Blue & Gold

I wish I could be an Eagle Scout. I've already earned it once... and I'll earn it 2 more times when the younger boys get older,... so shouldn't I get to claim it?
Till then, I'm having a blast in cub scouts and I think I'm a pretty decent leader. My boys seem to genuinely love me and are willing to try most any crazy thing I suggest... at least once.

Wednesday night we had our Blue and Gold Banquet. This is a special pack meeting ("pack meeting" is the awards ceremony we hold every month to pass out awards they've earned over that month) that celebrates the anniversary of Cub Scouting and gives us a chance to really do it up big. It's not uncommon for lots of money to be shelled out for banquets like these, but we always manage to keep our costs down, and that's a point to take pride in all by itself!

Our boys had suggested we have a talent show. That caused me to think a bit, and I thought morphing that idea a little and turning it into a Variety Show would be a great theme for our banquet. So I suggested it to the rest of our cub leadership and the ball was set in motion. We had a variety of colorful decorations and a variety of pot luck dishes to eat from. We had all the families plan on doing an act of some kind (their choosing) and the leaders all planned to participate in silliness.

We also had PLANNED for a good friend and church member to be our MC for the night. He has a perfect voice for things like this and makes the best narrator you ever heard! He was going to do magic tricks in between our kids acts and we were SO looking forward to that. As luck would have it, he had a heart attack at church on Sunday, so he spent the banquet time in the hospital! (He's ok, no blockages and he's home now should any of you want to just call or facebook him and tell him you're thinking of him - yep, Jimmy.) So we're out an MC and nobody else to cover that. I get a phone call Tuesday afternoon and am told all the other back up plans have fallen through,.....so they want ME to be an MC!

I AM NOT EVEN FUNNY!! I was gasping and couldn't believe I got asked such a thing! What else can ya do though? Gotta fill in, so I did. After all, a scout is trustworthy, helpful, kind, loyal...all that stuff.

I googled silly one liners, and I actually pulled off about 3 of them! (Yeah I was bad as MC. Maybe they won't ever forget that and never ask me again!) We started the kids performing and we had a little guy write his own skit for his brother and sister to do with him. The next kid had a short skit/joke/stunt he did with his brother and his dad. They were all so cute and I was so proud. In between, we had a couple leaders work with me and do little run-ons....which is an act that is about 2 sentences long,...like one was 2 leaders walk on stage shaking tree branches and making the leaves fall on the floor. I shouted "hey ya'll get off stage!" and one of them yells back "we're just LEAVING". Silliness... it was fun. We get to the end and we have a little 8 year old do a comedy act and another (large) family be a circus and another family do a weather show from their own little tv set.

Then it was up to my family. I remember doing the hula with my mother and sisters in this very same room when I was a kid. I remember my mama sitting on my daddy's knee for one of these shows and she sang while daddy chewed gum (he wasn't the best ventriloquist either, but he made us laugh!) and I couldn't let my family heritage down.

I have a friend from childhood who is great to blend musical arrangements for me and he mixed up some songs and merged them into one song for me. I played it on my laptop and my family danced... in the dark.....Pictures.... and then the video at the end, but it only recorded well for the first part. The end didn't video quite right...crazy camera.

 

 

 
 

Sister Crazy

Mesa is the Sunbeam teacher at church. That means a tiny room full of 3 year olds. Looking through the little window in her door, I get a sneak peek into a world of little monkeys hyped up on speed. It's crazy and most people seeing that will get wide-eyed and run screaming to the safety of ANY other class. Because that's how this class is, Mesa has a co-teacher and they take turns teaching the lesson and both chase kids around to keep the chaos as minimal as possible.

/ Let me pause here to mention just how much I love my cub scouts who are older than age 3 and are typically a little easier to into a chair /

The girl who teaches with Mesa is pregnant, and she recently had a loss in her family that has gotten to her a lot. This has meant that for the last few months, Mesa has needed help in her class and getting substitutes to help her are like... well.... go reread that "monkeys hyped up on speed" description. Today was one of those days when Mesa needed some help and it was last minute, so finding someone was going to be difficult. I volunteered. I didnt have my own class to teach and I could easily stay with her through all of it.

I started out in singing/sharing time. Wow.... they make 3 year olds a lot stronger than I remember them being! I took it as a challenge. I couldn't let this miniature person outwit me! After all, I AM CREATIVE! So I grabbed up this one little guy (who is a SOLID chunk of a kid and quick as a whip!) and got him back to his chair. I thought quick and yanked out a piece of paper from my purse and every color of pen I had in there. Fortunately, I had just cleaned out my purse Saturday night so I knew I had a green highlighter, a red ink pen, a black ink pen, a blue ink pen and a pink gel pen. All those colors got me out of a tough spot! I got him talked into drawing with me, and then I got called out of the room. YIKES! Mesa was on her own for a bit.

I came back in and found little chunk man out of control again. So again, I talked him into drawing again, by telling him I would draw him a dragon. (What do dragons look like? Can;t believe he was convinced I could draw one!) I made him draw the fire from his mouth, so that got me a little time. Luckily it was soon time for class and I talked him into walking me to his class.

We got into the classroom and the kids sat down at a short table and Mesa got them to help her pass out cups and napkins. She handed me their raisins and animal crackers and I passed those out. I wonder if I gave them too much because they took FOREVER to eat them! While they sat, I talked and talked to them...just trying to keep them sitting. I sang them the crocodile song my mother used to sing to me when I was a kid,... and as soon as I finished they yelled AGAIN! So I sang it again and then again they all yelled AGAIN! I told him I could sing to them if they didn't tell me their names, so they all told me their names. I told them MY name too, and they tried to repeat it. Refer one more time to that monkeys on speed comment. They are 3.. that means they speak English noises, but not the English language. My name came out as Sister Crazy instead of Sister Bailey. That sent them all into peals of laughter, which worked for me. It kept them all at the table and kept them all paying attention to whatever Sister Crazy would say or do next. They all decided they were my friends, even the one little boy who Mesa says NEVER talks.

That was just enough time for Mesa to get her lesson presented to them. Of course, it led us to hear a story about the private part that got hit and broken by one of the moms. ... I know kids should be taught the correct names of body parts, but holy cow, can we include appropriate times to SAY THOSE WORDS in that teaching moment?? Wow the things kids will say!

Next up was potty time, so Mesa whisked half of them out the door while I kept the others occupied. We finished up her lesson concept and cleaned up our snack trash. Of course, they made sure I had a snack cup too and I had to throw MINE away too. Next came putting up chairs and table and getting out the bubbles. We blew bubbles for a bit, then we played London Bridge and then Duck Duck Goose. Wow.... again I say,... Monkeys!

The scary thing is,...... / can't believe I'm about to say this / ......I had fun!
When I was walking out of the church, one of the little bitty girls that always acts up and screams if anybody comes near her said "bye Sister Crazy!" I feel rewarded!

I also feel ready for my 8 and 9 year old cub scouts!