Catching up...

Ok, so the next few days I will spend catching up here on my blog.

First, I will start with the GS ceremony stuff. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that I need to recruit a camera and video camera volunteer for ceremonies. I put the video camera on the wrong side and got nothing but butts, mine and the parents. lol

I didn't get pictures of anything. :-( But I will be writing the parents to see if they got any good shots for our scrapbooking patch.

So, I will show you what the girls made for their parents instead. lol

My Daisies and Brownies made what I call fingerprint calendars. These are a sampling from different calendars to give you an idea of their hardwork.

The poem above is The Hands of a Child. Each girls picture was included underneath in their calendar.

Aren't they adorable? Each girls was different and I love that!

My Juniors made keepsake boxes. On the outside top they say "I can be anything because you..." and on the sides they wrote what their parents do for them that allows them to be anything. They decorated with ribbons and stickers.


On the inside top there is a picture of each girl and on the inside bottom is their signature, age and year. This idea came to me while in the dollar store. lol

Although we were missing some girls in the Junior and Brownie level, I was so happy to get these done. I could tell how proud and happy my girls were and that they couldn't wait to give them to their parents. I just hope their parents appreciated them. I didn't get to see because I was passing out rewards for our last sale when they were opening gifts. Darn!

I can't even express how proud I am of these girls and I feel so lucky and blessed to be able to have this chance to know them and work with them. They have given me so much in such a short amount of time and I know it's just going to make me a better person and a better mother/aunt to my kids.

Meeting The Girls

I couldn't tell you any specific names (yet) of the amazing little girls I met today, but I can tell you about the big blue eyes or the shy smile.

Today was my first time helping with a Girl Scout Meeting. I'm helping with the last meetings until I take over next school year so the current girls can get to know me and I can get the hang of how the meetings go.

At first I was thinking: "What in the world did I get myself into?" because there didn't seem to be any direction and there were girls running everywhere. But then they explained to me how there was a mix up with the snack and they were waiting and trying to kill time.

Finally that was all settled, and we broke out into groups. My group of kids didn't include any of my kids which I was glad for actually. They were earning their citizen patch. As we went over good citizens that they knew I was amazed: "Martin Luther King", "My Grandparents", "Mr. Patches". These girls really had a good hold on things.

We talked about feelings and empathy and taking a stand for what's right. We talked about troop rules and what happens when rules are broken. Since we will be going to Build A Bear in a few weeks, I decided to emphasize about strangers/field trip rules and what to do and what not to do.

They were pretty well versed on all of that stuff too. I had to change the subject because they were starting to scare themselves with the stranger business. One little girl clung to my arm so tightly and looked up to me with her big blue eyes and said she was getting too scared about everything we were talking about. So we changed the topic to voting and what it means. Then we held an election for the troops favorite color.

It was a great meeting and it also opened my eyes. I see my kids everyday and I get so fed up of them and their crap. They just seem so phony to me sometimes. I realized today, that even though they may be older than their years in the school of hard knocks, they are still so young and immature when it comes to childhood and just being a kid. Really it's hard to explain.

My kids are being phony when they do things like that, but they don't know how to be kids and they are simply emulating what they see. When I see them doing this, I feel like they are dumbing themselves down to be part of the crowd. But I realized at that meeting, kids learn from each other, not just their parents. If that's what it takes for them to learn how to be kids, I guess for now, I will let it be.

As for Girl Scouts...I can't wait and boy oh boy will there be changes!

SUCKER!

If I could take a picture of myself. You would see me here, mouth hanging slightly open, face contorted with one eyebrow cocked to my hairline (I'm sure) and a vacant deer caught in the headlights stare.

I hear kids talking and I know the wind is blowing outside but what in the world did I just do today?

My girls showed up to sell Girl Scout Cookies and the next thing I know our wonderful Girl Scout leader is leaving this Sunday forever and ever. I wasn't shocked about the why, but the look on my girl's faces. Especially the oldest... I couldn't bear it. I cried as I climbed silently back in the van by myself.

Their leader is the best leader and an awesome role model. She is doing the absolute right thing for her circumstances and I am so proud of her. But my kids, they are kids and they don't really understand. To them, it's just another adult that they loved and trusted who is abandoning them. I tried to explain to them how strong and courageous this woman is for doing what she is doing and how it is the right thing and best thing for her. Be happy for her. But I know, right now, they can't understand. It's all adult stuff.

The troop basically was going to dissolve without a leader. No more Girl Scouts. The only positive thing my girls had going for them in terms of female role models out in the world. I kept seeing my oldest girl's face and I couldn't even explain it to Hubs without crying.

When I picked up my girls from the sales. I found myself volunteering to be the next leader. Someone had to keep these girls together and busy and well...positive.

Since then all of my "gusto" has turned into more of an "oh $%^&!". Because yes, I was thinking of my girls and those other girls but I didn't really realize that those other girls were a troop of Daisies AND Brownies AND some Juniors. 42 girls to be exact.

I can do this... I think. Right?