Christmas Ornaments: More Kits

Michaels has such a great selection of Christmas craft kits at great prices that I cannot resist purchasing them. I give them away, the grandchildren make some, and still I have too many. Here's what the children chose to make this year:

Cub Scout Carnival

Wednesday evening was the annual Cub Scout carnival. The children were excited to go because they had good memories of last year's carnival. Kara was baffled by their enthusiasm because the carnival is a real low budget affair with activities like a bean bag toss and a fishing pond. There was no cake walk this year, but there were a cotton candy and popcorn machines! The kids enjoyed the event.

Sand Art

Last Saturday Jake was wondering around the house bored, looking for something to do. I played a game of cards with him and then I hauled out a sand art craft kit we've had for a couple of years. Jake wasn't wildly enthusiastic, but he was willing to give it a try. He picked out a bottle (second to the left in the photo) and started filling it with sand. Sand dust particles clung to the sides of the bottle which was very annoying, so Jake poured the sand out and I washed the bottle. It didn't help at all; the dust still clung to the sides of the bottle, but now in addition there were fine water droplets. !!! This was not a high end sand art kit. 

Jake continued to work on the project, but with waning interest. Viva came over and (of course) was very interested, so Jake took a break and Viva filled two bottles (the two on the right). She would have filled the last one, too, but I said she had to give Bentley a chance. He said he wanted to try it and he filled the final bottle in the kit. Jake finished filling his bottle and we got to throw the kit box away. We have a little more space on that craft shelf now. YES! And the children were happy with their final products. That was good, too!

I showed the kids some online photos of sand art. There are some amazing bottled sand artists! 

I cannot comprehend how they make the intricate designs they do. Crazy!

Lincoln and Evan have their own sand to play with. It's called kinetic sand: 98% sand and 2% polymer. The ads claim it sticks to itself and not to you, but after the kids have played with it we find bits of it all over the table, chair, and floor, so it's not mess free by any means. They can mold it and it holds its shape which is nice. I think it's kind of freaky because instead of flowing like normal sand, it oozes in a most unnatural manner. Lincoln and Evan like playing with it.

"Disgusting!"

Recently Bentley was working on his last requirement to become a wolf in Cub Scouts. He needed to prepare a healthy meal for his family. Bentley suggested making waffles for the family. Waffles are currently one of his favorite meals. Since the waffles he loves are Eggo toaster waffles, we nixed that idea asking that he prepare something a little more difficult. His next idea was pasta, but again, not a difficult meal: boil water, add noodles, set timer, and then drain water (not something he can safely do).

I suggested he make ham and bean soup because we had a ham bone from our New Year's Evan ham. Great-grandma loves bean soup and we don't make it very often. After ensuring that he did not have to eat it himself, he agreed with my suggestion. I supervised while he rinsed the beans and put them on to boil. (Turns out we were suppose to boil the water and then add the beans, but who follows recipes exactly?!) 

He chopped celery and carrots and measured out spices. He used a mincing tool to cut the onion. After the beans had simmered in hot water for an hour, he added the other ingredients, including the ham bone. After all the ingredients simmered for another couple of hours, it was time to remove the ham bone and add the final ingredient, diced ham. When we lifted the lid off the soup pot to take the ham bone out, Bentley, our chef, commented: "That looks disgusting. Are people really going to eat it?"

He was totally serious. 

The soup was delicious and looked wonderful (once the disgusting ham bone was removed). 

Bob Cat!

Matt, Jake, Lincoln, and Bentley had the chance to attend a den meeting on Wednesday where Bentley received his Bobcat award.  He was a good sport about bobbing for apples and having his face painted (although he 100% declined a picture of that!) - and Jake, of course, is frothing at the mouth and ready to join scouts ALREADY!

Lincoln?  He was there for the desserts.

Good times!

B's Garden

On March 19 Bentley came home from cub scouts with five big red Solo cups labeled bean, pea (3), and squash. In the very bottom of every 5" high cup was a small Jiffy peat pot. Each pot had been watered and two seeds added. I found a plastic tray and we put the cups on the tray and placed the tray in our kitchen garden window. 

After a day or two I cut the cups way down so the sun could hit the peat pots. Within days plants emerged from the pots--the three peas, then the bean, finally the squash. Bentley checked on his plants (almost!) daily. It would have been easier for him had they been in a lower window, but the garden window was the best spot in the house for encouraging growth.

This photo was taken on March 28. 

Bentley and I had just repotted the plants because the roots were already sticking out of the peat pot. 

Here they are on April 9 just three weeks after planting. 

Bentley took this photo to his cub meeting to show off how well they were doing. He only showed it to the leaders though, so he didn't receive feedback from the other cubs on how their plants were doing.

And here's a photo taken last Saturday, April 19. 

If you look closely you can see flowers on the peas! 

Our garden window, the Alaskan sunshine, and Bentley's (and my) care are a very winning combo. Of course, we cannot transfer these plants outside until Memorial Day weekend which is still five weeks away. (That's the traditional weekend for planting in our area.) The squash needs a larger pot. I really don't think they should have grown so big so soon!

The Pinewood Derby: The Blue Bruiser

Bentley's pinewood derby car was finished on Tuesday night and Wednesday was the derby. Matt was in Barrow so opa took Bentley and Jake to the derby. 

Since this is the first pinewood derby that the children have attended, we did not have high expectations as to how B's car would do in the races. Yes, we read about how to build a fast car and Bentley followed the tips that he could given the materials he had. We had heard that one family in the ward always won the pinewood derby. They had a fast car design that they used with each of their five sons. They obviously knew more about derby cars than our family did.

Bentley, opa and Jake arrived on time to the derby. The first half hour was spent weighing the cars. We knew that a car could weigh up to, but not more than, five ounces. B's car was way under five before the lead was added and then it was a little over five ounces, so some wood had to be removed from the underside. After the alterations the car was exactly five ounces.

After weighing in the derby began. The cars were raced down a three lane track. There were nine cars at the derby and each car was raced sixteen times. The first heat that Bentley's car raced in, he went up against the boy with the fast car design. Can you believe it...B's car won! (We heard that there was a problem with the fast car's front bumper paperclip and adjustments were made thereafter.)

I did not attend the derby. I was home with Lincoln and Evan. Kara took Viva to gymnastics and then she drove over to check out the derby. She was quite surprised to find out that Bentley won the first six of his heats! Kara reported to me that Bentley was quite pleased with the results, but in a quiet way. Opa, on the other hand, was cheering loudly. Opa told me that Bentley became more animated as the derby went on.

When Bentley came home he reported to me how the race went: His car won all sixteen of the heats he raced in. He placed first in his den and first in the pack! Awesome! The race officials gave his car a name: The Blue Bruiser. Opa told me some of the heats were very close. We were all quite surprised. (But maybe we shouldn't have been? Opa has an engineering degree and google is a great source of information.)

Of course it was exciting to win, but this sets the bar awfully high for next  year and the next year and the next year…with four boys in the house we will be doing the pinewood derby for the next decade. 

FYI: This post was written by Grandma Julia, not Kara. We both started  posts on the pinewood derby. Kara had gotten as far as putting photos online and I had the text, so we combined our work. To give full due credit I must add that three of the photos in the post were taken by opa.

B's Pinewood Derby Car

We've known for a couple months that the annual Pinewood Derby was coming up and that it is a big deal, but Bentley did not start working on his car until this past weekend. Matt was in Barrow last week and he went again this week, so opa was asked to help Bentley create a car. 

The project did not get started until I got involved. I googled fast pinewood derby cars and was directed to the Boys' Life site. They had hundreds of photos of pinewood derby cars in all sorts of odd shapes: a dragon head, an octopus, a sarcophagus, an aquarium, R2-D2, a tongue, two fried eggs (?!?), and even Elvis. 

After looking at these cars, I had three thoughts: First: I can't believe these cars go fast. Second: Who knew there were that many good wood carvers in scouting?! And my final thought: Bentley should have started on his car weeks ago.

I moved on from looking at odd cars to reading the tips for making a fast pinewood derby car. As I suspected dragon heads and sarcophagi are not an optimal shape for speed. Also, when I showed the sarcophagus and dragon head cars to Bentley he said he was not interested in making a one-of-a-kind car. He wanted something simple. Yeah! I had Bentley read the tips for fast cars with me. The main point we learned is that a wedge shape is an easy way to create a fast car. Bentley said he wanted a wedge. That was good progress on the project: he decided on a shape.

We also read that you should bake your block of wood for 2 hours at 250 degrees to make it lighter. After you bake it lighter, then you make it heavier in the back by adding lead. Bentley asked us to bake his car. We did. 

On Saturday B and opa started the hard work on the project. They went over to a friend's house to have him help them turn B's block of wood into a wedge shape with his table saw. Bentley did the cutting with both adults providing assistance. Then B and opa came home and B used sand paper to make the surface smooth. Opa drilled holes on the back end and the underside and then opa, Matt, and Bentley went outside to use a propane torch to melt lead to pour in the holes. Given the tools needed to accomplish this step, Bentley did more watching than participating.

The next step was to put a layer or two of primer paint on the vehicle. This was done Saturday evening and again on Monday. After a few rounds of sanding and spray painting, the vehicle was ready for its final paint job. Bentley had gone to the store on Saturday and chosen the paint color: blue. Bentley and Opa took turns spraying the paint on.

The final step was to add the tires. The fast car tips we had read advised that you test a number of different nails for straightness and then you pick the best four. Our problem was we only had four nails--the ones that came with kit. B and Opa tested them using the power drill. They were not as straight as could be, but they were all we had. Bentley and Opa polished them a little, added wax, and then graphite. 

Hammering the wheels on to the car was a little tricky. As sometimes happens in projects like this, one of the axles (AKA nails) created a hairline crack in the wood when it was nailed in. Oops! Glue was added to strengthen that area, but there wasn't much else that could be done. (Maybe it's a good idea to hammer the axles in place before you do anything else (and then remove them)? If your block of wood cracks, you can replace it right at the start of the project.)

When Bentley was testing the car after it was finished he noticed that only three of the wheels rotated when he moved the car. I inspected the wheels carefully and saw that one of the wheels was a little higher than the others so it didn't touch the ground when the car moved. Score! I remembered reading on the tip list that you have less friction if only three wheels touch the ground. I told Bentley this was a good thing, not a problem.

Why 16? Bentley told us 16 is 2 times 8. 

Cub Scouts: Dragon Cake

For the annual Blue and Gold Banquet last Wednesday the younger scouts were asked to bring a cake or cupcakes that they decorated themselves. Kara was not excited about this activity so I volunteered to help Bentley. I asked him how he wanted to decorate his cake.

B: "With a dragon!"

me: "How are you going to put a dragon on a cake?"

B: "I'll draw it on the top."

me: "That's going to be difficult. Frosting isn't easy to work with to show fine details like those in your dragon designs. I’m not sure how to do it."

I've never taken any cake decorating classes and as this conversation took place the day of the event, it was too late for me to enroll Bentley and I in a class. Instead I suggested that he make a dragon shaped cake. I googled dragon cakes and easily found a kid friendly one.

Bentley approved the cake design and we got working. First we made the cake. Box cakes are easy to make, so B was able to do most of the work. He does not like cracking eggs, but there were plenty to practice on because we needed six eggs. We made two boxes of cake mix to insure a fluffy cake. (It was a little too fluffy and we had to cut the domed top off!) While the cake was baking I went to the grocery store to buy the supplies needed to decorate it. 

When I returned the cake was out of the oven and cooled, so we got to work. I handed B a knife and showed him the diagram for cutting up the two nine-inch cakes to form the dragon. He did a good job and soon we had our dragon cake ready to decorate. 

The next step was the hardest. Kara took two containers of premade frosting and added green food coloring (lots!) and then heated them in the microwave to the right consistency for pouring. B poured them over the cake and I spread the frosting. We had to keep heating and pouring and spreading. There was a lot of cake to cover.

When we were finished with the frosting the real fun started. B had a little help from his siblings putting sprinkles on the dragon. This was not indicated in the online design, but sprinkles came with the frosting and they were a good match for our frosting color so the kids sprinkled them on. 

Then B added eyes (marshmallows and chocolate chips), claws (orange slices), and spikes (chocolate covered graham cracker cookies). We worked together on the flames out of the dragon's mouth (a fruit roll-up).

I made the wings because B ran out of time. B drew me a design on paper and helped me with the first one and then he left to get changed into his uniform. I had to finish the second wing and mount them on the plastic netting (Gutter Guard). The plastic netting was my idea. It wasn't clear how the original cake designer had attached the wings (made from fruit roll-ups), so when I saw the netting at the store I grabbed it. When B came back downstairs I had him put the wings on the dragon. We weren't sure where to attach them--to the dragon's sides or back? B told me I had the wings curved the wrong direction. He could be right...I am not an expert on dragons. 

B's dragon cake was the most elaborate design at the Blue and Gold Banquet. I'm sure a lot of the parents attending thought some adult had done most of the cake, but other than the wings and spreading the frosting, B did the work. Of course, it helps that we homeschool and had the entire afternoon to work on it! (Viva was quite jealous of B's project. I promised her she could make a bunny cake for Easter.)

The New Boy Scout

Bentley started Cub Scouts this past week and he is very excited about it!  Last month we picked up a scout manual and he has been eagerly reading it.  In the LDS church boys start Scouts when they turn eight, so this birthday was a doubly awesome one for Bentley (making it doubly frustrating to Jake, who is just not too happy that he is not also eight... !!).

I'm sure he'll be a great little Scout.  He came home this past week showing me all the items he's already signing off in his book.  That's our oldest!