Wolf Man

Derek joined Cub Scouts when he turned 8 last year and has come to thoroughly enjoy the program.  He has been incredibly lucky to have two well-prepared, always early, enthusiastic and fun scouting leaders in the Ravitch couple.  Although there are very few Scouts in our Stake, Derek continues to go faithfully each week and enjoys learning everything that Scouts learn!  A few weeks ago he earned his Wolf Badge at the Blue and Gold dinner.  Here are his Scout leaders presenting him with his award.I guess this is a scouting tradition, to also award the mom, but quite frankly, I did NOTHING to help him with this, other than wash his uniform and hot glue the troop numbers on the side and give him an occasional ride to church.  I think I ought to be a little more involved in the future.  My bad.  Anyway- I was awarded in front of everyone, and of course, the moment I sat down I realized I was wearing a dirty sweater that had been previously slimed by Brooke:  ketchup on the sleeve, some unidentified substance down the front- it was great.

 Then Derek and his "troop"sang a really cute song they learned together.   These two boys represent all the wards in our stake except for one.  Sad.

The theme was Rodeo Round-up or something of the sort.  It was very cute and they had a rodeo pen set up in the middle of the floor for the boys to play some rodeo games, like roping a PVC pipe cow, tossing their hats on a cactus, etc.

They finished up with a relay between all the scouts that were present.  Derek's team won 3 times in a row!   We are so proud of Derek and his hard work.  Now it's on to the Pine Wood Derby!

And of course Brooke and Carissa were thrilled to be there!

Refugio, My Favorito

We spent three glorious, warm, sunny, laid back days at Refugio State Beach, just north of Santa Barbara, over President's Day Weekend.  After selling the pop-up last Spring, we opted to rent a motorhome for the trip and met up with Grandma and Grandpa for the trip.  

 Pancakes and hot chocolate in the trailer were a fun way to start each morning, of course!

Broke was even kind enough to let Grandpa hold her...briefly.

 The first day was warm and sunny, and we spent most of it out on the beach playing volleyball, football and digging.

 The Wilson boys came down for the day, too!  I have a feeling that the head dipping resulted from something Grayson did.  Silly boys!

 Kyle enjoyed bouncing the ball off of Derek's head.

 Later on we hit the bike trail which runs between Refugio and El Capitan State Beach, which is just a few miles north.  It runs along the coast and parallels the train tracks for an up and close sighting of the trains that run by.

 The kids were off like a shot and left this momma on roller blades in the dust.  Wasn't too long ago that we had to practically pull them along to finish any bike ride.  Now we have to holler for them to wait up!

 There may or may not have been a fair amount of screaming coming from the stroller.  She was tired and hungry and didn't want to sit in there!!

 El Capitan has lovely coastline, as well, and a little nature trail.  We found this cool tree in the midst of beautiful greenery.

 This bungee swing was struggling, though.

 I think Derek was in heaven the whole time.  Running, jumping, throwing, riding, climbing, sliding, etc. with Grayson following the whole time had him thrilled...and very exhausted each night.  Nothing like a tired and whining, dirty, sugared up 8 year old boy!

 El Capitan

 Brooke was more interested in chewing Lee's hat.

 The boys throwing rocks at stacks.  Pitching practice?

 Carissa jumping around the rocks.

 LAter that evening it was bath time in the motorhome, continuing in the tradition of kids being bathed in rvs.

 The 3 look-alikes on morning #2.

 After our pre-breakfast walk.

 Walking north along the beach.  We found lots of sea urchins and even rescued a starfish.

 Grandma and Grandpa

 Carissa on a retaining wall built in 1942 that has been partially washed away.

 That water is cold in February!  But it didn't stop ALL 3 kids from going under!

 Jumping waves

 Throwing and skipping rocks.  Grayson felt that his strength would enable  him to skip this boulder.  It was more of a skipping fail.

We all enjoyed the cozy campfires at night, with Grandpa telling stories about bears jumping in vans and past camping tips.

 And the ongoing Dodgers/Giants rivalry was strong as ever.

This about sums up what it's like to have Derek and Grayson along on a camping (or any) trip.  But they kept it lively and we can't wait to go back to Refugio!

I'm the Queen!

Here are a few glimpses of Brookie over the last month or so.  She is growing, growing, growing! (surprise)  And is now comfortably wearing 6-9 month clothes at age 4 months.  

 Pismo Beach during Thanksgiving.  This looks like an evening shot, but each morning while we were camping, Lee or I, or both, would get up early with Brooke and go walking in the morning hours while the others slept.

 Napping in a warm and cozy back bed in the trailer at Thanksgiving.

 Hanging out with her 2nd favorite person, watching the turkey fry.

 Sitting with Daddy.

 Really excited to wait AGAIN to pick up Carissa.

 Having a laugh in the ladies room at Macys whilst shopping .

Just being adorable at home in the kitchen.

Home Depot Christmas

Our Christmas tree search is a far cry from the outings through people's forested property of my childhood, or at least a trip to real Christmas tree farm where the trees were still growing, where we'd search and search and search and finally cut a tree, only to bring it home and find that it had some huge gaping hole in at least 75% of it.  I've romanticized those memories in my adulthood, but the truth is:  you just can't beat a Home Depot tree.   The chain linked-off section of the parking lot smells like a tree lot, the trees are really quite full, and the price??  You can't beat it!  PLus no one ends up covered in mud, and rarely does it end in a huge family fight.  So Home Depot is where we get all our trees, no matter that there is an element of "ghetto" to our outing, which this year included a giant painted mural of Santa, Mrs. Clause, the elves and even a couple of reindeer doing "Gangnam Style".  (If you are unfamiliar with that- youtube it)

 And thank you Grandpa for the use of your truck which made our entire outing the fastest it's ever been!

 Our plan this year was to pick up the first tree we saw, which is exactly what we did!  Truth be told, we did unbundle one other tree so that Grayson could use Lee's knife, but we bought the very first tree we picked up.  In and out in 10 minutes!

 A brief moment of brotherly love.

We had a festive evening of tree trimming, Christmas music and excitement as we ushered in the Christmas season!

Thanksgiving...A Little Belated

I volunteered to be the room mom for Grayson's kinder class.  Why, you ask?  Because no one else would do it!  It's actually been fun thus far.  Now that Brooke is a little more active, we'll see how it goes.  I was excited to plan a Thanksgiving feast for the class.  Once again, I hardly took any pictures, but I managed to get one of the simple fare we provided:  rolls, turkey, carrots, dip, apples, corn muffins, cookies, cupcakes, and my popcorn turkey!

 I spent hours cutting out little decorative pieces on the Cricut for the placemats you see pictured below.  I borrowed a cartridge from my scrapbook Queen friend with a Thanksgiving motif and put together little Indians, turkeys, the Mayflower, etc.  Then I copied one of Derek's old kinder poems and had the teacher put it all together as a laminated placemat.

 Then we made Indian (or Native American, to be PC) , vests and I came in one day to help the kids paint symbols on them  They each put together a headband, as well.

 As you can see, almost none of the kids wanted to dress up as Pilgrims for the feast ( I mean, would you, if you had such a sweet butcher paper vest to wear??), which is too bad considering I stayed up late at night laboriously cutting, folding and stapling Pilgrim hats, bonnets, collars, and aprons.  But not to worry- the kids had a wonderful time, and that is what I was hoping for!

 My favorite part of the feast was this turkey, however.  Two kids got to take the "drumsticks" home.  It was great fun for all, and now it's on to our Gingerbread Man party in a few days!