What the scouts are up to in 2010...

So far.. LOL

at the last meeting (first since the holidays!), the girls finished earning their patches they were working on. Daisies got the Courageous and Strong (red) petal for their daisy, and the Brownies got the My Body Try It. They have been working on this one for what feels like forever!

Good job girls!!

(except our girls wear the vest instead of the tunic.. they now have the blue center, the lavender petal, and the red petal)

and the Try It for the Brownies...

Today the girls started making "basketweaving" placemat things, because we plan on going to the Nursing Home here in Bandera to do Bingo and Dinner with the elderly. Sounds like a really good time, I can't wait!


They also made their first SWAPS today - we will be going Roller Skating with another troop from the Hondo area on February 5th. They made pins that are shaped like roller skates with pony beads for wheels. LOL So very adorable! (I forgot the pic! ack!)

Today I gave the girls all custom hair bows from Abbie Jack - a nice mama I know owns the company and made them for me in trade for stuff from my store - how sweet of her! The girls seemed to like them.. they all dogpiled me afterward LOL which really made my day!


and finally, when the meeting ended we took all the girls outside for a couple of photos. I want to re-do them, but I'm waiting on some shirts I had a friend make them.. plus 3 of the girls forgot their vests and we had some "hair in the face" issues LOL So I will take hair bands next time! But I really like them, nonetheless!




aaaaand... last but not least, we will be doing a Cookie Booth on February 6th (Saturday) here in Bandera during the Mardi Gras Parade. We will be in front of the Fire Station, across from the courthouse (I got permission from the station tonight, will call Nicole's mom tomorrow with info)... if you are local, please stop by and get some cookies! Free Mardi Gras beads when you buy 3 boxes! LOL

No more scouts this year...

..because it's time for Christmas break!! Yeah, it's like 3 weeks without Girl Scouts but my little girl will be visiting her Nana anyway so it's not like she'd be here to go anyway! LOL

Today was our last meeting for a little while.. they finished up their SUPER cute "paint stick snowmen" ..

and then played what I call "Mario Kart [Battle]" hahaha - we tied balloons to their ankles and then they had to run around popping each others' balloons without getting their's popped..



and of course we all brought snacks - yummy cupcakes from me, pumpkin rolls, hard candy, gingerbread men from other moms.. it was good fun.

Happy Holidays everyone, see you in January!!

Service Unit Lock-In at HC Elementary..

Last weekend, there was a big lock-in at the school for the entire Bandera Service Unit. Our whole troop couldn't make it but 3 of us did!

Daisies had to leave at 10pm, but Brownies and above got to stay all night.. what fun!

It was themed "Blast from the Past" - retro from all generations - so of course I had to rock the afro! LOL McCayla was an 80s baby.. bring on the leg warmers!!


There were lots of girls there and it seemed like everyone had a great time - the older girls led the younger ones.. dancing, hula hooping, Twister, parachute, painting, ornament making, DIY Sundaes (courtesy of the local DQ of course!), and they even made Christmas cards for the Silver Sage (senior center).



I don't think I've ever seen 50 prepubescent girls line dancing before, but I don't think I'll ever forget it now! It was really age-telling though - at one point Michael Jackson's "Thriller" came on and there were suddenly a lot of moms and troop leaders doing the Thriller dance.. while the girls looked confused. HA!


Toward the end, they started settling down (other than Taylor and McCayla borrowing my afro for a while) and passing out popcorn.. the older girls (Amber was our Brownie.. and it was her 9th birthday! yay!) were getting ready for a movie and it was time for "us" (the two Daisies in the room) to go..

(Amber, Taylor, McCayla)

She got to bring her ornament home (it was UBER cute until the paint all ran out.. now it's weird.. but I guess they didn't know it would do that!) and a goodie bag.. plus a bag of popcorn and TWO patches! (Slumber Party and Christmas Fun)



Her vest is filling up quickly LOL she has 6 fun patches plus the daisy petal and center.. and the best part is; she's having a GREAT time!

OH and in case it will help other scout moms..
When attaching the fun patches (the ones that go on the back of the uniform), I put one row on the bottom (always L-R chronological order.. I'm a little OCD like that) and then when I start the next row (yes.. L-R.. hehe) I overlap the bottom row and tack just the top. So it's a flap - you can fit WAY more patches on a vest this way, and since they'll be in Daisies for 2 years before moving to Brownies, we'll NEED the room!


and then you can lift the flaps to see what's underneath!

Christmas Parade in Bandera

Our girls got to do their first Christmas Parade.. first Parade ever, actually. Bandera has one every year and this time, we got to be IN it instead of watching it!

The Bandera Service Unit had a float for the girl scouts (all different troops/ages) and we all decorated it early in the morning. It was FREEZING. Car said it was 21* when I left the house.. and of course the float was outside. I forgot I had toes and fingers for a while!

Everyone drank hot cocoa and decorated the float with a Christmas Tree, a banner, and some knick-knacky stuff.. then they all donned holiday hats and white gloves and we loaded up for the parade!

We rode down Main Street in Bandera singing Christmas carols and Girl Scout chants.. of course no two scouts out of about 20 could keep the rhythm, but it was a blasty blast.
My husband James and our 2yo son were watching from the courthouse lawn - James took photos for the Bandera Bulletin, where he is the editor, and I have snagged some of them from his online album :)

I think we'll be doing more parades - probably Memorial Day and Celebrate Bandera.. this was good (COLD) practice for those! And the best part of all, they got the CUTEST patches, which I purchased from an eBay store (Troop Moore) - they are the best patches I've seen! (seen at the top of this post)


(that's mine behind the pole with the santa hat on.. she looks confused.. and that's me in the top right corner, no hat and a blue sweater!)

A-Maize-ing Fun in Hondo!

Toward the end of November, we were FINALLY able to get the girls to Hondo to do the South Texas Maize.. it's basically a huge (3 acre!) maze through a "corn field" though it's not really corn.. it's Maize. hehe It looks like wheat or hops and is about 8' tall. Even the adults couldn't see over it (especially me.. the shorty.)..

It was chilly but we were glad, because the staff said on warmer days it gets muggy and humid inside the maze. It was quite comfortable, just some runny noses going around :) Plus we ended up going with reservations on a special day - not open to the public! So we were one of 3 reserved groups there.. it was basically deserted! (Us, another scout troop, and a homeschooling group)

We went through the maze, which took about an hour.. the girls had a blast, squealing every time they found a clue! Then we had a little sack lunch at the picnic tables before going for a hayride and then a ride in the barrel train! I had to leave with my kids to get them to Austin to meet up with my mom, but the other kids stayed a tad longer and jumped on the big ol' pillow (like an inflatable bounce house.. but it's just a big pillow, no house)..

All in all, a great time - and very stress free because it wasn't crowded, hot, etc. They got a patch (yay!) and had a blast.. I'm sure we'll go back again next year!

(PICS COMING - JoAnn has them as I used her camera! LOL)

Corn Maize Rained Out - but more fun stuff planned!

Well the morning we were supposed to go to the Maize, it started thunderstorming - so they close the Maize of course. yay!
We hear they're open til the 29th so we may be going there next Wednesday instead of our usual meeting, which would be awesome as we have the patches already and would love to not let them go to waste! LOL

Yesterday's meeting was fun and interesting.
First off, the girls are working on the "Courageous and Strong" part of the GS Law. For the Daisies this will be another petal in their flower, for the Brownies I believe it is another of their Try-Its.

So in teaching them to be courageous, each parent brought something unusual for them to eat. They were supposed to try a little of it even if they didn't think they'd like it, or if it seemed gross.
I took garlic/herb Goat Cheese and some tuna roll Sushi. Other parents brought Edamame, Kiwi, Sugar Pears, Cheesecake Sopapillas, German Sausage and Sauerkraut... and I must say, the girls all did pretty good about trying things! They didn't necessarily love all of it, but they did TRY. Taylor especially was open and adventurous! (Good job Taylor!)

I meant to snap pics of them tasting stuff but I totally got busy passing out sushi haha

At the end of the meeting, parents had to meet for... THE COOKIE TALK! Yep, it's that time of year almost. We have our information, we get order forms etc. in December, and Cookie Sales begin on January 1st!
We are going to try to reach the Super Seller goal of 155 boxes.. PER GIRL... to get the special patch. We have from Jan 1-15 for this part of it. Then we'll start the secondary sales and booths.

All cookies are 3.50 and we'll start taking orders on January 1st (no sooner!). There's a new cookie out this year too - it's called Thank You Berry Munch! and it's really yummy - it has bits of dried berries in what tastes like possibly a shortcake cookie. Yummy!

That's all for now, will update after next week - hopefully we can do the Maize then!
:D

It all started with the letter "A"..

In this case, "Mrs. A" - because most of the girls can't pronounce her last name. :)

Mrs. A is the leader of Daisy & Brownie Troop #724. She may very well be the nicest lady on the planet. We all love her and really enjoy being in her troop.

My daughter McCayla is 5 years old. She just turned old enough to join Daisies, and I was determined to have her in Girl Scouts from the very beginning. So far, so good!

We're only about a month in, but she's really having a blast. There's been an investiture ceremony, where she was presented with her official Daisy Uniform Vest, as well as her pins. She also received a "Sisterhood" patch for knowing the Universal "Girl Scout Handshake" and some other worldwide scouting traditions.



Soon after that, we took the girls to the Medina Pumpkin Patch (at Love Creek) and they got to tour the orchard, see how cider is made, get to taste some cider, and paint a pumpkin. And they got a patch for that, which is always a nice bonus!

Yesterday at the weekly meeting, the girls all got to make S'mores, and for most of them this was their first time. There was gooey marshmallow everywhere and all you could hear was giggles and "mmmmmm" :)

(That's my little girl!)

Then they got more patches that they have been working hard to earn. The Brownies received the "Girl Scout Way" Try-It, and the Daisies received the center of their Daisy. This was for knowing the Girl Scout Promise.

"On My Honor,
I Will Try,
To Serve God,
And My Country.
To Help People
At All Times
And To Live
By The Girl Scout Law."

They've been practicing and practicing, and they all know it by heart now. They are quite proud of themselves, and we are proud of them too! The Daisies also received one of the petals for their Daisy. This one was for learning one of the ten parts of the Girl Scout Law. (This one being "Be A Sister to Every Girl Scout")

I guess tonight I will be doing some patch-sewing!

On Sunday we're taking them to the Maize in Hondo, which sounds like a ton of fun. This time my 2 year old son, Canon, will get to join us - so it will be a big family outing. We will share this trip with the local Cub Scouts as well.

More on Sunday!