FALL PRODUCTS, PATCHES AND ROOT BEER FLOATS

Tonight our meeting was another fun one. We actually got a lot done.

We went over all the Fall Product items. The girls saw the patches they could earn, read about the prizes that were offered and we discussed the items for sale.

I also told the girl that in addition to the items the Girl Scouts offered them for selling, I was also going to be getting everyone two fun patches. One for selling the nuts and one for selling the magazines.

The top seller in each category would also get a TOP SELLER patch and a surprise gift. Yes, I'm going to bribe the girls to sell as much as they can.

We also worked on A Healthier You Patch. The girls learned about how calcium helps build strong bones, how important staying active is and about having a good self image.

They all have to write down what items with calcium they ate for a week and what type of activity they did. They will bring these forms back next week and we will complete working on this patch.



Since many items have calcium in them, I wanted to show the girls that even some things they think of as "junk food" can also have some good things, like calcium, in them.

The girls got to make their own Root Beer Floats. I explained that the ice cream had calcium in there and even though this ice cream had 1/2 the fat as regular ice cream it still tasted just as good.

The girls agreed. In fact, they said it was the best Root Beer Float they ever had. I'm sure it was because they got to make their own.

They scooped their own ice cream.



Poured their own Root Beer.

They were all very careful and didn't spill a drop.



Then, they enjoyed their creations.

We missed having Jesse with us.

The girls said they wanted to go visit kids in a hospital and bring them a stuffed animal or book that they no longer use but is still in "like new" condition.

Nikki was so excited about doing this that she ran right into her room and brought out several stuffed animals. Most with the tags still on them.

I told her she had to check with her mom first to be sure it is OK to give them away. I thought it was so sweet how she was so willing to share her items with other kids.



I told them I will check with the hospitals to see when we can go visit and I would set it up for them to go.

We also discussed being prepared for an Earthquake. Our next meeting we are going to participate in the California Statewide Drill called SHAKE OUT.

They were all sent home with some papers they needed to work on with their parents. They will help the families prepare for a major earthquake, should one happen.

As we all know, the experts say it's not a matter of if we will have a big earthquake but more a matter of when we will have it.

It's very important to be as prepared as we can be so, I'm really hoping that all families will work together on this.

The girls will also earn a patch for participating in this.

It was decided that our next patch we will work on is the Pet Care patch. All of the girls just adore animals so I'm sure this will be a fun one for everyone to work on.

I explained to the girls that even though we will work on one patch we will also be working on other ones at the same time as some times the same subject can be found on two or more patches.

Plus, I'm making sure the girls are working towards getting their Brass Award, which is the top award a Junior can get. It takes about the whole two years of being a Junior to get this award but as long as the girls do their homework and complete all patches we work on then they will win this award.

We have several fun things coming up:

The Family Science Festival is on Oct. 3rd.
Camp Scherman is on Oct. 16th.
The Wild Animal Park is on Nov. 13
Working on the Floats for the Rose Parade is on Nov. 20th.

In addition to the above I'm working on:

The hospital visit
A Halloween party
Going to Irvine Park for the Pumpkin Patch, Corn Maze and Haunted House fun

Then it will be Dec which of course, will have lots of Christmas fun going on.

Things like:

Decorating Gingerbread Houses
Visit with Santa
Learning how to wrap Christmas presents
Going to see the Christmas lights
A Christmas party of course

We are going to be very busy, learning new things, enjoying some old traditions and all while becoming a better Girl Scout.

If there is anything special you would like to do with the girls or have any ideas on places to go, please let me know.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESSE!

Tonight's meeting was not like the others. Everyone but Jesse knew there was more then just a meeting going on. No one told her.

Great job at keeping it a surprise girls!



We were going to celebrate Jesse's birthday! There was going to be pizza, cupcakes and presents.

Jesse was really happy when she found out that tonight was dedicated to her!

As always, we started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the Girl Scout Promise and Law.

It was Haili's turn but Nikki offered to help her out. Just like a good girl scout, helping out others :)

All the girls know the Promise but the Law gives them a bit of trouble still. It's OK to read it off the sheet.

Hey! Wait a cotton picking minute! What is going on here? What kind of a leader was I to not even notice that Jesse was NOT standing while we said the Promise and Law?

I'm going to have to watch that from now on.

After we all filled up on pizza, bread sticks and pink lemonade the girls wanted to give their presents to Jesse.

The girls agreed to buy a $5.00 gift for each other's birthdays. They must spend their own money or earn it. They can not just get it from their parents.

They also had to be the one who picked out the gift.

These are true gifts from the hearts.

Each girl was excited for their present to be opened by the birthday girl.

It was so nice to see that it was not the amount of money spent but the thought that was what really counted.

The joy and excitement of each gift was the same (if not more so) then if the girls spent $50 each.



The girls also gave Jesse the t-shirt and dog tag that they got her when they volunteered at the 5K HEROES RUN.

She really liked it and put both on right away. I think it made her happy to know they thought of her even when she wasn't there.

The birthday girl gets all the attention!

I had to laugh because I called Jesse's name and she stopped what she was doing and flashed a big smile.

These girls are trained and know I am always taking their pictures so they just naturally go into a pose when they hear their name.



We sang Happy Birthday to Jesse.

Then it was cupcake time. Or in Jesse's case, frosting time!

They all ate cupcakes and a large pixie stick. That, with the sugar in the lemonade, made them full of energy.

Normally, Trinity doesn't like cupcakes but she seemed to enjoy this one.

Since they were all full of energy and to excited to sit for a meeting, they voted to just spend time together and play tonight.

They had a great time. Running around, laughing and bonding together. I can tell they are growing closer and closer to each other the more time they spend together.

It's really nice to see their friendships getting tighter each time I see them.

Then we had a visitor come. Is this Charlotte from Charlotte's Web? I don't know but it was one BIG spider.

Haili's mom, Michelle, came to it's rescue and pick it up in this cup and saved it's life. She moved him away from the home so it could go on living.

After the thrill of looking at the spider quickly passed, the girls were back to playing again.

Even though the girls were having a super time, we cut the night off 15 minutes early. With all the running around, laughing and screams that little girls make, all the adults were worried they may be to loud for the neighbors.

So, we said our good byes and the party was over.

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday the 29th at 5:30pm. I'm going to be out of town on our normal meeting night so please mark your calenders.

9/11 HEROES RUN

Doing Volunteer work is an important part in being a Girl Scout.

Helping others and giving back to the community is something that I, as a leader, want to instill in the girls of Troop 746.

With today being 9/11 I thought it was a perfect time to gather up the girls and have them pitch in.

So, we went to Irvine and volunteered at the 9/11 HEROES RUN.




The area they needed our help in was in handing out water to the runners. The girls were excited about getting started with their job.

They really liked getting the Volunteer shirts to wear.

The first job of the day was to set up the area. Get the cups out, pour the water and line them up. Soon the runners would be heading our way.

Little did we know, that even with two tables full of cups, we would need about 3 times as many.

It was nice seeing the girls actually doing the work and not just having the adults do it. They actually enjoyed pitching in.

The Troop was lucky to have Trinity's Grandma, Maureen, help out. She was kind enough to pick up all the girls and drive them to and from the Run. Plus, she was great in getting the water to the girls to hand out.

Thanks Maureen! The girls and I really appreciate all your hard work.

We did miss having Jesse there with us. However, we not only thought about her, we decided to try to get an extra shirt and dog tag for her. Even though she had prior commitments for today, the girls remembered her and didn't want her to be left out.

We explained to the Volunteer Leader that we really wanted to bring a shirt and dog tag to Jesse and we were lucky enough to get her them for her.

It's so nice to see the girls growing closer and closer together and really acting like Girl Scout Sisters. They want to have all the girls treated fairly and are not just out to get what they can for themselves. They want all of them to be treated fairly and the same.

Michelle, Haili's mom, also was sweet enough to join us. She was wonderful in helping the girls out too. Getting the water ready, keeping the girls supplied with cups of water through out the run and cleaning up.

Thank you so much Michelle! You were a huge help.

It's so nice to have the Parents pitch in. Our Troop has wonderful support from all the Parents and we are truly blessed to have them.

There wasn't really much down time but, the girls did have a few minutes to run around and play before the race started.

I love this picture of them.

Here they are practicing their excitement for the runners and cheering them on.

I have to laugh at this photo because it shows what great sports they all are. They are so willing to let me get my photos and even when they really don't want their pictures taken they still let me snap away.

Thanks girls! You will be happy when you are my age and have these to look back on. I promise.

This is a close up of the shirts we got. Yes, even us adults got them. That was a nice surprise for all of us.

I'll be wearing this shirt a lot. I for one, never want to forget what happened on 9/11/2001.

Here the gang is watching and waiting for the gun to go off to signal the start of the race. We know that once it does, we have just a few minutes before our important job will be taking place.

Just look at those faces. Can't you tell the girls were really having a nice morning? I can.

Once the runners started to come, they kept coming. Things went from fast pace to crazy at times. Trying to keep everyone supplied with water to hand out and running back and forth to the water table kept us all busy.

I really wish we would have moved the water table closer to the runners. Oh well, there is always next year. Yes, I do think it would be nice to make this a yearly event for us.

All the runners were so thankful to have the girl scouts there to help out. Many actually stopped and said thank you to the girls. It was so nice.



All three of them really had fun handing the runners the water. They really loved when a little kid would come by. I think they were impressed with the kids running and walking in the race.

I was worried about Haili when we first got there. Poor dear, wasn't feeling well. I was so glad she ended up feeling better as the morning went on.

She did a great job and I'm so happy she stuck it out. It would have been easy for her to have just stayed home but, she was a real trooper! Her hard efforts really paid off too.

Nikki was super! She worked her tail off. Not only did she get up early and help out at the race but then she had to go home and get to her game. No rest for this little one!

It was so cute because she made sure to bring her cell phone. Her mom couldn't make today because she had to take her little brother to scoccer. Nikkie wanted to be sure to check in and keep her mom advised of how things were going. I hope she told her mom how hard she worked.

Way to go Nikki!

Trinity was fantastic! I never once heard her say she didn't want to do something. She stepped up and went right to work.

Even when it came time to pick up trash or digging through the trash cans for water bottles to recycle. That's right, the girls all pitched in and got the water bottles everyone threw out so they could recycle them.

Trinity is a great example of what Girl Scout is. I'm proud of you Trinity.

The runners would grab the cups of water and then drink it and throw the cups down. Even though we were not asked to pick them up, the girls took the initiative and did it anyway.

They actually made a game of it. Rushing to see who could pick up the most cups. I don't think anyone really won but it made it more fun then just saying they were picking up trash.

Life is all about how you look at things. You can look at a job as something you don't want to do, whine about it and be miserable or you can look at it as something fun and do it with a smile on your face.

It was cool that they actually called the girls up to the stand to thank them. They were the youngest volunteers to ever volunteer at this race over the years.

They really made the girls feel special.

I have no idea what they were talking about in this photo but it looks like they having a good time.

They also had the girls stay up there to draw the names of the winners of all the raffle prizes. They took turns drawing the names.

Trinity and Nikki had let their balloons go before getting up on stage but Haili held tight to hers. She wanted to keep it.

It was sort of funny because they ended up giving another balloon to Trinity and Nikki again. Even though they didn't want one and had let their other one go, they just smiled and accepted it.

Yes, the 2nd set end up flying away in the sky too. It wasn't long after they got off the stage that they let them ago...again. But, not Haili! She held tight on to hers and took hers home.

OK, I'm not trying to be mean but...what was that tall guy wearing? Oh and check out the pants on the other guy with the green shirt?

It was nice to see grown men having fun and dressing in a way that made others laugh. Yes, they even made fun of themselves.

The run used all the money they collected to go towards the HEROES around us. They donated the money to the injured men and women of our Military, Police Departments and Fire Departments. What a great cause!

The girls had their photo taken with one of the Policemen that were there. He thanked them for their help and told them how good it was to be in Girl Scouts. He then went to his car and got them special DARE erasers.

It's little tokens of appreciation that makes these girls happy. They loved their little gifts.

This is the dog tags they got. I think they would be perfect to use in a scrapbook! Hmm, a Troop Scrapbook. Now, that is a great idea.

Once again, I was so proud of "my girls".