Cub Scouts: Flag Ceremony

We were a little late getting Teagan signed up but we just found out about the Cub Scout pack here and were very excited for Teagan to get to join the den. He’ll be following in his Grandpy’s footstep who was a Boy Scout who went all the way to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout when he was a kid. The first thing Teagan got to attend with his pack was a flag ceremony that the pack leads at the start of the city council meeting. Teagan’s been working very hard on his tiger cub handbook and memorizing all the things he needs to memorize like the Cub Scout promise and he especially enjoyed learning the Cub Scout sign, handshake and salute. The den mother told the boys in the pack that Teagan would be joining their pack at the last meeting which Teagan missed because of being sick with the croup, so when we walked into the lobby at City Hall all the boys ran up to Teagan and said hi and just started chatting away like they knew him and like it was a given that they were already friends. It was very heartwarming to see. Even though Teagan is such an outgoing and friendly little guy who is quite the ladies’ man at times he’s always struggled with feeling like he doesn’t have any friends.  And for all those boys to be so warm and friendly right off the bat put such a smile on my face. Teagan was very proud to be wearing his new uniform and had fun showing them that he knew the Cub Scout handshake. We’re very excited to start out on this new adventure with Teagan and we’re looking forward to see where this will take him.

 Teagan demonstrating the 

Cub Scout sign

Teagan demonstrating the 

Cub Scout salute

 Teagan looking oh so handsome 

in his Cub Scout uniform

Teagan with his pack getting 

ready for the flag ceremony

Block Outlines

Here’s another one of those little gems that I stumbled across on my cell phones album today. The kids spent awhile in the basement today playing with their building blocks and here is what they were up to. I have to ask myself if maybe they’ve seen one to many crime dramas with me.

 Arowyn uses Teagan as her model 

to create her block  outline

The finished product

Drumming

Music seems to strike Arowyn like a bolt of lightning sometimes that no matter where she is or what she’s doing she either starts singing, or humming, tapping her feet or drumming on things with her hands and it doesn't stop until she has exhausted the inner rhythm that she seems to be feeling at the time. Today she must have been feeling that beat because she borrowed my cell phone for a while today and after I got it back I was looking through my cell phone’s photo/ video album and ran across these videos.

Arowyn drumming on the refrigerator

After hunting down her drum she repeats 

the rhythm from the refriderator door on her drum

Flag Football: Game 4

This week Teagan finally really started getting into the game although almost too enthusiastically. How so you may ask, my answer to you is just look at the pictures. This week we’ll be working on how to strike a good balance when blocking how much contact is too much contact.

Teagan's ready to try this whole blocking thing

 Teagan gets a little to enthusiastic with his blocking 

technique and gives the green teams player a bear hug 

to keep him from going anywhere

He hears me yelling from the sideline

"TEAGAN, LET HIM GO!"

and he changes is technique

Teagan looking distressed because 

this more acceptable technique doesn't 

seem nearly as effective to him

Teagan now having to chase the green 

team member thinking "I don't understand 

why this way of blocking is better"

Teagan playing center

If you look closely you can see Teagan collaring 

one of the green team in another enthusiastic 

attempt at blocking

Teagan's excited to play center

Teagan demonstrating his blocking 

technique to his teammates

Teagan gets the ball and runs

And dodges

Tries to go up the field

And hits a wall of green

And goes down

Arowyn blocking

Teagan trying to block for his quarterback

Teagan and another one of his 

more enthusiastic blocking attempts

Teagan looking quiet pleased with himself

Highlight Reel

House Rules Chess

While I was working at my computer in the living room today I was completely absorbed in what I was doing because out of the corner of my eye I vaguely notice that the kids keep walking in and out of the living room but didn’t really think anything of it. When I finally stopped what I was doing and turn to look I at first I was about to read them the riot act because the living room all of the sudden looked like it had imploded with all of their stuffed animals but before I could open my mouth to say anything I stopped to watch what they were doing and I quickly realized that there was an actually reason behind what I first perceived as a big mess, that reason was that they were playing chess.  They had lined up all of their animals and decided which animals would represent what chess pieces and they played chess. Now don’t get me wrong this was not a legal game of chess by any means because there was no chess board so the distance the chess pieces moved were really quite arbitrary most of the time but they had fun playing and using their imaginations which for me was really quite entertaining to watch. Unfortunately at the end of the game I had to step in and explain to Teagan that when the king’s out of the game the games over which he was quite disappointed to find out.

Arowyn & Teagan with their chess pieces all lined up

Arowyn & Teagan playing chess

Arowyn’s Photography

During the summer this year Arowyn has started to take a serious interest in photography. After borrowing my camera a couple of times under my supervision and constantly running off with my camera phone when I wasn’t looking her Grandma Julia was kind enough to give her her old Nikon D200 as a gift. Arowyn loves going around the house taking random photos. I love downloading the pictures from her camera a getting that little glimpse into her world and how she sees it. This week she seemed to be working on posing with the help of our cat Buster, Teagan’s teddy bear Brownie & Ducky.

 Buster, Brownie & Ducky 

striking a sleepy pose for Arowyn

 Buster using Brownie & Ducky 

as a pillow for his afternoon nap

 Buster, Brownie & Ducky 

smiling at the camera

Brownie & Ducky pose together in the 

pocket of Arowyn's music gem chart

 Arowyn posing Ducky in a different position

Ducky moves again

And again

The Baby Bobble Heads posed for a group portrait

Daddy & Teagan having a chat

Arowyn’s Nature Find

Arowyn’s ability to find little gems of nature wherever she goes is astounding at times. As we were walking into our violin lesson today she found this little creepy crawler near the steps of the house so of course she had to stop and examine it and she wasn’t willing to go into her lesson until I had taken a picture of it so she would have something to remember it by. I will say it is a very beautiful shade of green.

 Arowyn next to the caterpillar

The big green caterpillar