Blue and Gold

The boys had their annual Blue and Gold Banquet this past week.  I wish I could say I liked Scouts but honestly, I don't.  It just seems like an incredible amount of busy work.  I do see the benefit of learning new things and making goals and working towards them, however.  Isaac moves up to Webelos in August and Will moves on to 11 year old Scouts this month.  I've been working hard to get Will finished by his birthday so Isaac and I haven't worked as much the last couple of months but now I have to shift my focus and help him get ready to get his Bear.  He has a bunch of electives done and got a bunch of pins and belt loops at the Blue and Gold banquet but he still has some Bear requirements to finish.  Thankfully, homeschool allows us to work on some of those projects during our school day so that helps.  

Will got his Webelos and then told me about a month or two ago that he also wanted to work towards his Arrow of Light.  I honestly don't care if he gets it or not but I was proud of him for wanting to work towards it.  He did a lot of work!  We had done some elective here and there but didn't have a lot fully completed so we had to hurry and finish those up.  To get your Webelos you have to do the Webelos requirement plus two elective and to get your Arrow of Light you have to do three more electives.  He ended up having eight completed electives and a handful of half electives completed.  I was really proud of his hard work.  

Isaac doesn't really care a lot about Scouts.  I really appreciate that he never complains about having to do anything and he knows that we expect him to participate but if you ask him if he likes Scouts he would probably say, "No."  I don't think he dislikes it necessarily but it isn't something he really cares about doing.  I thought it was funny to see him getting his award and see all the other kids up with their shirts buttoned and neckerchief tied and I had to make him take his jacket off and then told him to button his shirt but he still didn't do it and there he was with his shirt undone.  He has earned a ton of belt loops and I asked him if he wants a belt and he said, "I really don't care so don't waste your money."  He didn't say it in a rude way, just an honest, "It's doesn't matter to me."  I wonder if when he gets to be a teenager and continues on in the program if he will hate it and fight me about doing it or if he will just keep doing what he should but not really care.  I hope by then the church will have chosen to be done with the scouting program but if not, we will just do it anyway.  

I was really thankful that the scout leaders asked us if we would make a plaque for Will and the other boy that earned the Arrow of Light.  We had a couple of weeks but Mike was incredibly busy with school and didn't get it cut out until Monday.  I hurried and painted Will's on Tuesday and later that night got a text that the other boy was also getting his the following day.  I had a full day of activities on Wed and getting the second plaque done was painful for me.  I was literally painting until 30 minutes before we had to leave for the banquet.  It was dry by the time they handed it out but it took me hours to get them done.  Mike and I had have decided that if we are going to make these we will have to figure out a better way to paint the yellow so it doesn't take so long.  That said, I was really grateful to be able to take a part in Will's award.  

Mike and some of the other dads were asked to play a game.  He had to fish out some toy from a bowl of whipped cream.  If you know him then you know this was disgusting to him.  He was a good sport and even had a smile on his face afterwards.