An Eagle Scout!

Okay, so I've been hearing for years how much work it is to put on an Eagle Court of Honor. I'll admit that part of me thought, "yeah, yeah." I thought the Eagle Project was where all the work was. But, hello.

PUTTING ON AN EAGLE COURT OF HONOR IS A LOT OF WORK!

Now, we did hurry things up so that we could have the Court of Honor while family was in town. The timetable did add to the stress, but maybe it was also good to condense the stress instead of having it drawn out? I don't know. What I do know is that it was a LOT of work.

Taking pictures, choosing pictures, printing pictures, mounting pictures, buying supplies, copying, laminating, buying this and that, making tablecloths (thank you, my dear friend Mari!), ordering a cake, buying and preparing food, rounding up all of the scout memorabilia from the past 8 years, thinking up displays, making this, making that, invitations, programs, assignments, the slide show, on and on. But Aiden worked so hard to get here and I wanted to really showcase his efforts. And Aiden is the very first Eagle Scout anywhere in our family, both sides, that I know of! (Dylan almost made it! He was a Life Scout and only had his project to do when he moved to his Dad's.) So, this was big!!

These display boards that I worked on for several nights til all hours may not look like much, but they took so much time! Going through all the pictures from the past eight years to find every scout picture I could of Aiden and then having them all printed at Costco, some enlarged, and then deciding what should go on the boards, mounting them, remounting them (like three times when every adhesive I had kept failing, grrrrr....) But I loved the final product. It was also incredibly emotional, seeing my boy grow up in these pictures of things that feel like they were yesterday. My time with him left at home is short! I hate it! Lots of tears were shed putting this together, remembering my little boy.

Very few scouts ever attain the rank of Eagle. It really is an honor that will bless Aiden's life forever. I'm so proud of him. I'll let the pictures tell the story of the night.

(And I was so grateful to have the help of Nate's family there! Huge blessing!)

These three have grown up together. They were cub scouts together and now they are achieving Eagle. Travis, it's almost your turn!

Aiden's current and former Scoutmasters, who happen to also be the fathers of the two friends above.

Aiden asked Nate to be one of the speakers, talking about how earning his Eagle has helped prepare him in life.

Conor was included in the Color Guard.

Such a proud moment!

Finally, I get that Mother's Pin!

My sweet Dad. But there were lots of other wet eyes that night too.

Someday it will be this little scout's turn.

Taking the Eagle Scout pledge.

All the other Eagle Scouts reaffirm the pledge. (Nate and his father!)

Lyndsay, Nate, and Hannah.

Thank you to everyone who was there to help us celebrate and honor Aiden. This has been a monumental effort getting to this point and so many have helped him get here.

What a great night it was, and now it's DONE!