"Character Pumpkin" Homework Assignment

My daughter's homework assignment was to make a character pumpkin for a literacy project.  She chose a Junie B. Jones book, Junie B.Jones is Captain Field Day.  I think the pumpkin turned out pretty cute!

Thanks for reading!

- Vanessa

First Official Girl Scout Meeting

We had our first "official" Girl Scout meeting this week.  I say "official" because getting this troop to become "official" is still a work in progress.  My daughter and I are the only 2 that have registered as members.  I need my co-leaders and the rest of the girls to do the same.  We've been trying to get this started since March of last year, so it's a little disheartening.

Anyway, the first meeting went well.  Because we're still working on getting things going, no one has their handbooks or Journey books yet.  I managed to find digital copies online to use for now.  To introduce them to the Promise and Law, I bought foam dots at the dollar store and printed out the Promise and Law and glued it to each side.  I made a necklace/decoration for them.

We had snack during announcements.  I love Fall and usually have friends and family over to do caramel apples.  We may still do that later.  For snack, I cut up green apple slices and heated up caramel dip.  I also bought Halloween colored sprinkles so the girls could decorated their slices if they liked.

We have decided that we'll do 2 meetings per month, plus one craft night.  My co-leaders work, so their time is pretty limited.  We can only meet for an hour for each meeting.  I bought the girls little notepads for things that come to mind in between meetings.  They were only 27 cents each at Walmart!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Chicken Cordon Bleu Roll-Ups, Fried Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, and Mashed Potatoes

My kids like things better when they're jazzed up a little.  I love chicken cordon bleu.  So, to take it a little more appealing for them, I cut the chicken into fillets and roll them up.  I hold them in place with toothpicks, then dip it in egg and coat with bread crumbs.  Last time I made them, I used Panko crumbs and really liked it.  The bread crumbs worked fine, though.  I then baked them for a half an hour.

I halved the small Brussels Sprouts and quartered the bigger ones.  I fried bacon while I did this.  This time, I used turkey bacon just because that's what I keep on hand for breakfast. I set aside the bacon and put in the sprouts.  I added small amounts of broth and water to steam the sprouts and keep them from burning and sticking to the pan.  When they were almost done, I crumbled the bacon and added it.  I have also added onion in the past.  I really enjoy it, but the hubby and kids don't.

I also made mashed potatoes to go with dinner.  All I had on hand was boxed mashed potatoes, so that's what I used.

It turned out to be a good meal with items that I mostly had on hand!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Homemade Ravioli - Wolf Cub Scout Requirement 8C

At the last den meeting, the boys were given homework.  They have to work on most of the requirements for Achievement 8 - Cooking and Eating with their family.  Leave it to me to pick such a difficult choice as ravioli!  I've always wanted to try making it and thought it would be fun to involve the kids.

We found a basic recipe online that just called for white flour, eggs, and olive oil.  I use at least a white/wheat flour mix for health reasons.  My hubby has diabetes and wheat flour is healthier than white, so it's all that I have on hand.  I should have bought some just for this, as the ravioli thickened a little and had a bread-y texture.  It was good, overall, though.  We also made the recipe by hand, rolling out the dough, and all.

Like the recipe said, we divided the dough in half into 2 balls and let them sit to let the gluten relax.

We used ricotta, feta, and spinach for the filling.  It was a great choice, if I do say so myself :)

Like I said, I rolled out the dough with a roller.  I don't have a pastry cutter, so I used our Star Trek Enterprise pizza cutter instead of a knife just because it was more fun :)

We made some large and medium sized raviolis just to see the differences.  There really wasn't much of a difference.  I couldn't master the small ones at all, lol.

And one of the finished plates

This was a lot of fun!  Like I said, my recipe leaves a lot of room for improvement, but it was fun to involve the kids!

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

"Sportsman-like Conduct" - Teaching how to be a Good Winner

My son is the youngest in his Wolf Cub Scout den and it really shows at times.  Tonight, they played a game with marbles.  He was a bit of a "poor winner" at times.  He pointed out when other kids missed and made a big deal when he did win.  I had to pull him aside and talk to him about cooperation and sportsman-like conduct.

He's still very literal, so before every meeting, I try to go over expectations of him.  As a kid, I would have found this insulting, but he's very black-and-white.  He needs extra reminders not to talk out of turn often.  I didn't think I'd have to state not to point at a kid that missed and comment on it, but I guess he does need to be reminded of this.  I'll keep this in mind before the next meeting and try to think of every possible scenario.

He doesn't mind that we do this and he seems to need his exact expectations spelled out.  It takes me out of my comfort zone to do this, but I have to put my kids' needs ahead of my discomfort.

Plus, his leader this year is pretty strict.  He is a colonel in the military (not sure which branch).  Even I feel more comfortable calling him "colonel" or Mr. S, rather than by his first name.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Re-Painting my Daughter's Headboard

I decided to re-paint my daughter's headboard.  I am slowly but surely re-decorating the kids' bedrooms, and this was the next phase of decorating hers.  The hubby had put up a faux-canopy, but she's still so young and plays so rough that she it came down and the fabric tore.

I decided that giving her headboard a new look would be more appropriate.  Plus, she had drawn on it before with permanent marker.  Hopefully, this will deter her from doing that again, as well.

 Here was her headboard before:

I was a little lazy and scrubbed at it with soap and a rough rag, instead of completely peeling the old paint and sanding it.  The headboard is made of plywood, after all.

Here is a picture of the headboard with the first coat of paint:

I decided that since she is only 5 years old and my only daughter, that I would add some glitter.  I used purple and silver glitter in the paint.  It still wasn't sparkly enough, so I added silver and contrasting green glitter on top of the wet paint.

I painted it outside on the driveway, but heard that it is supposed to rain tonight, so it is finishing drying in the living room tonight.  When it completely dry, I will move it into her room.  My next step of their re-redecorating projects will be to get curtain rods and make curtains.  I have matching fabrics for both of their rooms.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa

Re-Making my Son's Brag Vest

My son inherited my husband and my habit of picking at things when he's nervous or bored.  Because of this, he had stretched out the Brag Vest that I made him last year.  It started looking really bad because of this and the front looked too stretched out and saggy.  I agreed to make him one more and took this habit into consideration to make it a little thicker in places.

I recommend that all Cub Scouts have a Brag Vest!  It is a great way for them to display their accomplishments.  Right now is their big annual popcorn fundraiser, so this helps with his sales to be able to show customers what this fundraiser pays for in his scouting.

I took his measurements.  For the vest, I used his widest circumference measurement (his tummy).  I divided that in half and added 4 inches (2 inches on each side).  I also measured him from shoulder to hip and added a couple of inches.  He is a Wolf Cub Scout and will wear this for the next 2 or 3 years, so I wanted to add a little room to grow into it.  I rounded off the neck a little.

I basically did the same with the front side, but I put a little bit of a v-neck.

I then cut down the center to make the opening.

I have a sewing machine, but it is put away until I eventually have a house with enough room to be able to use it.  So, I sewed this by hand.  I pinned the ends together where they meet and sewed them together.

Here are some pics of the finished and final Brag Vest  :)

I used felt for this and am pretty happy with the way that it turned out.  I am a lot happier with this one than the first one I made.  I may end up putting a border or something on it later.  I'll leave it to my son to decide.  After all, it is his Brag Vest.

The only thing that I would change would be to use fleece material instead of felt.  Both materials and perfectly acceptable, though.  I only paid $4 for this material to make it versus paying $20 or more at the scouting store.

Thanks for reading!

 - Vanessa