Gwen And Girlscouts

 

We let Gwen sign up and try out Girlscouts last year.  If we didn't have to move again this year (from Texas to who knows where), and if my kids (since Gracie is old enough this year too) weren't so afraid to go door to door and sell cookies, I would have let them do Girlscouts this year too.  Gwen gained so much confidence in herself and made so many good friends through the program that we might try it again when we get to stay in a place for longer than a year and a half.

 

All the girls participating in the Girlscout initiation ceremony.

 

Jaycee, Gwen and McKenzie.  Jaycee became one of Gwens closest friends.

 



Gwens troop at cookie night after making their own clipboards (Gwen drew a picture of Perry the Platypus from the tv show Phineas and Ferb on hers).

 





Practicing knocking on doors and what to say when selling cookies.  They also practiced basic and stranger safety.

 



Every year they pick a country and each troop in the Eastern Oklahoma area did a table featuring something about that country, and something fun to do.  That year they picked Jamaica, and because our troop were brand new daisy scouts, we didn't have to do a table that year.  We just got to participate in all the fun games, activities, and food tasting.  One thing that a troop did was focus on some festivals they have there.  They made masks and headdresses and the visiting troops could put them on and not only take a group photo to take home, but individual ones as well.  This is her troop minus one. 

 





Gwen was the only one in her troop that forgot her vest that day, but she still had a lot of fun.  They sang some traditional Jamaican songs, played some traditional games, watched a puppet show, tried some fruit that's typically grown in Jamaica, and made lots of cool things like mini light houses and masks.

 



Their lessons and activities last year centered around plants and animals...learning about different ones, how to recognize them and take care of them.  One thing the girls had to do to earn a patch was to take care of an animal.  Since none of the parents really wanted to buy a pet that all the girls would have to share and take care of, Gwens leader decided we would use a stuffed animal instead.  Each girl took turns bringing Mr. Ribbert home for a week at a time and taking care of him as if he were real.  One of the challenges her leader gave the parents was to place Mr. Ribbert in different places to surprise the girls when they got home from school each day and saw what Mr. Ribbert had been doing.  These are just a couple of places I put him.

 

In our Elmo reading chair, reading some books.

 



Gwen made him this bed, that he slept in every night, from her baby dolls quilt and an empty cookie box.

 



Gwen loved Girlscouts, and right before we moved to Texas, they did a special patch ceremony so Gwen could receive all the patches she had earned up to that point.  It wasn't as many as some other girls, but Gwen was proud of her hard work and what she had earned, and I was proud of her too.  It was a really tough night for her, because she had to say goodbye to all her friends, and she and I weren't the only ones shedding a few tears.  It was a wonderful experience while it lasted, and one that I hope we might be able to do again in the future.