Summer Sizzle

As the sidewalks sizzle in the Arizona heat, how do we stay sane during the summer daze?  

• Time for sleeping in and slacking off (to some extent)
• Every morning, we strut our stuff and sweat to stay in shape
• Showers and solace take us til lunch
• Afternoons are devoted to summer reading programs, summer camp, book club, summer school and hopefully scratching something off the summer bucket list
• And if that doesn't stretch me to the limit, I try to sneak in a cleaning project, a sweet new recipe and sewing lessons
• As soon as the sun starts to set, we sometimes settle down with a good flick or other celebration.
• Add the summer stuff to the rest of life's responsibilities, no wonder I'm stressed!

Chocolate on my Cranium is hosting Wordfull Wednesday.  The challenge is to use alliteration to share a typical summer day.

Sad Day at the Park

We found this great park by the library several years ago.  The best thing about the park, besides being by the library, was the old school merry go round.  The kind I used to play on when I was a kid, back before the powers that be decided they were too dangerous - even though I never knew anyone who was seriously hurt on one. My kids had even more fun because there are more people to push it and make it go really fast. 


When we went to the library, the weather was so nice we figured we'd play at the park for a little bit.  We found a big sandy area where the merry go round used to be.  I guess the powers that be caught up to my kiddos.  For some reason it would be bad to have today's kids run around a little more than usual.

Favorite Feeds Friday: January 14

Today's going to be a good day!  Why?  Well, it's Friday and the weather is supposed to be beautiful.  This is our reward time of the year!  And since it's Friday, it's another installment of Favorite Feeds Friday.  There are all kinds of cool blog posts to check out this morning.

• Jump into A bowl full of lemons organizational challenge and tackle a project a day.
• Was loosing weight one of your resolutions?  The Latter Day Woman shares tips for making a healthy lifestyle change.
• For those of you totally on the ball, SeeMeVT has a helpful visual aide for February's Visiting Teaching message.
• Having a party?  Make your own treat stand following the instructions at somewhat simple.
• I think us desert rats could make these cool candle holders from Crazy Domestic in our freezer.
• A bit of this. A bit of that has a sunny card with a blog hop to other cards using the same color combo.
• It's National Pizza Week and Your Homebased Mom shares her favorite pizza recipe.
• Finally, Travelin' Oma shares the joy of writing our memoirs.

I hope you have as much fun with exploring these fun sites.  Share the interesting posts you find with me, deal?

Random 11

In honor of 2011, here's 11 random things about me.

1. I've been to eight countries.
2. I finished reading one book so far this year.
3. I want to finish scrapbooking 90 layouts by November.
4. My 11th song on itunes is "867-5309" -  a classic.
5. When I Google "Raejean Roberts 11", the first five hits are actually about me!
6. It took me the first 10 days of 2011 to finish packing Christmas, who knows how many more until my house is back to "normal".
7. I have a new top ten list posted at Arizona Mama.
8. I have a weakness for sweets.
9. I love finding a bargain.
10. I exercise regularly - it doesn't show. (Just think what I'd look like if I didn't exercise!)
11. My favorite color is plum.

Share something random about yourself!

Just Dance

Ive noticed a disturbing trend the last couple of years, between January and June I've gained 10+ pounds before I level off and dip back down a bit for the new year.  I'm trying to end this trend by moving more and eating less (especially sweets).  Since I exercise consistently (and have for years),  one strategy is to increase my daily step goal.


Monday I was closing in on my goal, but running out of time and energy.  When one of my kiddos asked to play Wii, I gave a conditional yes.  The condition was that we play Just Dane 2.  Not only did I get to my goal, I got the blood pumping (which helps on these chilly nights) and I had fun doing it!  The kids even got moving with me.  You could be like one of my children (who shall remain nameless, but is the oldest at home) and just move your hand instead of really dancing, but that's not as fun or fit and doesn't help you to win.


Last night I was even farther from my goal, but not for long once we started dancing with the Wii again.  I do have a word of warning about playing Just Dance while you are cooking dinner, you might get a little distracted and forget an ingredient for your recipe and have to improvise some kind of funky fix at the dinner table.  I haven't personally experienced this, I'm just throwing it out there as a possibility.

Cub Scouts: Waves of Fun Pack Meeting

My new position in Cub Scouts left me in charge of this month's Pack Meeting.  Last year's water theme Pack Meeting involved water balloon games.  I heard some of the boys were disappointed with the lack of wetness.  With the 110 degree weather here, I wasn't interested in doing Pack Meeting outside.  It was a good call since there was a huge monsoon downpour during our Pack Meeting.  

We went with a ship theme instead.  I pulled several ideas from Balloo's Bugle.  Our gathering activity was School of Fish.  One of our Wolf leaders taped the name of a fish (catfish, cod, etc.) on everyone's back - yes, parents too.


After the Pledge and a prayer, we talked about the six ships of scouting - scholar-ship, fellow-ship, friend-ship, Workman-ship, sportsman-ship, and statesman-ship.  I also talked for a minute about the importance of parent involvement to the success of their son's Cub Scout program.


We sung a very lively Shark Song.  I'm so glad I taught my Wolves the song while I was their Den leader!  I had them stand up with me to help teach it to the audience.  


To receive their awards, the boys had to cross the shark infested waters.  Some of them really hammed it up and crossed them backwards!  Even though our den leaders would never fish for compliments, we thanked them with a bag of Red Swedish Fish and a roll of Lifesavers (do you know how hard it is to find a roll of Lifesavers these days?).  Our cheers were all fish / ocean related.  My favorite was the Jaws cheer.

Our activity was our version of Balloo's Bugle's Crab Race (p. 66).  We divided the children up in two teams.  Four of them at a time would get inside a hula hoop and race to the table at the opposite end.  One of them would pick a paper out of the bowl and would have to do the Bobcat requirement they drew; the Cub Scout Salute, the Oath or the Promise, etc.  The first team to complete all seven requirements won bragging rights.  The children had fun and they had to work together to get everyone to from one end of the room to the other.  One of the teams tipped over and lost one of their team members.  They had to go back, get everyone back in the hula hoop before they could continue.


We settled everyone down with one of my favorite stories about a starfish (p. 42 of Balloo's Bugle).  After our closing prayer, everyone picked up a bag of Goldfish crackers as they headed home.

Family Home Evening: Serving Others

Our lesson was very simple.  It was from the Faith in God book, under Serving Others.  "Make a list of the qualities you in a person.  Choose one quality to develop in yourself.  Discuss how showing respect and kindness strengthens you, your family, and others."  I'm working on kindness.  I have plenty of room for improvement on that one.


Following up with last week's lesson,we still didn't play a traditional basketball game.  It was way too hot,so we altered the plan and played inside with a Nerf ball and a small hoop. 

For our activity, we tried a new dice game called Farkle.  We didn't have too much time to really get into it, but it seemed pretty fun.  We'll definitely have to try it again.  


Our treat was Root Beer Floats, (except for me, I just had ice cream).

The Statue Game

No, I'm not talking about the game where you tell your children to go stand by the wall without moving or talking while you read your book in peace.  This is a game I played with my friends when I was a kid. 

One person is "the storekeeper".  They spin everyone else, one at a time, except for the buyer who tucked away where they can't see or hear what's going on.  When the storekeeper lets go of the person he's spinning, they freeze as soon as they can.  The storekeeper tells them what kind of statue they are, like a ballerina or pianist.  

After everyone is posed and assigned, the buyer comes in. The storekeeper shows the buyer each statue and pushes the statues button. The statue comes to life and acts out their assignment until the storekeeper pushes their button again. (Statues were known to run off so the storekeeper would have to chase them down to push their button again.)  

The buyer chooses their favorite statue, after seeing them all in action. The chosen statue becomes the next buyer, while the buyer becomes the storekeeper and the storekeeper becomes one of the statues.


My kiddos really liked this old-school game and asked to play it again several times.  It definitely beats tag!

Hoop-de-doo Pack Meeting

Pack meeting consisted of several "hoopy" events.   The gathering activity let the kids choose a station of ring toss or shooting baskets.  


We moved to another room with cheering sections, one for the Wolves, Bears, Webelos and families.  Most of my boys earned their music belt loop and one of my new boys earned his Bobcat.  My favorite part was when they did their skit.  It turned out so cute with their pig masks and pipe cleaner tails.


Then the gathering activity stations were converted into an obstacle coarse that went down one side of the gym and up the other side.  The kids earned points for every station they completed successfully.  


We had a very special "hoop" set up outside - they were spinning sugar in it for cotton candy!

I Hate Tag!

I can't say tag was my favorite game when I was a kid; I had a hard time tagging anyone else.  Being it is only fun for a very short amount of time.  The one thing I like less than playing tag is listening to my kids play tag.  I think tag is THE quickest way to get my kids to argue!  You're puppy guarding!  I want to play cartoon tag instead of candle tag!  You can't talk if you've been frozen!  It goes on and on.  


I think it's time to break out some of the other active games we played when I was a kid, like "Statues" and "Mother May I?" 

Igraine the Brave Book Club

We finished reading Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke for our family book club.  Check out the details of our super fun meeting over at Arizona Mama!  

Hoop-de-doo

It's the start of a new month which means a new Cub Scout theme.  This month's is Hoop-de-doo or anything with hoops.  This week we started with the obvious - The basketball belt loop.  We started off with Achievement 1j; chest pass, bounce pass and overhand toss.  The boys stood in a circle and called out who they were throwing it to, as they threw it.  We spent a couple of minutes on each type of pass.


After going over the rules to basketball, the boys partnered up to work on specific skills like dribbling, shooting and rebounding.  Then we had a group on each basket for a game of PIG, to practice more shooting.  I'm so glad we were inside a nice air conditioned basketball court!


We finished our den meeting with a few thoughts on following the rules and team work; then we had a snicker doodle!

Food Log

Last November I decided to take a little break from keeping a food log.  Back then I figured I start up again after the new year, which I did - way after the new year!  Isn't that how it goes?  Our little breaks turn into months or years. My "little break" really shows, especially on the scale.  For the first few weeks, I lost a couple of pounds, overall I've gained 11 pounds since I stopped tracking my food.  Obviously I was doing a lot more eating than exercising too; it's so much easier to do when I know I don't have to enter in the food log.  There's no accountability. 

So this week I got back on the band wagon.  I'm not sure if I really want to give up all those sweets (even though I know I should), but I'm choosing to take a little step in the right direction.  It sounds silly that recording what I eat and how much I exercise makes a difference in my weight management program, but I need that level of awareness and accountability.  It doesn't always keep me from eating more than I should, but I'm grateful for the times I don't eat something because I don't want to log it, and the times I have a better balance because I'm aware of the areas I'm lacking.  Yesterday I had beans for lunch because I hadn't eaten much fiber over that last two days.  


I've used a couple of different website for tracking my food and exercise.  This time, I'm going back to My Pyramid Tracker.  It's not as "fun" as something like Spark People, but it doesn't encourage reducing calorie intake below a safe level.  I also like the energy balance scale it has.  My goal is to have my calorie intake and calorie output within 500 calories to help keep my metabolism higher. 


Here's to a little step in the right direction!

A New Racket Is... Just a New Racket

The Easter Bunny brought me a new tennis racket back in April.  I finally had a chance to try it out over the weekend.  We had one decent racket before that, but the others are small and slightly warped.  So I figured having my own new, Wal-Mart special racket would ensure that I always got a big racket - which it did.  But that's about all it did.  My skills didn't really improve,  I was still exhausted within half an hour.  We didn't even bother keeping score.  Our game sounded pretty much the same as it did pre-new-racket; serve the ball. run-run-run, serve the ball again.  So unless you count hitting the ball twice to get it over the net, we really didn't gain any new skills at all.


I always think it's funny that at the beginning, I'm chasing down the ball - but by the end the ball needs to come straight at me if I'm even going to make an effort to hit it.  I'm also always surprised by the random muscles that hurt a couple of days after playing tennis, this time it's my triceps and my inner thigh.  Go figure!

Spring into Action: Volenteer

Yesterday, the boys sprung into action with a little service after we did a bug word search.  We walked around the neighborhood picking up trash.  I was worried that there wouldn't be enough to do, but they found bags full of trash just walking around the block!  One of my neighbors was disappointed when he realized they weren't selling cookies or any other goodies.  Our "trash walk" fulfilled Achievement 7d. 

I assigned Requirement 7e as homework.  National Geographic has a very helpful website with stories of people protecting the world.

My awesome new assistant (yeah!) brought "Ants on a Log" for a treat (aka - celery with peanut butter and chocolate chips sprinkled on top)

Spring into Action: Be Prepared

This month's theme is Spring into Action.  We started everything off, by testing our jumping skills with the standing long jump (which is elective 20i).  After the Pledge of Allegiance, prayer, and uniform inspection; we discussed what Webelos means (We Be Loyal Scouts)  It might be a small thing, but I'm really loving having denners to assign prayers and take role!

Staying with our theme, we sprung into action to be prepared.  We talked about what should be in our family's first aid kit, what emergency supplies to take hiking, what to do if we get lost while hiking, and finally talked about the buddy system.  These are Electives 23b, 23c, 23d and Elective 16c. 

Then it was back outside for more fun! The boys did a couple of 10 second sprints to see how far they could run in 10 seconds.  They are fast!  This is Elective 20h.

Take Flight: Balloons

There was so much going on last week, I didn't get a chance to post the final Take Flight Cub Scout meeting.  We focused on balloons. We started off outside with a silly game of balloon tag. All but one of the boys stood in a circle facing each other passing a balloon around the circle, while the boy outside the circle tried to tag the boy holding the balloon. When he succeeded, the boys traded places. The winner was undoubtedly the wind!

Next we spent quite a bit of time learning how to do an outdoor flag ceremony.  Not exactly balloon related, but totally Scout related!  We finished off our meeting with a Nose Balloon Relay.  We did this game inside.  The boys were in two teams.  Each team had a balloon to push with their noses only to the line at the other end of the room then back to the next person on their team.  They only needed a few reminders that Cub Scouts play fair and use only their noses!

Now it might seem like Cub Scouts is all party and games, but there are life lessons being learned in a fun way.  The boys learn sportsmanship and teamwork.  They learn respect and patriotism.  They learn they can have fun without a screen (as in TV, computers, or video games) and exercise is fun.  Most importantly, they learn that they can be a part of something bigger than themselves, serve others and make the world a better place.

Tennis Time

Here's a little sneak peak to my latest post on Arizona Mama.

We are fortunate to have a couple of tennis courts in our community that we are free to use.  One of my kiddos and I took some time to play tennis for a while last week.  By play, I mean one of us hits the ball and the other chases it. Read more...

Take Flight: Astronauts

This week in Cub Scouts, we focused on astronauts.  We started off standing in a circle trying to keep the satellite (a beach balloon) up in the air.  It was harder than I thought!  It was also a great time to talk a little about teamwork.

After a few business items, we went back outside for some astronaut training.  This was a relay race where the boys had to run 15 feet, jump rope 10 times, bounce the ball 10 times, catch a bean bag 10 times, and then run back to their team to high five the next boy.  Most of the boys had a hard time with the jump rope - and some of them were exhausted at the end of the relay.  Maybe we need to do more physical activities while the weather is nice?

We finished off our den meeting with astronaut pudding.  Be warned: this is very messy!  Not the making, but the eating.  To make the astronaut pudding, put a Tablespoon of instant pudding mix in a Ziploc sandwich bag, add a scant 1/4 cup of milk.  Zip the bag and let the boys squish it around for several minutes.  When thickens, cut a hole in the corner and let them suck out the pudding like an astronaut - no utensils.  This is where it gets messy.  Definitely do this outside, preferably on the grass.  One boy ended up with pudding all down him, the rest of the boys were just a little messy.  But most importantly, we had fun!

Park Time

I always forget how therapeutic playing at the park can be, until I do it! I used to go to the park with my kiddos and bring a book. I'd get frustrated that they would interrupt my reading time by wanting to spend time talking and playing with me. The nerve of them!

Now that I'm a little older and wiser (maybe that's a lot older and a little wiser), I appreciate the time my children want to spend with me and I enjoy knowing them better by spending time with them. Also, it feels good to throw a football or a Frisbee. I had fun trying to learn to punt a football with my cutie pie. It's rejuvenating to get the blood flowing and run around on the playground equipment. Who knows how much longer I'll physically be able to do those things? I better enjoy it while I can!