Brownie Ceremonies

We had our first Court of Awards of the year this year and it went wonderfully. We started with a candle ceremony. We had a raised candle holder with three candles symbolizing the three parts of the Girl Scout Law, and ten tea-light holders, each symbolizing part of the Girl Scout promise. We have thirteen girls in our troop so this made it the perfect ceremony for us.



Next, I wrote a special ceremony to commemorate the 100th anniversary of girls showing up at a Boy Scout meeting in England and announcing that they wanted to be scouts too. WAGGGS made the charge "plant seeds for growth" this year, so I talked about how our troop had done that by inviting five new girls into our troop, and to make it more memorable, had each girl plant 6 herbs in little pots, and gave them the 2010 WAGGGS patch.

Next, we did investiture and rededication by having the experienced members of the troop put the newer girls' uniforms on them.

Last, I gave out the awards, shaking each girl's hand and giving them an envelope. On a side note, I am especially proud of my daughter, who got a huge pile. Of course, she has to come to every event, so it makes it easiest for her to earn Try-Its and patches. She got Girl Scout Ways, Dinosaurs, Bump in the Night, Bicycling, Archery, Animals, Art to Wear, Caring and Sharing, Water Everywhere, Fishing, her Brownie Quest Journey set, the WAGGGS patch, Halloween Fun, and more. She has really put a lot of effort into Girl Scouts this year, and has done a great job!

This Past Week in Girl Scouting.....

I had my Cadette meeting Wednesday and it went very well. We finished up the "talking" part of our aMaze journey by talking about bullying. I was very impressed the girls shared their personal stories, and was saddened by the story one girl told of being bullied by a teacher so much that she had to hide in the bathroom and cry. 8-( Now we are on to our Take Action Project - we're using World Thinking Day to complete this project!


This week my Brownies attended a Try-It day at our local children's museum. They did some great projects - a collage mask, T-shirts decorated with fabric paint and markers, reindeer headbands, face painting, and friendship bracelets, earning Art to Wear. They also got two hours of free play in the museum, which may have been their favorite part!

Today we have our troop cookie kick-off meeting - if anyone needs some Thin Mints, let me know! We're selling as of Wednesday.

Mail Call - Caring & Sharing

Last week I handed out envelopes with blank cards inside, each one addressed to a girl in the troop, with a stamp already on it. The girls' task was to decorate the card and include a message of card to one of their friends. Everyone loves to get mail - I thought this would be a good way to work toward the Caring & Sharing Try-It. My daughter got the newest girl in our troop, and mailed her card yesterday. I'm hoping we get full participation so that everyone who mails a card receives one as well.

Two frustrations and then some good stuff

1. RSVPs. Specifically, I am frustrated by parents who do not RSVP and/or pay a fee if there is one, and then still expect their children can show up to an event. This summer I made a new rule for myself, that I am not going to chase parents down to find out who is going to what event. I do not have time. The flip side is when parents do RSVP, but then they don't show. I already know that two of the girls who RSVPed yes to an upcoming event are not really coming.

2. Time. When I handed a parent a newsletter yesterday he said something like, "I really wouldn't have time to do this.," and he said it in a condescending way. I give an enormous amount of my time to Girl Scouting. It is my choice and my pleasure to do it. That doesn't mean I don't have other things I could be doing. If someone feels they couldn't make the time to run a troop, instead of demeaning the person who does, they should say THANK YOU.

We had a meeting this week and it was great! I was so happy one of my most active little girls said, "Jenny, Jenny, can we do skits?," and I was able to say YES. We started working on the Caring and Sharing Try-It, because I thought this would be a good way to start the year and have everyone get to know each other a little better. We did skits on different ways to show you care, showed how the girls in our troop are alike and different, and I gave them each a card, already addressed and stamped, to decorate and mail to a troop member this week.

The best part of the meeting for me was when I said, "We have to do this quickly, it's almost time to go.," and they all seemed shocked and said, "What? It's been an hour? I don't want it to be over!"

First Official Brownie Meeting!

I wanted to jump right back in to Girl Scouts so we had our first meeting today! We met at a local mountain to start our Animals Try-It. We hiked around the lake and found lots of bugs, squirrels, two lizards, and three frogs. We saw evidence of beavers and chipmunks too. I even managed to keep my cool while a huge, fuzzy, yellow caterpillar crawled up my pants leg!

It was so good to see the girls again! Seven of the girls from last year were able to come, and and we had one brand new members. I am looking forward to lots of great activities this year!

Bump in the Night and Fishing

We went camping with another family from our troop this week and tried our first Council's Own Try-It from Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama - Bump in the Night. Esme and her friend learned about nocturnal animals and saw a bird presentation including an owl, went on a night hike, sang songs about owls and skunks, etc.



Saturday was the Learn to Fish Derby that we've been looking forward to so much. The girls learned the parts of the pole, how to cast, about bait, and spent about 3 hours trying to catch something. A sister of one of our girls did manage to catch a little fish. They did earn their Fishing Try-It , another Council's Own from Girl Scouts of Central Indiana.

Brownie Try-Its and Council's Owns

It's been fun starting Try-Its with the girls! We completed two as part of our activities to earn the Daisy to Brownies bridging award - Outdoor Adventurer and People of the World. This summer, I've been working with Esme. Today we finished the Water Everywhere Try-It.

When I initially looked at the Try-Its book I was actually a little disappointed. I'm blessed with a very adventurous group of girls, and I felt like maybe we are more adventurous than the book. I'd seen our Council's Own Try-Its and we're already planning to earn two of them in the Fall - two which are very specific, Bicycling and Archery. I did a quick Google search to find awards from other councils, and was delighted with what I found. There are lists put together out there, and I know my girls will be thrilled that I've found them for Rock Climbing, Horseback Riding, and many more things - even Caving! I also know my girls would enjoy things like Drama Queen. Esme and I have already started working on the Dinosaur one!