bell rang tonight it sort of startled me. Jeff is, as I am typing this, driving from the airport in Memphis home. He had been gone on a business trip this week. Well Mormon's were at the door. I had seen them earlier riding their bikes up on Main Street. They really get around. Really good Christian guys but they can't convert a die hard Southern Baptist woman. Sorry! Check! Done!

Practiced for the Operation Christmas Child program at church Wednesday. Our dedication is Sunday night. Both Chris & Matthew will be singing in their choir groups. Both hate to sing. I guess I keep hoping they will just have a light bulb come on inside & fall in love with it. I think I am pushing it. Pray for everything to go great. I have butterflies in my belly. Before the kids come in to sing I will be introduced as the person who lead this years OCC collection. In front of the whole church plus some. I am always the one behind the scenes not right out in front in full view. That seems to make you a target.

Well my husband is expected in a few minutes so I better clear him a path to get through the house. After the brunch tomorrow we are going to be getting some stuff done to the house again. We keep wanting to get it sold but if it is not on the market it isn't going anywhere. Be sure & read my other blog & see what I did yesterday at the land.

The week so far

My week started out pretty good. The current thing at the moment is Facebook. So many of my friends & family now have this. It was kids & students but now mainly adults are there now. I used to hate things like this but you can keep your profile private & only friends you add can only view your info. I have a total of 85 friends. (87 now while tying this.) It is a great way to keep up with each other day to day. You add little lines back & forth to one another & can even add pictures to share with your contacts. All totally free. Come take a look. You can find my facebook link to the left side.

Well my week....Monday was my fun day. I would like to tell you what we talked about but then I would have to kill you. Just kidding. Working on different things around I make alot of friends. We have called ourselves the exclusive "Ka" club. (sound out the k) Me (Katrina), Connie H, Kathy O., Kelli K. & Connie's daughter meet for lunch Monday in an undisclosed location. Just kidding. A new place that opened here. Old Venice Pizza on McCullough. It was my first time there since it opened. It was really good. We are a group of ladies that get together & laugh & talk & have fun. Connie is a Regional Rep for LeBonheur & Kelli is a Radio Talk Show hostess for a radio station here in Tupelo for a morning radio talk show. They are both so funny. So fun to be around. We have other members of our group but they couldn't make it Monday. Maybe I will tell you about them next time.
After lunch Monday I had to get home. Tiger scouts was that night & I had not even gotten the plan together for them. I try to do at least 1 or 2 things from our scout book each meeting. I had gotten a book from the scout office of all about the US flag named "Your Flag - Everything You Want to Know About the Flag of the United States of America." So I thought I would go over that with them. It worked out great. We do/practice the Pledge of Allegiance each time we meet. This time I threw something else in. We went over what is disrespectful to the flag & flag code violations. Anywhere from laying it on the ground to tearing it in pieces & wearing it. 1st graders really understand this stuff & they actually listened. Each week I hope to add to it.

Wow, What a day

What is better than having a root canal done? I could & would personally say......anything. My day started out having one done this morning. I have never had to have one. It was not as bad as I first thought. It was about like a tooth filled....then the pain hit & boy.....it hurt like the dickens. I had to make a run to Wally World after to pick up a few things then headed home to unload my groceries & get some paper work to go make copies at the church. We had Cub Scouts at church tonight. I had not even gotten my lesson together. I can't believe it but I was actually ready by 6:30 for the meeting. Now back at home waiting on my neighbor to come over & tell me goodbye. She & her family have packed up lock, stock & barrel. They are now officially Washington state residents. They will be missed by a ton of people.
Well just another day & it starts all over again tomorrow.

Scout Day at Huntsville Space & Rocket

Chris (Webelo 2 rank), Me, & Matthew (Tiger rank)

Pack 85 Tupelo, MS

Alot of our pack went to the Space & Rocket Center this past Saturday. The church vans transported alot of the group & several took their own cars. They left that morning & came back later that afternoon. I took my own vehicle & stayed the weekend back home. I am SOOO tired. I stay busy the whole time I am there. Since Jeff did not get to go my mom & sister went & spent Saturday with us at the Space & Rocket Center.

Later the boys & I ran by & spent some time with Jeff's dad (my in-laws). My baby sister called when I was about to leave from there & wanted to know if I wanted to run to Wally World with her. We went & did the Southern thing of shopping & running into people & talking & catching up. We left there & drove around & waited on my niece to get off work at the pizza place. We made her & her friends take us cruising around "The Square". We lead very pathetic lives to hang out with 19 year olds. We just had to see if it had changed any since we were that age. It has not just to let you know. By the way the only reason they let us go was because I let her drive my vehicle & it was my gas that made the many trips around "The Square" & town. The reason we finally went home.....the old people in the back seat was about to fall asleep (my sister & I). Boy were we tired & it was not even midnight.

Pastor appreciation was the next day at my sister's church & they were honoring their pastor that performed my wedding years & many years ago.

In my hometown they have a Trade Day the "First Sunday" & "First Monday" of each month around "The Square". Not much was going on but it was still fun walking around & remembering a place I walked for as long as I remember. If you go & don't run into someone you know you must not be looking. I seen my husbands neice & her little family I rarely get a chance to see while back home. We tired of walking & went after lunch. Then back to my sisters to pack up & leave town finally around 5:00. Engine light came on so that threw my time off a bit. (My neice did not tighten the gas cap after she put gas in for me)

Got back here to MS finally around 9:00pm.

Now back to real life back here & got to get busy with Operation Christmas Child at church.

Off to cook dinner now.

More later.

Week starting out busy

Monday started really great. All the kindergarten classes at my youngest son's school went on a field trip. Since my week was starting not really busy I went with them. It was so much FUN. My husband had asked me earlier where we were going & I had no idea. I knew the name of the place but not where it was. I got to school & asked them & was told it was about 45 minutes from the school. Kids went by bus & parents followed in cars. Alot of parents followed. It turned out being a beautiful day here. A bit of chill in the air. I had a long sleeve on & was fine. If you live anywhere around here & have not heard of this place make a point to go. They have tons of things to do.

Circle Y Equestrian Center I was not disappointed in the least. We will be going back in the summer with the boys. The price you can not beat. When some of the parents heard we could buy from the snack bar while there we ditched our PB & J sandwiches & got really good BBQ sandwiches. The whole park was just open to us. The kids had a great time & so did the parents. Can't wait for the fall to be here because they also have a pumpkin patch.

I am going to be in some serious trouble for this one. If you read my post a few days ago about the mommie cat that had the four kittens & she accepted another one from Saturday, well....someone brought in 4 more & she took those also. She has a grand total of 9 kittens. Well the picture below is made from my house. I would go & visit her each time I was at the shelter & talk to her. She looked so sad in her cage. She is such a loving cat & loves to be petted. She has been a great mother. I say I will be in trouble because my hubby had already told me I better not be bringing any of them home because I feel sorry for them. After the field trip my youngest son & I went by the shelter & got her & brought her home with us to foster her. (Pets are available to foster at about all shelters while they are waiting on homes) She has been nursed on so much that they are about to suck the life from her. I went Tuesday to PetSmart & got some powder kitten formula to mix up. We have bottle feeding them some. They are so funny to watch. The mom even loves the formula. It is made for nursing cats also. I got her some good food to help her along in her condition. I also attached a picture of the mom & kittens & one of the kittens taking from a bottle. A couple of them are having a hard time figuring it out but they are getting a bit in them. The boys love to feed them. What a great experience for them to remember how they helped in the life of a tiny helpless creature. I just hope all this is not in vain. After they are weaned & a few weeks older they will go back to the shelter for adoption. Tell everyone you can if they are about to adopt to try a shelter first. My mother is about sick of me telling her to spay & neuter. I have to say though that she does it with all her animals. She & my step-father have just adopted 2 solid white kittens & having to feed them with a bottle. Even my sister is taking care of kittens right now. She had got a cat & it turned out being pregnant. I guess we will be known as the Crazy Cat Family.

We had to tear ourselves away from the cats for Monday night & go to a scout meeting. With camping coming up the Webelos 1 had to have a swim practice (inside pool) to get ready for a swim test. They will get to use canoes this year. They are looking forward to it.

My little fish (Chris) in the water.

AKA--Crazy Cat Family