It is not October 1st yet, so it is not our official start of our year, but it is our returning girls start. Last year we had a turbulent year. We lost a dad. A leader and child left. A girl came back. I am looking forward to the start of the new year to see where it will lead us.
This year, I said that I will take new girls. I said that I can take up to 10 girls in total. I have 4 coming back, so that would be 6 new girls. I don't think I will get a full troop. I am not even sure if I will get any new girls. 5th grade is a hard time to get girls interested. It seems like you have to hook them young. 5th grade is when they start to transition from girl to woman and numbers drop. I am hopeful but realistic.
Over the summer we did the "Not So Bummer Summer". I know that my own kid went crazy with it, and I am hoping the other girls did as well. I downloaded someone else's list and added a few that the girls wanted. We did a few at our end of the year party at the local amusement party, including riding the giant wheel and a silly string fight. The girls need 600 points to get the patch.
So what are we starting for the next year? I think we are going to start with the aMuse journey. I looked it over and I really like it. I think that I will be able to do the journey over a few months and also include the skill badges. We are going to start with role playing questions and either yarn dolls or paper dolls. Going to 5th grade I think I will do string dolls.
Monday, August 24, 2015
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Wilton Girl Scout Icing Kit
I first found this patch program on a Girl Scout Facebook page. I thought for sure that this was something that my girls would love to do. And then when I asked them for input on their year and they said baking and science, I got giddy thinking about it.
I ordered the kits last week, it took under 7 days for us to receive them. They cost 5.99 plus shipping. If you have a tax exempt number and order so many, you will get a discount on the kits. I tried to order them on line and had trouble so I had to call the 800 number. I explained what I wanted and what was wrong and I kid you not, I got transferred 4 times before someone was able to help me. When I finally got someone who could help me, the process was painless and quick.
I made a 8x8 inch cake for each girl. The weather here has been so cold that they are having delays in the morning. I let my daughter come with me to the store and pick out the cake that each girl would get. She wanted Blue Velvet for herself, picked out Pink Velvet, Marble and yellow for the other girls. We then went around to pick up the ingredients for icing. I debated on if I should get icing in a can or make my own. I thought with the sheer amount that I was going to need, it would be best to make my own. The recipe that came with the instructions seemed simple enough and with my big stand mixer, I figured it wouldn't take much time.
It turned out to take most of my day. I ended up making 5 cakes and over 8 batches of icing. I quickly iced the tops of the cakes white, so the girls could just decorate them once they had practiced their skills.
I went to color the icing and realized, I only had blue in the house. I texted a mom in the troop who is my new assistant leader and asked her if she had any color besides blue. Unfortunately her daughter was sick and would not be at the meeting that night. NO!!!!! I already made the cakes.
I tried to think of a way that she could participate in the meeting with out actually being there. I thought we could skype the meeting. I knew that she had tried Skype when her father was in the hospital. I ran the cake and kit over for her to do.
When I got there, she asked me if I had the time to just show her how to do it. Well I can not say no to a scout. It took us about an hour to do it and she had a blast. She is going to save her cake decorating till she gets the all clear from the doctor, this way her family can eat it too. I felt so bad for her because her fever kept her hands so hot she was melting the icing.
I got home from teaching Piper and did the finishing touches on the rest of it for the troop meeting. I got everything loaded into my car and headed over to the church. Unfortunately two weeks ago, my co-leader stepped back and decided that she needed a break and in the two weeks that followed, the doors to the meeting place have been locked when I got there. This week I was able to call the Pastor before any girl got there and I got my own key to the building. Now I will not be locked out again. Yay!! I think that moment when you know your meeting place is secure for the girls is a great moment for any leader.
One of the girl's mom works for a baker in town and agreed to help us with the kit. The girls were super excited to get started and get to work. They did so well, I was proud of them.
This was a lot of fun and the girls really enjoyed themselves. I would recommend this patch program for any troop Junior and higher.
Things have changed
In November I had touched a little bit on our troop situation where one of our girl's fathers was fighting a battle with cancer. Unfortunately he has lost that battle.
I knew that things were bad earlier in the day. He had a surgery and I was in daily contact with his wife. She had texted me to give me the update and said that she was taking her daughter to the hospital to visit and she would not be at scouts. We usually have meetings from 6-7pm and when my phone rang that night, my heart dropped. I knew what this call was, but that did not make it any easier. I knew that there were two ladies who I loved who were heart broken on the other end of the line.
The services for him were during our meeting time the next week, and I informed all the parents. Every girl and a parent were there for Piper. They sat behind her, rubbing her back and hugging her when she needed it. It was so touching to see how much these girls mean to each other. A sister scout was in pain and they were right there for her, no questions asked. The girls arrived at the start of the service and stayed with her until the end. For some of them, this was their first time at a funeral or memorial service.
That is what scouting is about. The bond fostered between girls, that is strong and supportive. It is not about cookies, chocolates or even camping. It is about girls and teaching them to love each other and building relationships that will last a life time.
I knew that things were bad earlier in the day. He had a surgery and I was in daily contact with his wife. She had texted me to give me the update and said that she was taking her daughter to the hospital to visit and she would not be at scouts. We usually have meetings from 6-7pm and when my phone rang that night, my heart dropped. I knew what this call was, but that did not make it any easier. I knew that there were two ladies who I loved who were heart broken on the other end of the line.
The services for him were during our meeting time the next week, and I informed all the parents. Every girl and a parent were there for Piper. They sat behind her, rubbing her back and hugging her when she needed it. It was so touching to see how much these girls mean to each other. A sister scout was in pain and they were right there for her, no questions asked. The girls arrived at the start of the service and stayed with her until the end. For some of them, this was their first time at a funeral or memorial service.
That is what scouting is about. The bond fostered between girls, that is strong and supportive. It is not about cookies, chocolates or even camping. It is about girls and teaching them to love each other and building relationships that will last a life time.
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Junior Aid part 3/ Lego movie
We were back to full capacity, yay! I am so glad that she got better quickly.
This meeting, our plan was to get some props made and for them to start filming the first part of the Journey video.
Well.... nothing ever goes according to plan.
My daughter started on finishing up her lego movie. We had done these at home, so she knew what needed to be done. And then I set the other girl up to finish her movie. I knew she was having trouble with the camera the whole time, and now I could actually see her problems. Nothing was in focus but since this was 2 weeks ago, I can not even begin to know what went wrong. I want to give her a chance to redo the video, just not sure when we would have the time. Maybe we can work on it at camp in January.
The girls were all give printed out "scripts" of the journey. We went over it really quickly with them, so that they can focus on what else was actually needed to get filming started. We needed flowers, backgrounds, a birds nest and a caterpillar. And they set off working.
If there is a theme with my troop it would be horrible time management because before we knew it, the meeting was just about over and we were not even close to being ready to film. I just do not think that we allotted enough time in our yearly plan for this project.
I decided to try to just film the introduction of the Journey and give the girls a chance to look over everything during the week.
This did not go so well. I was telling them that it is only an introduction and to be natural, but point a video camera at them and all of a sudden, I have 10 minutes of "bloopers". In the end, I asked the girls to know the introduction for next week so we can film it with out them reading from a paper. Hopefully we will be able to get the introduction and first part of the journey filmed next week.
I know that I am crazy, but I am hoping for the second part as well.
Lexy's movie
This meeting, our plan was to get some props made and for them to start filming the first part of the Journey video.
Well.... nothing ever goes according to plan.
My daughter started on finishing up her lego movie. We had done these at home, so she knew what needed to be done. And then I set the other girl up to finish her movie. I knew she was having trouble with the camera the whole time, and now I could actually see her problems. Nothing was in focus but since this was 2 weeks ago, I can not even begin to know what went wrong. I want to give her a chance to redo the video, just not sure when we would have the time. Maybe we can work on it at camp in January.
The girls were all give printed out "scripts" of the journey. We went over it really quickly with them, so that they can focus on what else was actually needed to get filming started. We needed flowers, backgrounds, a birds nest and a caterpillar. And they set off working.
If there is a theme with my troop it would be horrible time management because before we knew it, the meeting was just about over and we were not even close to being ready to film. I just do not think that we allotted enough time in our yearly plan for this project.
I decided to try to just film the introduction of the Journey and give the girls a chance to look over everything during the week.
This did not go so well. I was telling them that it is only an introduction and to be natural, but point a video camera at them and all of a sudden, I have 10 minutes of "bloopers". In the end, I asked the girls to know the introduction for next week so we can film it with out them reading from a paper. Hopefully we will be able to get the introduction and first part of the journey filmed next week.
I know that I am crazy, but I am hoping for the second part as well.
Lexy's movie
Junior Aid Part 2
This week one of our little ones was sick. And when you only have 4 girls attending troop meetings and one gets sick, it is kind of hard to continue as planned. When there is 10 girls and one misses, it will sound mean, but you don't really miss her presence. As in things can still get done. With a quarter of your troop is gone, it comes to a stand still.
The girls worked on their flower puppets and the script for the first part of the video. The plan was to have it all done so that we can work on filming the next week. The girls got right down to business and Miss B and I got right down to the business of cleaning out the supply closet.
I can not even begin to tell you how this closet bothered me. We would just chuck things in there at the end of the meeting, in order to get out on time. And it was a mess! Plus we had no clue what was actually in there, so I would be buying multiples of things. It took us 2 hours in total but when we were done it was beautiful! I loved it.
Now lets hope that it stays that way!
Since one of the girls who was sick was one of the ones who needed to finish their lego movie, we just pushed that off until the next week.
The girls worked on their flower puppets and the script for the first part of the video. The plan was to have it all done so that we can work on filming the next week. The girls got right down to business and Miss B and I got right down to the business of cleaning out the supply closet.
I can not even begin to tell you how this closet bothered me. We would just chuck things in there at the end of the meeting, in order to get out on time. And it was a mess! Plus we had no clue what was actually in there, so I would be buying multiples of things. It took us 2 hours in total but when we were done it was beautiful! I loved it.
Now lets hope that it stays that way!
Since one of the girls who was sick was one of the ones who needed to finish their lego movie, we just pushed that off until the next week.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
The Digital Photography Sleepover
While at camp this summer, I was talking with another leader and we had come up with the idea of having a sleepover for the girls in order to accomplish this badge. We had thought that it would be a great way for the groups to get together and we would be able to do it at once instead of packing up back drops and lighting equipment several times to get it done in the 1 hour meeting times. See in my other life, I am a photographer. I was looking forward to this badge and showing the girls what I do in real life.
We let the one of the girls pick the date for the sleepover and thankfully our host church was more than happy to let us stay over.
We got to the church around 6pm and the girls put all of their stuff in the nursery, where we would be staying the night.
And then the amazing thing, that is my troop happened. The girls just started to play and giggle with each other. These are girls that spend almost all day together. Two sets of best friends, that swap "besties" like normal people change underwear. They love like sisters, but fight like sisters. There are times where I worry about how things will go with them as a group, and then nights like this one happen. They clumped together and started playing with the baby kitchen. Giggling over a private joke that me and Miss B were not privilege to know.
We had a time line of 6 pm drop off, watch the high school marching band parade to the play off game, make dinner and then start work. We planned a 10pm bed time.
Well the moms chatted till 6:45, we missed the parade and didn't even start dinner till after 7. But that is the way with our troop. I like having a plan, in fact I am totally anal that I have to go into an event with a plan, but I am also extremely flexible with in my plan. I have no problem throwing out the plan and having the girls dictate the pace. I wonder what that says about me? (Other that I am crazy, lol )
I had picked up raw pizza dough and I figured that each girl can make her own pizza. Which went over great. They were loud with out being obnoxious and they laughed the whole time. They had flour every where. They called the corn meal chicken food and then dared each other to eat it.
After dinner we went upstairs to start our night. They decided that they wanted to do a photo shoot in their pj's, and that they really wanted to work on their lego movies right away. So they got started on their backgrounds and then started to take pictures.
I thought I had enough camera's for all of the girls. I had my two older point and shoots, which kept going through batteries like they were water. I had my Canon 50d and my Big camera, my 5d Mark 2 (which I was only going to let my daughter use). Well I forgot to put a memory card in my 50d, so we were down to only 3 cameras for 4 girls. The one with out a camera did not have to wait long as they were pretty quick taking pictures with the point and shoots. But then everything started to fall apart.
We ran out of batteries, the cameras wouldn't focus. and it was getting very frustrating to be going back and forth between the computer and making the movies, to the girls who were having problems with the cameras. It just seemed like what ever could go wrong, did go wrong. And it was getting late, and they were getting tired.
We got 2 lego movies done, one completely photographed and one that needed to be finished in the morning.
We did not even set up the back drops or lights.
The girls got into their pj's and sleeping bags. There was a tv in the nursery, so we put on Fantasia 2000 for them to go to sleep to. And it worked, there was no late night giggling and trouble making like there is at camp. The girls went right to sleep.
We had an early morning the next day. The girls had to be up and ready to go to the local food pantry to hand out bags. The bags were going to include the holiday turkey or chicken and I know the pantry was looking forward to them being there.
Surprisingly the girls got up with out a struggle, cleaned up and carried items out to the car. It was a pretty chilly morning and they did not even complain once. We got the last few shots in of the last lego movie and I told them that we could continue to work on it on Tuesday at our regular meeting.
I am so glad that we did this. It was a good way to get the girls together to work on a bigger badge. Sure we did not get everything accomplished, but it was fun. The first time you try something is always the worst outcome. We learn from each time we try something.
Next time I will charge my parents 5$ per girl to cover the food. It cost 30$ just in food and if everyone paid 5$, it would have been covered. I will also try to plan it when we have more time the next day. With the food pantry in the morning and I had to go into work, we did not really have enough time to get everything accomplished.
There is always next time! These are the two completed video's. Next week I will post the other two. I hope you enjoy them.
Piper's video
Olivia's video
We let the one of the girls pick the date for the sleepover and thankfully our host church was more than happy to let us stay over.
We got to the church around 6pm and the girls put all of their stuff in the nursery, where we would be staying the night.
And then the amazing thing, that is my troop happened. The girls just started to play and giggle with each other. These are girls that spend almost all day together. Two sets of best friends, that swap "besties" like normal people change underwear. They love like sisters, but fight like sisters. There are times where I worry about how things will go with them as a group, and then nights like this one happen. They clumped together and started playing with the baby kitchen. Giggling over a private joke that me and Miss B were not privilege to know.
We had a time line of 6 pm drop off, watch the high school marching band parade to the play off game, make dinner and then start work. We planned a 10pm bed time.
Well the moms chatted till 6:45, we missed the parade and didn't even start dinner till after 7. But that is the way with our troop. I like having a plan, in fact I am totally anal that I have to go into an event with a plan, but I am also extremely flexible with in my plan. I have no problem throwing out the plan and having the girls dictate the pace. I wonder what that says about me? (Other that I am crazy, lol )
I had picked up raw pizza dough and I figured that each girl can make her own pizza. Which went over great. They were loud with out being obnoxious and they laughed the whole time. They had flour every where. They called the corn meal chicken food and then dared each other to eat it.
After dinner we went upstairs to start our night. They decided that they wanted to do a photo shoot in their pj's, and that they really wanted to work on their lego movies right away. So they got started on their backgrounds and then started to take pictures.
I thought I had enough camera's for all of the girls. I had my two older point and shoots, which kept going through batteries like they were water. I had my Canon 50d and my Big camera, my 5d Mark 2 (which I was only going to let my daughter use). Well I forgot to put a memory card in my 50d, so we were down to only 3 cameras for 4 girls. The one with out a camera did not have to wait long as they were pretty quick taking pictures with the point and shoots. But then everything started to fall apart.
We ran out of batteries, the cameras wouldn't focus. and it was getting very frustrating to be going back and forth between the computer and making the movies, to the girls who were having problems with the cameras. It just seemed like what ever could go wrong, did go wrong. And it was getting late, and they were getting tired.
We got 2 lego movies done, one completely photographed and one that needed to be finished in the morning.
We did not even set up the back drops or lights.
The girls got into their pj's and sleeping bags. There was a tv in the nursery, so we put on Fantasia 2000 for them to go to sleep to. And it worked, there was no late night giggling and trouble making like there is at camp. The girls went right to sleep.
We had an early morning the next day. The girls had to be up and ready to go to the local food pantry to hand out bags. The bags were going to include the holiday turkey or chicken and I know the pantry was looking forward to them being there.
Surprisingly the girls got up with out a struggle, cleaned up and carried items out to the car. It was a pretty chilly morning and they did not even complain once. We got the last few shots in of the last lego movie and I told them that we could continue to work on it on Tuesday at our regular meeting.
I am so glad that we did this. It was a good way to get the girls together to work on a bigger badge. Sure we did not get everything accomplished, but it was fun. The first time you try something is always the worst outcome. We learn from each time we try something.
Next time I will charge my parents 5$ per girl to cover the food. It cost 30$ just in food and if everyone paid 5$, it would have been covered. I will also try to plan it when we have more time the next day. With the food pantry in the morning and I had to go into work, we did not really have enough time to get everything accomplished.
There is always next time! These are the two completed video's. Next week I will post the other two. I hope you enjoy them.
Piper's video
Olivia's video
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Junior Aid- part 1
This is our next big thing. I think that it is going to take about a month to complete. The girls have decided that they are going to bring a journey to a Daisy Troop. The idea of doing a Journey was not exciting to the girls at first but then we came up with an idea that they were more than happy to work on.
They are going to transform the book into a video. They are going to make back drops and they are going to make the flower characters and the animals.Then they will act out the story.
All of a sudden the girls were supper excited to get started. They sat down with the book, 3 Cheers for Animals, and they came up with the first skit. Next week we will be making the back drops and hopefully film the first part.
In the end, they would like to publish it to Youtube and have it as a resource for Juliette girls.
They are going to transform the book into a video. They are going to make back drops and they are going to make the flower characters and the animals.Then they will act out the story.
All of a sudden the girls were supper excited to get started. They sat down with the book, 3 Cheers for Animals, and they came up with the first skit. Next week we will be making the back drops and hopefully film the first part.
In the end, they would like to publish it to Youtube and have it as a resource for Juliette girls.
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