More Scrub Scrouts

When we were switched into the new ward and Mark was called to be in the Bishopric and tasked with filling almost every calling from scratch, I told him, "Feel free to call me to be Cubmaster. I was only in the calling a year, and since it's takes about a year to figure it out, I finally feel like I know what I'm doing! Plus, I already have the whole year planned out. Plus, we have one, almost two, boys in the program, and I want to make sure it's excellent. I doubt there's anyone else asking for this calling, but if there is, they're welcome to it!"

I know it's not typical to ask or volunteer for callings, but Cub Scouts seems to be an exception. And if you're wondering, no one else was vying for the position. 

It's been a bumpy road getting Cubs up and going while the ward is simultaneously trying to get every other Church program and auxiliary up and running, but we are finally hitting our stride. In the meantime, we've had some pretty great Pack Meetings and activities. 

In January we teamed up with our old ward and had a professional magician come do a performance! He said he doesn't usually do pro-bono events, but he was a cub scout when he was a kid, so he has a soft spot for the program.

It was a fun and funny night. The highlight of the evening was when he invited a scout up who had a birthday that night, and did a magic trick where he made a birthday cake appear!

February was our Blue and Gold Banquet. We decided to do a Lego themed night.

 

For our main activity we played Lego Minute-to-Win-It games, which were highly entertaining. I don't have any pictures of the games because I was too busy mc-ing, but this is a good time to point out that Aubree has continued her role as (unofficial) Assistant Cubmaster. She's a huge help at pack meetings!

In March we had our cake decorating contest. The theme was "Cubs in the Future." This activity is always a big hit because they get to eat the cakes at the end of the night!

Bryce decided to make a space portal cake.

He discovered that frosting a cake is a lot harder than it looks! Aubree watched over his shoulder wishing that she could decorate a cake as well.

While we were still trying to wrangle ourselves some den leaders, I had the chance to help out in a few den meetings. One night some ambassadors from the Guide Dogs for the Blind came to give a presentation to the boys. It was great to learn more about their program and of course the boys loved getting to pet the puppies afterwards.

Last night we had our Pinewood Derby. We teamed up again with 3 other wards to do the track set up and decorating (though each ward runs their own races staggered over the weekend). Our ward was in charge of helping with the decorating. Reluctantly, I offered to use the skills I learned helping my mom with her balloon decorating business (I really hate the smell and feel of balloons).

 

Happily, the balloon columns did turn out pretty well.

 

Since we spent the day preparing and decorating, we ended up with McDonalds for dinner before Thane's pre-race soccer game (interesting side note: though Bryce and Thane are only 2 years apart in age, they will never race together because of when their birthdays fall).

 

We invited the Activity Day girls in our ward to join us, so we had a big turnout (well over 20 racing cars). With the exception of a near disaster when the track wouldn't work (that was a looooonnnngggg and stressful twenty minutes), it was a fun night of racing. Afterwards, a someone pointed out, "Nobody cried! That makes it a successful event!"

The girls came to compete! Bryce got 3rd place in the 10/11 year old category. He was disappointed he didn't do better in his final Pinewood Derby, but he enjoyed the process and was happy with his arrow car.

 

Maybe by the time Graham is on his final Pinewood Derby Mark and I will have figured out what we need to know and do to help make a successful race car (but... don't hold your breath).

Thane turns eight and starts scouts next month!