Helping hands

 Miriam completed activity 8 (helping hands) of the My Community badge today by volunteering to be a Salvation Army bell ringer with her student council classmates.

Serving on student council comes with the responsibility of being a role model for the other CES students.  This leadership role meets the requirements for activity 4 of the Lead On badge.

Fun and games

a book of shadow puppets = much slumber party fun

Happy Hanukkah!

Playing this morning beat out dreidel painting, so I see dreidel painting in your near future :)

Our paper mache dreidels complete activity 7 of the Art in 3-D badge.

Hanukkah mobile

Art in 3D activity 9

Miriam spent Wednesday morning decking out the kitchen for Hanukkah :)

An orange belt in the family

Congratulations Miriam on a great Tae Kwon Do test and earning your orange belt!

Weekly training, practice at home, cheering on friends and family at belt tests, a Tae Kwon Do fun night, and sampling various sports in PE = earning the Sports Sampler badge :)

Theater Badge

The girls started with a quick game a charades. There were airplanes, a cook, a dancer, and many more!

Then they played a little game of Mirror Mimic!

Then they learned how to portray different emotions on stage!

Then they became strong girls a faced the cold to learn how to make their voice a "theater voice," and then came inside to a nice plate of ribs!

After diner they created costumes, did makeup, and made up and performed a play called "Home Sweet Home!"

they had lots of fun!

Visual Arts and Drawing and Painting Badges

We focused on using one color (blue) and the shades and tints of blue. The girls learned that by mixing white with the blue we created lighter blues (tint). We also learned that adding black created darker blues (shades). We began work on two projects. The first explores color difference as they appear in the distance by creating a layered watercolor painting.

The second project explores the mixing of the tints and shades with tempera paint. We mixed and painted these colors onto paper. Once dry we will create a Monochromatic picture.

Yarn and Fabric Arts

The girls have had an amazing time learning how to weave for their Yarn ad Fabric Arts badge!

Amazing corn maze adventure

Amazing weather, amazing girls, amazing time!

Art in the home

Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is by far my favorite holiday.  It was good to have Miriam and Vauna around as an excuse to start crafting for the season.  We made two birds to help deck out our houses in holiday decor and completed activity 9 of the Art in the Home badge in the process.

I found this crow idea on the Ordinary Life Magic blog.  It only took a few minutes and these crows were zooming all around the house.

And last, I found these witchy birds at The Magic Onions.

Finding your way or Never Eat Soggy Waffles

With the help of Miriam's dad, the girls were able to earn their Finding Your Way badge on Saturday. 

learning about maps and directions

Despite the 98 degree heat, they completed activities 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, sand 8.  Activity 6 is "Map the Place" and I bet all the girls have done this at school.  Vic. went to talk to Miriam's class last Friday and had them map the location of all of the resources in their classroom.

preparing to GPS a trail at Pecan Park

happy trails...

Rally 2010

 Miriam and Vauna spent some GS time at this year's rally.  Rally is always a good source of low key fun.

As you can see getting their faces painted is a long standing Miriam and Vauna rally tradition

rally 2006

And last but not least, the only time the picture from the back of the police car is cute...

Progress - Being My Best (activities 1 & 5)

creating vision/ inspiration boards to help us reach our goals

Rosh Hashana was the perfect backdrop for a discussion about setting self improvement goals and talking about how to set smaller goals to help us reach our bigger goals.  This activity also proved the perfect time to complete the think positively activity...

Now, the only question is where to hang this little piece of inspiration.

Finishing up - Girl Scouting in the USA

Last week Miriam had a great opportunity to finish up the Girl Scouting in the USA badge. We learned a little more about Girls Scout history (activity 9) by touring the museum at the Girl Scout center in Houston.  

This will be great to do more formally with the rest of the Juliettes! Wait until you see the 1918 silent movie -so great :)

making cookies for Meals on Wheels

To tie up this badge (activity 10), Miriam helped her cousin Sophie with her Bat Mizvah, Mitzvah project of delivering food for Meals on Wheels.

We all felt good after this activity.  Miriam's comment -"Service feels good".

Looking Your Best

With the help of Breier and Emily we earned our Looking Your Best badge as part of our Girl Scout kickoff celebration.  The girls all received their badge at the party.

Talking about accessories

Talking about fashion & closet organization

The theme of this badge -fashion.  The girls learned about choosing colors that look good on them, accessories, hairstyles, and made books with pictures of their top fashion picks.  The best part? Having "the teenagers'" undivided attention.

Being My Best

Since our first meeting happened to be a two-day sleepover extravaganza we were able to work on several badges.  One of the badges we worked on was Being My Best.  We finished activity six - brag bag.

The girls all went home with a "brag bag" full of cards that say why their girl scout sisters think they are special.  We all could use a bag full of reasons we are wonderful to get us through days when we don't feel quite so wonderful.  The girls decided that each time we get together they want to bring a new card for everyone's bag -sounds like a great idea to me!