Carnival and Webelos

This Saturday we had our Pack Meeting which was a carnival. Each den provided a few stations. It came together so well and was a blast! There was mini golf, skee-ball, Angry Birds, lollipop pull and more. 

During the awards portion of the afternoon, Brendan was given his Webelos badge. He pinned his Dad and I took pictures/did my cub scout committee chairman duties/watched our kids. He is so proud of himself. He worked hard. Next Wednesday he goes to Boy Scouts!

Deep Water

Brendan passed the deep water swim test at the pool. He tried three times and passed it. Here he is wearing the identifying bracelet. Now he can jump off the diving board!! He's very excited! Two days before he turns 11 he can now swim in the eleven feet.

Buddy Gets Sick

A few days after we got Stella, Buddy walked into the family room and threw up. Then he fell over. As he staggered to get back up it looked like his back end wouldn't work. He managed to scramble into the kitchen but then fell again. He acted frantic. I immediately took him to the vet. While there, his eyes began to twitch uncontrollably and his head was cocked to the side and he wouldn't straighten it. He was still having trouble walking. It was all very scary. 

Upon examination, the vet told me that he had idiopathic vestibular disease. Basically it is a balance issue. The dog gets nauseous and had trouble walking because they have severe vertigo. Imagine being dizzy and then put on a seesaw. I could see how Buddy was miserable. The cause is unknown but it's not uncommon in dogs over age 8. It should go away after about two weeks but the head cock might take longer. The vet gave us anti-nausea medicine for him and told us to make him comfortable. He might need help to get outside to go potty but mainly, let him rest. 

The eye twitching decreased over the next day or two but he needed steadying to walk and I had to carry him outside to pee for a few days. He needed to stand next to a wall so he could orient himself and would often veer to the left when he walked after he could walk again. Poor Buddy. He did get better over the course of two weeks, bit by bit, but he still has a slight head cock weeks later. 

An unexpected side effect of this was that he was unable to teach Stella canine manners and his place in the family. He's had an uphill battle with her ever since. He had to spend so much time in his crate that she was able to play with anything she wanted and be wherever she wanted. He had to claim his bed back and a few favorite toys when he finally felt up to it. 

 She tries to engage him in play and he's having none of it. He's struck out at her twice and once he managed to scratch her leg. I don't really blame him and she has to learn. Still, it would've been nice if they were friends. As it is, they coexist. Hopefully when she's older and not so exuberant, they can be friends.

STEAM Lab

Fort Belvoir Elementary had a three week STEAM Lab program this summer. I signed the two oldest up. They loved it. It was half a day and they did things like work on robotics. It was heaven for the kiddos, especially since our friends, the Thompsons, had gone on an extended vacation. The rode the bus to Woodlawn Elementary (FBES is under construction) every day and came home happy as clams.
Eva even had Brendan's teacher, Ms Neitert, for her session and both kids got to meet new kids to befriend. This was especially good for Eva as some of her best friends moved away this summer. Every day they were excited to get on the bus.

I wish I could have gone to their last day of STEAM Lab. Parents were invited to come and see the robots they had programmed and witness all the other experiments they had taken part in. I had a dentist appointment that I had rescheduled three times already so I couldn't cancel. Both kids were sad it was over.

Almost 40

This year I turned 39. I don't feel 39 but I'm not ashamed of it.

I told the kids all I wanted was a fight-free day and Jason that I didn't want to cook. One of those things happened. We ate dinner at Famous Dave's. YUMMY!!

Paige brought me a "birthday card". She told me that it said, "It's Mom's birthday. I really love Mom's hugs."

After dinner we went to the PX and I picked out my new phone as a birthday gift. Now to shop for the perfect case.

Happy birthday to me!

Darby's Swimming Lessons

I went to the pool on post to sign the little girls up for swim lessons. However, I didn't know that they were in such high demand. People were at the pool office before they opened to nab the preschool spots. So no class for Paige but I did get the last open spot for Darby for the July session. Lessons are two weeks long. 

 Darby did very well. I was continually impressed as I watched her. She's like a fish. 

At the end of the first week they walked the kids over to the deep end and let them go off the diving board. I was nervous. She's only six. But she LOVED it. She's fearless in the water. 

At the end of the lessons she is able to swim the length of the pool and tread water. I bet she will pass the deep water test in no time. 

Here is one of her instructors. She may or may not have had a small crush on him. 

Stella and the Bad Guy

One night after the kids were in bed, Jason and I watched a cop show. The case was a kidnapping. Stella was lounging at our feet. When the kidnapper came on screen and made the victim cry, Stella sat up straight and barked at the TV. She kept barking at it until the bad guy was off screen. It cracked us up. What a fearless little guard dog. ;)

Care Bears

Jason here. I noticed outside my operatory that my assistant had put up a Care Bears sign. "What the heck is that! Care Bears! This is the ARMY...  we don't do Care Bears." So I put up my own sign next to hers.

Hehehe. Take that. 

A few days later, this was my new office sign.

Oh man... its on now. This sign needed fixing.

That's better. Colonel Swiec made me take it down about two seconds after he saw it though. 

Stella!!

Yesterday we drove to Maryland to pick up our new puppy. Up until now she's been called Brienne but we renamed her Stella. I brought a small crate for her to ride in. When we arrived, I filled out the paperwork while the foster mom went to go get the puppy. The kids were so excited but I got to hold her and carry her to the car. When we got to the car I saw that she had peed on me. What a way to start. On the car ride home she got carsick. Poor little thing. It was a hot day too and she was panting. I was so glad when we were home. I hosed off the crate while Jason let her out in the backyard. The kids all wanted to pet her.

Later she met Buddy on a leash. He wasn't too impressed with this squirmy loud bundle of fur. Finally she conked out in her crate.

She slept the first night in our room in her crate. She cried for ten minutes and then settled in. After her first potty break at 2am, she cried another ten minutes. But I've had newborns so I am ready to not give in. But man, I'm going to be tired like a new mom all over again. She's very cute but going to be a lot of work.

First Summer Weekend

Today we had all day together with nowhere we had to be. Jason thought it would be fun to make a run to Home Depot and get the stuff to build a stomp rocket launch. Fun!! We also stopped at the PX to get some treats and a few odds and ends. We lost Paige after she ran off in the toy section. It took us a good fifteen minutes to find her. A nice grandmotherly type lady was with her. Sigh. If we were anywhere but a military store I might have been more freaked out than I was.

At home Daddy and the older two made the launch.

After it was ready they launched a few rockets. They didn't come in to get me so I don't have pictures but since we have already built it, we can use it any time.

It was also Family Movie Night so Daddy grilled bratwurst on the new BBQ and we watched Little Rascals. The kids thought it was so funny. We had root beer floats as dessert.

Paige went to bed at the normal time and Jason took the older kids into the woods by the Potomac out back in hopes that they could see the fireworks shot off at Mount Vernon today. They came back with the sad news that they couldn't see them but they did see hordes and hordes of fireflies. They thought that was just as cool. Jason has video but no pictures for me to post.

Fun family day. I like these kind of days.

Day Camp

The week after school ended there was Cub Scout Day Camp. Being the committee chair, I have been working on this for months. It was very stressful and required much planning. After a few last minute crises, everything was set. I am so grateful for all the wonderful parents who helped out from our ward.

Camp was at Gunston Hall, the grounds of a historic home. It was a hot but beautiful venue.

 Here is my group of scouts.  

I was a den walker on Monday mainly because I felt like I needed to be there opening day to troubleshoot. Things went pretty smoothly. Sadly, Brendan had lots of trouble. It was a roller coaster of a day. Meltdowns, yelling, and moping sometimes and happy smiles and great interest in activities at other times.  It was hot and there was a lot of walking and it was all new. I think it was too much sensory input for him and a long day having no alone time. The shooting sports were hard since he's a perfectionist and wanted to be good at archery and BBs right away, which he wasn't. You can see that he is not very excited about BBs.

He did get one bullseye in archery and that improved his mood immensely. 

He loved the STEM experiments (taught be a lady who worked for NASA no less) but fought with Henrik as to whose idea to use. They were supposed to make a safe enclosure for a marshmallow peep "astronaut". He gave up and stormed off and consequently, the peep "died" in space.

Other stations followed suit, ups and downs. He really seemed to like crafts all week though. Here he is making a leather ornament.

It was a rough day for me as mom and leader. But there were some fun times. In an effort to get his mind off things, he and I arm wrestled at one station while waiting. That had him laughing.

 I also earned serious street cred with the boys by teaching them how to turn a certain weed flower into a gun that actually shoots. Chalk that one up to growing up in a rural area.

 He went again in Tuesday but I wasn't a den walker. The report from the other leaders was that the day went okay. He even joined in the lunchtime games. 

But Brendan came home upset (BBs again - sigh). He started running a fever that night and was acting sick. Sure enough, over 100 degrees in the morning meant that a sick boy was staying home. He slept a lot of the day and laid on the couch. Around 3pm the fever broke and he actually had some dinner. 

By morning his fever was gone and he was acting normally so he went to Day Camp with his dad as a den walker. Apparently Jason said it was a disaster with Brendan but later other leaders told me that he did okay. I know that having trouble be your kid colors things a bit. He did, however, really enjoy making paracord bracelets at the craft station. I think it turned out really well! 

Friday was a freebie day where the boys could choose what station they wanted to spend their time at. Apparently Brendan chose rockets. When I went to pick him up he had a story to tell. His rocket had made it to the target. Only a handful of boys had accomplished that. He got the mark on his T-shirt and was so proud!

So at least camp ended on a high note. This is the last Cub Scout Day Camp we will ever do so I'm glad there were some good memories for him.

 From a committee chair perspective, the camp was a smashing success. Boys had a great time. There were no major problems and everyone remembered their responsibilities. Two thumbs up!!