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

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 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

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.

Staying Fit

This is a badge that I was not looking forward too. More so than scribe. I don't know why, but it just seems like something that is a buzz word badge. I am all for the girls learning to be healthy, but we just did all of this during the council's Healthy Promise campaign. I feel like I am beating a dead horse. And I think that the girls have turned me off and I sound like the Charlie Brown teacher to them.

So how do we take a badge that no one wants to do and make it fun?

I purchased a few different foods; pop tarts, apples with yogurt dip, pineapple and a few different candies. I also brought in a bag of sugar and my digital scale. We looked at the amount of sugar that was in each of these products. We compared natural sugar vs processed sugars. The girls seemed really interested in it, and I think seeing the sugar in real life made an impact on them.

We then did some yoga and stretching. I came up with the idea of having the girls do some double dutch jump roping. Wow, did I not think this through. I bought 2 jump ropes, 7 foot long each and I thought that this would be big enough. I was trying to remember from my childhood. But this was clearly the case of things looking so much bigger when you were a child than when you are an adult. 7 ft long jump ropes is not big enough for double dutch. In the end we tied it together and the girls gave it a shot. The girls giggled but they could not figure it out. Unfortunately we were right at the end of the meeting and we planned on picking it up the next time.

*** Update on our Halloween Parades. The girl participated in 3 parades and they won Judges Choice at one parade and 3rd place in the groups category in another parade. The judges said that they were touched by how the girls were able to take a somber subject like breast cancer and bring awareness to it by having a fun presentation. The girls won money at both parades that we are going to use to help lower the cost of our winter camp.

Scribe badge 3

This took forever to get done. I think because the girls, or some of them, are doing something similar in school. Last night, we sat down and they wrote up their articles. This morning I typed them into Word under a news letter template and sent it out to our Service Unit. I can not wait to have feedback from the other troops. I debated on posting what the girls wrote on here, but there is too much information on them. Not sure if other troops want that out in the great big cyber world.

So what is next for our troop. Right now we are in the middle of our fall product sale. This sale is important to me, more so than cookies. But I have to admit that I was a little bit disappointed when I asked how the girls were doing and no one really answered. I hate to tell them that they really have to sell, or they will be paying a lot more for winter camp than they would like. My daughter is nearing the half way mark for her sales, but we haven't sold any magazines yet. I really want her to sell 100 pieces so that she gets the 90$ in product money to use toward camp. I don't understand why councils do not change up this program to get it a better rap. This is such a good opportunity for troops to earn start up cash, but no one wants to do it. We make more than we do for cookies, if people just tried. End of vent.

Next week we are working on the staying fit badge. This should be fun since I am anything but fit. lol

Skill Builder/ Scribe 2/ Halloween prep

I can not believe that it is almost Halloween time! Around here there is a huge high school football game happening on Halloween so everyone has moved up their parades and activities a week, which means I am running out of time!

This year the girls wanted to be super heros, but we just couldn't get a good idea beyond that. Then I was looking over my finances and the calendar and I haven't even done my kids costumes yet, let alone make a second costume.

What could be do??? Well it is Breast Cancer Awareness month. JGL did die from breast cancer. What if we did a pink out?

The girls went nuts! They love pink! Plus it is something they all have in their drawers.

Ok so we are going to all wear pink....What if we are Breast Cancer Awareness super heros? We can make pink capes!

I thought that we could purchase either pink felt or pink fleece relatively cheaply. Boy was I wrong. Felt was 3$ a yard and fleece was 6$! But before I turned down the fabric aisle, I saw fleece blankets for 3$. There would be enough fabric to do 4 capes. 

They all have a basic fleece (no sewing) cape that they have to decorate this week.

A mom asked at the hospital for some of those paper ribbon cards. The ones they ask you for a dollar for at the grocery store and then you right someone's name on it. I split them up and handed them out to the girls. They all have different ideas on that they want to do with them. I just told them that it needs to be done by Tuesday.

I can not wait to see what they come up with.

They have a little skit planned out and they are going to recite the promise this year. Think that voice in the old school super hero comic shows. "Meanwhile back at the Hall of Justice". They are going to do it all powerful like that.

SCRIBE BADGE- PART 2

After we got Halloween out of the way, we worked on our scribe badge. The girls had interviewed 3 troops but they did not get a chance to do our troop. Four girls, Four Troops, perfect. Our one girl who was not able to ask the interview questions at the nut rally interviewed our troop. And let me tell you, 4 girls means 4 different ideas and opinions. It took longer than I thought for them to get everything down and we are going to have to finish up the newsletter next week. I gave them the option of finishing up at home or at the meeting and they chose the meeting.

Nut Rally

It is that time of the year again, Fall Product sale. As the service unit product lead, I feel like it is my duty to make sure that everyone is informed and that the girls do a good job. I also feel like so much focus is on cookies, that people forget about nuts or they just don't want to do it. But the truth of the matter is, that the troops make more money with nuts than we do with cookies. I ask my troop to really focus on this. If they sold 100 nut products (which I know is a lot) not only does the troop get 100$ but they can also earn 90$ in product gift cards from council which can be used for camp! I will tell you, knocking 90$ off of camp can make it affordable.

This is my second year running a nut rally. This year we had 3 troops participate and about 25 girls attend. Which is a really nice number. It keeps the volume down and it makes sure that each group gets to do things. Sure I would love to have a huge nut rally, but I am happy with what we get.

Planning this started after my training, at least some part. I knew the stations that I wanted to have, but I did not know how to exicute them. I also knew how much time I wanted to spend at each activity.

What I figured out was that we would have a hour and a half for the event. 6 stations at 10 minutes each, and that would leave 15 minutes in the beginning and 15 at the end for announcements and a little over view of the sale.

My stations were-
An Activity called Jump in/Jump out which is in the rally handbook
Pictionary with words from the handbook
Scribe badge interview station
Lip Gloss making
Paper bag otter puppets from the handbook
Puzzle from the handbook

Plus I had a snack table with the new orange almonds, pretzels, cheese curls, apple juice and water.

We got off to a slow start, as we waited for people to arrive but then I did my little talk. I tend to goof around and I probably talked to long for the girls liking. I split the girls up by troops and split my troop up in those troops. This way when it got time to get to the scribe station, someone in my troop could interview them.

A few things, with only 3 groups switching, I only needed 3 volunteers. One leader asked me in August what could she do to help, which was so nice! And never happens. I gave her the lip gloss station and she did a great job with the girls at that one. The jump in station was a hit. My CO took care of that area and I heard lots of giggling so I knew she was rocking it. I bounced between the stations, depending on where the troops were going next. Pictionary was lots of fun and the time went really quickly there. The otter puppets were cute but I do not think the Juniors really liked doing them. I think that would have been great for Daisy's but I only had 1 of them there. The puzzle making was a bust. They did not like that at all. The scribe badge was fine depending on which troop was there and who was asking the questions. No adult over saw that one, because it was badge work, the girls had to do the questions on their own. Some troops just answered and then it was silent and some had so much to say that the 10 minutes was not enough time.

We ended up running out of time, even with a timer running and switching pretty efficiently. I just don't think you can ever schedule them where it runs perfectly, time wise. At the end, the girls were able to have a snack.

Surprisingly the nut samples were a huge hit! The girls loved it and so did the parents. I was really surprised by that. And I did not buy enough cheese curls. I never buy enough cheese curls. lol

The cost of the rally was under 30$. I charged 1$ per girl, which was to cover the cost of the patch and pay for a bit of the rally. Turns out that they raised the price of the patch from 0.50$  to 0.75$. Which means my troop ate a lot more of the cost than I wanted to. The snacks can really add up. the only craft that I had to purchase items for was the lip gloss. We bought small closable containers, Vaseline, cocoa, mint extract, and koolaid.

I will do it again next year, if I am the Fall Product person again. I had a good time.
And I have no pictures, because I forgot to take them. :( You just get busy and forget. lol

Skill Builder- Scribe

This week we started our skill builder set for Agents of Change. I have been reading review on Facebook Pages and the general consensus was that this badge is hard for the girls because it was too much like school. That made me worried. I did not want to start the year off with a boring patch.

But they loved it. I must have some really creative girls. I know that my daughter loves to write, but two others did ok with it too. They were giggling and supportive of each other. So nice!

We started off the meeting talking about our Jared Boxes. They are going to the Janet Weiss Children's Hospital. They were all to eager to have them. Then I told them the bad news with their bronze project, that the local animal shelters could not help. I asked them if they wanted to rethink the event or think of something new, and they all said think of something new. So I am excited to see what they come up with.

Next we moved on to our badge work. I asked them about poetry and then we read poems from three different female poets; Maya Angelou, Emily Dickinson and Anne Killigrew. It was so interesting to hear the girls take on these poems. They were not thinking literally but they understood the underlining meaning.

Then I asked the girls to write poems themselves. They set right to work on it with no complaints.

These are their poems that they came up with in under 10 minutes!

I believe that unnicorns are real
You might think I am crazy
But I don't care.
If you don't like me or what I believe in,
you have your own opinion and I have mine.
Don't Bully.

I am powerful, so are you.
You don't need fame to shine like the moon.
Don't be afraid to get on the stage,
You'll be great at every age.
Do your best
You don't need to be better than the rest.

For they flow
The Earth's glow
When these women stride
With glorious pride
With their glow brighter
Than the city lights
With each other
With one another
With great strength to help one another
It is ok to believe in all things
Doesn't pull any strings
If one is afraid
Do not go to the parade
The parade will scare
More than the worst fears
And if the fears are silly things
then one will be so scared
Remember to be prepared
Bring a doll
Hug a wall

Girl Scouts is cool,
It's better than school.
My Girl Scout troop has my friends
It never ends
We never say never
That will stay forever
It has E, P, L and me
It has no I in Team
I like my Girl Scout leaders
I like Girl Scouts


I think they were great for the time they had. Sure they all started with, "I don't know what to write" but in the end they all had something good.

Agents of Change- TAP

I was a little nervous about starting this meeting. I thought for sure someone would forget their homework or items for their Jared box and then my whole plan would be out the window.

But my girls remembered everything. I had posted a reminder mid-week on our parent troop Facebook page on what the girls needed to do. I am just glad that they can prepared!

We stuffed the boxes and the girls drew pictures on the top of the plastic shoe boxes. As we worked on them we talked about the questions that they wanted to ask the rescue agencies. There were not that many repeats.

Some things that they asked were:
Do we have to give them a bath?
What time of the year is best for an adoption fair?
Who cleans the poop?
What questions do you ask the person who wants to adopt the pet?

All good starting points. Unfortunately out of the 5 agencies that I emailed, only 3 responded. Out of those 3, we got 2 no's. The other one asked that we call and not email the person who would be in charge of setting up an adoption fair.

So it looks like we may be going back to the drawing board.

After they finished the lids on the Jared Boxes, I had a bit of a science project for them to do. It is something that I came across in my many hours of Pinning. It was making plastic from milk. I thought this would go great with our other explanations of teams, community and polymers.

Two girls were done first and I took them in to do the project while the other two continued to work on their lids.

The directions were simple-

To a bowl add:

1.5 cups of skim milk
4 teaspoons of vinegar

Place bowl into a microwave for 1 minute.

Stir the mixture until it forms a ball.

Strain the liquid off.

Mold the curds to a shape.

Original explanation and picture tutorial can be found here

A few things, the girls found this gross. Maybe because it was milk?? It had the same consistency of the bouncy balls, but there was a lot more complaining about this. The girls thought it smelled. I did not notice a smell, but they did. I also don't know if it is because one girl said it smelled so the rest of them did. Who knows, they are 9. And it was very crumbly once they got beyond a certain point. If you are going to do this with the girls, do not let them over work the milk.

Agents of Change- Power of Community- Bronze Meeting

In the beginning of the year, I asked the girls what they liked to do and they told me science and baking. We had done science the week before with bouncy balls and polymers and this week I decided to bake something.

But how do you turn a baking project into a conversation about community?

At first I thought that we could just talk while they baked. Then I thought that I could compare the ingredients to people and how they can come together, combine ideas and be a part of something great. I think my girls know I am a bit artsy fartsy so they give me a bit of lea way. The concept worked for them. They made banana nut and chocolate chip muffins. I was brave enough to try one. Brave because I have done the hand washing/black light experiment with these girls and it will change your opinion of them! Ewww!!!

We had decided to do Jared Boxes for our TAP. I was excited to see that there was a hospital locally that would accept them. Miss B's mom works for the one hospital and we are in the process of seeing if the girls can stop by themselves and drop them off or if they would just go with her. I am hoping the girls can take them in. The hospital is not that far from us and would be a short trip. The girls decided on a budget, what they were willing to work for from their parents, and they decided what each would bring for the box.

While we munched on muffins, we started to talk about our Bronze award. The girls want to hold a pet adoption fair in the town park. A day where they can have a bunch of different rescues come to the area and people who are looking to adopt can come and see them. Great idea..... I have no idea where to guide them to start it.

They left the meeting with shopping lists and homework. They need to come up with 5-8 questions to ask a rescue agency.

Kick Off Camp- Camp Wood Haven- Day 2

It never fails. If you are going Girl Scout Camping, it will rain. And boy did it. We woke up to a low 50's temperature and right after breakfast the skies opened up. And it rained till 4pm!

 We all had some breakfast and some caffeine and I went to find out where I would be setting up my station. I was doing science experiments with the kids. I had found on a Facebook group, a link for a Girl Scout fun patch from the PBS show Fetch! I knew that these would be activities that my girls would like, and I thought that others would as well.

I would be spending the day at the Shandy Wood pavilion, so I packed everything back up into my car and we proceeded to get lost. Seriously, I get lost everywhere I go. When we found it, I was impressed with this site as well. Of the two sites, I think I would take my troop to this site. It was back pretty far and way from the other sites. I like to be alone with my girls so that if they start acting like monkeys, they wont bother anyone.

The pavilion was very nice, and they also had a fireplace and refrigerator. With our small troop, I think we would be comfortable there.

Like I had said, I am organized. I set up each experiment and put them in separate bags so all I have to do is pull out the bag and everything is right there. I would have Daisy and Brownie girls first, then Junior's two groups of them, and finally Cadette and higher.

We started off with building tin foil boats. Originally the instructions said to use pennies, but I was using pennies for a later experiment and my darling husband decided to cash all of my pennies in, 3 days before camp! However, the paperclips were not heavy enough so Miss B proceeded to use the pennies we had and prayed that there would be enough.

The girls built some nice and sturdy boats. One looked like a turtle. Some built some really pretty boats that held nothing. The big winner of the day was a boat that barely looked like the girl worked on it. It looked like all she did was halfheartedly bent the foil edges up. That boat held 50 pennies.

The next experiment was one all about balance. The girls had to stand up against the wall and try to lift their legs or to bend over with out bending their knees. Every group had girls who were thinking that it would be super easy, but once they tried it, they were confused about why they could not move. We talked a bot about balance and what the body does to compensate for your movements.

Third experiment was with the pennies. We had to see which household solution would clean pennies better.We used vinegar, water with baking soda, cola, lemon juice, ammonia cleaner and ketchup. The girls soaked the pennies in the solutions and drew conclusions on what they thought would happen.

I did this experiment at home before we left, and I was totally surprised about the outcome. You should definitely try this at home! When we did it at camp, the first group had three groups and each group had a different solution that worked best because of variables in the experiment.

 

The last experiment that we did with the Brownies and the Daisy girls was to build catapults out of pop sticks, rubber bands and spoons. The girls had a blast with them. And after a day, I have a whole arsenal of spoon catapults. 

For the Juniors, we still had two more experiments to do! We followed the directions on the Fetch site and build soda bottle rockets. They were super simple and the girls put them together really quick. The ones who paid attention to the instructions had theirs going right away and it took some others a few more minutes, but it was a simple project. 

 

 

The last thing that the Juniors did was to test the ph of the solutions that the pennies were in and to talk about the ph scale. We tried to figure out what was on the penny based on what type of solution cleaned it. So if we had a penny that really got clean because of the acid it was in, then there was a good chance that the stuff on it was a base. I had purchased litmus papers from eBay and it was so neat to see it all change colors. 

For the older girls, I had purchased a csi dna kit and we did three different punnet squares and figured out who belonged to what parent. I thought it was interesting and I was so looking forward to doing it with the girls, but they weren't having it. I feel like that was my only fail moment during the day. But what the girls really wanted was to make the spoon catapults. lol I guess I should have just continued with what I was already doing and let them do all of the science the young ones were doing. Live and learn, right?

Around 4 o'clock we were done with all of the girls and we headed back down to our tents. It had finally stopped raining. My parent volunteer had to run home quick to check on her ill husband and on the way back, she stopped to get us some BK! It was so good, and I hate that food. But lunch consisted of pb and j sandwiches so, junk food looked so good. 

I made sure that we ate somewhere private just so that other girls were not feeling left out.  Then we plopped ourselves down in front of the fire. The ladies who stayed at our were trying to get the fire started. After a while, I got my things to build a fire and helped out. I get possessive about my fires. Don't mess with them, I am trained to do it and gosh darn it, I froze my tush off in October to be certified to start the fire. BACK OFF! lol Within 5 minutes the fire was roaring to life and the girls had sticks with hotdogs on them. They ate in shifts, as certain things were done before other things. 

My princess took care of me and made me a hot dog. She is a good girl. It was so nice to be warm and semi dry. We decided to pack it in and head into our tents around 9. The girls stayed up till 11 and then it was lights out. The community lead was teaching whittleing to the other girls but knowing my girls, we would have been making a trip to the ER so it was good they were in bed. 

The next morning,OMG it was only 45 degrees out at 8am, we ate a quick breakfast, packed up, cleaned out and were on our way home to shower before 11! They also had a really quick re-dedication ceremony. We will be doing one at a troop meeting, since some of the girls in the troop did not come to this camp.

Despite the weather we had a blast. I can not wait to camp again!

Kick off Camp 2014- Camp Wood Haven- Day 1

Kick Off Camp is something that the lower part of our community organizes and puts together. This was our second year of putting this camp together. We had originally wanted to have our camp at our home camp, Camp Louise, but our council is in the process of phasing that camp out. They say that they aren't, but they fired the ranger this year and have not hired a new one. With councils all over the country closing down camps, we see the writing on the wall.

All summer our community lead was told Louise would be open in time, but about 3 weeks before camp she got the call that it would need to be moved. Closest available camp was over 2 hours away, which was not what we were looking for.

I suggested that we look at GS of Eastern Pa's camps because there is one that is close to us, Camp Wood Haven. We were unable to get the whole camp but 3 sites was all that we needed. We stayed at Robins Den, Pioneer 1 and Shady Wood. (I tell you all of this in case you are local and would like to stay at this camp)

At our day camp, we had a contest between the girls to see who can come up with a tshirt design and we were going to sell that. In hopes that everyone who came to camp would order a shirt. I had the screen printer and would take care of that part.

We only had about half of the girls order tshirts and it took me about a week to get them done. I think that the girls liked them. I thought that they looked cute. The design was voted on by them and the winning design was done by a Junior.

Thankfully the camp was not on the tshirt design!

Pretty cute, right?!

Originally the lead and I were going to take our kids out of school early and get to the camp for the earliest possible time, which would have been 3 o'clock. With the change of venue, she was unable to be there for 3, but I would still be able to get there. I like to be at camp early, get everything set up and then enjoy the rest of the night. Honestly, we pay way to much to rent camps to be there only a little bit of the time.

I took the three girls in my troop that were going out of school at 1 pm. We got some gas and stopped for smoothies, but ended up in camp about 3:15.

I was so surprised. It was so nice! My daughter had been to this camp in mid August and we were staying in the same spot she was at. She even picked the same tent. There was 10 platform tents, all actually up. I have had problems with GSHPA camps where the internet says you should have 10 tents and you come to find they only have 5 put up.

Anyway, 10 tents, 2 fire rings and a very big pavillion that had a fire place in side, but also a little kitchen. So we had sinks, a stove and a fridge. At least in our unit. This was a really nice looking spot.

I called our lead and told her she was going to like this place. I asked her if she wanted two fires going by the time she came, and she said that would be great.

My girls had all of their stuff unpacked and had helped me get the stuff I needed to start the fire. I told them them they could wander around, as long as they stayed together.

The site director rolled up a few minutes later, in her golf cart with her yellow lab. S/he was adorable. Very happy and good with kids. She told me she sent the girls back to their site. Apparently I should not have left they explore on their own. She also told us that I could not let them have their cots next to each other, they had to stay the way they were originally. No problem. Every camp is different on how they want things. We have always moved their beds, but they were fine with them once they were moved back.

I told the site director that the community lead would be there shortly. I though that she was very friendly. We talk a bit about the camp and others. She recommended a camp to us for winter use. Then I met the ranger as well. They seemed very helpful.

Once everyone got there, they started the food prep. We had decided to serve walking tacos. And since my family is vegetarian, we brought along our own "meat". We (my kids and their moms) pretty much packed our own food. I know from last years camp that food serving, times and amounts can be an issue, and I did not want my kids to be hungry. I am so glad that we did.

I think that there are several ways that people camp. Me, I am all about pre-prep and relaxing once I am there. I pack clothes and label them for each day. Every day the clothes that we are done with goes into the laundry bag back into the car. Activities are packed the same way. Each one in their own container. We also do food that way. Each day, different container. And for us, we precook our food. I would much rather a child who is hungry have cold/ luke warm ground beef than wait an hour for possibly pink meat. Our community lead is a cook on site kind of camper.

It was close till 8pm before the kids got to eat. And they really skimped on their meals. I felt kind of bad having so much when others weren't getting enough. I offered to share mine with my co-leader and her daughter. But they went through the line. I don't think they wanted to take our food. My co-leader thought that the texture of the "meat" was very much like the real thing. Woot!!

I had just put the sour cream, cheese and lettuce on top of my tin foiled meat and then I was just carrying a frito bag. My daughter was still hungry, so I made her a second out of what I had, and then one of my little girls was just sitting by the fire looking so hungry. I gave her some of mine as well. It had to taste similar, because she scarfed that right down!

After dinner, I handed out snack cakes to all the girls, because it was my birthday. We tucked our girls into bed and gave them a time limit for lights out. I did not want a repeat of our summer troop camp of them being up till 3:30am! And then my co-leader and the volunteer mom from my troop went to our own tent.

I love to camp and I know how hard it is to pull off a camp with one or two troops, that I could not even imagine what it takes to do a community or service unit camp. I am grateful that my lead does this and puts it together. First of all, she only charges 20$ for adults and 15$ for the kids. Where else can you GS camp for 2 nights, have food provided and activities for such a low price. Second, it is a total thank less job, with lots of people complaining with out doing. I hate that.

That being said, there are a few things I would do somethings differently. It needs more planning time coming into it. And it needs more committed adults with defined roles. You are in charge of this, she is in charge of that and you both know what the other one is doing. No troop should come without being able to contribute to the days activities.

I think either food needs to be precooked and preped OR each troop needs to be in charge of their own food. Last year food was an issue, this year it was less of an issue, but I think that next year it needs to not be an issue at all.

I will continue to describe our camp in the next post. Day 2!

How many chances do you get?

Or an alternative title would be, "as long as council gets their money, they don't give a hoot about the girls or the community."

I get so frustrated with our council. Nothing like having them reinforce time and time again, that all they care about is the money.

That leader who I have complained about before. The one who broke the rules at the Halloween parade and whose float ran over a parents foot, the one who broke the rules of cookie sales and there was photographic proof of what she was doing wrong, the one who did not turn in her financial report till September, and the one who did not give her girls badges they earned and lied about camp requirements so she did not take them on a trip? (I just found that out, but I don't think I wrote about it. Her assistant leader is now getting a troop of her own and sharing all kinds of details about what went on)

Yeah they are letting her keep her troop and take on new girls.

So there are no consequences when you break the rules.

There are no repercussions for failing the girls you are supposed to be leading.

As long as you bring in that cookie profit, you can keep doing what you are doing.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Agents of Change- The Power of Team

Second meeting, and the girls jumped right back into it. I think I am going to love having 4 girls this year. Sure a bigger troop means that you can get better group discounts and there is more chance of mixing up the group. But I like the intimate-ness of this small group. I know when I am getting through and when they have stopped listening.

Before the meeting even started there was some heated discussing going on between the four of them and when a mom and I asked what was going on, boy did we hear an earful. The long and the short was that one girl was made to stand along the wall for five minutes* for having a minus in the class room dojo, (goofy app thing that the teachers use), the other girls wanted to know what she did wrong. Thing was the girl had no idea. Someone just told her the teacher wanted her to stand on the wall. Two of the troop girls were so mad because they thought the one who told her was lying and that she didn't really have to stand on the wall. Forth grade girls can be so mean.

Now that seems totally off topic, but it isn't really. These girls are a tight group. They came together for a friend that they feel was wronged so that she did not feel alone. They worked together to come up with a solution so that would never happen to one of them again. All this on their own, with out a leader to say, let's figure this out.

Why does that make me happy?

Because it means that Girl Scouts is WORKING!! Especially for those who it is designed to help. Regardless of what goes on in the "community" or lack of answers/help from council, the GIRLS are getting what we are teaching. They are the reason I come back week after week and year after year. Because it is making an impact on them.

Once the meeting started, we went over last week and I showed them the print outs. They loved them and wanted to make one up for this week. I think they want to cover the whole inside of our craft closet with them. This week when I asked if these words reflected who they were, they were eager to say yes.

We then moved on to talking about team work and what it takes to be a strong team. We have seen so many times before that these girls work well together. It was interesting to see how they see themselves in the group dynamic. One girl was definitely the leader, one I would call the encourager, one is a follower- amazing at carrying out the plan, and the other one is the outside of the box thinker.  Unlike the power words, these girls know their roles in the team and they know how the others work. It makes the team work stuff very easy. I can not believe that they know their roles so well already. I mean they are only in 4th grade. Imagine what they will accomplish because they do not have the power struggles many have in a team.

Finally it was time to get to the fun bits. The girls love science and crafts and I was so proud that I thought I found something to combine the two with our team work talk. We were going to make bouncy balls!

First we explained a team with paper clips. How each person is strong but when we link together the paper clips, it makes a stronger chain. Then we took loom bands and attached them to the paperclip chains to make a sort of net of clips. I compared the bands to the bonds that bring together the team. Finally we turned it to science and explained polymers to the girls.

We went into the kitchen and made bouncy balls. I found a recipe online, which I can not find the link to any more. This is not my recipe-

Supplies-
1/2 cup of warm water
1tbs Borax

1 tbs corn starch
2tbs of school glue (washable glue makes softer balls and non-washable school glue makes firmer ones)

1. Combine the water and borax in a cup and stir. You want enough room in the cup to place your next combination.

2. In a seperate container, combine the corn starch and glue until it is well incorporated. It may take more than a few stirs.

3. Pour the glue mixture into the borax solution. Wait about ten seconds. The mixture will get hard. Take it out a squeeze it, then place it back in the solution for another 10 seconds. Take it out and start to squeeze the air out and work it into a ball shape. Once the ball is round, have the girls give it a go at bouncing it. They are not super bouncy, but they do bounce and the girls will love it!!

My girls had a blast. They loved making the balls and the look on their faces when it all came together is priceless!

Next week we are working on our Community TAP and that will be the end of the journey. We will start talking about the bronze award and the girls will plan their next badge. Another successful Junior meeting!!!

* And what is wrong with the teachers??? 5 minutes of standing along the wall while your peers are playing or staring at you. How is this right??? Public humiliation is not an acceptable form of punishment. 

Agents of Change- Power Words

I took all of the words that my girls used to describe power and made it into a print. I am going to print this out and hang it by our supply closet at scouts. I have a Photoshop addiction. :)

Agents of Change- power of one

Last night was our first meeting. I started off by telling the girls that this year they have more say and more responsibility. We talked a little bit about what is coming up in the year, what did they want to do, and the importance of their bronze award. Then we started on the Agents of Change journey.

We started off by asking them questions on what they thought power was, and what makes a person powerful. The answers were astonishing because they did not agree at all on what power was or who had it. They also really associated power as either good or bad. It took me by surprise because I figured they would have the same text book answers but none of them did.

We then asked them to give us a definition of power. And we asked them to write power words about themselves. They had a real hard time picking words that were powerful to describe themselves. They could pick words to describe each other but when it came down to talking about themselves they were stumped. I have to wonder if it is a modesty thing or if they don't want to say, "I am assertive". 

It is a good thing for me to think about and come up with a way to expand it next week. 

I do not read the journey books with my troop, I allow them to read it on their own. My daughter says this one is really good and she liked it. 

Fall Products- Almond cran-orange crunch

I am very excited to get back to my troop. I love my summer break, but I miss those girls.

This year I am the returning community fall product liaison. Fancy word for sucker!

Yesterday was my scout planning day and I spent it getting ready for the training session with the lower half of our community's troop leaders. We were joined with another service unit a year or two ago and we still function as separate service units. I take care of my local troops and another woman does her area. I have 11 troops to her 22. I got the better deal, I think.

Last year I had a training that I did at a service unit meeting, but there was only 3 troops there. Everyone else had to be trained at a different time. It was frustrating for me because what started off as a simple project turned into something that took way to much of my time.

This year the council is offering an online training for troops. I have everything prepared for the troops who will attend the service unit meeting and the leaders who can not make it can do training online. They have to print out a certificate that they finished the course and then I will give them their girl packets. Should be fairly easy!

I am also having the product rally at our troop meeting place. I think this is a great way to start off the year. Last year we had a nice turn out, and I am hoping for that again. I used the fall rally guide given by council to plan. The only thing I am adding new is craft. I think I will have the girls make lip gloss. I did this once before for my own troop at a sleep over and it was fun. On Pinterest it says to heat up the Vaseline, but we did not when we made it. I am thinking of using coconut oil instead of Vaseline. It really just depends on the budget.

We have a few new items on the product list for the girls to sell. One is English Butter Toffee, OMG is this wonderful. I will be buying one or two of these from my daughter for sure. I tried them at the training and man, instant love.

The other product is a nut and fruit mixture called Almond Cran-Orange crunch. It comes in a zip close bag similar to last years Blueberry crunch item. What it is, is almonds and dried cranberries covered in a glaze. I was really surprised at how good this product was. It is very sweet, but the almonds are nice and big. I am not sure if I will buy this one or not, mainly because I have two bags now from the product training, but it is worth a try. And it is gluten free!!

Juniors here we come!

I can not believe it has been so long since the last post. I have to get better at that. I think sometimes I just do not have it in me to go over all of the garbage all over again.

September 2nd my troop starts Juniors. We are a very small troop again this year. Officially we have 5 girls, enough to be a troop. But one of my registered girls said she is not coming back. I think that will be in my mind now for the rest of the year. Filling that spot so we can continue on.

I love the girls that are with me and I love their parents. My daughter and my #2's daughter have been in Girl Scouts since Kindergarten! And it is so exciting to see the changes in them.

The plan for the year is set but flexible, since the girls have to have a chance to lead. I have picked the badges that we will work on but they will have to decide how they will accomplish it. Last year when they did the "Making Games" badge, we caught a glimpse of their leadership skills in action and I can not wait to see more of it.

We had attended, as a troop, a day camp and my girls were awesome as a team.  I got misty eyed just watching them using all the skills that we have gone over for the last few years. They listened to each other, they came up with a plan and they followed through. If Girl Scouts has affected them in this way while they were just trying to figure out a pirate map, imagine what their future will be like.

We will start off the year with the Agents of Change journey. I have seen so many people complain about the journeys and they do seem so much like school work. I like to dissect them and make them fit our troop. Once we have completed that we can get to work on the bronze award.

This year I am also including a few fun patches with requirements. I think these should be call fun badges. I say fun patch and I think of the patch you get for attending an event, but these actually have requirements. Like fun little journeys that the girls have to earn. Nothing will be just handed over.

I am hoping that it will liven up the year.

We also have a winter camp set up! My girls LOVE to camp, and I rented us a cabin at Camp Happy Valley near Gettysburg in January. And right now starts the prayers for a nice weather weekend because I have been to this camp and it is WAY out there. I can not wait to tell the girls!

This is where we stayed in July. This is Camp Echo Trail and we stayed in the tipi unit called Hilltop. We invited a local 2nd year Brownie troop to come with us. Their leaders were not outdoor skill trained and we had a huge unit for our small troop. It was a BLAST! The girls had so much fun with the other troop. Everyone got a long. The other leaders were so helpful. The parent that came with them was helpful. It was such a nice change. I said I would go again with this troop in a heart beat. Plus, it kept the cost of camp down so much that it was incredibly affordable. Now our January camp will be more expensive as cabins cost 70$ a night over the 30$ we paid for these tipi's and Adirondacks, but we may invite them again and cut the cost in half!

What to do with a bully in your troop.

This is the story of a bully in my troop and the ineffectual advice given by my council. I am writing this in hopes that if you have to deal with this in your own troop, you will know that you are not alone.

In this day in age, the word bully gets used a lot and it tends to be the catch word for anytime a child is picking on another child. This generation's buzz word. A lot of times, it is just the same picking on and name calling that we have all lived through. This time it is not simple kids stuff.

This one child in my troop stopped coming. We will call her A. It was odd, because she always seemed to have such a good time. She had joined our troop with her friend, who we will call B.

When we reached out to the parents we found out the truth in why she was not coming. B had been picking on her and A did not want to deal with it out scouts.

Then I asked the question that changed our troop, "Well what is going on?"

Turns out, this hasn't been going on for a few days or weeks, but has been ongoing for years! At a certain point, A forgave B and tried to be her friend, but then B got super possessive.

We had seen this possessiveness in the beginning of the troop year when we tried to separate the girls and B got strange. She was glaring at A's partner and being very aggressive with her own partner. We had to keep saying to her that she needed to stay with the partner she had and work together. We told both parents about this and chalked it up to best friends learning to be with other kids.

After that time, each time we seperated the girls, it was less and less of a reaction. We thought that it was working out.

In February we talked about bullying and B explained to us all that she used to bully A and that she asked for forgiveness and now they were friends. We thought that this was a huge step that she was taking responsibility for what she had done and was moving forward. We were so impressed with this that we had mentioned it when we met with our council rep. (remember how she was supposed to be trained in October, yeah she got trained in MARCH!!)

Anyway, there was ongoing issues between the girls at school and because the parents were friends, B's mom asked A's mom to just tell her when things happened instead of going to the school.

A's mom unloaded what could only be years of frustrations over this other child's behavior to her kid. I listened to her and being that my own child has dealt with this child's bad behavior I was very sympathetic. When it finally came to a boiling point, A decided she did not want to spend any extra time under B's possessiveness. I told the parent's that I understood and that we would try to talk to B and her mother and see if there was a way we could at least get A comfortable enough to come back to meetings. We promised that A would not be paired up with B. We asked that the mom drop her off right when the meeting was starting so that there was no down time where the two girls would interact with each other. We figured that we would just step in anytime B was near A and we could just make it through the year and we would find a different troop for B in September.

A agreed that if B would leave her alone and we can protect her, that she would come back to the troop. This was great news. So I sent a message to B's mom and told her that we needed to talk to her and her daughter before our meeting.

Then the mom did the most..... I still can not put it into words.... strangest thing a parent could do. She told us that she did not have time for this and that if there was a issue we could talk to B on our own and deal with the problem ourselves.

What????

You don't want to be involved in your child's life? She did something wrong and you DON'T want to be part of the solution??? I have never heard of that. Why would someone not meet with us to fix a problem. She was already dropping off the child, so why would she not have 5 minutes to spare to talk to us.

This made my co-leader so angry! I was not pleased in anyway, but I still had to talk to the girl. Beth lead the girls and I talked to B in the kitchen area of our meeting room.

The little girl listened to me and told me that she gets so angry she shakes. She cried and said that she hated when her dad and step mother yell at her. That her dad says mean things. I almost cried listening to her because it was a heartbreaking story. I told her that she needed to leave A alone. No more calls, no more yelling at her at school, to just leave her alone. I also told her that when she is mad that it is a good idea to write in a journal about what is making her feel that way, that sometimes you can write what you can not say.

B agreed and I talked to the mom a little bit. She was in a rush to leave so it was not the full conversation that was needed.

The next day I got messages on Facebook from the mom. She gave me a whole song and dance on why B behaves the way she does. She also blamed the dad and his behavior on the way she acts. I listened to her and when the conversation got awkward, I just gave her vague answers. I told Beth about the conversation and she was floored. We talked and we really think that IF everything that the girl was saying was true, she really needs to be in therapy and to talk to someone. She said she was so angry she shakes and that she can not control what she does.  These are all signs of a child needed help.

Beth and I decided that we needed to talk to our council rep for answers. We needed direction on where to go from here since the mom wanted nothing to do with it. What were our options for if she did not follow our suggestions.

The first response that I got was to give her a few days and that she will talk it over with her boss and see what they could tell us to do.

In the mean time, we heard from A's mom who said that B left a message on their machine saying that "Before the end of the year, I will punch you in the face and tape your mouth shut. I hate you."

Which means that nothing had changed.

The conversation we had went in one year and out the other.

And all of a sudden I think I was played by a 10 year old girl. I realized that she is taking out her anger on getting in trouble on A. This has completely backfired.

A's mom said that there is no way she will come back if the other girl is in the troop.

We sent a message to B's mom that because things were still continuing and we were waiting on a response from our council rep, that we felt it was best that B did not come to the meeting that night. We needed time to figure out a plan of action.

I think that is when the mom just about lost her mind.

She told us fine then B wont come to any meetings anymore. She wanted to know what we were doing to punish A since she felt that B was being punished. She said that A is a very smart girl and had a way of holding a grudge.

What??? She is blaming the victim? Let me tell you that there is no way I was going to punish a child who is being bullied. You just don't do that. And it isn't like B is saying, you have cooties. She is threatening A with physical violence.

Did I step off the train into crazy town? How do you deal with an irrational parent? She then told me that she wished she could kill herself.

Are you freaking serious???

Eventually my council rep called me back. Her response made me really think that I was in crazy town. I explained the whole situation to her and she told me that she talked to her boss and the best thing they could tell me was to ask the school guidance councilor.

Seriously??? Call the guidance councilor??

She also said that since none of this was happening in the troop, we could not do anything about it. She asked us if we wanted to remove her from our troop and place her in another troop. I said no that there was only a few meetings left and the mom said that she wasn't going to bring her to meetings. There was not point in switching troops now. We would just finish the year. 

B's mom sent me a message saying that the dad wanted a meeting with both girls, both sets of parents and Beth and I. There was no way I was going to subject a victim to a meeting with her bully and her parents. Parents that do not think their child is wrong and that actually think that the VICTIM is to blame. Yeah so not happening. Plus we tried to have a meeting and she did not have time for us. I was so done with this that I did not want to have a meeting with the parents. I mean why, the mom wasn't bringing B to meetings anymore, she was only going to bring her to the troops trips. A's parents said that she would be back next year when B was no longer in the troop. Why did we need a meeting?

Beth and I decided to just let it blow over. B's dad was bringing her to our first troop trip and if he asked about what was going on we would deal with it then. The dad was super nice during the trip and did not bring anything up. We thought we were in the clear. Neither girl was going to be at meetings. We would deal with B at the last meeting for bridging and at camp and then she would be moving to a different school district and a different troop if they resigned up.

Que our next meeting. I was just about to get started with the meeting when B walked in with her mom. Beth was furious and I wasn't to happy either. I had a plan and purchased things for 4 girls. I was a little awkward and Beth got up and moved. She told me after the mom left if she would have stayed there she might have said something that she did not want to say.

We went through the meeting and everything was fine. When the mom came back in, things were awkward as Beth did not want to talk to her, but I did talk to her. When I got home, I had a message waiting from A's parents saying that officially A will not be involved in anything that B is involved with. There was still thing's going on at school, including B grabbing A and leaving fingernail marks on her arm.

As I was dealing with this, I got a message from B's mom asking why there was tension between us and her at pick up. And why did I like a post about bullying. (the one that has been going around where the dad got a restraining order against his 5 year old's bully)

Really??? Oh man. To which I responded, "I added Beth to the conversation because I feel it is best for us all to see the messages. She is my co-leader and needs to be included. Quiet honestly we are very upset by the way this whole thing is playing out. We were having a good year and this is a horrible way to end our year. I can like anything I want on my facebook page. I do not like the idea of kids picking on kids and to just get a message that A is completely our because things are still continuing is very off putting. I am a volunteer, not a councilor, and I have no idea how to handle a situation like this. I have never had a child quit because she was having anxiety over coming to a meeting because of another child! Surely you can understand why we are uncomfortable with the whole thing."

To which she responded with, "Fine we are out. I know when we aren't wanted" 

This all makes my head hurt. There is a lot more, I will post tomorrow.

Make new friends badge

Last night we worked on our Make New Friends badge. The girls were able to invite non scout friends to the meeting. Out of 7 of my scouts we had 4 friends show up. I think that is a great turn out.

We started the meeting with the law and the promise. We did a call and repeat style so the new girls would know what to say.

Then we played a game called "hey me too!" We stood in a circle... Ok my girls didn't want a circle, they wanted a square which turned in to a squishy square and in the end became known as a lemon bar. Idk, but these girls are creative and funny. Anyway, then I girl started and she would say, I love soccer and any girl who liked soccer would say hey me too. It went over really well and they were all giggling. In the end. Even the girl who was a little shy was getting into it.

Next I had purchased a parachute from Michaels, like the one from elementary school. We all grabbed a hold and I would call things about the girls. If I said girls with blue eyes, they would have to go under the chute and come up in a different spot. 

They were having so much funny. I was so happy it was going well. 

We moved into the kitchen and started to make our snack. I needed something quick easy and fun. I tend to really overdo things and run out of time, plus these other girls don't know me, so I definitely wanted something easy. I went with fruit salad. We used strawberries, grapes, bananas and pineapples. 

I had two girls wash the grapes. Two girls peeled and cut the bananas, two girls cut the strawberries. The pineapple was a bit harder because I forgot my corer, but Miss B got out the knife and we sliced it up. All the girls out the fruit in a bowl and we stirred and viola fruit salad.

While they were eating it was interesting to listen to what 3rd grade girls talk about. And I was so happy to see the girls spread out. A girl might have been invited by one girl but for snack she was sitting by another. Everyone was talking and laughing. 

We then cleaned up and had a craft. I got felt book markers from Michaels and stickers and they started to make them. All of a sudden the girls start singing "baby bumble bee". I love to hear girls singing.

We finished the meeting with the squeeze, the brownie song and make new friends. I think this meeting was a total success! This really was on point with what the badge was all about. We made new friends and even if all the girls did not have a friend show up, the new friends were very welcomed into the group and everyone had a good time.

Safety award/brownie first aid

This badge we did the first year but I wanted the girls to earn their safety awards. Good thing my #2 has a mom who is a nurse. Nurse Linda, as the girls called her, agreed to come in and talk to us about camp safety.

I was so happy about that because not only are we doing our troop came at Echo Trail this year but some girls will be camping every month till October! She went over some basic first aid but more importantly poisonous plants.

Now I grew up in the woods. My sister and I made playhouses in the trees. I spent my summers equally outside or in my room. I made it 33 years without getting poison ivy. The first time I got it I was at a festival and it clearly had posted to be aware of the poison ivy. Sat in a field listening to music and the next month was itchy as all heck. I swore I would never do that again.

Next year, I went to the same festival but avoided the ivy field. Still got it! This time it was worse and took a long time to heal.

I am going to the festival again this year, but hopefully my little brownie will be able to point out the plants before I get itchy!

The girls listened intently to her and asked a crazy amount of questions. Then we made small first aid kits for each girl to take to camp.

Making games

I think I got a glimpse of what Juniors will be. We have been working on our games. We divided the girls into two teams. Each team had to come up with a board game, design it and the rules and make it. It took them 3 weeks to do but they had to do it on there own, no help from me. The girls had a blast and it was so nice for me to not have to plan a meeting. First time in 4 years!

It's over!

Cookie season that is! Finally deposit went into the bank this week and our council will take its cut next week. 

What is it about cookies that stresses a leader out? But I am so glad that it is over. I call it a success because we will be able to go to camp and Reptile Land. The girls are so excited.

We have been working on our own board games at the meetings. This is for our making games badge. The girls are split into two groups and they have to make their own game, then play their game and switch with the other group and play their game. They are putting so much into this game. 

Last week we had a visitor to talk to the girls about first aid. Next week we are going to the local junior troop to do our bridging work.

Then best laid plans

I started off my scout year thinking, I will create this blog and post every week. I should have know better. I tend to get to involved in things and ideas like my blogs take the back seat.

My troop has been super busy and it is hard to believe that it is March and we are working towards the end of the year and bridging! I will create posts on our badge work in separate posts.

But I want to use this post to vent. It has been a rough few months. Not with my troop but with D.R.A.M.A. with another troop in the area.

I have heard that it is a problem everywhere but man it sucks. I have worked very hard to improve the view of the local community about scouting. When we started in Daisies, so many people would say, "We tried scouting but the kids were wild and parents just used it as an hour long baby sitting service." I did not want that for my troop. I wanted the girls to get the most out of scouting and to truly benefit from the community service.

The first year was horrible because of lack of support to a new leader.

The second year was drama because of infighting with the leader and parents, which lead to the leader stepping down and moving her daughter to a different troop.

Third year, I went from assistant leader to leader. Things were getting better until a crazy world- wind cookie season that divided our troop. The stress of selling over 4000 boxes of cookies with 9 girls was to much!

Finally this year, we had the idea. We have had an amazing group of girls and parents who let us do our thing. My new assistant is truly in the program to better the girls. We work well together and we are different enough to give the girls more variety but we still enjoy each other.

Our problem is with the other troop who originally started off as a 3rd grade brownie troop just like us.

Now we live in such a small area that there really is only about 100 kids in 3rd grade. The new troop was lead by our crazy  cookie mom from the last year.

I don't know why she left, but man am I glad that she did leave. It took all the stress about how my year would go away. I have my suspisions on why she left. I don't believe she liked that we were switching to a drop and go troop. I don't think she liked that I did not want her help. I dont think she liked when I said no men at camp. I think these are the reasons but I am not sure. All I know is that I am glad to be rid of her.

But she keeps popping into my life!

First she recruited girls from my troop who were no longer coming back due to other interests.One girl has soccer practice on scout night, one girl did not want to come back. She called parents up and asked them to join her troop and not mine.

I can not even begin to tell you how that hurt me, and it took me a while to get through to myself that it isn't about me or my numbers, at least the girls were still scouting.

Then came the Halloween parade and the news that a parent was run over by their float. WHAT??? Yes, her foot was run over causing her to need surgery on her foot. And the real kick in the pants was that none of the newly required paperwork was filed on the parade.

So council requires us to do a roster for insurance reasons, that troop leader does not fill out the form, takes the troop to something she doesn't have approval on, and THEN an injury happens. An injury SHE DID NOT REPORT! What happens to this woman.... Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

In November I found out that my former co-leader decided not to come back but to instead join her troop. I found out in the most horrible way possible. I saw on Facebook that she had joined this troops page. Nice! We were friends outside of scouts and to be told personally would have been nice. When asked what she was doing with her kids, she lied to me.

We learned that in order for this troop to hit sales goals, not only was she recruiting girls from 3rd grade but she was also recruiting daisy age girls. She had daisy girls under her brownie number and did not tell our council rep! In fact the service unit leader had no idea. I only found out about it when a parent asked if we were taking other age groups because a friend of hers had both her girls in one troop. What happened with that, oh they allowed her to keep two troops AND she was still given the big troop reward from selling fall product.

WHAT??? She not only recruited people from other troops but then LIED on registration forms and added girls on so she could hit the high numbers need for troop incentive. SHE BLATANTLY broke the rules and you gave her the reward she broke the rules for?? How is that teaching girls to be "honest and fair"???

In early January I start to get messages from that troops former leader who was in charge of the troops nut sales. She starts to tell me all these horrible things about the troop and ends with, I want to join your troop. Look I will never turn down a girl especially if they are being mistreated by an adult. Just because you are having issues with the parent, you do not take it out on the kid.

After talking with my assistant, we agreed to bring her over to our troop. This all happened right before cookie season. I did not want this troop leader to go all nuts so I asked the mom to not inform them that the daughter was coming to my troop. Honestly I didn't want to hear it. Why invite drama?

This little girl is loving our troop and she fits in so well. Her first meeting she ran over to her mom and said she didn't want to leave and that they never did anything like that in the other troop! That made us feel so good. Because at least we are doing what is right by those we are supposed to be serving, the GIRLS.

My assistant and I went where we shouldn't and were catty. We giggled and said, there is no way they will make it through cookie season in tact!

Queue cookie season.....

We start hearing that a troop has already been selling the presale cookies since Decemeber. Big no no.

We try to set up cookie booth areas, they have already been claimed for weeks, another no-no.

It just seemed like we were banging our heads on walls. The Cookie manager could not do anything because there was no solid proof. The grocery store only had it listed as Girl Scouts. The people who bought cookies could tell us the names of who they ordered from but there was no proof. We needed solid proof not just hear say that looked like we were out to get this rival troop.

In the mean time, my kids started to participate in the Odyssey of the Mind program with my service unit managers daughter. We were getting little bits of information all the time.

Like that troop ordered 5000 boxes to start the booth season with.

Like the troop had set up cookie booths in areas where council had already set up booths. Even after the cookie manager denied the booths, the leader called council and complained and they let her have them.

The pick up of cookies was nasty and ugly between leaders of the troop.

Girls were being removed from booths they signed up for to make room for girls the leader liked better.

I went into the grocery store and a mom says to me that she was told to "rethink her daughters involvement in the troop" when the mom told the leader that they were not going to sell at booths.

Found out and had pictures from 2 booths were there was not enough people at. Council says you must have 2 parents and 2 girls at booths. One booth was just a parent and the other one was a parent and daughter.

But nothing is being done about this from council.

She is being aloud to carry on because she is a P.I.T.A. and no one wants to deal with her. She is not a good role model for the girls and yet, nothing is changing!

I am so frustrated at this point. And disappointed with our council. I feel like they are letting her get away with this because of both high troop sales and high numbers of girls in the troop. When we confronted our rep about this all she would say is that we wont have to deal with it next year.

What does that mean???

This woman wont get a troop??? Or she wont be doing cookies???

What about the girls stuck in this situation?

What about the girl who over hears that their troop leader wants her gone because her cookie sales aren't good enough??

What about the girls who are being shown the WRONG way to run their cookie business??? What does that teach them???

What about the girls who don't want to go to scouting anymore because they do not do anything but go on trips?

Who is looking out for these girls??

I am so thankful that this is not in my troop. I am so happy that I have an amazing group of girls and parents. But I hate that all the hard work of those who really are passionate about scouts is turned to garbage by those like this woman. If that was your troop would you bring your girl back for another year? There is no way in hell I would, that is for sure.