You and Me @ Camp Cloud Rim

Janey and I finally got to go on our Mother/Daughter Girl Scout camp out! I say finally, because Janey has been counting down for about 6 months for this event. The weather was perfect, the scenery gorgeous, and the company delightful. My favorite part was having 24 hours of one-on-one with my spunky Janey.

Janey says:
"My favorite parts were going canoeing, tie dying bandannas and covering Journals. It was really fun!"

We both can't wait for next year!

Two Favorites

Janey played in her first violin recital this week. She has been playing violin for about 4 months now and really loves it. She performed the "Poka Dot Waltz" for her recital piece.

Janey's second favorite thing, besides playing the violin, is ice skating. She's only been once before, years ago, but she was sure she would love it. She has been begging for months to go, and was so thrilled when we went as a Girl Scout Troop this week. She was a natural on the ice, declaring it was just like roller blading, another favorite activity of Janey's.

Mexican Fiesta!

The much anticipated Girl Scout Daddy/Daughter Mexican Fiesta finally arrived! I say finally, because it was all Janey could talk about for 2 weeks straight. The girls helped plan and decorate a fun evenings with their dads. Tacos, Pinata, Mexican Hat Dancing, pictures and scones made for an unforgettable night!

Cookie Time by Janey

I am selling Girl Scout cookies! This is my second year selling. My goal this year is to sell 1000 boxes. Last year I sold 500. If you want to buy any girl scout cookies, just call me! My favorites are thin mints and lemon creams. What are your favorites?

Bridging to Brownies

The adorable girls we get to be with at brownie scouts.

Brownie bridging is a ceremony to officially become a brownie scout. I remember my bridging ceremony from 29 years ago vividly and was excited to provide the same experience for Janey. I was so thrilled when I found the same story about what it means to be a brownie (helpful elf) for our ceremony, that they read at my own bridging ceremony.

Since Janey starting asking to become a girl scout she has also been asking for a camp out. After all, Dad and Steve are scouts and constantly camping. It's only fair right? Well we tried for months to arrange a family camp out and bridging ceremony, when everyone could attend. Well, it's a good thing Girl Scouts are flexible and determined, because Plan A and B fell through and as Denise put it, we ended up with Plan F. Our brownie bridging ceremony was moved from a camp ground to a park (couldn't get reservations) to a church (micro burst winds) and our s'mores and camping were moved to Denise's front lawn with an outdoor movie. Dad arrived from his business trip just as the movie ended and it was time to pitch the tent. A pancake breakfast topped it all off, and Janey loved her camp out. Thanks Denise!

Cookie Party by Janey

The cookie party was really, really fun. It’s a girl scout party that celebrates all the girl scout that sold cookies. They put my name up on a screen, because I sold 500 boxes of cookies. We ate lunch and played real carnival games and won prizes, and went in the bounce house. I didn’t like the cookie party, I LOVED it!

Cookie Booths

How could you not buy cookies from these adorable faces! I really underestimated the power of the girl scout cookie when I ordered our booth cookies. We signed up for nine booth times outside of Smith's and Wal-mart, hoping that would be enough to unload over 700 boxes of cookies. Turns out we sold out in 2 1/2 booths, much to Janey's disappointment. She sold for 7 hours and was begging for more. She is a natural born sales girl. She was literally doing cheers, using empty cases for pom-poms, to draw in more customers. And she always remembered to say, "Thank you for your order!" Next year I'm going to triple our booth cookies so Janey can sell to her hearts content.

Cookie Diehard

Tuesday was the big event that has been counted down at our house for the last month. Cookie delivery day! Denise and I drove to a warehouse with our two empty Suburbans and picked up our troop's order. This is what 2004 boxes of girl scout cookies looks like. For me, pure nostalgia. My mom was my girl scout leader, and cookie manager for our troop. Cookie boxes piled high in the front room is one of my favorite and most satisfying childhood memories. Being a co-leader with my best friend Denise for our same age daughters is such a treat. And a sugar-free treat at that. We had to laugh at the irony of standing amongst so many cookies, since due to health concerns, neither of us can even eat one.

Janey has been a die hard cookie seller. She has been tenacious and had so much fun. Tuesday morning, (cookie delivery day) she gave me quite a scare. The heart stopping, gut wrenching, totally helpless feeling, kind of scare that every mother dreads. She was swinging from her chin-up bar in her door way when she fell, hard. She stood up and started screaming that her back hurt. I reached the top of the stairs one nanosecond later and caught her just as passed out. I laid her down, screamed myself, for someone to get the phone in case we needed to call 911, and at her to wake up and start breathing. Her lips were turning blue and I realized how rusty my CPR training from 25 years ago really was. NOT a good realization. I blew in her mouth and luckily she started breathing, short, labored, welcome breaths. She'd had the wind knocked out her and I immediately had her wiggling her toes to make sure she could still feel them. As she lay on the floor, gasping for breath, the first words out of her mouth were, "But Mom, I have to deliver my cookies!"

After two hours of doctor's appointments and a full battery of x-rays she was cleared of any spinal injury and did, in fact, start delivering her cookies that evening.

Daisy Scouts

The police man had these real handcuffs and he asked if anybody wanted to be handcuffed to someone else. I and my friend volunteered and it was funny because we could just slip our hands out. We made some thank you cards for the police officer.

Daisy Scouts

Janey is active, outgoing, creative and persistent. All good qualities in a scout. She has watched her brothers do fun activities, earn badges and go camping as boy scouts. Never one to be left out she has been begging for over a year to become a girl scout. I figured if it still meant so much to her after so long she deserved to be a scout. As with most things I have found, if you want an experience for your children you have to be willing to run it yourself. Who has more vested interest in a child's success than mom and dad? My dear friend Denise and I both have 6 year old daughters, so we created a daisy girl scout troop. We have 11 of the cutest girls who can now recite the girl scout promise and are learning all about the girl scout law. The program is very values based and adorable. The best part is we got trained and started just in time to sell girl scout cookies. Cookies anyone?