Saturday we met up with our parents in Waco and had lunch together then surprised the kids with a trip to the Cameron Park Zoo. The whole thing was actually a surprise for Brady for his birthday. 2 weeks ago we planned everything out that we would all meet at Luby’s and the grandparents would surprise him. The timing worked out beautifully and all the grandparents were waiting inside when we pulled up. We told the kids we were just stopping for a bit to have lunch then we had 5 more hours in the car. Yes, we are cruel, I know 
Brady’s face was so funny, he looked like he was thinking he was being set up or something. I think he was genuinely shocked to see them. We hadn’t told the kids anything about the day except that we would be driving somewhere fun. They had all sorts of guesses but never guessed we would be meeting the grandparents for an exciting day in Waco. The zoo was so much fun! None of us had ever been so it was exciting getting to check it all out. The kids had a blast and I think everyone else did too! Click on the link below to see the photos from our fun filled day at the Cameron Park Zoo.
Zoo Photos
Saturday was our annual Blue and Gold Banquet and we celebrated by throwing a birthday party in honor of the 100th year of Boy Scouts of America. This year as Bears, we were responsible for putting on the banquet, which was a major undertaking. I have the best den as everyone pitched in and pulled their weight to make this event happen. The night was wonderful, everything went perfectly and everyone looked like they enjoyed themselves. Saturday morning I met our den up at the church to get everything set up. We had to set up roughly 32 banquet tables and 240 chairs. Then since I was responsible for centerpieces and table decorations, I went to work with a couple of great helpers and got it all looking great. I couldn’t have done it without my awesome den moms and their daughters, who were so eager to help and got things put out correctly without me even having to give them instructions…so proud! That night the girls also headed up the ticket and check-in table and did a mighty fine job of it. Even though the day was very stressful trying to get things in order, it was fun being stressed out with my den parents. I really do have such a great group! After we rushed to get all 240 people served their dinner, we were able to sit down and enjoy the events. Each den was called up on the stage to be recognized with their badges. All ten boys who started out the year, graduated and got their badge…what an accomplishment! I think we might have been the only den that had all of their boys graduate. I am one proud den leader! The biggest moment of the night for us was when Brady won the category of “Most Campy” in the dessert contest. His face was priceless when he heard his name called, he was so happy and I was happy for him. We closed out the night by saying goodbye to our Webelos II scouts with the Arrow of Light Ceremony performed by a local Order of the Arrow troop, which is like the honor society of scouting. We also said goodbye to some great leaders including our current Cubmaster who will be moving onto Boy Scouts with his son. It was an overall wonderful night and was so happy that everything went as planned. I can’t wait to sit back next year and watch the new Bear parents do all the work!
Here are some photos from the evening
Tonight is our big Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet and every year we do a dessert contest. Brady came up with the idea to enter a cake into the category “Campiest”. He quickly, and very proudly, came up with the name “Crazy for Camping”. We sat and brainstormed on how we could decorate it and came up with some really cool ideas! Here are some photos from start to finish. We had so much fun being in the kitchen together, baking and getting messy.
***Since everyone was asking “how did you do that?” or “what are those made from?”, here is an explanation of the cake in detail.
I doubled a batch of white cake mix and baked it in a 13×9 pan with straight sides. Once it cooled i took a long knife and cut the top off to make it flat. I also used wax paper in the bottom so it would come out cleanly when inverted onto the base that I constructed out of cardboard and foil.
The whole cake was iced with green dyed vanilla icing, except for the stream which was blue dyed icing.
The trees are sugar ice cream cones smeared with icing then we took a knife and pushed it lightly all over the cone to make the “points”
The grass is shredded coconut dyed green then chopped up finely in a food processor.
The rocks ARE edible (that was the big talk of all the desserts!) They are just milk chocolate candies and I found a tub of them at Wal Mart on the candy aisle. They look almost too real, people were asking if they could eat them.
The tent is graham crackers smeared with orange dyed icing then leaned together with a stick pretzel for the top and supports.
The campfire is brown sugar for the dirt, chocolate covered peanuts for the rocks and stick pretzels broke in half for the firewood. The flame is just a dab of orange icing.
For the final touch we stuck 2 mini marshmallows on some stick pretzels
I don’t ever attempt stuff like this in the kitchen so Brady and I were both shocked we came up with this whole thing and actually pulled it off, haha!
After waiting patiently all winter for some snow, we finally got some today! Final reports say Round Rock got about 2 to 2.5 inches of snow and it was just enough to be able to get out and have some fun in it. I loved watching it come down hard all day but was sad that the kids were in school and not home. I thought about getting them out early, but I decided to wait because I knew it was going to continue. It had let up for an hour or so before I left to get them and was wishing it would start coming down hard again and as I was sitting in the pick up line, it did! The kids were super excited, talking 90 miles an hour and we couldn’t get home quick enough. They ran upstairs, threw on extra layers of clothes, got their jackets on and darted outside, straight to the trampoline. It was like a dream come true for them really. I had been telling them since we got the trampoline last summer that if it ever snowed, they could go out and jump and play on it. So many giggles, so many smiles. We didn’t stay out too long because the kids were soaked and cold but before we headed back inside we ran out front to make a snowman. I loved watching them go crazy in the snow, even if it wasn’t all that much, it was only the second time we have seen a decent snowfall since we moved here in 1998. And to top it off, it was Kacey’s first real snow! Here are some photos from our fun in the snow…
by krmac
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