Let's Try this Again!

I haven't posted in a while to our little blog. I though I would put up some things that we have done lately. We have been BUSY!!! In August, we had Camporee. The girls had a great time at Camp Butterworth! The theme this year was Storybook. In order to save some time, my co-leader and I chose the theme "Diary of a Wimpy Kid" with a few girls from the troop. We gathered to make our S.W.A.P.S, which were little cheese touch pins and adorable. You can view some of the great pictures from Camporee 2013, here.

The girls have been very busy starting the new school year but we have already crammed in two Girl Scout trips. The first was to Oberer's Flowers to learn about flowers and the business they conduct at a florist shop. The team there was truly accommodating and the girls had fun and learned a lot of information from the guys there.

The girls each did their own arrangement of live flowers.

The kind guys at Oberer's were even nice enough to let the girls take their arrangements home. The troop was excited to take them home to their families and tell them about what they learned!

So, spread some love their way if you are in need of any flowers, even some for decorating your home. If you would like to see more pics from our trip, you can access those, here.

We have some great events coming up for these girls soon, and I am excited to be the leader for a group of girls so willing to help and try new experiences in the process!
See you all soon!
Darlene

Community Service Project

I was very excited for the project the girls took part in yesterday. Let me share the story with you.

A relative of mine is married to a marine and posted on Facebook for donations of homemade holiday ornaments. The ornaments would be donated to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany. This is the closest treatment center for troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan. While I am crafty, I thought this would be perfect for our girls to understand community and our role as individuals. The journey we are working on right now, A World of Girls fits to help the soldiers.
 I started the meeting by explaining to the girls some important facts about community. We talked about symbols of community and what communities we, as individuals and our families, are part of daily. Our city is a military community, I feel it is important we thank those serving our country when given the opportunity. Many of the girls talked about family in military positions with excitement. They drove straight to the conclusion that the injured soldiers in Germany, missing their home, need some comfort from Troop #30877!! Have I mentioned how much I LOVE our girls?!
We decided to make separate tables with different crafts and split the girls up to work simultaneously. We have 13 girls, each making 5 ornaments. I need to give a HUGE thank you to Jen and Molly for running tables for the girls! I know there is a lot of prep work AND it gets busy trying to keep everyone happy:) Also, I think Karen got stuck with the most time consuming craft and had to help A LOT because some things are difficult for little hands;) So thank you to here too!!
 So here is Molly working with a group on Modern Paper Ornaments Molly, Leah and family also donated the materials for these:

(I think most of our ideas came from Pinterest but I have also linked directions if you want to make one.)

The materials for this one were donated by Jen, Kendall and family:) The Popsicle Stick ornament was very popular because it had jewels and was sparkly:)

Little brother came along to help out too!
Here is Karen helping the girls with a surprisingly challenging Mini Wreath:

We also had Popsicle Snowmen

and Clay Pot Reindeer

Trust me the girls had a great time helping our troops and we donated over 65 ornaments to be shipped! Be proud of them because more than one of them really wanted you to see their work but still donated their handmade ornament!!

Light the Night

On Thursday, our troop attended the Light the Night Walk. The honoree this year was Kayleigh, a Junior Girl Scout who attends school with the girls. She was scheduled to speak in front of all the walkers on Thursday, approximately 5000 people! The girls in our troop found out that Kayleigh gets nervous speaking in front of groups (who wouldn't with a group of 5000). While working on one of their journeys, they decided that they would "Take Action" to help support Kayleigh in her mission as a survivor.

The girls sat attentively in front of the stage as Kayleigh delivered her message to the crowd. Karen and I were so proud of the entire group.

She is an amazing little girl! I am so happy my family and our troop was by her side Thursday night!

Meeting Fun

Here is a little glimpse of what we do in a regular meeting. This week, we planned our Rededication/ Investure Ceremony. This is just a time set aside for the girls to renew their pledge to Girl Scouting. If they were members last year or in the past it will be their Rededication. If they are new to Girl Scouting it will be their Investure, when they receive their Brownie vests and pin! The Ceremony will be at next weeks meeting. Oct. 12, at 3PM. Our normal meeting ends at 3:30 so the Ceremony will be how our meeting ends and the girls will be free to go when we are finished.

The girls made invitations for their loved ones to invite them to the Ceremony.

We learned some things about Girl Scouting traditions and talked about Juliette Gordon Low's Birthday coming up very soon. You can read more about her here on the Girl Scouting website. She is the founder of Girl Scouts and used to send special messages to the Girl Scouts on her own birthday every year. Our Halloween Hoe Down  is a way that we plan on celebrating her birthday this year.

Next the girls made their craft for this meeting.

I don't want to ruin the surprise and tell you what it is, but it will be used in our ceremony and the girls will get to bring them home afterward:)

Our last group activity was singing some Girl Scout songs. The girls who were familiar with songs taught the words and actions to the rest of the troop and then we all sang together. This was MY favorite part of the meeting. Megan, who stays pretty quiet for most meetings, led the way with a GREAT song about sharks. Then Kari took over and we sang a song that got everyone participating. The girls even grabbed Karen and I to participate! Now we all know some songs for our gatherings (maybe even a camp out).

I hope this has given you an idea of what goes on at our meetings. I know I have mentioned it before but Elise does not share very much so I never really knew what was going on when I wasn't there with her. As always, parents are welcome to come to our meetings. We encourage fun and parent involvement:)

Apple Picking Fun

Thank you to the families that joined us for the apple picking event on Sunday! The younger Brownie troop invited our girls to come along as part of their making friends badge during their Brownie Quest. Several of our girls are in scouting families and used the opportunity as a family outing. Due to drought in our area, we had to drive an hour in order to be able to pick our own. When we got to the farm, we all were given bags for the apples we picked. Then we loaded the girls up for a hayride to the fields.

Once we got to the fields, the girls had fun together picking apples....and maybe sampling some......

All of us gathered to walk back and pay for our picked apples, but first we took a much deserved break in the shade:)

After a quick trip to the store at the farm, the girls snacked on caramel apples covered in sprinkles and frozen cider popsicles. There were 21 girls total from a combined 3 troops!! We took a group picture and made our way home! The girls had a great time and the weather was perfect!

This is a picture of the badge the participating girls will receive!

First Meeting 2012!

What a great first meeting we had on Friday!! We are up to 9 members and recruitment is still happening! The girls did fantastic. I had a very packed meeting planned! They did not lose attention and seemed to have fun. I hope they brought home their individual stars and mentioned our activities to your families! They each identified some of their own talents, shared them with the group and even related it to their families and the Girl Scout Law! Let me tell you we have an EXTREMELY TALENTED group! The journey they are working on is called The Brownie Quest and you can read more about it here. The girls have earned their first key and are half way through key #2!

We did decide to support our fellow girl scout Kayleigh at the Light the Night walk in October as part of earning key#3. I mailed out some details for that this morning. Please let Karen or I know of any questions that you may have. We did participate last year. However. this year Kayleigh is the honoree!! You can register for the walk so Kayleigh's Crusaders know who to expect. Getting up in front of a large group of people to speak about her experiences is a hard thing to do (for a lot of adults even). The support she could have from us would mean a lot to her and her family. She is even going to talk to the girls at the meeting on the 21^st as a guest speaker!

Our next meeting is September 21^st. There is a possibility we will have a change in space, I will let you know more as that works out. Any feedback from your girls- positive or negative- we would like to hear itJ The feedback helps us make the troop theirs!

SO MUCH INFORMATION!

Hello everyone!

Hopefully, you had a great start to the new school year. I can’t wait to hear all about it from the girls at our first meeting on Friday! This post is mainly to communicate all of the information I have at current moment. I have created agendas for the first two meetings September 7 and September 21. You are welcome to look them over so you can ask your daughter about the activities later or if you are just curious about what goes on at the meetings (Elise was never one to communicate what she did). If you have any suggestions, I will also take those into consideration with Karen and the girls.

Apparently, I needed to fill out a request to use the facilities at the school. I will be going to take care of that this morning. Hopefully, it will not put a wrench in our plans for Friday. I will look for a backup just in case. Typically, our meetings will be at the school with a pickup time of 3:30PM. If someone other than a parent will be picking up your daughter please communicate that in advance. Don’t forget your notes to teachers on meeting days and to send me teacher’s names and bus numbers.

We have decided to handle snacks differently this year. The girls will be on a rotating schedule (displayed on the right) to provide a snack for the meeting. We will have snack at the beginning of the meeting so it will be necessary to send snack with your daughter in the morning or bring it to the school prior to final bell. Karen and I will be at the school by 1:30PM to prep, you could bring it to us or even attend the meeting if you like, parents are always welcome.

The schedule that I have posted here on the blog and have emailed out extends through December. I do have tentative dates for the remainder of the school year and am happy to share those with you. The spring schedule is likely to change so be aware if you calendar those dates. The girls need to complete certain tasks to bridge to Junior Girl Scouting and we will start those when we come back from winter break.

I have talked to a few parents about dues and uniforms. We all seem to agree, the beginning of the year is when we all get asked for SO MUCH MONEY for every activity. The girls will need a new vest at the end of the year if they are planning on participating in Girl Scouts next year. The vest with all required startup patches costs around $40 and is itemized here. The sash is less expensive and is itemized here. We will have the uniform fees due after we come back from winter break. I have to collect all the money and order the uniform to have it available for the bridging ceremony. Then the girls will have them available to wear to summer activities. The dues for the girls will be $35. These are due by November 1. This fee includes one outing (to be determined by the troop) and any badges the girls earn throughout the year. Any other activities will be communicated with costs and girls will be given the option of participating.

If you are wondering, email has always been and will REMAIN our primary form of communication. This blog is for more frequent updates without flooding your inbox as well as an easy way to share with family what your daughter has been doing.

I am looking forward to a spectacular year with your families!             

Darlene (D.D.)