First Brownie Meeting

As you know from some past posts, Bella is a girl scout and I am a girl scout leader.  We just bridged to Brownies in May.  With the start of the school year, we began planning our first Brownie meeting.

If you search "first Brownie meeting" you get quite a few ideas.  The majority of these ideas revolve around introducing everyone to the Girl Scout Promise.  All of our girls were returning to our troop this year and were very familiar with the Girl Scout Promise.  We needed something easy and fun to ease them back into back to our troop and our meetings.

For our first meeting we started the girls off with a "getting to know you" activity.  This was handed out as soon as the girls walked into the room.  The girls had to go around and find another girl that matched one of the descriptions.  This is a great ice breaker and gets the girls talking to one another and finding out a little more about the girls in her troop.  Each girl is to sign only once.  Leaders can sign too.  :)

Find a girl who:

Has curly hair
Wears glasses
Has an older brother
Has a younger sister
Has brown hair and brown eyes
Has Mr./Mrs.______ for a teacher
Likes the band One Direction
Went to Michigan this summer
Has more than one pet
Thinks P.E. is her favorite subject
Is wearing earrings
Takes dance class
Is new to our Girl scout troop

Once this was completed we had the girls move on to our next activity.  We had index cards with: What three things do you want to do this year in Brownies? on them.  We did a quick sharing time and let each girl share one thing from their list.  We also let them talk about one thing they did over the summer.

We talked about the rules for our troop.  Stressing the hand signal for quiet and respect for our fellow girl scouts.

Next we took attendance, the pledge and promise.  Normally this would be done in the beginning of the meeting, but, we had the girls doing activities so we could collect dues and get all the health forms signed. 

We used the Kubit to Me (I put a link to their web site, if it's new to you, check it out) game.  We put our own questions in there for the girls.  Some questions:  What's your favorite color?  If you won a million dollars what would you do?  Where would you like to go and why? 

We had time for a couple of songs.  We sang, "Make New friends (but keep the old)" and the "Brownie Smile Song."

Friendship squeeze and meeting was over.

Since this was our first meeting of the year, we wanted to keep it simple.  We knew the girls were excited.  We meet on Fridays and for some reason, they get pretty wild.  Today was no exception.  We try to keep them busy during the meeting so there is little time for goofing around.  And, they like to be busy doing new things.

Our meetings are one hour (no snack).

Are you....?

So, I'm hanging outside in front of the house when some guy walks up the drive way.  He asked me if I knew anyone by the name of (my last name here).  Well, that happens to be our last name, so, I reply, "No." 

What?

You heard me.  I said, No.  First of all, I have no idea who this person is and how does he know our name and what does he want from me?  I didn't want to sit through some sales pitch and get pressured to buy something (I don't have a problem saying no).  It was a nice day, I was getting some stuff done outside and just wanted to be left alone.

Well, it all worked itself out.  As he walked closer, I thought we were getting served.  He asked about another name, which happens to be a name that I am familiar with and realized why was asking for our last name. 

So, at that point, I told him that I am (my last name here).

Have you ever told someone that you aren't who you are?

Sick (cont'd)

Apparently there is an unwritten code or rule that at 3:00pm you are magically cured from your illness. Somehow Alex's body got the memo. He's walking around just fine. 

My body must have missed the memo or refiled it under "take as long as you can to get better."

Sick

I'm calling in sick today. 

I won't be able to clean today. The dust bunnies and dog hair will just have to wait one more day. 

I won't be able to do the laundry. I'm sure you can find something clean to wear. 

I won't be able to cook today. I know you won't starve.  With a grocery store and Costco visit earlier this week, I'm sure you will be able to find some food to eat. 

I will not be available to chauffeur you around town. Hanging out at home one day won't kill you. 

I will not be available to referee fighting matches. Please try to keep those to a minimum. And, if you feel you must fight with each other, please do it quietly. 

Thank you for understanding. 

There's nothing to eat in the house!

I hear those words often.  When you have two teenage boys, sometimes there really isn't much to eat at our house.

Sunday, RT made a grocery store run.  We needed to stock up on some things for the week (think school lunches).  He bought other items for dinners for the week, too.  That night, RT made a big batch of chili.  I should mention that all three kids complained about the chili.  Nick wouldn't eat it because he wasn't hungry for chili, Alex and Bella ate a real small amount.  I didn't eat any (I'm the vegetarian, remember?).

On Monday, I made a Costco run.  Costco equals lifetime supply.  < which does not necessarily hold true for our house (two teenage boys)

I was out with Bella after school when I got the call.

"Mom, we have nothing to eat."

Dad went to the grocery store yesterday and I went to Costco today.  I know we have some food at home.

"But we still don't have anything to eat."*
   *nothing to eat = no pizza
    *My kids would live on pizza at every meal if I let them. Bad frozen pizza.

There is leftover chili.

"I don't want chili."

Then make yourself a sandwich.

This conversation continued for a short while until I hung up.  Yes.  I hung up.  I didn't want to hear the complaining.   I think he understood because I didn't get a call back.  I'm sure he found something to eat.

More pickled peppers

I feel like I am Peter Piper in that nursery rhyme:

Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers. 

That is what I have been up to lately.  Pickling peppers.  I made that first batch of pickled jalapenos and they disappeared rather quickly.  Before they disappeared, since I had an abundance of banana peppers from the garden, I thought I would go ahead and pickle them. Why not, right?  I would hate to see them go bad.   More pickled peppers to eat!

 

I have a lot more peppers that I put into a pickled pepper mix.  Plenty of peppers to pickle in a pickled pepper mix (that's a good tongue twister, try saying that sentence five times).  How about, "I am preparing to pack peppers into a pretty pickled pepper mix."

 

If you need that recipe again, check it out right here. 

             Lookin' good!

Sorry for the delay this week in posts. 

I have quite a few in progress.  Just haven't found the time to type them out and post them.

Thanks for being patient.  :)