Scheduling and Children

Things are different now than when I grew up in the 1980's. I remember walking to school in elementary, and it was a bit of a walk. I remember playing outside all day in the summertime. I do remember a lot of days playing on the original NES too, but electronics weren't a prevalent back then. One thing that seems to be overdone these days is extracurricular activities.

Kids are often scheduled with scouts, and sports, and other things to the point that it can make both kids and parents crazy. Add in more kids, and the crazy goes up for the parents. Back in the day, I did play soccer and softball. It wasn't my choice to do those things, because I suck horribly at sports. I also was a Campfire Girl, but that was an activity I loved. But it wasn't too much that I didn't have any free time.

I knew when I had Emily that I wasn't going to over schedule her. She's ten and in the 4th grade. She's in Girl Scouts, chorus at school and involved with choir and youth group at church. All of these activities are things she really enjoys doing. I've asked her if she wants to do a sport, gymnastics or karate and she has said no every time.

With school chorus, I did make her join because she was on the fence. I knew she would love it and she does. Beyond that, I give her the option continue with all of them, and she wants to.

I suppose some would say that I'm not making her well-rounded by not making her do a sport, but I can understand why she doesn't want to. She's just not a sporty girl, and tends to be more interested in the arts - just like I was as a kid.

Even with this little amount of groups she is involved in, it seems like we are constantly on the go during the school year - especially in December and May. I can't imagine if we added more to it.

Last night at Girl Scouts, several other parents and I had a discussion about activities. One said that she is fine with her daughter joining activities but even if she doesn't like it, she has to stick it out for the season. I think this is a good rule to have, especially with sports. Yeah, rec leagues aren't super serious but you could still put your team at a disadvantage if you quit in the middle of the season.

And then another one was talking about being on traveling teams. Apparently there are some teams you can get your kid on and they travel all over. From what they said, it can eat up all of your weekends with traveling to meets. That sounds like a nightmare to me, and completely not doable for our family since both Todd and I work on the weekends.

For now, I think we have a good home-school-activity balance going on for Emily. This summer, she'll have VBS at church and then she'll be going to Girl Scout camp twice. Once for the week and one overnight with me that she earned selling cookies.

Do you think your kids are over-scheduled?

Camp Thanks A Lot

Emily has been a Girl Scout for several years, but this past cookie seasons she sold her all time high and sold enough to go to the special overnight camp called Camp Thanks A Lot. A parent has to attend as well, so I went with her.

Since we only have one car right now, Todd drove us to Camp Pisgah so he could have the car while we were gone. After he left, we got signed in, got Emily signed up for an archery class and then went to take some of our stuff to our cabin. We were told the rest would be taken up for us We were assigned to the Misty Mountain area and we could pick whatever cabin in we wanted. We picked the closest one and got changed into our swim suits.

There wasn't a lot of time before lunch so we found the dining hall and just hung out until lunch was served. Since we were one of the first people in there, we finished quickly and went to go swimming in the lake.

We had to swim in the lake because the pool was closed. Since it was just a one day/night camp, they made everyone wear life jackets to swim because there wasn't time to give everyone swim tests. We were the first ones in, and Emily was a little unsure at first but then just swam and swam. The water was rather cold though, but I swam with her too.

After a bit, we had to get out because it was Emily's archery time. The archery range was pretty close to where we were swimming in the lake so it didn't take us long to get there. Emily took a couple of turns - she tried but her arrows didn't get near the target. It was her first time ever shooting a bow though and she had fun.

She dragged me back to the lake to swim some more. At this point, I was starting not to feel very good. I was having a cramping in my side. I thought I may be ovulating but it was actually a kidney stone. That would be a saga that would take over my summer, but I'll cover that in future posts.

I sat on the deck and took pictures of Em while she swam. There were other activities going on, but she wasn't interested. She wanted to swim, and swim, and swim. After a while though, she got out and we headed back to the cabin, where our stuff had been brought to us. I was surprised that they knew what cabin we had picked.

We went to the camp store and I attempted to buy Emily a small stuffy and a patch, but their credit card reader wouldn't read my card for some reason. If we go back next year, I'll definitely bring cash. They also had a slip and slide set up right next to where the camp store was, and Emily took a few

turns.

My kid though, isn't great at the slip and slide. First couple of times, she went too slow and then had to push herself down. The last time, she ran to slide but ended up going down at a weird angle and hurt herself a little.

We went back to the cabin and changed, then went to dinner. I was not able to eat dinner because the pain in my side was getting really bad. I hadn't thought to bring any pain medicine with me, so I asked one of the counselors if I could get some ibuprofen.  It took a bit because she had to go get the key for the nurse's station but I got some medicine. After taking it, I felt a little better. Dinner was still going on so we went back and I ate a little.

I had to convince Emily to go to the campfire singalong, but she went and we sang along. She didn't

want to stick around when the songs started getting slower since the sun was setting. We missed out on smores because of that, and she was a little bummed.

We went back to our cabin, and we had several cabinmates. The girls in our cabin were all younger than Emily but she hung out with them some. But she had brought some books so she was happy to hang out in the top bunk and read until we did lights out.

Now the area we were in, had a circle of four or five cabins with a fire pit in between. Some of the other parents had started a campfire out there, which was fine. Our cabin did lights out about 10 pm, but the people outside were extremely noisy. Yelling kids, and we could hear the parents talking as if they were right next to us. This didn't phase Emily at all, she conked right out. Probably because of all the swimming.

But one of our cabinmates was a little girl who kept complaining to her mom that she couldn't sleep because of the noise. I wasn't sleeping at that point either, mostly because I still wasn't feeling great. But I was just playing on my phone, waiting for the ruckus outside to settle down. But that other mom went out several times to ask the others to quiet down, finally they did after a while.

I slept poorly. Partly because of the kidney stone and partly because my old body doesn't handle camp mattresses very well anymore. One of the other moms had brought a twin blow up bed to put on her bunk - I need to do that if we go next year!

We awoke the next morning and I was really sick. I spent a good deal of time in the bathroom thinking I was going to start throwing up. While I was in there, my sweet child actually packed up 95% of our stuff! I was really proud of her.

I managed to keep down some more medicine and we got breakfast where Emily ate about a whole pig's worth of bacon. We then hauled our stuff down the hill to wait for Todd to arrive. He got there sooner than I thought he would, thankfully, and was able to buy Emily her stuffed animal and her patch so she was very happy.

All in all, it was fun... for Emily. I had bits of fun here and there, but mostly I was sick. But I'm glad we went. Emily worked very hard to sell enough cookies to get to go, and she had a blast!

Girl Scouts Vs. Boy Scouts

The Womanly Art of Leatherworking

Some of you may have heard the news that the Boy Scouts are now letting girls join. I really don't have an issue with this, it's up to the girl what organization she wants to join, since Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts aren't the only options.

What I have an issue with is the bad rap Girl Scouts gets from some people. I made the mistake of reading the comments on the post about this that was on the Boy Scouts Facebook page. Apparently, according to some people, Girl Scouts is about arts, crafts, learning how to be a housewife, and nothing outdoors. Which is so not true, at least for the troop that I'm a part of.

Emily has been a Girl Scout for three years now. We've gone camping every year (sometimes several times a year), we learn outdoor activities, hiking is a big thing in our troop and we are gearing up to do some awesome STEM stuff. In fact, our Juniors were making little robots last meeting.

Admittedly, our troop is awesome and yes, as a leader, I'm biased. But Girl Scouts is all about being girl led. Our girls have a say in what we do each year and what badges they want to earn. Our Brownies are working on their First Aid badge right now.

Yes, some troops may be more arts and crafts than outdoors. And if you don't like your local troop, join Boy Scouts or Campfire, or any other similar organization. And you can also start your own troop. Ours is only 4 years old.

Scouting is fun for both boys and girls. Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts both have advantages and flaws, but if you find a good troop it can be life changing!

Girl Scout Day at Chimney Rock

I try to do just about every Girl Scout activity that is offered through our troop because I know that Emily would enjoy it. So when Girl Scout Day at Chimney Rock was announced, I signed us up for the day activities and the camp out in the evening.

It was tent camping and I haven't tent camped since I was a teenager. I wasn't looking very forward to it but I loaded up our car and headed off.

We got there about 9 am and some of our troop was already there. Even though it was morning, it was already starting to get really hot. I had a small cooler in my car for our lunches and the chocolate for smores. I left it in there because we were going to do activities first.

There were a bunch of other troops. The event had been limited to 200 girls, I think, plus parents and siblings. We had a decent amount of people with our troop so Emily had a lot of friends to play with.

The first part of the day was doing different stations. We started at the "craft" which all the parents agreed was the lamest craft ever. Apparently ever year, Chimney Rock has a special animal they showcase. This year, the animal was the spider. So the craft was to make a spider web necklace.

But all it was, was that all the girls were given a piece of metal (about as thick as a small paperclip) and they were suppose to bend it to make it look like a spider web. Needless to say, nobodies looked like a spider web. Sadly the person leading the craft didn't give a whole lot of instructions.

Once we were done there, we went to the next station which was all about things animals leave behind. Tracks, poop, etc. This one was more interesting, though I missed some of it by going to the

restroom. But there was a fun activity at the end where they girls had to try and guess what an animal was by looking at its fake poop, tracks and then the skull. We had some form of plant eater.

Our next station was the snake station. The guy leading it was very into snakes, and told the girls about different venomous and non-venomous snakes. He had several of the non-venomous to show the girls, one of which that bit him! But at the end, he let the girls pet one of his snakes. Emily didn't though, she wasn't very into that.

Lastly was another station about animals. I honestly was starting to lose spoons as this point in the day so I didn't pay a ton of attention. But the ranger in charge had a tame possum that everyone could pet. Emily decided that she now wants a possum as a pet!

By this time, it was super hot out and it was lunch time. My car was like a hot box, but our lunches were still cool. Our troop had set up our chairs under some shade and we all ate. I didn't really want to get up after sitting in my comfy chair but next was the Jr. Ranger program.

All the girls who came to the event got a patch, but those who wanted to become Jr. Rangers got a 2nd patch and a certificate. Emily wanted to do that so we headed back to the main pavilion. They split the troops in two groups. Ours learned about trees first and how important they are for their oxygen but also for all the things we use that are made of wood.

Each troop then got to plant two seedling trees into cups that we were able to bring home with us. I'm not sure where our troop decided to plant our trees but it was a pretty neat thing that we were given those.

After that, we switched and the girls were given a talk about what it means to be a ranger. They were given their patches and certificates and got a picture with the ranger. Our troop leader took the patches so they can be awarded at our next awards ceremony.

Emily had wanted to try the climbing wall so we headed there next, along with one of her friends.

While the girls waited in the long time, I chatted with the troop leader who is a friend of mine. We stood in the shade because it was still so very hot.

Some of our troop hadn't done the Jr. Ranger program or the climbing wall and had gone up to the peak of Chimney Rock which apparently involves walking up 500 stairs. I'm glad that I hadn't done that for a variety of reasons.

After the climbing wall, we went back to where we were going to set up camp to relax. As we were sitting there, the sound of sirens filled the air. We never got the whole story beyond someone had gotten hurt on one of the waterfall trails. Our folks had to hike all the way down, because the shuttles weren't running but they made it back to camp.

Everyone who wasn't camping headed out and the rest of us set up our tents. Once the tents were set up, the girls moved from tent to tent as they played. While unpacking I realized that the marshmallows I had brought for smores had melted into one huge marshmallow. I hadn't even thought about them melting so they had just been in my car.

We lamented the marshmallow melting but also the fact that we didn't have a campfire. The parks had set up rings around the meadow where we were camping but there wasn't enough for each troop to have one. One wasn't near us so we went ahead and had dinner while trying to think of what we could do get a fire.

In the end, one of our moms went and asked the park ranger in charge if we could make our own fire ring. The ranger said 'sure', gave her big rocks to make the ring plus some fire wood. The girls got twigs and fallen branches to start the fire and soon we had our own roaring camp fire!

Thankfully another parent had brought marshmallows that weren't melted so we got to make smores. The girls were thrilled. As it got to be dusk, another troop invited ours over for a dance party. They

were playing music from their car and had glow necklaces they gave out. Emily had a great time getting her groove on!

It got darker and finally it was time to head to bed. Emily fell asleep right away but I got maybe two hours because I was extremely uncomfortable. In the middle of the night it started pouring, but thankfully we had borrowed a very good tent so we stayed dry.

In the morning, it was still raining on and off. I was exhausted and had a monster migraine. We packed up the car quickly, mostly because I had put everything we weren't sleeping with in the car the night before. We got home around 7 am and I took a shower and passed out.

While I didn't have a ton of fun, Emily did! She loved playing with her friends and petting a possum. Next year, we may do it again but we may not camp. We'll see!

2016 - Year in Review

Image: openclipart.org

This year has been an interesting one. The celebrity deaths have been hard to watch. The ones that have hit me most have been Ron Glass and Carrie Fisher. The election was a shitshow all around and I can't deny that I'm not frightened by what may happen in the years to come.

But on a personal level, 2016 wasn't too bad a year!

It was a Disney year, and Disney years are always good because of going to my favorite place in the world. I also didn't need to go to the ER at all this year which is huge!

We joined the Y on January 1st of this year and I started weight training a few months after that. I didn't lost a lot of weight but I gained a lot of strength and stamina, which was something I really needed! I'm hoping to build on that in 2017.

Girl Scouts became a huge part of our lives this year. We went through our first cookie season and Emily got to go camping for the first time ever! We actually have gone camping with the Girl Scouts three times this year.

Both Emily and I made new friends thanks to scouting! And Emily was very excited that her two best friends ended up in her class for 2nd grade.

Emily worked very hard in school to become a much better reader. She has grown so much - including in height. She's almost as tall as I am! In addition to Girl Scouts, she also got more involved with church. She is in the children's choir and active in the elementary youth group! She was also in our church's Christmas pageant as Innkeeper #1 and an angel.

 I'll post about my goals for 2017 in a different post, but while I'm not glad to see 2016 be gone soon, it wasn't too bad of a year for us.

Girl Scouts and the Christmas Parade

Last year, our Girl Scout troop marched in the Fletcher Christmas parade. We didn't have a lot of prep time so it was just our girls wearing their vests with Santa hats on, walking down the street. After last year, the parents  / leaders decided we were going to do better this year.

The parade has a theme every year and the theme this year was "Christmas in Candyland". We started working on it over a month ago. The girls were involved in every step - from planning to creating. But of course, us parents had to do quite a bit as well.

The main focal point of our float was our Gingerbread house. I was really sick with a migraine the day they put it together so I sent Todd in my place. He ended up being a much better help than I was because he used his engineer's mind and designed the house. I heard praises from the other parents about it afterwards!

Last Friday we put everything together and put it on the float. The girls crafted jingle bell bracelets while us parents did the heavy lifting, as it where. The float ended up looking great!
Saturday was the parade and it was an extremely cold day. I put several layers on Emily and myself in order to stay as warm as possible. We got everyone we could on the float, including my kid. Some kids walked and a couple road in the back of the truck. Some switched out in the middle of the parade.

The girls looked cute with their gingerbread aprons which thankfully could be worn over coats. They handed out candy, jingled bells and waved to the crowd who had braved the cold.

It turned out very well! I think for our first float it was awesome. And the girls had a lot of fun with the whole process!

Three Nights of Santa!

The end of last week was a Santa-paloza for Emily and I. We had three events over the course of three days that all involved the man in red!

On Thursday, it was the Fletcher Tree Lighting at Fletcher Park. It was freezing out so we got in line to meet Santa right away. The line was long, but thankfully one of Emily's best friends and her family got in line right in front of us. That helped pass the time.

Because it was so cold out, all we pretty much did was meet Santa and consume cookies and cocoa. We left to the warmth of our car after that.

On Friday, it was Cookies and Cocoa with Santa at Emily's school. We actually got there a bit before it started because I wanted to get an actual parking space. Sadly the school's lot isn't big enough for

events like this and I didn't want to have to park in the grass.

We got inside a few minutes before it started. We went to see some friends of Emily and I's (Girl Scout moms and their kids) who were selling things. I got a rice bag (which works really good!) and Emily got a hair tie from one of them.

As soon as Santa got there, we got in line. We were the 2nd group in line and I wanted to do it early because I knew the line would get long. After we met Santa, we went to the holiday shop the school had set up. Emily proceeded to spend the rest of her money on stuff she 'needed'. We also met Elsa, who is actually one of my friends and a fellow Girl Scout troop leader.

Most of the rest of the time we were there, we were hanging out with our friends. One of the moms had to leave early because of a sick kid so I volunteered to help watch the table. Emily mostly just hung out and played with her friends, which she loved. It was a good evening!

The next day, I actually woke up feeling pretty sick with a migraine. So Todd took Emily to help with

building a gingerbread house for her Girl Scout troop's float for the Christmas parade. Once they got home, I had gotten up and got dressed so we could go to the Biltmore Park tree lighting.

Usually the Biltmore Park tree lighting is at night and they start with the lighting of the tree. This year, the event went from 1 pm to 5:30 pm and the tree lighting was at the end. We got there about 3 pm and went right to meet Santa. In years past, Santa had been joined by Mrs. Claus but he was solo this year.

The line wasn't long and Emily met the 3rd Santa who she says is the real one. From there, we wandered around. We got cocoa and went from booth to booth. Emily did science experiments, got to make a 3D ornament (that will be printed out on a 3rd printer!), got cookies and even got to decorate a cookie! It was a lot of fun especially since it was on a Saturday so Todd could come with us. Our Santa days had come to an end though - at least for this year.

Of all the events, I liked the Biltmore Park one the best. Lots to do with lots of entertainment. I think that is the one that Emily liked best too but Cookies and Cocoa with Santa would be a close 2nd for her because she got to play with her friends for several hours.

Girl Scouts and Baseball

Baseball is the great American sport and while I've never been a fan of watching baseball on TV, it's always a ton of fun to see a game live. Asheville has a minor league team but we've never went to see a game. But this past Saturday, it was Girl Scout night for the Asheville Tourists so we went with Emily's Girl Scout troop.

The night before it had been storming so the game got cancelled. So instead of one game, we got two! Emily and I got there just as the first game was starting. They were doing a giveaway of jerseys for the first 1000 people. I was a bit surprised that we had gotten there in time to get jerseys, but we did!

Emily was excited by all the food vendors and wanted to eat first thing. But after we got our free jerseys, I wanted to find our seats. We were the first ones from our troop to get there, and we had great seats. We only watched a bit of the game before we went to get some food.

As her troop mates started arriving, the more excited she got. The girls had a good time cheering on the Tourists and singing with the songs that were played between plays. The first game was suppose to only be 7 innings to make the second game not run too late.

At the end of the 6th inning, all the Girl Scout troops went to line up for the parade. I was a little worried when the game went into extra innings and took two more innings to finish the game. But Emily's troop leaders said all the girls were very patient as they waited.

Between games, all the Girl Scout troops got to march on the field. Emily was so cute as she waved wildly to everyone. One they were done, they made their way back to the seats. After Emily came back, we went to go get snacks.

Emily got cotton candy and I got a funnel cake that I shared because it was huge. At this point, it was past Emily's usual bedtime but she was really hyped up on sugar. Her and her friends cheered loudly for the Tourists as they waved their hats. Some of them even got a picture with the mascot, Mr. Moon.

Around 9:30, I felt it was time to get home. We had to be up early the next morning to sing at church. The people left from her troop also left the game at the time. We got a ride to our car in a golf cart, which made Emily very happy.

All in all, it was a fun time. The Tourists won both games and Emily enjoyed herself!

My Ghost Adventures - The Moving Flower

To start at the beginning of this series, click here!

Even though I live in a haunted house, extra weird things only happen every once in a while. Usually the activity consists of footsteps down the hallway. But our ghost decided to play a little with Emily the past few days.

Emily is in Girl Scouts and they do a lot of crafts. Because the weather is warmer now, they are doing things involving plants. This week's meeting had them making fairy gardens. They were given two flowers, a house and then a bunch of shiny stones to make the fairy garden.

When we brought Emily's home she insisted on keeping it in her room. One of the cats knocked it over the next day, so I put it up high on top of the record player she has on her dresser. We are planning on moving it outside once we get a spot for a garden set up but I've been sick all week and I haven't been able to do it.

Emily can see the garden but she can't reach it, like to water it, without a stool. But she told me earlier this week that one of her flowers had been unplanted and moved by the other one. She was a bit upset but I helped her put it back it its previous spot. I didn't really think anything of it.

That is, until it happened again yesterday. In the picture, it's the yellow flower on the right. It was pulled out with the roots and dirt (the flower had come in a container with some dirt in it) and moved back to the left. No animal could have done it, and Emily and I didn't do it.

She moved it back and I asked Todd when I called him later that evening if he had moved it. As I expected, he hadn't. So for some reason, our ghost wants that flower on the other side. I'm hoping that tomorrow I'll be able to fix up the garden outside and get all plants outside! We'll see if it keeps happening once the fairy garden is out of the house.

Up next - Knocks in the Night!

A Happy Life

When I was growing up, I always imagined myself in a big house, with lots of kids and of course a handsome husband. It's funny how things are different than what I thought, but as I approach 40 my goal is to have a happy life.

My house isn't big, but honestly I wouldn't want it much bigger because that would be more space I'd have to keep clean. Our house has enough room for the 3 of us, plus the cats, along will all of Emily's stuff (mine and Todd's too but she has more!)

My marriage is happy, even after nearly ten years. I adore Todd and he seems to be fond of me too, of course. Our family was completed many years ago with the birth of Miss Emily and we have three cats who are her furry, little siblings.

Todd mostly likes his job. Like most people, he has bad days and good. I really don't like my job but I'm able to work part-time which gives me time to do other things as well as rest when I need to. Of course, I do have chronic pain and Todd has MS. But I try and not let my pain get me too down. Plus Todd's been in remission since the initial diagnosis so he tends to ignore it.

Emily is a happy kid. She has lots of friends at school, loves learning and loves being a Girl Scout. It's a joy to be her mom and watch her grow. But I'm glad there is just one of her. One and done as far as kids go works best for us.

We don't make a ton of money but we make enough to be able to do fun things. We go to conventions, mostly Dragon Con, and Disney World. We are hoping to make it over to Italy in about five years. Todd wants to start seeing the world. I want to start visiting the Disney parks around the world, so same thing.

I suffer from depression and anxiety so some days the clouds get really dark and stormy in my head. But all in all, I have a happy life. It's something to remember on the not so good days.

Camping with the Girl Scouts!

Hiking!

When Emily joined Girl Scouts at the beginning of the year, she was looking forward to two things the most. The first was getting badges, which she has gotten quite a few. And the other was to go camping.

Her troop was suppose to go camping in January but the weekend it was planned we had a really bad snowstorm. So it got postponed until this past weekend.

We got up early Saturday morning to make the trek to the campground. One of the girl scouts' dads works for the Boy Scouts and he has been rehabbing / building a boy scout camp so we went camping there.

The drive took nearly two hours, and we drove right up a mountain to get to the camp. After parking, hauling our stuff to the cabin and eating lunch, the fun began. The Boy Scouts did a flag ceremony where they raised the American flag and then the camp's flag. After we did the pledge of allegiance and the scouts did their pledges/promise we went our separate ways.

The girls and the parents (one of whom is our Daisy troop leader) headed off to hike on a trail that no-one has ever hiked before. I didn't make it very far before I realized that it was not a good idea for me to try to do this hike. I headed back to the cabin and read a book while they were hiking.

Once they got back, we all headed back to the beginning of the trail. Since this camp is a work in progress, our troop decided to do a service project. What we did was start to clear a path to making the hiking trail easier to hike.

The girls raked and hoed at the trail and got a decent way. Then they waked the part that they had cleared to pat it down. They were very proud of the work they did and they'll get an extra special patch for being some of the first people to do service projects to fix up the camp.

We had a few hours before the Boy Scouts were going to serve supper so the girls worked on their

Marshmallows!

skit and their song for the campfire. That didn't take too long so most of the parents relaxed in the cabin while the kids played right outside.

Supper was at 6 pm. We had spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. All that playing and hiking must have made Emily hungry because she ate a full plate of spaghetti and even had seconds. After everyone had their fill, we headed to the huge firepit. There was skits and songs, which was very fun. After it started to get dark, it was time to roast marshmallows!

The cabin we were staying in were not heated so several people had brought space heaters because it was pretty cold on Saturday. On our side of the cabin, we actually had two plugged in. We had a bit of excitement when all the lights went out on our side. Thankfully it was an easy fix and the girls passed out.

I didn't sleep great but I didn't really expect to. Emily slept all night but she was still tired in the morning. It was our turn to make breakfast so we headed to the main cabin to start cooking. I made up the scrambled eggs, the girls made the toast and there was also pancakes and sausage. It was very good!

After that, we had a short chapel service. Emily and the other girls didn't have a lot of patience to sit there. They said they wanted to play but I could tell Emily was running out of steam. I was also running out of steam so after chapel, it was time to pack up and get out of there. Emily slept about the whole way home and then took a four hour nap with me after we got home.

It was pretty cold on Saturday but there was a lot of fun had. I know that Emily had a great time and is looking forward to when she can go camping again!

Selling Girl Scout Cookies

If you don't know anything about Girl Scouts, you probably at least know about their cookies. It's the time of year when girls stand outside stores hawking their delicious cookies.

I wasn't ever a Girl Scout but I was a Campfire Girl. We sold chocolate bars and I hated going door to door to sell them. I'm not a good salesperson even to this day.

When Emily wanted to sign up for Girl Scouts, I knew that selling cookies was going to be part of it. And I knew that I would be selling cookies as well - since Emily is only 7.

This past Sunday was the first cookie booth Emily ever did. It was for three hours outside the Hendersonville Walmart. I wasn't sure how Emily was going to do. I was afraid she was going to get bored and cranky. But she proved me wrong!

It took her a bit to get into the swing, but she yelled 'Cookies for Sale!" with the other Girl Scouts helping man this table. When we got a customer, she would hurry over and explain the prices and kinds of cookies. She would help get the money and hand the change back.

She had a lot of fun and it was a great experience. It helps the girls learn skills they will need - like making change. And we sold a ton of cookies which will help their troop out!

We are signed up for two more cookie booths and I'm sure now that Emily will do a great job. If you see any Girl Scouts selling cookies, consider buying a box or two. If you don't want to eat the cookies, you can always buy a box that will be sent overseas to the troops!

A Sister to Every Girl Scout

Early in the the school year, Emily came home all excited. The local Girl Scout troop had come to her school and she really wanted to join. We all went to the informational meeting that happened and signed her up.

I was a Girl Scout briefly - I don't remember why I stopped and became a Camp Fire Girl instead. But there is a lot of similarities I'm seeing between Camp Fire and Girl Scouts. Lots of crafts, fun with friends, earning patches and camping.

Emily was very excited to start attending as well as to get her own vest and patches. She is a Daisy right now and part of what they are learning in the whole Girl Scout code. They get a petal for each one they learn.

One of the last ones is 'Be a sister to every Girl Scout'. Emily loves her fellow Girl Scouts and I think it's a really great idea. It's a community of girls, their siblings and their parents. Community and friendship is something that can last a lifetime!

I don't know how long Emily will want to be a Girl Scout, but she's learning a lot of good skills, making friends and getting great opportunities. This Saturday, she'll be marching with her troop in the Fletcher Christmas Parade. Next month, it will be her first camping trip, which she is very excited for.

One of the best things about our troops (and others, I have no idea) is that the leader ask for the girls' feedback on what they want to do. It's all about them growing and learning.

I'd highly recommend Girl Scouts to any girl. They form bonds and have fun while learning!

Camp Fire Girls

Emily wearing my Camp Fire vest

A few days ago a high school friend posted that her mom had passed away. I was a little startled and sad to see that I knew her mom. She had been my leader when I was in Camp Fire Girls and it brought back a lot of memories.

I joined Camp Fire Girls in elementary school. I had briefly been a Girl Scout but my parents switched me to Camp Fire for some reason. I really loved everything about Camp Fire. I learned all kinds of crafty things, made friends and got to go on camping trips.

Every summer, I'd go to day camp for a week and have an overnight stay at the end of the week. We'd cook out over fires and make crafts. I remember one year I made a really ugly clown doll that I named Fred. I still have him - he's in Emily's room in her sea of stuffed animals.

Like Girl Scouts sell cookies, we sold chocolate bars. I'm not a great salesperson even back then so I was never a top seller. But one year I really wanted to go to the special weekend camp out for the top sellers. My mom drove me all around town to sell in different neighborhoods. I still remember one of the streets was Elm Street. I got to my goal and got to go on the special camping trip - it was a lot of fun.

I loved Camp Fire so much that I stuck with it until my freshman year of high school. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to do the school plays which had rehearsals that conflicted with the Camp Fire meetings.

I have a lot of fond memories and I'm a little sad that North Carolina has no Camp Fire councils so Emily will never be a Camp Fire girl herself.