No longer a Brownie!!

The back of her sash with the Try-Its she was awarded at the ceremony

Bridging to juniors patches.

The front of her sash-I stayed up late the night before sewing the rest of her Try-Its on.  I don't think there's room for the new ones she earned!! 

Leanna is now officially a Junior Girl Scout.  She's very proud of that.  :  )
The whole family came to see her ceremony.  I thought it was important for us to support her.  Me, her, & the boys took a bus to get to the city and walked to the meeting.  Tom met us there and then he and Leanna's very sweet leader took us home. 
Justin asked when he can become a girl scout too.    :  )

Brownies, for the future

For future reference, I like the one bowl aspect, less cleaning is always good!

Easy One Bowl Brownies

4 (1oz) squares unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup walnuts, chopped


Directions:
1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
2. Microwave chocolate & butter in a large (microwave safe) bowl for 2 minutes or until butter is melted.
3. Stir until chocolate is melted. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.
4. Spread into a greased 13x9-inch pan.
5. Bake for 35 minutes

From the local halloween parade

Love the attitude here as she sees us.
The above picture was taken when they walked by the judges' table and the video cameras. HERE she smiles and waves!

I walked to the end to be there when she finished the parade and when I caught up with them Leanna was marching with the sign.

Jacob, waving at the trucks going by. He was yelling (quite belligerently) "Hi truck!" at each one as they passed.

Busy Week

The award she won tonight for most funniest costume. Except that her costume wasn't supposed to be funny.

Rushed to get Leanna's costume done by Thurs. night for the Girl Scout halloween/Juliette Low birthday party. Plus gathering supplies and putting together Justin and Timothy's costumes. Everything that could go wrong did. The stupid tension on my sewing machine kept holding the thread too tight and I'd have to take it out and redo whatever I'd just sewn. The gathering strands broke off so I had to redo that. Jacob kept going after my sewing machine (because of all the lead on the third floor I had to bring the sewing machine down if I wanted to use it) and several times I had to rethread it or fix settings he'd changed on the machine. I must have pinned the yoke on wrong six times in a row! And the kids were all noisy and crabby and constantly needing me today, since I had to finish it. I thought this might never get done. I am likely the entire world's worst sewing machine operator.

Leanna did not want to wear her mermaid costume from last year (since she hadn't worn it at girl scouts I thought she might wear that if I didn't finish hers on time). "It's not that I don't like it. I just think other people might not!"

Right.

Then when she saw her costume she did say it was pretty. Justin kept telling me how nice it was. So she put it on with minutes to spare before she had to be at Brownies. It's a little long and big although it's a 7/8 and she's an 8. That would be fine with clothing underneath for trick or treating. But at an indoor party-not necesary, so it was a little big. The junior girls voted it the funniest costume and no one knew what she was supposed to be. Leanna said she's not wearing it again, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't hurt.

Today was generally just a very sucky day.

Brownie Play-Part 3

Leanna was Indigo (Just the color, Mom). The leader commented that Leanna was cast well.

Brownie Reinduction

From the skit they performed.

The Girl Scout promise

Talking afterward

Shelter and Pizza Hut

The picture was my mother's day present she made with Brownies-the frame and the picture.

Last night Leanna visited the Humane Society Shelter (with Brownies) and then they walked to Pizza Hut afterwards. She kept talking about the pizza hut part of the night-she was really impressed that they were allowed to play in the parking lot. She said they had two dance contests and she won both. She really enjoyed herself with the other girls, which makes me really happy.

There's a camping trip this weekend but she really doesn't want to go......I'm a little dissapointed because I think she'd really have a lot of fun, but I've decided we'll try next year, maybe she'll be ready then. I'm once again really pleased with her Girl Scouts experience. She's been blessed with very nice leaders and a good group of girls!

Brownie Awards and sewing

We went to the Brownie meeting tonight because they were talking to parents about camping and there was a short awards ceremony where they gave out the Try-Its the girls earned. The Girl Scout Law, which Leanna apparently needs to be reminded of.

A bag they gave me for helping out at the fairgrounds cleanup.

Leanna just wanted her picture taken.

Justin and Timothy showing their patches! They earned a try-It from helping at the fairgrounds cleanup as well.

The Try-Its that Leanna was awarded tonight, including the blue braclet.

The girls were working on a sewing Try-It tonight, but didn't finish yet. The leader said this is one of the hardest and most time-consuming ones. They're sewing little pillows. Last week they were sewing buttons.

Orienteering competition at French Creek

Leanna had her all-day orienteering competition on Saturday again. She was really hoping to win since her trophy from last year broke. I knew she stood a good chance because her asst. leader (who was her troop leader last year) is a champion in the sport. And sure enough, she came home dirty and bearing wilting flowers, some sticks, and a new trophy!
I asked her if she'd teach me how to do it. She considered it, then said only if I'd let her be in charge of me and everything else.

showing missing teeth and Take the Lead program

A big smile as she drinks her ovaltine this morning.

Free stuff from the Take the Lead program the Brownies performed at last night. It was out at the Holliday Inn in Fogelsville. They sang songs in front of a very large group of people in full uniform. A good experience, I'm sure. She learned that all the girls in her troop can pick her up, and she can pick up some of them too. She was busy talking to friends afterward and didn't want to leave!

Last week's trash pickup at the Fairgrounds

Last week we walked the perimeter of the Fairgrounds to clean trash with Brownies. It was an Earth Day related thing. Timothy and Justin were very good at finding trash too. I was amazed at how much there was! Justin told me he had a lot of fun, but his favorite part was the free ice-cream from the Ritz afterward! I'm pretty sure everyone agreed with him.

Earning a Flag Try-It

We went to Union Terrace tonight for Brownies. Leanna got to learn all about Flags and how to fold them, etc. I would have liked to listen to it myself but the boys were too antsy so I had to take them outside.

There were only a couple girls from Leanna's troop so she was being shy.

As we were leaving I think it was Justin who pointed out to me that the clouds looked pretty neat. So I took a picture. And they tracked the moon following us home. Justin thought it was pretty cool.

How I spent my evening...in pictures!

An estimate, the front and back of Leanna's sash for Brownies.

Tom and I were trying to figure out Quickbooks (pain in the butt!) and stayed up trying to get it right. Still a few errors, we're giving up for the night.

Leanna needed her sash finished before an upoming ceremony her troop will perform in. So I spent part of the afternoon and part of the evening sewing all her try-It's on her sash. I still have to get her a flag, troop numbers, and something else too, and sew them on as well.

Brownie Re-induction

They said some stuff (Jacob decided he couldn't sit still, and didn't particularly want to be quiet either, so I missed a lot of it)

they said the Girl Scout Promise, they performed a play about baking a new batch of brownies-the new brownie girl scouts came out the oven- and they sang. Leanna stirred the brownie mixture. Then they brought their parents punch or lemonaide-not a vodka tonic as one Dad suggested. And of course, brownies and popcorn & pretzels too. Justin said Girl Scouts are fun.