The power of the Girl Scout cookie

Buying Girl Scout cookies may not help your ultimate weight loss goal, but it does helps young girls reach their goals.

Nearly three years ago my troop made a goal to raise enough money through the sales of girl scout cookies to pay for the entire troop plus, two adults, to attend a weekend long horse back riding camp.

They each had a personal goal of selling 300 boxes in two years to cover the cost of the camp. Most of the girls reached their goal in the first year and the rest reached it the second year.

Well, we "finally" went to that camp this past weekend and I have to say that it was the best $2035.00 our troop has ever spent.

Being a horse back riding camp they did a lot of......horseback riding.

They also got to learn how to do vaulting on the back of a rather ginormous horse.

We all tried our hand at archery.

And took care of a lot of different farm animals. Which is a rare treat for these city girls.

So the next time you think of ignoring that cute little girl asking you to buy an over priced box of substandard cookies, remember.....not only will your $4.00 go towards supporting a great organization, but it will also help support the GOALS that the girls are striving to reach.

Happy Wordful Wednesday!



PS: The girls also raise money to do things for others. Like the Valentines treats we create each year for the Senior Citizen home or cooking dinner for the families at the Ronald McDonald house.

We all came home in one piece!

Another successful Girl Scout camping trip under my belt and I can breath a sigh of relief that I returned all 9 of the girls in my care home in one piece.

Taking the girls camping 2 hours from home is fun, lots of fun, but sometimes it worries me having all of these kids in my care.  I have to walk that delicate balance of making sure they stay safe and letting them just be kids.  To me kids seem to always be pushing that line of safety.

They can't just enjoy and nice swing on the swing set.  They have to send themselves flying as high as possible and then propel themselves right out of their seat.  

But that isn't good enough either.  You must add another level of danger by inviting a friend to see just how close she can get to you while you swing as high as possible.

Or how about getting on top of the monkey bars for a better view.  Not so bad, until you finding them all standing on top of  bars for an even better view!

Then while they are crammed into one tent playing Truth or Dare you wonder if you should stop them when you over hear them daring each other to lick the feet of another.

Apparently licking the sweaty dirt covered foot of your friend won't make you sick because one of these sweet little girls did such a thing Saturday evening.

Girl Scout cookies and awards!

In our neck of the woods, Girl Scout cookies sales started this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. sharp. 

As many of you know, I am a Girl Scout leader and my daughter and I have no qualms about stepping up to your front door and tempting you to break your New Year's resolution with our sugary treats.   

We have found that many of you have Thin Mint habits dating back to the days when you were a kid and didn't worry about how many grams of fat you were about to ingest.  You crumble so easily.

I know some of you dread our presence on your door step and you hide shaking behind your curtains until we retreat down the walk way.  But most of you welcome us with open arms, and to you we say thanks!

The girls not only use selling cookies as a means to earn money but they are also learning a thing or two in the process. The girls learn how to communicate effectively, set goals, manage money, and be assertive.  

Did you know that our council sells boxes of cookies for Operation Thin Mint ? OTM is a program set up by Girl Scouts to allow costumers to purchase boxes of cookies to be sent to our men and women serving in the military in places like Iraq and Afghanistan (an other bases over seas).  Living in a military town this is a popular option and something we are proud of!

So, what is your favorite Girl Scout cookie??? 

*********************

Now I need to thank a few bloggers for bestowing the following awards to little ole me.

Thanks to Katie at Your's mine and ours , Marla at Stolen Bon Bons , Ronnica at the Ignorant Historian , Kajamama at the Phrase Working Mom is Redundant and Maricris at Zen Ventures.

Thanks ladies.......I really do appreciate all the love and I pass on that love to all of you!

Tribute Tuesday!

Yet Another Jay and Deb Production.
This is my first time joining in on Tuesday Tribute with Jay and Deb.  My tribute today is quite simple really, and something I think all of you can relate to.
Today I honor the Internet, the world wide web, my life saver!
As a cook, photographer (amateur for both), Girl Scout leader, doctor mom, gift giver, book reader,  and over all information seeker.......you have helped me in more ways than you will ever know.
What did we ever do without you?

Here are the tissue paper flowers my Girl Scouts made yesterday!  All thanks to a tutorial I found on the Internet.
Hopefully, they will bring a smile to the face of the 50 home bound Seniors that will receive one of these little beauties on Valentine's Day.

I will survive..........

..........I did survive my weekend camping trip with my wee ones!  

The weather was perfect, the site was absolutely gorgeous and the company was enjoyable.  

This was the first time I let the girls sleep in tents sans an adult.  They were so excited to be given this first bit of camping independence.  They all felt like such big girls!  One of the things I love about camping with my troop is seeing how much they grow with each trip.  They are really starting to get the hang of what is expected of them when we camp.

We have a new girl in our troop this year and it warmed my heart when the veterans schooled her on the know hows of camping.  They are actually learning something!!!

There was something I saw this weekend that makes me want to pass on a little bit of unsolicited parenting advice.

Parents........do yourselves and your children a huge favor and teach them early how to do things for themselves.  Start small and give them age appropriate tasks that you know they can accomplish on their own.  Sometimes it takes a little longer to do things this way, but in the long run they will gain self confidence and you will beam with pride at how clever your child is.

I did this with my girls and I always assumed that other parents did it as well.  Let me tell you, it becomes very apparent which kids have parents that do everything for them when you have them on a camping trip without mom or dad in tow.  

It amazes me how helpless some of the girls can be when it comes to completing really simple tasks.  They are smart girls so the only explanation is that they haven't been allowed to do these simple tasks on their own.  

Becoming self sufficient doesn't just happen, it needs to be taught.  We all want to be needed by our children, but ultimately it is our job as parents to create children that grow up and don't need us.

So the assignment for parents who can't help but cut up the meat of their teenager......knock it off! It's never to late to teach your kids to be self sufficient.  Give them their own knife and show them what to do!

The assignment for parents with young children....find one small thing that you always do for your little boo and let them give it a try for themselves.  Trust me, you'll be happy you did!

So my friends, this concludes the first and probably last edition of Michelle's parenting 1o1 tips! Go forth and parent!

Got Paint?

I had my Girl Scout meeting yesterday and the girls made the personal cork boards that I showed a sample of a few weeks ago.

The meeting really went well and the girls enjoyed the craft!  This is an activity I highly recommend for troops or a craft for your kids.  All you need is some painted and a couple of inexpensive foam stamps.  

 I am always amazed when I watch the girls create "art."  They all look so free and uninhibited.  I'm big on reminding the girls that art isn't perfect.  If you feel like you made a mistake, then turn it into something unexpected.  

One of the girls accidentally stamped the E in her name backwards, so I suggested that she stamp the second E backwards to match.  She liked that the second backwards E made her "mistake" look more like that was what she had planed to do all along.  Even her mom thought it was clever!

Being more free with my artistic side is something I strive for.  I sometimes get too caught up in being perfect and that really stifles my creativity.  So yesterday's meeting was another lesson for me in "practice what you preach."  

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting Crafty!

Our first girl scout meeting involved a lot of "talking", so I promised the girls that the next meeting would be "crafty"!  

I enjoy trying to come up with crafts that they can actually use and knowing how much my girls love memory boards I thought it would be fun to have the troop decorate their own cork board.

I created this very simple example so the girls would get an idea of what to do without over whelming the less crafty of the bunch. 

Kate squealed with delight when she saw my sample, so that is a good sign that the Troop will like this craft.

I'm going to use ribbon on the troops boards so that they can hang them on their walls.  I think I'll buy some bling to stick on them as well.  A project is rarely finished without a little bit of bling!

Koda Kamp!

Rain or shine, this year's Koda Kamp went off without a hitch.  Well, maybe a few hitches, but nothing that could interfere with some Girl Scout fun. 

The theme of this year's Koda Kamp was a 70's flash back.  The girls made classic 70's crafts; pet rocks, gods eyes and sand candles!  I'm sure if they could have thrown in some crocheted wall hangings they would have!

My girls also worked on earning their Outdoor cooking badge.  Being a good Girl scout leader our menu consisted of well balanced meals!  Considering how picky some of the girls are, they all seemed to enjoy what they made.  

Granted, food always seems to taste better camping, but there is something to be said for planning and cooking your own food.  It definitely adds to it's yum factor.  Giving those picky eaters some control seems to make them more willing to try new things.    

Here are a few things that the girls learned this weekend:

1. It is ok to flick a bug out of your lemonade and continue drinking it!
2. It is ok to wipe your hands on you pants!
3. It is ok to leave your shoes out in the rain if you are leaving the next morning.
4. It is ok to go to bed dirty!
5. Half cooked biscuits are really good if you are 10 years old and cooked it all by yourself over a campfire.
6. Starting a fire is fun (contained in a fire ring of course, I'm not a pyro-leader).
7. Your leader isn't your mother or maid and you really can do things for yourself!

Things that I learned on this camping trip:

1. I need to remind parents that if your child brings a bag to camp that you can fit a body into then it is TOO BIG!
2. Even control freaks forget things!
3. You don't "need" hot water to clean dishes.
4. The lights out sssssh's always end quicker the second night. 
5. The time you spend preparing and cleaning up from a weekend camping trip is actually longer than the trip itself.
6. There will always be three forgotten socks that will never get claimed!
7. Don't sweat the little things!