Our Little Tiger Cub

It's official, Mr. Smarty Pants is now a Cub Scout!
Actually I signed him up a few weeks ago but I just got his uniform yesterday. Before that he was wearing his Tiger Cub t-shirt to the meetings. He's been to two meetings so far and he gets more and more excited about it every day. I was worried he would lose interest but this seems to be a real winner. Go mom!

When I got the uniform yesterday I tried it on him and took a couple of pics. Doesn't he look cute? He didn't want to take it off either! I hadn't added the patches at that point.



I plan on making him a Cub Scout scrap book with pictures, activities, badges/awards earned, etc so I'm going to take pics at all of the cub scout meetings and events. I missed the first meeting since I was down with the flu but Honey was able to take him. He didn't bring the camera though. The second meeting I left my camera on the table so the next day we went outside and took pics of the activities they did.

That meeting was all about hearing. First the scouts learned about Sign Language and what it's like to not be able to hear. Mr. Smarty Pants was a quick study and learned how to sign his name. Take a look!



Next they made "telephones" out of cups and cord. Remember these? They worked very well and the scouts got a real kick out of communicating with each other.



Lastly they talked about what kinds of animals have very good, or in some cases, specialized hearing. The cubs were asked to name some of the animals and of course dogs and bats were thrown out there but then Mr. Smarty Pants chimed in with "Bald Eagle". I nearly fell out of my chair. That's my boy! :oP
After discussing animals they did another craft where they made better "ears" for hearing, but mostly they ended up using them as megaphones. LOL!

I can't wait to find out what we're doing at the meeting tonight. Mr. Smarty Pants got to wear his uniform to school today. He was soooo proud this morning! I should have gotten another pic!

So are you wondering about my enthusiam for scouting? The reason why I've decided to be his partner (most of the time) instead of Honey is that I was very involved in Campfire Girls when I was a kid. I was involved for at least 7 years, including the camp every summer. I started off as a Bluebird. I remember I just LOVED the idea of being a "bluebird".

Sadly, the Campfire Girls do not exist in the same form as I remembered it. There's been a number of changes through the years and the latest was the organization changing their website, name and logo(again). They're now called Camp Fire USA and the logo looks too modern in my opinion.




Here are the older logos that I'm familiar with for comparison:
(they just kept getting more and more modern looking)




When I was in CFG in the 70's to 80's they were just starting to have boys join. I remember very few boys at our summer camp. Did you know that Campfire Girls was created around the same time as Boy Scouts? It was meant to be the "sister" to scouts so to speak. You can read more about that here!

Alas Bluebirds no longer exist either. Now you become a Little Star when you join. I'm a nostalgic sort so even though I know change can be good I really do miss the past. Campfire Girls was such a BIG part of my life growing up. I need to dig up all the old pics I have of me in parades and selling candy....ahhhh the memories! Time to start rummaging through the boxes in the garage. I did come across my patch vest and my hat/beret last week. THAT was fun! Mr. Smarty Pants got a kick out of it too when I showed him the patches and what they were for. I will have to take a pic of my vest, hat and beads to show off. My mom had actually sewn on all of my CFG beads in beautiful patterns on the vest but during my college days I took them off to play with making jewelry. Stupid college kid! Oh well. Atleast I saved the vest and most of the beads.

Btw, if anyone is an alumni of the Campfire Girls from the San Fernando Valley area in CA and/or went to Camp Yallani from about 75' to 82' please give me a shout. Oh and if you were a camp counselor then too I would love to hear from you. I had a favorite counselor my first year at Yallani that used to carve animals out of soap. I think I was about 6. I absolutely adored her! I was extremely sad to leave camp that summer. I couldn't find any info on Camp Yallani when I Googled it and also looked it up in the Camp Fire USA directory to no avail. I'm guessing the camp no longer exists. I would love to know what happened to it. I really do have to dig up all those pics and do a post dedicated to my old Campfire days. Won't that be fun? Oh come on, indulge me.

Anyway if you're interested in getting your kids into any of these "camping/service" type of organizations here's a list of links so you can check them out:

Boy Scouts of America

Girl Scouts of America

Campfire USA

American Heritage Girls


Do you know any other organizations to add? Leave a link in the comments.

WO-HE-LO! :o)

Puppies Are Sooo Cute...

...when they're small!

When we first got the puppies they were so cute and itty-bitty...but now they're frankly getting to be a BIG hassle. I really hate to say that as I'm an animal lover but Honey and I had talked for a couple of years now about not being tempted into getting any new pets. We did really good until last month when a friend of ours offered one of their puppies for free.

Some background:
Mr. Smarty Pants has wanted a puppy for quite some time now and has been very specific about what kind he wants. When he was 2 years old he had a pretty bad fall and I got him a stuffed chocolate lab toy as a comfort gift after leaving the ER. He named him Brownie and it has been his favorite "buddy" ever since. He's always said that someday he wants a real "Brownie". We had two(very old I might add) Pomeranians, rented a house with no backyard, and we knew we would be having more babies in the future and felt it wouldn't be a good idea to get a puppy any time soon. I also thought he should be older and more responsible before taking on a pet of his own.
Ok, so fast forward to the present. We have our own home(our first) which we moved into a little over 2 years ago, both poms have passed away, the babies are now toddlers and we're being offered a chocolate lab for free by a friend. How could we say no?

What was NOT given much thought to in this decision:
Cost. Training. Mr. Smarty Pants is really not an outdoorsy-type and has other "issues"(I'll save that for another post) that might make taking care of a dog not a good idea right now. Puppies pee in the house!!! This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine! The Poms lived for 16 & 18 years and peed all the time in our rental houses, especially as they got older. I cut baby diapers for the dogs to wear. Seriously! Guess who always had to clean any messes? Ummm yah, that would be me! Sooooo, I'm taking care of a house that frankly is too big for just little ole me to keep up with, twin toddlers entering the "Terrible Two's" stage, a hyper 6 1/2 year old with behavioral issues, and now I'm supposed to take care of, train, feed, clean up after, give attention to, a puppy! On top of that when we go to see these "conspiracies against otherwise sane adults"...um...I mean puppies, we end up getting 2!! What?? Honestly, I have NO idea how that happened. I think my brain got left behind at the house. I really do love animals, especially baby animals. *violin strings in the background* Besides, if you place any type of temptation in front of me...let's just say the results are usually predictable. My family is completely no help to me whatsoever in these matters. Normally they encourage bad behavior. I don't buy soda, cookies, cake, ice cream, etc, when I do the grocery shopping. Honey inevitably brings something "bad" into the house when he does the shopping and if it's in the house I'm completely and utterly defenseless. *sigh*

Soooo Honey drags me and all three kiddos out to see these adorable "temptations" and then everybody gangs up on me. "Awwww, these two are sooo cute together" (We're told the smallest ones, brother and sister, are the runts of the group and bonded with each other as the others picked on them.) "I don't think they should be parted"..."Aww couldn't we get them both?" so I say(drumroll please), "OK!"
Brain? Braaaaiiin?? Where are you??????

I'll admit at first everything went great and Mr. Smarty Pants loved playing with the puppies. They were adorable and cuddled up with us and were quiet and SMALL. Now, they're getting big, chewing on everything, barking and whining all the time and Mr. Smarty Pants has lost pretty much all interest in playing with them, let alone taking care of them. It doesn't help that the girls are kind of scared of them. Especially Sugar since there was a little biting incident the first day we brought them home.




I have no time to train them or give them much attention and of course no one else is training them or taking care of them. Our backyard is wayyyy too small for 2 large untrained dogs, who like to pee on the cement patio instead of the grass, oh and in the house too if we let them in(why do I always get the pee dogs??) and now the girls can't play outside because the puppies jump up and knock them over and generally terrorize them. These dogs are not even full grown yet. I'm afraid for my patio furniture. Did I mention that they are big on chewing things?

So in the spirit of nostalgia I thought I would post some pics of the puppies the first day we got them.



I know I'll eventually look back on all of this and laugh and the puppies will probably turn out to be exceptionally good dogs but right now?...I'm kinda losin my mind! :oP

Have a great weekend!

I HATE the flu!

So literally a day after my last post my girls and I came down with the flu! Apparently the same flu that's been in the news lately and this year's flu shot didn't cover. Yah, the same flu shot we got this last fall. *sigh*
It was horrible! I was in bed for 3 days with a 102 fever. I felt sooo bad!! The girls weren't much better. Spice was hit harder and according to Honey she just laid around on the couch with a bottle of water. She would rub her head and say "Ouch. Hurts!". Poor baby. :o( Sugar had awful diarrhea which Honey had to deal with(snicker). We're finally on the mend with just some mild sinus drainage and a slight cough.
Let me just warn anyone who is going to go to a doctors office with kids when the kids aren't actually sick...DON'T DO IT! We actually went last Tuesday to get a referral to a pediatric ophthalmologist for Sugar who appears to have Exotropia Strabismus, or in more common terms "Wall Eye". There were tons of sick kids in the office. I know that's where we got it! It sucks too since we were just getting over another little bug and last weekend was absolutely gorgeous weather. This weekend so far? Eh, not so much. Oh well, that's life right? :o)

So we're gonna try and relax and enjoy this weekend. I'll post again on Monday...hopefully. LOL! ;o)

Still Here.....

Sort of! :oP
I can't believe it's been soooo long since my last post. Suffice it to say with holiday traveling and visitors, sickness, and other personal family goings-on I needed to take a break from the "cyber world". I've now gone through all of my e-mail(ugh, over 100 unopened messages) and finally updated my blog decor. Bet you were tired of seeing Christmas! I have lots to post about but I'll start my 1st one tomorrow since it took me all morning to get my blog design updated. :o)

For now, say hello to our new set of twins!

Merry Christmas!

Santa! Who Is He Anyway?

The Legend of Santa Claus

The character we know as Santa Claus, is a blend of many different cultures, customs, legends and mythological creatures. His earliest ancestors date back to a time when the earth was ruled by sky-riding gods. But much of his legend is based on the life of St. Nicholas, a fourth century bishop from Patara, in what is now Turkey.

The mythological characters of Odin, Thor and Saturn gave us the basis for many of Santa's distinctive characteristics. St. Nicholas' appearance was transformed into the image of the fat, jolly winter spirit reminiscent of the ancient Nordic/Teutonic god Odin.

The basis for the Christian Era Santa Claus is Bishop Nicholas. The Orthodox Church raised St. Nicholas to a position of great esteem. The Roman Catholic Church honoured Nicholas as one who helped children and the poor. St. Nicholas became the patron of children and seafarers. His feast day is December 6, and was commemorated with an annual feast which eventually marked the beginning of the Medieval Christmas.

St. Nicholas was legendary for his kindness and generosity and was a champion of children and the needy. Through his benevolence we find the two basic principles of the holiday spirit - giving to others and helping the less fortunate - as well as the tradition of hanging stockings by the chimney. According to one legend, there were three Italian maidens whose father had lost his fortune. The three maidens were to wed, but their father couls not afford the dowries that were necessary. When St, Nicholas heard of this, he went to their home late one night and tossed three bags of gold down the chimney. The bags miracously landed in each of the sisters stockings, that were hung by the fire to dry. A variation of this story, is that as each girl was to wed, he anonymously tossed a bag into an open window. This may have been used as a way of explaining how Santa Claus delivers gifts to homes that have no chimney.

After the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, the veneration of Catholic saints was banned. But people did not want to give up their annual visits from the gift-giving saint, and they did not want to forget the purpose of the holiday. In some countries the festivities of St. Nicholas Day were merged with Christmas celebrations. St. Nicholas underwent a transformation into a new, non-religious form, but he retained his generous spirit.

In Germany, he appeared as Weihnachtsmann, in England as Father Christmas, and in France as Pere Noel. In areas where St. Nicholas was still seen as a gift-giver, he developed a host of other characters as helpers. Two of his most famous helpers were Knecht Ruprecht and the Belsnickle. Depending on the location, they were either helpers or St. Nicholas himself, but in all cases they were fearsome characters. It was not only their duty to reward good children but also to punish naughty ones.

Knecht Ruprecht, meaning Servant Rupert, was also known by other names, such as Black Peter, so called because he delivered presents down the chimney for St. Nicholas and became blackened from the soot. In some places the image of St. Nicholas merged with Knecht Ruprecht to form Ru Klaus, meaning Rough Nicholas, so named because of his rugged appearance; Aschen Klaus, meaning Ash Nicholas because he carried a sack of ashes and a bundle of switches; and Pelznickle, meaning Furry Nicholas, referring to his fur-clad appearance. The Pelznickle was also known as the Rider of the White Horse, which was one of the names given to the Nordic god Odin. This name indicates the northern influence in these legends, and shows that the debased god was still alive in the folk beliefs that had been suppressed by Christianity.

Not all of St. Nicholas' companions were frightening. In fact, the Christkindl, meaning Christ Child, was thought to accompany him in many countries. Often seen as a fair-haired young girl, this angelic figure was sometimes the gift-giver also.

Immigrants to the New World brought along their beliefs and customs: Scandinavians brought their gift-giving elves and Germans brought Belsnickle and Christkindlein (and their decorated tree). The American Santa Claus figure received his name from the Dutch. During the 1600s the Dutch introduced Sinterklaas. Many of the English speaking children mispronounced the name as Santy Claus. After many years of this mispronunciation, Sinterklaas became anglicized into Santa Claus.

In 1808, the American author Washington Irving created a new version of the old St. Nicholas. In his History of New York, Irving gave the first detailed description of the Dutch St. Nicholas. He described the arrival of the saint on horseback, this one rode over the treetops in a horse drawn wagon, dropping gifts down the chimney. He also described Santa as a Dutchman who smoked a long stemmed pipe, wore baggy breeches and a broad brimmed hat.

The Dutch-American Santa Claus achieved full Americanization in 1823 in a poem 'A Visit from St. Nick' (The Night Before Christmas) by Clement C. Moore. His poem gave an Arctic flavor to Santa Claus's image. He substituted eight tiny reindeer and a sleigh for the horse and wagon. He included such details as Santa's wink, nod, laugh and the myth by which the 'jolly old elf' returns up the chimney. It is Moore's description that we think of today: "He had a broad face, and a little round belly, that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly."

In 1863, a German immigrant, Thomas Nast, gave a visual image of the jolly gift-giver that was to become widely accepted. He depicted a rotound Santa for Christmas issues of Harper's magazine from the 1860s until the 1880s. When Nast was asked to illustrate Moore's verse for a children's book, he showed us a softer, kinder Santa who was still old but less stern than the ecclesiastical bishop St. Nicholas. He dressed this elfin figure in red and endowed him with human characteristics. Nast added such details as Santa's workshop at the North Pole and Santa's list of good and bad children.

In 1931, artist Haddon Sundblom added the final touches to Santa's modern image and the legend. On billboards and advertisements for Coca Cola, Sundblom featured a portly, grandfatherly figure with human proportions and a ruddy complexion. The elf of Moor'es poem was replaced with a human sized, exhuberant, twinkle-eyed Santa Claus.

In the modern version of the Santa Claus legend, only Santa's toy shop workers are elves. There is also a ninth reindeer - Rudolph - who has a shiny red noes, who was introduced in 1939 by Montgomery Ward.

There is no going back, no untangling: Santa Claus was Sinterklaas; Sinterklaas was St. Nicholas. The giving and receiving of gifts turned into an integral part of the season when Sinterklaas was anglicized to Santa Claus, and the two became one in the popular legend, a symbol of the generosity of the Christmas Spirits.

Courtesy of Santa Claus: A Legend in the Making

Wordless Wednesday - All I want for Christmas is...

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