New Girl Scout Arrangment

So, recently, we have had several changes to our Girl Scout troop.

We had two leaders leave, leaving us with two leaders including myself left, and took four girls with them.  It's something that happens in troops and I was sad that it happened to ours.

 

Now, we are down to twelve girls, two leaders, and one very involved mom, and two regular involved moms.  We still have our wanted even numbers of Daisies and Brownies; 6 Daisies and 6 Brownies.

 

Having even numbers on both sides leaves to have fun with Big/Lil' Sister projects and activities in the future.

 

Just before the losses of two leaders, our main troop leader came up with a different seating arrangement.

 

This year, we had each of the girls have their own set of supplies, and as leaders, we would set them out at their seat before each meeting.  We had the girls in assigned spots, accounting for personalities at every turn.  We kept snarky ones away from each other, put quiet ones with louder ones to help bring them out as well as help mellow the loud ones.  Overly sensitive ones stayed away from ones that are more abrasive as well.  When you get to know your girls, it's not as hard as it sounds to arrange seating.

 

We meet in a conference room, so it is large and spread out.  We had the girls sit in a large horse shoe shape with a single table at the opening for the leader.

 

The change we made was to the arrangement of the tables.

Evelyn is that Brownie in the front

 

Instead of having these skinny table in a horse shoe, they are now arranged to make large tables.

2 Daisies and 2 Brownies to a table; each table had a table leader, chair leader, supply leader, and trash leader.  Table leader is responsible for making sure the three others do their jobs.

 

In this new arrangement, every Girl Scout gets to have important responsibilities on simpler levels.

When it comes to Girl Scouts, it's all about teaching the girls to be responsible and care for others.

 

During our first trial of this new arrangement, Evelyn was the leader for her table, and she did a great job.  It seemed easier to have the room cleaned up when each table had their own girl responsible for cleaning off one table, one girl at each table responsible for only four chairs, and one girl at each table responsible for only four sets of supplies.

 

It's surprising what little changes can do.



Girl Scout Girl Binder (plus a few tips)

Excuse my lateness!

The new Girl Scout year has officially begun!

This year we have added something to our weekly activities and I'm really liking it.

Last year, our first year as a troop, we had a floppy folder for the girls' journeys.

This year, we have implemented having a regular 1 inch white binder they use for every activity.

This is Evelyn's binder.  Since she has bridged to Brownies, her cover page is a Brownie "quilt."

Daisies have their own design on their binder.

There is a lot going on here first thing.  We have Daisy Dollars/Brownie Bucks in the pocket.  These are dollars the girls can earn by being a good Girl Scout.  They can use them to "buy" items from the treasure chest for $5 each.

The page in the pocket, is the activity we just had.  October is anti-bully month and, for the second year in a row, we have had the girls make a blue pinkie promise to not bully and to help stop bullying.  This pledge page was sent home to be colored and signed, and will be put further into the binder when complete.

The first page of each binder is the current month's calendar.  On the calendar, the girls will see all meetings, field trips, birthdays, due dates, times for said things, and snack and drink assignments.  This year we have more girls so snack and drink is now a shared task.

Next page is their level.

(Evelyn's coloring has improved, even over the summer!  I'm so excited!)

First divider is the Girl Scout Promise and Girl Scout Law

We had found this picture with the flowers, covered what was there, and added in the GS Law.

The next divider is the "Girl Scout Song Book."

This section has the songs the girl have learned...

 ...and more will be add through their Girl Scout years...

...as they learn more.

The girls are responsible to bring this binder to every meeting.

This is one reason I like this; Girl Scouts is supposed to teach girls how to be responsible and be leaders, and this binder is a help in that effort.

This year, again, Girl Scouts is selling started kits with cinch bags.  Starter kits include; vest/tunic/sash, waving flag, council ID, troop numbers, trefoil pin, membership pin, insignia tab, one journey book, and, new to the line, a levels binder.  Since all the girls have purchased a starter kit, either this year or last, they all have a bag they can carry their binder in.

Tips for the Girl Scout Mom/Leader

 Tired of your girl forgetting her vest when you're trying to get your own things together?

Keep her vest in her cinch bag.  If you didn't buy the starter kit, you can find pretty cinch bags at Dollar Tree.  Having a cinch bag also means she can bring all her projects from activities home without so much complications.

On this year's cinch bag, there are blank trefoil shapes.  I put Evelyn's name, our council initials, our troop number, "Brownie," and the years she will be a Brownie [2017-2020], and had one left for something I might think of later.  I used an Elmer's medium point painters marker from Walmart.  (Find it in this pretty sky color here.)

I also added these little ribbon key chains to the cords of one side.

I did both these things to spot Evelyn's bag easier since the only difference between cinch bags just might only be the color.

 Last tip for the day!

Sew all your front patches on.  I used double stick tape and little strips of  paper to hold together the numbers and council ID as I sewed.  I sewed a regular straight stitch around and a zig-zag stitch where they needed to connect.  For the flag, that was a little different.  To keep it cleaner, I didn't want white stitching on the red stripes, I did a tight zig-zag stitch around the flag.  It makes it look fuzzy but I like that better than white stitching on the red or blue field.
I don't know why, but Evelyn's were the only patches not to come off from the front in our troop this last year.  Her fun patches on the back have been coming off though, from her Daisy tunic.  I decided to not even attempt to iron on patches this year.  I'm sewing them all, but I know that can be a lot, so I am advising to sew at least the front patches since they are the most important, especially for ceremonies.  You don't want patches falling off during a ceremony.  We ran into that during our start of the year ceremony.

Hope all this was helpful, in the least, informative!

Can't wait to hear from y'all!

Our Family Summer Vacation-Day One at Universal Studios Hollywood

Tom's family vacations to a Disney park about every three years or so, and this summer was our first chance to go with them.  The first time everyone was planning a Disney vacation, I was pregnant with Evelyn, we were waiting until Christmas to tell everyone, so we had to make excuses why we couldn't go.  My due date was the week they would be vacationing.

The next time, we just couldn't afford it.

Day One was spent at Universal Studios Hollywood

Getting ready for this trip was a fun adventure.  All of that will have to be on another post as this one is going to be long as it is, just talking about day one of our adventures in California.

Day one was technically us getting up at four in the morning to head out to Austin for our flight to Long Beach, California, the day before we went to Universal.  There was a group from Texas and a group from Washington going.  Texas was sending off us four, my mother in law, one of my sister in laws and her four kids.  When we got to Austin, we were a few hours early, so we stopped at a burger place.

then went to a near by park for the kids to burn off some energy before getting on the plane.

Getting to the Austin airport!

We are so excited!

   On the shuttle to the airport!

I had made the four of us "Disneybound" shirts.  We found Mickey ear caps at Walmart, so the girls wore them to the airport.

I made myself a Minnie bow and put my hair in two buns like Minnie ears!

 Waiting for the plane to arrive.

 Getting on the plane!  Evelyn was such a great big sister helper and carried Raven's carseat while Tom pushed Raven in the stroller and I carried two rolling cases.

 I love my Minnie Bow!

 Tom is so silly!  I love him!

 Evelyn got to listening to shows on the plane fast!

 Raven, well, I tried to get her to wear hers, but she was fine not having them.
You can see her Minnie Mouse emoji pillow in this picture.  Evelyn had a Mickey one with her, too.

 I'm on the plane too!

My mother in law, Kathy, is always telling me to take selfies so I have proof I was there with the family, too.

 My mother in law, nephew, and niece.  My sister in law and her two other boys were in front of them.

 In the air with snacks!

 First time in Long Beach, California for the four of us.  The first time in California for the girls.

Waiting for our luggage to drop.

 In our 15 passenger van.  It fit all of us perfectly once we had everyone in.  Tom, having experience with ambulances and eighteen wheelers, was volunteered to be our driver for the whole holiday.

That night, we got to the house, ate dinner, then went to bed.

On day two of our vacation, we went back to the LB Airport to pick up the group from Washington.

 Kathy and me!

 Emmitt and Raven.  I think they had been faking this time.

We were on our way to pick up the others.

(You can see Kathy wearing her Ravenclaw headband!)
The Washingtonians are now with us!

Raven, for some reason, put her socks on her hands and started to hide her face.  This was the first time my other siblings in law from Washington were meeting her.  It was really nice!

After dropping off their luggage, we went to Universal Studios!

 This was also Raven's 3rd Birthday!

Raven in the Slytherin dress I made her.  

It was cold in California, at least cold for us South Texans, so Raven also had leggings on.  This little girl truly is a Slytherin; if she is physically is able to do something, she believes she is allowed, she is determined and will use what ever is around her to reach her goal, and she is quite sneaky.

Evelyn had a Gryffindor quidditch shirt I made her.  I know in this post Evelyn said she'd be in Slytherin, but since then, she's insisted she's a Gryffindor.  (Can't say I'm not a little biased about it.)

They rolled out the red carpet for us.

Entering Hogsmeade.  This is the part I was waiting for!

It was lunch time and we decided to eat in Hogsmeade at Three Broomsticks!

Lining up for food at Three Broomsticks.

Evelyn and me in line.

Standing in line to order.

Faux examples of the food you can order. 

Kids waiting for parents to finish.

Raven giving kisses to Daddy.

The moving menu of The Three Broomsticks.

We ordered family meals for the most part, and one mac n' cheese order for Evelyn.

He was in the middle of a blink, he really wasn't bored.

Evelyn and Maddy

We went outside to eat.  Growing up in South Texas, I never understood how people could eat outside during the summer in tv shows and movies.  Now that I have visited California in June, I can see how simple it is to.  They even had the heaters on.  At lunch time.

Raven getting ready to eat!

Oliver is quite picky about his food, so he got a Cinnabon from a shop outside Hogsmeade.

Maddy, Caleb, and Evelyn

Making silly faces while waiting.

Butterbeer and a Slytherin!
I don't drink soda, I haven't since May 2016, but I took a sip of the butterbeer.  I would've rued not trying official butterbeer so I broke my rule of no soda for the sake of my love of the wizarding world.  It was tasty and the foam was a pleasing surprise.

My plate of our food with Pumpkin Juice.

Ribs, salad, and veggies.  Those carrots were so good!  Pumpkin juice is the ultimate pumpkin spice drink.  It was so good and I was not disappointed in it.  I wish Three Broomsticks became a chain restaurant because I would visit that place so often for even just the food.  Plus I'm crazy about the wizarding world.

Raven with her food.  I kept her pumpkin juice away from her since it didn't have a lid.

Evelyn with her food and butterbeer.  She loved her butterbeer and the mac n' cheese was creamy!

Kathy had asked the cashier if they do anything special for birthdays, she was told they don't, but to talk to the chef.  She did, told him that her granddaughter was celebrating her 3rd birthday today and he said he would bring something special for her.  We expected a little cake or parfait, but instead he came out with this.  

Six Cauldron Cakes on a bed of butterscotch chips with "HAPPY B*DAY" written in icing.

Cauldron Cakes are chocolate cakes filled with a creamy filling topped with a blueberry and white chocolate shaving.  They also have little chocolate handles.  They were so good!

The chef delivered it himself.  It was amazing and made Raven's birthday extra special!

Cauldron Cakes!

In a shop.

Durmstrang students preparing for a performance.

Hogwarts student introducing the students from Durmstrang and Beauxbatons.

(I hope this comes up for you because it is so cool!)

The beautiful ladies of Beauxbatons!

The young men of Durmstrang!

This was a fun and easy ride.  Young kids would like this roller coaster.

AHHH!  It was a dream come true to see this place!  I went on the ride with Tom and it was amazingly fun!  I recommend it!  Go on the single rider line to ride again and again without using up much time in lines.

We went out into the rest of the park too.

It started to get hot so we got Evelyn an ice cream.

Maddy and Evelyn being fabulous stars!

Just getting onto the studio tour trolly.

Oliver started in the outside, but then we were instructed for little kids to be on the inside and adults on the outside, so I ended up switching with him.

Three little bugs!

Our tour guide.  She was funny.

One of many signs of productions.

Driving!

Tom!

Someone jogging.

Something amazing happened!
Before leaving to California, my parents gave me money for my birthday early so I could spend it on our trip.  So, since I had extra money, I decided I would get Hermione's interactive wand as a souvenir.  We went back to Hogsmeade, just the four of us, after taking the studio tour, and went to Ollivander's.  We went in first of our group and was pushed to the far corner.  They asked us not to take pictures, so I put my phone away.  We were moved into a back room were a shop worker was waiting for us.  He, very lavishly, said there was someone special among us who was an especially a strong wizard.  He looked around the crowd and pointed to Evelyn.  He called her to the counter.

The shopkeeper pulled out a wand for Evelyn to try, lighting and thunder clashed and banged above us.  They tried another.  She tried to fix the shelves along the stairs, but that only broke them more.  Then a third wand was pulled out for her to try.  As Evelyn held it, a glow surrounded her and a chorus swelled in the room.  The wand chose the wizard.

We bought her the wand, not originally intending to let her have one until she turned eleven, but there was no way we couldn't buy the wand she had that experience with.  It was so adorable; Evelyn very nervously said, "But what if I accidentally do a spell because I don't know?"  We told her that there are only special places she could make her wand work and all of them were in Hogsmeade.  She would be safe.  She felt better and said she would be okay having the wand.

Though she took pictures in this robe with her wand, we didn't buy the robe.  They cost over $100 and I could make one at home, badge and all.  Haven't yet, but I promised Evelyn I would make them for when we would go to the Harry Potter world again.  I'll be making one for Raven, too.

I want one of Ilvermorny.

More photos of Hogsmeade.

We each got a different sweet from the shop.

Evelyn was so happy with her wand.  We went around to a few places and used our wands.  We didn't have much time before we needed to leave to meet the others.

We used our Chicco Neuvo stroller and it served us well.  I had found this bad boy on the side of the road (technically outside someone's house; they were dumping it) and replaced the seat and canopy.  I forgot where I had left the basket and didn't reorder one, but the crossed bar at the bottom was still able to easily hold flat based shopping bags or our bag.

Tom is 6'2" and you can see that he barely needs to lean forward to push it.  He pushed the most of the day at Universal and he didn't have a problem.

Universal Studios

Outside on the strip.

It was quite a grand time, and it was only our first day!

More to come y'all!

This post is the first in a series of this family vacation.

I will also make a post, at the end, how we prepared for a Disney family vacation.