Monday, November 10, 2008

Girl Scout Bonfire :)

Attendance for the Bonfire Meeting was high. We were only missing 3 girls out of 16. I feel the girls had a blast. Parents I'm sure they filled your ears full on the way home. They were so excited I had trouble getting them to stop talking long enough to hear the outdoors at night. All in all Myself included had a blasttttttt!!!!! Here are the few pictures we had time to take.


You see Ashley's little trail from our house to the bonfire area in my backyard. This was her idea to help lead the girls in the dark.

She did the campsite herself along with her helper Brooke.



They were so excited they stayed outside until the girls arrived.


Here is more set up pictures.


Here is the bonfire before picture.




We made a separate fire for the food b/c the other was too big for what I bought to make campfire stew. Ashley named her fire, but forgot to get the girls to name the big one. She said this is a girl scout camp tradition. When the girls arrived we went on a night hike behind my house on some awesome 4-wheeler trails. They started off in pairs of 2, but we lost one girl to fear. She opted to stay behind and help Ashley, Mrs. Dana, & my hubby with the fire. That made her partner McKenzie my partner. Then as we left the comfort of house lights and street lights the girls got a little scared. I then ended up with about 2 girls on each side of me holding on tight to whatever part of my arm or hand was nearest. I had a flashlight in one hand so they had to interlock their arms with mine. I had to stop several times to reassure someone that we had houses on each side and we weren't lost and I wouldn't let anything happen to any of them. I guess I did a good job reassuring them b/c by the end they were upset when I turned them around to head back. We stopped and listened to the sounds at night (We tried), we watched a small creek flow, we looked for bugs on the trail, we looked at the stars and about 5 airplanes in the sky. It was quite comical when some noticed the moving stars (airplanes). We had an occassional fall, but no injuries reported. No scrapes or bruises to be found. On one of the falls if I had not been in the lead she would have tumbled down the hill, but I stopped her with my legs. Thankgoodness I was braced b/c it was such a steep hill. That was one plus for the Momma Duck (Thanks Sherry).

Here is our picture on the top of the hill fixing to head back.Why does my daughter have to be silly in every picture?!?


Awwwww how sweet? (Paige F., Abbie, Katie R., & Kailey)

Anna-Katherine & our new member Danielle. (And yes Danielle's mom I am looking for her flashlight. ) It was super hard keeping up with 13 girl's camping items. Maybe everyone should label them next time so I won't have early altzheimers during the meetings and loose (and I'm not being sarcastic, please don't take it that way) someone's precious camping stuff. They will use this for the rest of their girl scout career and we want to have supplies that they can pass down to their daughter's like Mrs. Sherry. She let her daughter LeAnn use her old girl scout mess kit and bag. Awwwwwww. That was so sweet. I should have taken a picture of that.

Here's another set of girls....... LeAnn, Sarah, & Brooke


Ah and here are my Paige's: Paige F. & Paige P. They were soooo sweet to share their spot with my little one Jarrett. Hopefully he didn't spill in hot food on them.



No one can forget my Abbie & Katie. They get along so well. They don't even go to the same school or know each other outside of girl scouts. I think it is amazing that all of my girls get along great!!!!! and they go to different school from each other. I think I have a total of 5 different schools in my troop.

Here's Anna-Katherine, Danielle & Lexi. (Donna- Everyone can thank your daughter for this idea. She was the one wanting to go camping terribly bad. I hope she enjoyed this meeting. I think she did.) (And Kay thanks a bunch for helping us roast marshmellows. There'd be a few more burnt marshmellows if you weren't there. HaHa. Tks!!!!)


McKenzie (my future girl scout leader with her camera- Was she mocking me with my camera? or did she just learn from my example?) Katie R, Kailey, & Lexi.


Don't laugh. It worked. That is our campfire stew & hot cocoa. The food and cocoa was the bombbbbbbbb!!!!!



Thank you also to my hubby. Without him we wouldn't have had a fire. He kept it burning until our meeting was over while I watched girls.

And to the biggest helper in the world!!!!! Ashley. I have decided I'm not having a meeting without her. She is great with the girls. She helped me sing campfire songs, She cooked, dished out the food, and fed the fire to keep it going. She will make a great leader one day also. Our favorite song is the Bear Song. I think the girls liked the Bug Juice song the best though b/c it was gross.


Mrs. Dana..... Another awesome helper. She helped take care of Jarrett while I kept girls out of the fire. She is such a doll.......



Here's my little precious by Jarrett. He wanted to go camping super bad so I let him tag along at our meeting. Usually my hubby and Jarrett get out of the house b/c of all of the girls. And you know boys thinks we have cooties. HaHa. They'll probably hang around more if it involves fires or camping. I can't wait for boyscouts!!!!!


Here they are roasting marshmellows.





And here is the whole crew. Sorry the picture isn't great. It was dark.
I can't wait to do this again!!!! Next up Mother-Daughter campout. Awwww come on Mom's it's just one night. If I can rough it with my death fear of spiders you can come rough it as well. We can all go rough it together. At least we have cabins, couts, and real toliets. HaHa.
Mrs. Brandi :) :) :)

MySpace Hit Counters
hiking gear

Friday, November 7, 2008

Girl Scout Meeting Tonight :P

We are going to have a blast!!! I have bought a pot to cook campfire stew in, a kettle to make hot cocoa over the fire, and a grill thing to place these on over the fire to cook on.

We were goin to hike, we may still do that a little bit b/c it will be dark. We'll try. We have some awesome 4-wheeler trails between my house and Jenny Lee's (senior girl scout) house. It has a real pretty lake too, but it'll be too dark for us to see it. We might hike with our flashlights unless the girls act to scared. I have little ones and if it is scary it isn't fun for them. We'll play it by ear.

We also will sing several campfire songs, learn how to tie a rope, eat campfire stew, learn campfire safety, roast marshmellows, drink hot cocoa(Brooke's request), learn how to dispose of our trash camping, learn how to clean our dishes, how to hang up our cup, talk about outdoor emergencies, look at the stars at night, talk about our next campout plans, and go over how to be friendly & helpful.

This will earn the Daisy's their friendly & helpful petal; Brownie's their Ready, Set, Go Camping & a little towards their Outdoor Adventure Badge; Junior's their Outdoor Fun badge.

Let's welcome our new members: Danielle & Paige F.

I love our Troop. They feel just like my girls. Here is a list of my girls: Katie R., Hannah, McKenzie, Anna-Katherine, Abbie, Brooke B., Emily, Kailey, LeAnn, Lexi, Madelyn, Paige F., Paige P., Sarah, Katie, Brooke D., & Danielle. I hope in the future they remember me and all of the fun memories I have provided for them with Girl Scouts. I also want to be invited to their graduations and weddings Mom's...

Don't forget Candy & Magazine orders are due tonight !!!! (Money orders & order forms)

See you all tonight.

Mrs. Brandi :)

MySpace Hit Counters
hiking gear

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Boo @ the Zoo :)-

I just love this picture.
See the excitment on his face???? See the excitement on Dad's???? No I didn't force hubby to go. It was his idea to come with us. I never expect it and am pleasently suprised when he opts to attend fun things with us.

I have never been to Boo @ the Zoo before, but it was loads of fun and not tOo bad crowded. Jarrett liked playing the games. There was one thing he did unvoluntarily (you'll see the picture coming up) and one thing he wouldn't do- pet a snake.

Here he is petting the donkey. He loved how upclose it got to us.


He was super excited to see all of the animals.

Ashley even had a good time.

Here is his unvoluntary thing he did. Hubby carried him into the bat house which was semi decorated scary with scary music playing. It was sooooo funny to see his reaction. He screamed the whole time so we quickly got out of there.

Here is another game he loved. He is actually good at throwing games. (Is that b/c he is born to throw b/c he is a boy. I don't know I played softball- maybe it is inherited. Ha Ha)


After Boo @ the Zoo we ate McDonald's and took Ashley to cheer practice. Brooke was at a birthday party seeing "High School Musical 3" and having her own good time. Then we went to Tummy Yummy and decorated a cookie. Sorry no picture b/c my camera's battery dies at the zoo. I really recommend Tummy Yummy off Trenton street. My kids love decorating and eating their cookies. They also have the largest cookies I've ever seen and they are greaaaaatttttttt. It doesn't hurt that the owner is super sweet herself. Her kids go to Brooke's school b/c I have seen her at the parent meeting before.


MySpace Hit Counters
hiking gear

Pumkin Carving :)

First let me start off by saying- I now understand why my parents never carved any pumpkins with us. Ughhhhh It was hard and messy. Second my kids loved it so much well probably do this every year. Third yes Brooke has shorts on, sorry they are short- they are her play shorts.
We started off with a spider design Jarrett & Brooke picked out. I tried it for about 5 minutes and decided to go with an old fashioned pumkin face b/c it looked easier.
I don't know how this picture got in here twice and I can't figure out how to remove it so sorry.

Next I broke both saws on the kit I bought.

And had to bring out the big dogs. The kids stayed far away while I used these b/c I was afraid I'd cut someone. It kept getting stuck in the pumpkin and I'd have to yank it out. I know I wasn't teaching knife safety.


Here's Ashley and no she isn't using the big dogs knifes she's useing and bending my......... pampered chef spatula

Jarrett & Brooke had never seen the inside of a pumpkin. Jarrett thought it was gross and stinky but Brooke thought it was cool.



Yeah Ashley got a picture of me. I was trying not to look so frustrated, did I succeed? Brooke wanted to dig out the guts. Am I a bad mom in feeling relieved and letting her. HaHa.



Here is our final several hours later product.
Jarrett seems to enjoy it. He reminds me to light it when he gets home from school everyday.

Isn't it cute!!!!! All in all we had a great time. Now I'll know what to do next time amd I won't be so frustrated. Ah and my mom informed me she carves one every year for her school kids. I guess once was enough for her per season. It would be for me too.

Friday Oct 24th Girl Scout Meeting! :)

The girls had a blast, but my picture taker seemed to only catch them eating. No that is not all that we did. We made badge swaps, performed a skit which they loved 2 times, learned about the founder of Girl Scouts Juliette Low, ate worm dogs, chips, and creepy dip and carrots, performed a birthday ceremony for Juliette Low, made up a funny Halloween story, & watched a little bit of "Monster House" a cartoon movie that is alittle spooky. Sorry parents if your children had trouble sleeping- it was a little scary for a cartoon.

Here is Brooke saying "Peace Dude" (I don't know where she gets this- it wasn't me), & Katie trying on her vampire teeth.
Here is our creepy dip. Jarrett wouldn't go near the refirgerator once he saw this. HaHa Maybe I should keep this in the fridge forever. (Well it might stink so I'll have to think of something else.)

Here are the girls waiting patiently for the birthday party.-
Here is the cake with modifications from me. It originally had a barbie on it and a comb. When I pulled them off it left gapping holes where it pulled the icing off in the middle of the heart. Thankgoodness I had some yellow frosting in my cabinet. (Don't ask. I am always having to bake something for someone with 3 kids.)


Here is the birthday ceremony. I had to recite a sentence and light 12 candles one sentence and one candle at a time. I tried to go as fast as I could b/c you could tell they were getting fidgetty.



I don't know who started it, but they all decided to wear frosting lipstick. Yeah, Fun.



And Ashley only took eating pictures remember. Katie & Abbie.

Oh look here's one without food. :)
Katie eating. I bet she'll love this picture later.

Her sister McKenzie wearing her frosting lipstick. Hannah being so sweet. She is such a doll. She came over and asked if her sister Emily (who was sick and couldn't come) could have a cupcake. I sent her home one along with all of her girl scout goodies and badges.

Here is 2 of the my girls watching the movie. I might try that at the end of every meeting, but then again I don't want my parents to think that is all we do. We just finish with 30 minutes to spare at each meeting no matter how much I plan. I don't know what to do. I don't want to cut our time b/c the girls love it so much. I oculd just rent nice educational movies maybe from the library. Anyone have any suggestions?????
Plans for the next meeting TBA. I will work on this tomarrow. I know I'm cutting it close, but I had to have 2 meeting back to back due to the holidays.
Well girls I had a blast and know you all did. Can't wait to see you all this upcoming Friday. Yeah :)
Mrs. Brandi

MySpace Hit Counters
hiking gear