Blue and Gold Banquet. Boy Scouts' big fund-raising event of the year. There is GOOD NEWS on the Boy Scouts topic. Justus answered immediately and energetically when asked if he wants to stay in Boy Scouts in this new pack! After his (and Brandon's) three month trial in the other, AWFUL, pack the boys were ready to QUIT! This one is mmmmmmuch better, even though it's under a leadership transition.
So, the big excitement of the Blue and Gold Banquet is the cake auction. Each boy who wants to makes a cake; they're supposed to do it alllll by themselves, as much as safely possible. Here is a picture of Justus finishing his cake. lol He did a GREAT JOB! He chose a chocolate cake and strawberry frosting, and wanted to decorate with sprinkles. [Boy, though, after seeing the AMMMMMAZING works of art the older boys created, I expect Justus will chose much more adventurous projects in coming years!]
Justus and Brandon were on color guard duty for the banquet. Of course they're still seven, so they fool around a LOT every minute they can....
Here they go, leading the way to the front. Justus is almost straight behind Brandon in this picture. That's Brandon's little brother, Dylan, in the red shirt on the R.
Once they got to the front, their den had a little presentation. It was a rhyming, rhythmic "America" poem, one line for each boy. Some of the boys didn't have their line memorized of course. Brandon's line ended with something about "...in this land." Justus was last; his line, which we practiced diligently [more for presentation quality (enunciation, volume, and confidence!) than words, obviously] was: "Stand now and pledge with heart and hand." !! :)
Now. Check out the amazing cakes.
Graveyard, Solar System.
Tiger face, 3-D cat, Spider (Jeremy bought this one! BLECH!! COME ON(!!!), right??!), and in the back there is a cake that had a bunch of little miniatures on it to make it an ARMY CAMP!
Here is another 3-D cat (There were two, made by brothers I think.), Niagara Falls (It's facing the other way, the foaming water at the bottom is coconut.), the green one in front is my favorite, a camp site (including toothpicks with mini-marshmallows for roasting over the candy-corn fire - TOO CUTE!), and the green one up top is a race track.
On the left, another tiger face. On the right, the cake that won the award for most intentionally gruesome (...only at BOY SCOUTS!), "Possum Roadkill". Lyndsay (Brandon's mom) went home with this one! WHAT IS IT WITH THE PEOPLE I HANG OUT WITH?? I declare!
3-D candy house, and SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS CAKE! (The cakes have to taste like cake/sweets even if you make them out of other stuff; I never heard what they used to make the Spaghetti and Meatballs cake but it was impressive!)
I took this picture mostly for Sydni 'cause she sounded moderately interested in seeing the results of my new purple eyeshadow ... ha, which can't even really be seen ... but maybe that's kinda the point.
Elaine has a name for her group of single lady church friends who get together often to do social things. She calls them her "peeps", like the gangsters who call their 'people' their 'peeps'. One of them, Mary, keeps bringing Elaine a pack of the candy Peeps for each new holiday: Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, and now Easter. Someone said Peeps are particularly yummy when warmed in the microwave for a number of seconds. Jeremy and the kids did an experiment on one of them ... 'cause they expand exponentially in the microwave!!! That green bunny got as big as the PLATE (!!!) and then shrunk back down to almost original size ... though he was a mite malformed....
I braided N's hair wet one night hoping for crinkles for Sunday morning. It was a total flop! Go figure! It basically did almost *nothing* to her hair!! Oh well, the braiding was bonding....
LOL This is Natasha's folder from Bible class last quarter; I shot it as an example of how this girl can write backward even in cursive.
Here is Natasha's rough draft of her design for our quilt square this year! Those with LEGO dudes in the house will recognize the little figures.... :) You'll recognize half a Fleur-de-lis on Jeremy's torso, and the "9" on Justus is a nod to Drew Brees. :) Ahhhh, the Superbowl was such a dream for us this year....
Justus is at that seven-year-old stage where his teeth are a total mess.
The gutters on this house are baaaaaad. But they created a bunch of fun for our children! At two locations, one in front, one in back, we had an icicle that went from a stalactite to a column! 
Icicles are long gone now, of course. Although this winter still might break the snow record, there is currently NO SNOW remaining. Well, that's not true; at snow removers' locations to dump mass amounts of snow there is still a tad-bit that hasn't completely melted away yet. In fact, the grass is starting to get the slightest tinge of green and the children are doing their schoolwork outside these days. I think if I'd actually *planted* the handful of crocus bulbs I bought, they might be up now.... -GR- [That was a problem of scheduling v. weather. I bought them on sale at a very late time in the season when I had time to plant them, but the lady said, "Don't, yet, 'cause it's still too warm," and then when it finally cooled off enough I had NO TIME.]
Justus seems to be starting to enjoy reading a *little bit* more than ever before. I think putting into his hands NON-FICTION in which he's interested is the ticket!!!! WHO KNEW??! He will volunteer to read to me, excitedly/interested, for minutes on end, scientific things (on his level, granted) about the animals in the ocean, for instance!!!!! >>Huh!<< (blink)
By way of news, there have been no major events ... well, in *our* life so much. (Josh and Sarah's baby, Ethan, was born three weeks ago, and Tim and Dora's was due yesterday, though she has yet to make her appearance! So many wedding and baby showers these last 6 months! Holysmokes the blessings are many!) The theme of this month turns out to have been sharing many meals, in our home/others' homes, with church friends with whom we haven't done much/any of that yet; it's been very nice! Every Friday and Saturday evening this month, plus one Thursday evening, too! Jeremy's two-year evaluation is coming up in a couple weeks! That means we've been here in IA longer than we lived in Montana or Arizona. Hm! Nice! Amen! Fellowship with Firearms is Saturday, so Jeremy CAN'T.WAIT.to get started with that, needless to say. :) Elaine is in TX/LA for a couple weeks, so Mitch and Jo have offered to keep N & J Saturday evening and Sunday so Jeremy and I can have a few hours of ... echoing quiet. It's so strange when our house is that empty!
I have started making homemade noodles. YAY! They are a huge hit! I'm happy to know that they are surprisingly easy to make. They are good with 100% whole wheat flour as well as with different combinations of whole wheat and white!
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Here is the recipe I've been using/adapting (I've been doing the egg noodles.):
Homemade Whole Wheat Noodles
2 c. whole wheat flour
1 t. salt
Combine in med. bowl.
water
Stir in 'til the dough holds together and it's stiffer than pie crust.
Knead for a couple of minutes to work up some gluten.
Let rest about 10 minutes.
Roll it out, cut it, and boil it--about 4 minutes or so.
Option - For a richer noodle:
Add 1-2 eggs and reduce the water. (The more egg, the denser/richer the noodle.)
Combine the eggs with the dry ingredients first, then add in water as needed.
Then you can start having fun adding herbs for flavor or vegetable purees for extra nutrients and color.
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Tuesday, March 23, 2010
March
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7 comments:
Great update! I wish I could braid like you! I'm impressed with the noodle-making. So, do you cut them all by hand? Can you freeze them or anything or do you use them right away after they're cut?
I did cut them by hand. The first time I used a knife. The second time I used the baker's knife, aka bench knife; it was mmmmuch easier and faster! MAN, I like that thing.
I'm sure you could freeze them with good results. As it was, I refrigerated half of this second batch for use a couple days later....
You did a post! Wow. I'm thankful.
The Cub Scout stuff is just almost too cute for me to take. I think the cake Justus made was probably the only one there that the cub scout made by himself - idea and all??...
What about Natasha's finished painting? Great quilt square! Ours gets the "worst-prize" again. Oh, well. At least I haven't had to think about it for months and months. :)
I forgot to comment on the purple eye shadow. It looks very nice. You look very nice. I did buy some - not the purple (I was pleased with the price). I put some on and noticed it did not help my appearance... and actually, I think it made it worse, which I really don't need.
So much in that post, I almost don't remember what to comment on! :)
The boy scout cakes were so awesome! I LOVE the spaghetti one...pretty cool!
Um, yeah, peeps aren't really that good tasting (IMHO), and so the fact that they balloon up and then shrivel down is NOT surprising to me! LOL Course, have you ever vacuum-sealed a marshmallow? Pretty fun!
The icicle thing cracks me up...my kids would L-O-V-E that too!
Ah, the noodles....they made a post! :-) I would LOVE to know how to make them...I wonder if the starch factor is higher or lower than packaged noodles? May have to experiment with them after baby #3 is born...
Enjoyed the reading...
Natasha has beautiful hair! I remember when you used to French braid my hair, and you were the most influential encourager who eventually led me to learn to do it myself! And may I say, "Thank you!" for that because it's a skill I enjoy very much!
Nicoll, Natasha is right now the age I think you were when you guys moved away. Wow, I'm amazed that my braiding of your hair had such an impact! Isn't it funny that even the little things we do -and often forget- that continue to influence others?? What a striking illustration of that truth. :) Just think, maybe before too long you'll have the privilege of fixing your own daughter's/s' hair! Strange: That's the FIRST THING that went through my mind when the nurse's assistant from across the delivery room called out, "It's a girl!" We had thought Baby might be a boy because of how HUGE its size was getting (She was born at 10 lb. 1 oz.) so when he said, "It's a girl," I VIVIDLY remember thinking both, "Aah! I'll get to fix her hair" and, b.) "Wow, what a weird thing to think about in this moment!"
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