Knots, Badges and wolves oh my!

Ok, warning, if you are a lover of all things scouting, please don't judge me! So its official, Parker is a CubScout, and more specifically a Wolf Scout, or something like that. We caved. Scouting is a big deal here and at our church. Most of Parker's friends do it, and have been doing it. But we previously withstood the peerpressure and remained steadfast in not scouting. You see, I don't have anything personally against the scouts, hello, I was a daisy, brownie and graduated to Girl Scouts. But really it is so not Ritchey and I. We are not into camping (although I'd like to be). Not into knives or rifles or dare I say, citizenship. I know, those of you who are, are like, oh  my goodness what non-productive members of society. I don't even know how to sew, so don't laugh if you see Parker's badges pinned on or hanging on by a thread of glue. But you see, 7 year old boys are really into all the above mentioned activities. And we are figuring out that just because we don't enjoy something doesn't mean we should deprive our kids from trying them out. Sophie is already exhibiting vocal skills, and I definitely have no experience there. Anyhoo, so last night we trekked up to the school to sign up. It was a bit chaotic, I had no idea what I was getting into and so had some questions. We paid our very minimal dues (one reason we we're up for it), bought our Wolf book that outlines all the super duper things we get to work on with Parker, and took my seat. Then in came the color gaurd and we went thru some flag cermony (this is where the eyes started to roll) like I said, I am not into this and just had to laugh at myself sitting there giving parker his ropes and standing for the pledge and salute. and soon I'll be teaching Parker his secret handshake, oath and salute! I'm also trying to figure out what the bare minimum of a uniform I have to buy is. The yellow scarf and gold scarf holder are non-negotiables but the belt buckle and cap are-phew! I think Parker is excited. He was willing to put basketball on the back burner, because I am still holding to my conviction that we will not have an activity every night of the week, and in between church and Ritchey's evenings meetings, and the fact that scouts is every week ALL YEAR! we are going to have to sacrifice some of the sports we were hoping to have Parker involved in. But Parker was given the choice and he chose Scouts. Of course it wasn't fair that they sent a teenager to his class all decked out with his badges to give testimony about how cool it is and that they would learn how to camp and shoot bb guns. Yeh, i was a sitting duck when parker came home with that news. But we will embrace this new phase in our life. And one reason we finally changed our mind is, this is the perfect age, scouting or not, boys this age till I dunno 10-11 are into all this kind of stuff, even my techie, non outdoorsman husband was a scout for a while, and actually his mom was their den mom, so we're talking legacy here! Ok, well I must be off, gotta read all about this great stuff in our wolf book and figure out how to get Parker to do it all. And even in my short reading of it last night, I've figured Ritchey will be the primary activity chairman, so if you see him out and about in his short khaki shorts, cap and neckerchief, just salute and keep walking!

Oh and lastly, one thing I am into, here is a pic of Sophie and her new fantastic on sale Gap shoes. I hesitated at the pink zebra shoes at first, but the sale sucked me in, and now I love them. What on earth will they match? Well the secod pic shows they will match just about everything!