Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

On Wednesday night, I realized that I have virtually no experience in how to engage young boys in a task. Until last May when I acquired some through marriage, I had no nephews [also no nieces,but not applicable here]. My brothers are not that much younger than me--5 years difference at most. And my immediate family was based thousands of miles away from any young cousins, male or female. Basically, the only qualification* I have to be a Den Mother is that I'm female. It's hard to be Den Mother if you're not female. For the past several weeks, our Den meetings have just been me, my husband, a guy named Zach, and our sole Webelos scout Spencer. Spencer is a good kid, and the first month we were teaching first aid. Hey, I'm a nurse. I got this. Then another scout showed up, one who was not as interested in health algorithms. Mostly I would look at him and ponder what the heck I should do. Fortunately, we switched to athletic lessons. And abruptly had 3 more sco

It's a normal day in the Swenson household (est'd 2016) with Mark and me looking for snacks in the kitchen, when I pull out an applesauce pouch to eat.  Perhaps the package said "Mix well", or maybe I just thought it needed a shake-up, but I knead the pouch for 10 seconds or so--and Mark starts giggling. At which point I realize that when I started to squeeze the pouch, I started a "wee-bee-wee-dee" sound. I wish I could say this is an anomaly, but as I type this post, I moved my laptop and made a creaky "earrr-Ip" sound. When I rinse dishes, a "shwish" escapes my lips. Most of this I'm doing subconsciously, so I am having a hard time creating a translation dictionary for "Sadie Sounds." But Mark is getting the hang of it.