Wait. I'm the new WHAT?

My boys made it all the way though cub scouts. About a year and a half ago, actually. And even though as a parent, cub scouts is about 347 times easier to figure out than boy scouts, when we went to our very last pack meeting ever, I still thought Whew! So glad that's done. I was beyond ready to leave every single bit of it behind and move on.

So... guess what my new calling is?

WOLF LEADER IN THE CUB SCOUTS!

Wanna take a guess on how I feel about that? Do you, do you?

Believe it or not, I am excited! Eight year old boys are made entirely of awesome, not to mention the fact that they are enthusiastic.

But despite their awesomeness, they can be a bit wild and crazy. Along with the excitement, I may need some "good luck" vibes sent my way.

First Day

This is Cory's first year at the junior high. It's Kyle's last year at the junior high. It's the first year it will be just Alecia and me at the elementary school. Anyone else feel like they are on a fast moving roller coaster, unable to get off? Before I know it, my kids are going to be the same age as me!

Which, let's face it: that'll be fun, too. Just like right now my kids are at very awesome ages. And I shouldn't feel bad that they won't be there for long, because the next ages will be awesome, too. But this is the only year they will be these ages, so we better do the annual tradition of First Day Pictures On the Front Porch.

First, a picture of the smiles they managed to find since Monday's post. :)



Then Kyle and Cory as they prepare to head off to the junior high together.


And now for Alecia, for the first time on the porch by herself.


And just to slow down that roller coaster for the slightest of minutes, and because it's always fun to see how things change when you blink, a look at the front porch pictures since I started this blog.

Last Year:



Two Years Ago:



Three Years Ago:


Gosh I love those kids.

Brain Storage Systems-- Illustrated!

So I have this theory about how our brains hold everything. Since a picture says a thousand words, and I know you don't want to read a several-thousand-word post, I decided to illustrate my point. Literally.

As you are going throughout your day, everything you experience and learn goes right in here:

It's not a huge container-- it fits exactly a day's worth of stuff. If there is anything you learned during the day, or any memories you really want to keep, you've got to pull them out of this bin and stick them into your brain storage system. Because while you are sleeping at night, the night clean-up crew comes along, preparing for the next day, and dumps it all into this:

This is a much larger container. It can fit a LOT of days' worth of memories. So if you forget to put something into your brain storage system that you really wanted to keep, you can go dumpster-diving in here and get it back.

You need to be aware of two things, though. First, your memory of where-to-find-the-best-pair-of-back-to-school-jeans might have gotten the memory of the-one-piece-jumper-suit-you-saw-someone-wearing-and-made-you-fear-they-might-be-coming-back-in-style spilled all over it. Second, all those new memories that get poured into this bin every night fall on top of all the other memories there, pushing everything down a bit. The ones at the very bottom get pushed out that tube, and fall right out of your brain. So you don't want to wait too long to go dumpster diving, or it'll be lost forever.

Okay, so once you pull out a memory you want to keep, you need to store it. Different people have different ways of storing this information. There are shelves lining the entire perimeter of your brain that you can store stuff on. Some people put all their memories into nice, organized boxes, with labels on the front so that when they need to pull out a memory of, say, how-to-multiply-fractions, they can go right to the correct box and pull it out.

When some people have memories they want to save, they sometimes grab the nearest container and stick it in there. Most of the time, that's perfectly fine, too. Other people don't use containers at all-- they just stick the memories all willy-nilly on the shelves themselves, and their brains resemble a hoarder's house. AVOID THIS AT ALL COSTS. Seriously, people. Using a plastic grocery bag is a million times better than just shoving the memories on the shelf itself.

Of course some memory containers are better than others. Take the laundry basket, for instance.

Sure, you can put lots of stuff in it, but when you're not looking, memories can slip out through those giant holes and fall right to the floor. Even the nice, neat, cardboard boxes can be an issue.

If you're not paying much attention to what's in that box, it can get water damaged. Or nibbled on by mice. Or torn. And memories can fall right out. (Yeah, I'm looking at you, rotted Trigonometry box.)

And if you don't notice that the memories have fallen out, the night crew sweeps them up and dumps them right back into here.

So make sure you label your boxes well, and keep checking on those ones that are really important! Otherwise you have to rely on being perceptive enough to know when to go dumpster diving, or those things you learned / experienced / loved might just be pushed out.

And that, folks, is my theory / advice for the day.

Yes, we can be taught.

Last year Kyle, Cory, and I used the highly unsuccessful Ignore-It-And-It-Will-Go-Away method of preparing for school, wherein we did not buy school clothes, get binders or other school supplies ready, or even get the junior high class schedule anywhere near the stuff that needed to go to school. Well, let it be said that we are three people capable of learning from our mistakes. (Alecia was capable of learning from our mistakes without actually making them herself. Yay Alecia!) This year, check us out.

We are prepared.
We are ready.
Tomorrow: BRING IT ON.
Tomorrow: We are going to knock you dead!

Well, maybe not knock you dead so much as show up at your door prepared.

School binders:
Loaded

Cory's summer math assignments:
Completed and in their folder

Schedules:
Firmly attached

School clothes:
bought, washed, and hung up

First Day outfit:
Laid out and ready to go

Smiling excited faces:Well.... Maybe we still need to work on that one.