Rank advancement

Kent in his new role as Cub Master.

My pup got a new neckerchief slide.  It is a Keen sandal.  I got this key chain years and years ago when I was in downtown Portland with my 'Couve girls.  The Keen store had just opened and they were giving away these key chains.  It just so happens it makes a damn cute slide. 

Grandma Phillips and Ellie paying close attention to Kent.

This is when Brayden was called up to get his prizes for being the highest seller for honey AND camp cards.  Thank you to all who bought some and supported him.  He more than doubled everyone's sales with $1500 of total sales.  Look out world, this boy is determined!

His prizes, a nerf shooter thing and the coveted camel back backpack.  (Kent was able to return the one we got at Costco).  :)  He wore that backpack for the rest of the night. 

Paco transitioning his role as cub master to Kent.  It was a very sweet, heartfelt speech.  Paco will be missed and Kent is nervous about filling those big shoes, but I know he will do great!  We may have to call Paco back in to do some bum shaking, dancing and singing with the boys, I don't know if Kent will be able to come out of his shell that much.  :)

Brayden's rank advancement.  He officially earned his Wolf!  What a fun year!  Next up some geocaching, BBQ and family camp!

Surprise Birthday Trip

This was a hard birthday year, 35!  (How did this happen, I don't feel that old).  Luckily, my fabulous husband made it a little bit easier with a much needed surprise getaway!  He told me the Friday before my birthday that I needed to take Wednesday off from work.  Then slowly I finally got enough information out of him that I really needed to get Wednesday through Saturday covered.  This meant I had to reschedule or cancel my clients, let Brayden's teacher know that I wouldn't be in to volunteer and I had to get someone to take over my soccer coaching duties.  I have to say, I was so excited and surprised, and I did my very best not to let my type A personality take over and freak.  Saturday morning I got up and tried to reschedule my clients, that wasn't overly successful, but everyone was excited for me and very understanding.  Thankfully, my amazing baby-sitter, Maya, is a soccer player and offered to coach our double header games on Saturday.  Yep, of all the weekends to be gone, it was the double header weekend.  Lastly, my favorite MIL was watching our children (but Kent had that all worked out).

As the days passed I was getting a little anxious, not knowing where I was going, or what to pack.  Kent is the BEST secret keeper that I have ever met.  I tried to trick him into answering my questions, but he didn't crack one bit.  Finally an hour before we left for the airport (I didn't even know if we were flying or driving), he told me we were going to LAS VEGAS! 

YIPPEE for sun and relaxation!

The M&M store that we visit on each trip.

KA was an amazing Cirque du Soleil show.  I highly recommend seeing it, if possible!

We stayed at the beautiful Mandalay Bay Resort, it was quite swanky for me.

This is when I hit BIG MONEY!  I doubled my money to $10!  This was a pretty big deal, I usually never gamble. 

Soaking up the rays at the beach/wave pool at Mandalay Bay.  It was heavenly!  I have been dreaming about this place ever since I got home.  It was the perfect temperature and the water was warm!

We made the obligatory trek to In-n-Out.  It tasted mighty good, who wouldn't take a trek for a burger, fries and shake?

A nice local took this picture (it's the only one of us together) at the Wynn resort.  We were buying our tickets to Cirque du Soleil, La Reve.  It was crazy, good.  They are comparing it to "O," most of the show was done in the water.  It was pretty much indescribable.

It was a lovely 4 days of relaxing, laughing and re-connecting with my best friend.  Thanks for the best 29th birthday yet Kent!

WTH

I will post about the fabulous trip that I just got back from soon.  But right now I want to vent about the reality of today that slammed me in the face.

First of all, I LOVE my job.  I feel very fortunate to work part time from home and help children.  But today was a day that made me want to quit.  It was nothing drastic, just dealing with people (parents).

It was a day where my schedule got  messed up (and I never like that).  I had 3 out of 6 of my clients cancel this morning, which was fine.  When I know ahead of time, I can plan my life, and I like to plan.  Having this information ahead of time allowed me to schedule in an hour long bike ride, which makes me super happy. 

This afternoon I had a no show client, which is the third time in the last two months.  Not only did they no show, but it is a client that I see for an hour.  This means I am LOSING money because I am paying a baby-sitter to be here while I am supposed to be working.  Again, not the first time this has happened.  After waiting for a half an hour and no response to my text, I did some paperwork.

My next client that showed up, (I see both of her daughters, so they are here for an hour) brought a box with TWO hedgehogs in it.  What The Hell?  As a side note:  This is also the client who brought 3 loft house cookies into my house (the super yummy, crumbly, messy kind) and said, "Eat those in here, I don't want a mess in the car."  WTH?  I had to vacuum my whole basement when they left.

Back to the hedgehogs, they were in my waiting room for an hour, how many poop pellets am I going to find?  Anyone who knows me well, knows I am NOT an animal person.  I was so caught off guard when she arrived, but I now have a million responses that I could have said to her.  For instance, "It's a beautiful, sunny, 80 degree day, why don't you take those outside?"

Does no one have common sense or courtesy anymore?

And to round off my day, my last client also did a no show.  I get that it is 80 degrees out, but could you at least call and let me know that you aren't coming?  Probably didn't need a baby-sitter for the one hour that I actually worked this afternoon.  errrggg.

I am done venting, we are off to play some soccer in the sunshine!  :)

Whirl Wind Weekend!

We had another wonderful, crazy-busy weekend.  It started with soccer Saturday!  The girls played against a tough team, and half of the girls on my team got hurt.  Ellie fell and someone stepped on her hip, which caused  lots of emotional drama, but she turned out to be ok.  Dani was playing stellar defense and took a line drive shot in the face.  The biggest girl on the other team shot the ball harder than I have ever seen a six year old kick.  Dani just so happened to be in the line of defense and the ball slapped against her cheek and made that horrible splatting sound.  She was down for the count, but recovered fairly quickly.  I was very proud of my tough little girls.  There were a couple of goals in there too.

Brayden's game was next and he came out hard and strong!  He scored 4 goals.  Kent took this picture after he got a hat trick.  Brayden was just a wee bit proud!  :)

Oh my gosh, I should have dedicated a whole post to my boy's hair, but I didn't take pictures.  Thursday  night I decided I needed to trim Brayden's hair, it was sticking up on top in the back.  I grabbed our razor and put the guard on.  I started to cut his hair and he jerked forward.  I instantly started laughing (inappropriately of course) .  I think I nicked off some skin.  Now he was standing there with a big bald spot on the side of his head.  I said, "Oh my, you're going to have a hair cut like Dad."  Luckily my boy is somewhat laid back and just started laughing with me.  So I kept cutting and it kept getting worse and worse.  We were practically rolling on the ground, we were laughing so hard.  Finally I stopped and called Kent in.  He just looked at me and asked, "Why can't you just take him to a barber."  In my defense I said, "It was just going to be a trim."  It took Kent nearly 30 minutes to try to repair my damage.  As you can see, there's not much left to B's head.  I told  him  I would write a note to his teacher to let her know that he has to wear a hat for a while.  (I didn't thought).

When he got home from school Kent and I both asked him separately, "Did kids make fun of you?"

He said, "No, why?"  Man I love that boy!

 After the soccer games we went for a walk and the girls rode their bikes.  I can't believe how big they are, their bikes are too small for them.  We are at the top of the weee hill here.  I used to have to hold onto their shirts as we slowly made our way down the hill.

 Now they are RACING down it.....excuse me while I wipe away a few tears.  What in the world happened to my babies?

Our wonderful baby-sitter, Maya, stopped by on her way to prom with her boyfriend, Jimmy.  How cute are they?  Maya is absolutely gorgeous!  To top it off, her teacher nominated her for prom court jester.  :)  Which I think is so awesome, it shows what a great personality she has.  Maya was a bit embarrassed, but I think it suited her perfectly!

We had a BBQ with our friends, Chris and Jackie and their boys.  We made another attempt at Woofums!  I think by the end of the Summer we will have the art of it perfected.  Golden brown on the outside and not doughy in the middle.  We had quite a few charred biscuits with raw dough in the middle this time around.

Jackie assisting Ellie, trying not to let the woofum slide into the fire.

Chris and a perfected Woofum.

Gavin made a smart choice and stuck to a S'more.

Ellie with some Woofum remnants.

Brayden on his fourth snack.

Dani, ready to roast.

Kaiden so full of Woofums he had to take a break.

After this wonderful night, Kent made it even better.  He surprised me by telling me that he is taking me on a surprise trip for my birthday!  We leave on Wednesday and come back on Saturday.  I don't know if we're flying  or driving.  All I know is that it will be warm, I can't wait!  I am trying desperately not to let my type A personality take over and stress.

I woke up the next morning and e-mailed my 12 clients that I am going to miss on Wednesday to let them know the news.  I was only able to reschedule 4 of them, but everyone was happy for me.  I really do LOVE my job!  And my wonderful baby-sitter, Maya, who  happens to be an awesome soccer player (this may be another reason why I love her to death), is taking over my coaching responsibilities for our double headers this weekend!

Most importantly, thank you to my FAVORITE mother-in-law for watching our children.  I am so lucky to have such amazing people in my life, I am so grateful!  This is will be the best 29th birthday yet!  :)

Touchy Feely

I adore my husband, especially today, when I think about him I can't help but smile and giggle a little.  Here is why:

I can't remember if I have shared the news in my blog that Kent has officially taken over Pack 464 and is now the Cub Master.  What does this mean?  (I had no clue just a mere few months ago).  This means that he is in charge of the entire pack, all 5 dens: tigers, wolves, bears, webelos 1 and 2.  This means that he oversees the leaders and all 54 scouts.  Yeah, that would be a BIG no thank you for me. 

BUT Kent is a leader that is able to listen, delegate, organize, make decisions and make changes when needed.  Already, only a few weeks in, he has done an amazing job of stepping into his new role without stepping on toes.  He has had to expand his little, personal bubble and TALK to new people.  After almost 13 years of knowing my best friend, it is almost unbelievable to watch him transform into this outgoing man.  I am loving it,  which means I need to put my patience threshold into check when our life is becoming consumed by scouts.  As you know,  patience isn't my strong suit.  It has been a sharp learning curve for both of us.

Which brings me to last night.  It was one of Kent's first parent meetings.  He did a great job of getting prepared, meeting with the assistant cub master and making and typing an agenda for everyone.  He was on a roll, and then 3/4 of the way through the meeting he was discussing the upcoming pack BBQ.  Who needs to bring what, who is going to lead different activities, when he says:

"We have some touchy, feely activities for the boys to be involved in." 

Oh wow, I was instantly cringing, mortified for him, but when I looked around EVERYONE was snickering and trying to cover their laughter.  Apparently, Kent didn't even know what he had said until he saw me cringing.  In his head, he told me he was thinking, "We have some lame, wimpy, games for the boys to play."

Holy hell, of all things, the new cub master probably should not be talking about touchy games for boys.  Luckily, most people have gotten to know Kent and laughed it off.  I will keep you posted on if he gets ousted.  :)

Hard Core Salesman

My pup has been working away with his Dad.  Kent and Brayden are earning their way to Cub Country Camp.  Each scout's target is to sell $450  worth of honey or Camp Cards.  I thought it was a ridiculous expectation and I was prepared to shell over the money that wasn't earned.

HOWEVER, my boy has sold 55 camp cards = $275.00
and 83 honey products = $913.00

AND he is not even finished.  He is determined to sell the most so he can be in a drawing for a camel back backpack.  Kent and I are so proud of him, little does he know, we picked up a camel back at Costco today for $30.00, just in case his name isn't chosen.

Look out world, my boy is a determined, hard working, salesman.  He was so embarrassed when he told me how girls and women would comment, "Oh let's buy something, he's so cute!"

Work what your Mama gave you!  :)

TF

Dani lost her first tooth, finally!  It was dangling for weeks!  It was so ready to come out that, the grown up one is already in.  We called her "sharky" because the new one was all lined up and waiting forever. (I never knew, but Kent says, sharks have rows of teeth, once one set falls out the next set is ready to go).

Thank you to Jeromy Dixson for his professional help while I was in a slight panic!  FYI, I guess this is kind of "normal."  Unless your child is in pain, it doesn't need to be pulled, just wait it out.

She even left the Tooth fairy a sweet note:

Dear Tooth Fairy,
Please write back.
Love,
Dani Phillips