Learning lessons from Cub Scout Popcorn

This year, we've embarked on a new adventure: Cub Scouts.

After five years of being drug to his sister's Girl Scout activities and three years of the Tag Unit at Girl Scout camp, my little guy is bent on being a Boy Scout. 

Who could blame him? Add the fun of Girl Scouting with Zoom Zookas (or whatever they're called), more campouts and archery, and I have one excited Tiger Cub.

He came home one day from school telling me that Cub Scouts "camp out on the football field and the basketball court and the baseball field and the soccer field and eat popcorn."

Ahh. Popcorn. The  bane of my existence.

Note that I hadn't fully recovered from the disaster of last year's cookie sales, where the co-leader and I, along with our daughters, were stuck with weekend after weekend of cookie booths picking up the slack of the rest of the troop.  I literally dreamed of cookies for eight weeks.

And now we had two kids in scouting. It made me feel more like this:

The reality is our financial situation means that if we want to participate, we're going to have to pimp popcorn. And it's not a simple sell, even with the world's cutest Cub Scout (not that I'm biased).

However, I have a little guy who is quite motivated. If we hit the goal, he earns enough in his account to go to Cub Scout camp instead of just Girl Scout tag units next summer. Oh, and apparently there's a prize for that level of a bow and arrow too.

You have to work to make dreams reality.

My Tiger Cub is learning that goals aren't always easy to achieve. He walked his street yesterday, only to sell $10 worth of popcorn. He sells at the church popcorn booth after many services, and gets more "no's" than "yes's." 

Cuteness may help, but it doesn't always get your way.

My Tiger Cub isn't always eager to go out, but he's learning that if we wants to make camp and this bow and arrow happen, it's going to take work. Not just mom taking a sheet to the office, but actual work on his part.

And at 6 years old, that's not a bad lesson to learn.

And yes, my disclaimer, if you're truly without a Cub Scout to help, we'd be happy to assist! Here is the order link.

DIY Darth Vader Pinata for Star Wars party

A Star Wars themed party means bright plans for a soon to be six year old. The biggest wish on the list these days is a pinata.

Trouble was I couldn't find one, and even the generic pinatas were at least $20 to $25 in prices. I shuddered to think what I would be asked to pay (and would refuse to do so) for a Star Wars themed one.

I stopped at a party store that was going out of business and found two lowly pinatas left in the store. 

Trouble was they were Transformer-themed. A problem...until you looked at it upside down. Then I saw a striking resemblance to Darth Vader himself.

Six dollars later I presented the birthday boy with a task: We were going to make a Darth Vader pinata for the party.

We used a lot of leftover acrylic paint (both navy and black, I confess) to layer over the old design.

 Both sides were painted solid black.

Then we added silver paint to copy off an image of Darth Vader off the Internet. It got the 5 year old stamp of approval.

When it dries, we'll add a new cord or wire for the new top and fill it up.

The next challenge? Convincing my son we shouldn't hang a pinata from a Christmas tree!

This posted linked to the More the Merrier Mondays and Nifty Thrifty Tuesday.

Green Phone Booth: Putting my son out of work

Today at the Green Phone Booth, I'm writing about how to cut my 3 year old's career prospects. Check it out.

No beeping here

A word of warning to my family members who haven't done their shopping yet: No beeping, blinking, animated toys need apply.

Here's what we've learned in the week since the day care's Christmas party and a small family birthday celebration:

Out of a blinking, noisy dump truck, a noisy Thomas train, a Fisher Price dump truck (complete what's since been dubbed "Cool Guy" by the recipient) and a wooden truck, guess which toy won out?

The quiet one.

Yep, it's the truck and wooden horses sent from the grandparents that are the big hit. Those horses and truck have traveled around the house and back on a daily basis. The horses hang out at the kitchen table, climb into the crib, gallop on the hope chest and "neigh" the way across my bed. And yes, being in the hands of a now 2-year-old, they sometimes smash into one another as well.

Sometimes flash isn't as much fun!