Tuesday, January 02, 2007

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Many thanks for your New Year's greetings and I in turn wish you all good health and much joy in 2007.

My apologies for not posting in a while. Of course there was our Christmas celebration where we had 22 family members over for a sit down dinner. Having survived that, we decided to push our luck. We hosted a small New Year's celebration - just appetizers and desserts - my favorite kind of meal!

For our final celebration of the season, I am very proud and happy to say my son will be receiving his rank of Eagle Scout at a Court of Honor ceremony this coming Friday. He has been involved in Scouting since he joined Tiger Cubs in first grade. I was one of two leaders for Den 4, meeting with the boys every week during the school year from second through fifth grade. The five Cubs in our den all stayed true to Scouting until they aged out at eighteen - four of them earned their rank of Eagle. The fifth, who marched to a slightly different drum, was not interested in attaining Eagle but has opted to "give back" to Scouting by becoming an Assistant Scoutmaster after turning 18. I am so very proud of all five of these Scouts, all of who I have watched grow up from youngsters into fine young men.

It is my job this week to make a scrapbook of my son's Scouting experiences, spanning his twelve years from Cub to Eagle Scout. We spent most of yesterday going through boxes of old photos, culling the better ones and pausing to reminisce over most; the Pinewood Derby competition, a trip to the Fire Department, camping in the mud, a visit to the local pizzeria to make a pizza lunch, making birdhouses at Home Depot, two weeks at BS camp in RI every summer, making toiletry kits for the homeless sheltered overnight at area houses of worship, cleaning up local beaches, the Philmont trek - and hundreds of other great experiences that make life interesting and worthwhile. Below are just a few of our old and treasured memories.


Our Tiger Cub marching in his first Memorial Day parade, down Main Street.



Den 4 excited to pose with the soldiers from a Civil War re-enactment.



Pinewood Derby time!

14 comments:

Linda@VS said...

It's nice to see you back, Sunflower. Your holiday celebrations sound wonderful (not to mention ambitious--a sit-down dinner for 22), and you must be so proud of your son. What a great way to begin a new year! Congratulations to him and to you, too.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year and congratulations to you and your son for making Eagle Scout! Your son's acheivement is a beautiful reflection of you!

Dr.John said...

What great memories. we had a son who became an Eagle scout. I wish we had made an albumn. Congratulations to your son.

Anonymous said...

Happy New Year and congratulations Sunflower. What wonderful memories captued by your camera, and how proud you must be. Sounds like you enjoyed the holidays to the full as Velvet says, a marvellous way to begin the year.

QUASAR9 said...

Hi Sunflower, Happy New Year!
Peace, Love, Happiness and All the best to you and your loved ones for 2007

Sunflower Optimism said...

Thanks to everyone for stopping by! I'm heartened to see my friends haven't abandoned me, even though I've been a deadbeat blogger and haven't been able to post in so long. I wish you all good health and great joy in 2007.

Velvet - Christmas with 22 almost did me in! Galloped through New Year's, now racing on to Eagle Court of Honor. I almost can't wait until January 6th - except for my daughter will be going back to college then, so it will be a bittersweet day for me.

Thank you Mark - The reflection is not so much beautiful as of a nagging mom kicking her son in the pants every few steps, LOL. Ask the boy, he'll tell you!

Dr. John - it's never too late! Dust off those old boxes of photos and get to work! It sure would make a terrific birthday present for your Eagle Scout - once an Eagle, always an Eagle. The shops now have wonderful scrapbooking sheets with BS logos and sayings on them.

Sandy, thanks so much for your good wishes. Yes, I did keep my camera at the ready for all our Cub meetings, LOL. We owe the worldwide Scouting program to Lord/Lady Baden-Powell - beautiful idea they had and very dedicated to it. Will we be hearing about some of your holiday adventures soon? Are you still in a state of flux?

Quasar - wishing you nothing but bright and starry skies ahead (with an occasional rainbow or aurora for fun!)

Steppen Wolf said...

A very Happy New Year to you, your sons and the family. Nice to see your postings back on-line...
I used to come by often, but due to the paucity of posts from this blog, I would wonder what was happening - but I guess Christmas and New Year keeps all of us busy. Hope this year is better than the last and we see an end to some of the violence happening around various parts of the world..
Thanks a ton for commenting on my artworks and letting me know how they look...

Anonymous said...

Congrats to you and your Eagle Scout, Sunflower. You have every right to be proud! Glad to hear your holidays were fun filled ones.

Sunflower Optimism said...

Sunil, thank you for your patience and for not giving up on me! It has been a hectic few weeks. Although I am not a prolific write, I do try to crank out at least a post a week. Pending some possible good news, I may have a new post on Tuesday ;-) Hoping 2007 is a better year for the world, also.

Thanks for the good wishes, Jackie. The "trail to Eagle" as they call it, has been a long one!

The Rev. Dr. Kate said...

GReat pics! I remember the Pinewood Derby with my brother. The reason I haven't signed Josh up is that there is no way that a single Mom can manage the derby - and his older brother could only add duct tape! Not particularly aerodynamic. I am so happy for you all - can't wait to see the pics!

Sunflower Optimism said...

Rev. Kate it is kind of silly when you think of it, to give a 7 year old a hunk of wood and a knife and tell him to go at it. Of course parents are going to help a little - unfortunate that some would be fanatical over it, laboring for weeks on the "perfect" design. Who is really the winner, in that case? What has the child accomplished? Not quite the point of Cub Scouts!

PS - Are any of Josh's aunts or uncles good with tools? ;-)

Dave said...

Yes you must be very proud of them all. I bet you had great fun going through the old pictures and your son will no doubt treasure the album and relive the memories.

Anonymous said...

What an amazing accomplishment Sunflower! You've just got to be so proud of your son. I teach financial management to young men working toward that goal and know it is not easy. I've missed you, glad you're back!

Sunflower Optimism said...

Yes, Dave - keep taking pictures because they are great to look through, years later. Thanks for stopping by - I've been so delinquent lately - still recovering from the holidays and all the prep work for Eagle ceremony!

Kat, so you know getting Eagle entails LOTS of work. My son has my shoe prints on his backside, kicking him along every few steps, LOL. He actually thanked me and said he would never have gotten it done without a healthy dose of nagging.