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)