Cub Scout "Blue & Gold" Dinner

The theme for this year's "Blue & Gold" Dinner for Cub Scouts was "Beautiful America." (I've also heard that the theme is "The ABC's of America," but whatever.) Each boy was to decorate a cake or cupcakes to go along with the theme. We contemplated doing the Washington Monument, the White House, a dollar bill, or a quarter. But, with the requirement that each boy had to decorate it entirely by himself, we kept searching for another idea.

Trevor finally chose to do the moon. Now, I know that's not officially part of America, but we decided that American history might fit into the theme somehow. And since we just watched "Apollo 13" last weekend, Trevor decided that recreate the Apollo 11 moon landing:

The frosting is white buttercream with crushed Oreos stirred in. The "craters" are Necco wafers.

I think he did a great job with it! I didn't get a picture of it, but Trevor's friend Max let him borrow his lunar lander, which we placed next to the cake. It looked even more authentic!

Trevor also earned his Bear badge, along with 3 arrow points. He worked really hard on his Scouting the past few months, and he's ready to move on to Webelos!

I'm so proud of him! (And my fingers still show the scars of sewing on that Bear badge the next day!)

New Snow

We got a bunch of new snow this week, and the boys have had a blast playing in it. In Minnesota, the snow at the end of the winter (it is nearly the end, right?!) is always better. Plus, it's no longer -15 degrees, so you can actually go outside.

In this picture, Ethan is attempting to use a snow brick maker to build himself a wall.

In this picture Kevin is helping me bury something...

It's under that huge pile of snow....

Wait...what IS that?!

Oh yes, it's Trevor. You know, it's kind of like being buried in sand at the beach, only a little chillier.

This is Trevor's unfinished igloo. He's still trying to figure out how he is going to put a roof on it.

Don't you just want to move to Minnesota in February?!

Homemade Valentines

If you know me well, you will know that I am NOT a crafty person. Yet, for some reason, I get the biggest kick out of clever, homemade valentines. So, for the last 3 or 4 years, I have helped the boys make valentines for their classes. I even subscribe to Family Fun because they have the greatest ideas each year!

For Trevor's class, we decided to make iPod valentines (an idea from Family Fun).
It's actually a box of those conversation hearts wrapped in red paper with the playlist and controls glued onto the front. Check out the playlist:

Such a great idea! The earbuds are the smaller peanut butter cups wrapped in tin foil.

Ethan chose the paper airplane valentine...you print out the airplane and instructions off of the Family Fun website.

He signed each one and we rolled them up, then tied it along with some Smarties. For Ethan's teacher, we traced his hand on pink cardstock and stuck them to a small tube of hand lotion. He wrote, "Mrs. Lewis, you deserve a hand. Love, Ethan."

They were the hit of the class Valentine's Parties.

And I'm all crafted-out.