Camp Time Again

Every Year Brenda and Bret head out to Girl Scout camp for a week. This is their third year going away to summer camp. This year Brenda went to horse camp, against my better judgement because I thought it would be less than her expectations. Bret went away to a camp called Peddles and Paddles. Brend learned how to groom and ride a horse, which she assured me was better than my expectations. Bret took a one day canoe ride and rode her bike to a campout 13 miles each way. They make a ton of friends, they do all kinds of things they know I would not approve of, and they come back giddy with excitement. Of course:-)

This year Marley was finally old enough to do a camp. She and I attended Me and My Gal camp which is a two day, one night camp for girls and their mom, grandma, aunt, etc. Mostly it is moms, and over half are leaders. We canoed, swam in the lake and the pool, played a ton of girl scout games, learned some songs, ate smores, made vases, sit-upons, and pudding art with our tongues. We made new friends and had a great time together.

Here are some photos Marley and I took from the experience. She had the camera most of the time. This was one of Bret's favorite camps. I highly recommend this kind of a camp for all girls and their Gals. It is the ultimate camp experience for a little un who doesn't want to leave home alone, yet still wants to camp. It is time together without the other kids for just a small time. For us to make our own special memories.

 

What is biggest??

Marley and I were playing with our counting blocks today, making towers and such. So I gave her a job, to put blocks in the boxes in this order: small, big, bigger, biggest. And here was her order. Green was small, white was big, red was bigger, and yellow was biggest.

Before you tell her that she is wrong... she wasn't looking at block size. She was looking at size from the perspective of which has more.

Many times we go through workbooks and answer questions, and we are wrong. Not because we are wrong. But instead because we were thinking about the question differently. In real life this is commended. In school learning, teaching, and knowledge should be standard. In real life nothing is.

I am so blessed to have an opportunity to notice these things throughout my day.

Marley said, "Come on, Mom, you are my teacher." We are playing with the blocks and workbooks again. I tell her 'she is her own teacher. And did I teach her to talk or walk? No she taught herself.'

So she told me, 'well you did get excited and try to get me to do it again after I did it.'

I tell her 'That is not a teacher. That is a cheerleader. I am your cheerleader.' :-)

Girl Scouts host Winton Woods Park Pet Parade

What a great opportunity to get in some community service time and earn our Pet Care badge at the same time! We helped set up the parade and in spite of the heat, led the pets through the park. Here is Brenda with Jade. We planned to bring the Elenore and Leroy (our baby turtles) but in light of the heat, we kept them behind.

 Our guest speaker couldn't come. It was supposed to storm and she was coming from far away. But she assured us the opportunity to come to one of our meetings and finish our badgework with us.

In the end we shared ice cream and took a paddle boat ride together. Boy did we get a workout!

Hat Trick

After a year of hard work. These kids have really put in the extra energy to make this season what it is. Coach Iris, Coach Zack, and Coack Patrick are amazing with the kids. St Bernard allowed extra pratices throughout the school year to help us prepare. Actually the amount of time, energy, and resources that went into this championship (it was held at St B Aquatic Center this year) I am sure I can only imagine. For all the parents, coaches, kids, city workers, and community helpers, you were all fabulous! This first photo was taken by Tricia Hackney who owns a phototography shop in town, the moment the team found out they won the small teams division of championships. Everyone was on pins and needles awaiting the decision. Brenda is on the right next to coach Iris. Bret is in the back. Marley is at home, due to all the commotion I didn't want her there.

BUT Marley placed 8th in her back stroke and 10th in her freestyle (thanks in part to Linda Woolridge who bribed the kids with free snow cones if they placed in the top 12, Marley took almost 4 seconds off her back stroke! Amazing!!) She has been in 6 and under for three years now. She moves up to 8 and under. Which means fly and breast. Yay!

BUT Marley placed 8th in her back stroke and 10th in her freestyle (thanks in part to Linda Woolridge who bribed the kids with free snow cones if they placed in the top 12, Marley took almost 4 seconds off her back stroke! Amazing!!) She has been in 6 and under for three years now. She moves up to 8 and under. Which means fly and breast. Yay!

While we wait for the final team scores each year there are adult relays. The first one was coach/parent relay scored by the audience for best creativity, which we won thanks to such loud cheers and Coaches swimming in drag :-)

Here are all three coaches in tears while the kids crowd around them for hugs! Zack holds the golden flipper awarded for their swim in drag. What a moment. BTW this was a hat trick for our team. The third championship in a row we placed number 1 in small teams. It was a very touching moment for everyone.

Brenda, who was ready to throw in the towel (pun intended) after this season due to the early swim practice times, is now all prepared to hustle through another swim season! She will move from 11-12 to 13-15. Little girl's growing up.

Yay!

My computer works real good now. Very exciting. Probably that is why I don't want to get off of it. Well I do have kids. They do want my attention. And I do have a house to clean too I suppose. Laundry to do. Knitting to be done. Blah Blah Blah. off I go. Plenty more later. Some day my kids will be old and grown and look back at this blog and laugh at all this. Some day.

Jade

Our new dog. Ugh. They love eachother. But I am the walker. Not near as amused by two dogs as the girls are. ;-)

Botany in the Summer

We have had a few opportunities this summer and spring to hang out in KY in our property while Bret gets work done over there. Lil Bret and I hike the trails and look for new interesting things.

 A 5 leaf clover!!! Wow I don't know if that is good luck or bad. The photo above this one is Bret and my example of both lichen AND a tree bending to reach the light (Auxins in action).

 I didn't know what these things were. they looked like angels sitting in the forest together. I thought they were a fungus. But nope. They are a flower. Indian Pipes to be exact... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora

This was such a cool find!!! Fiddle head. It is what is to become a fern. It is called a fiddle head because it looks like the top of a fiddle, essencially. We learned about it in Botany class this year.

Those little Weasles!!!!

Do you know the second night camping with the Girl Scouts we stayed in covered wagons, which are similar to tents, and when I went to sleep, my coleader for my older girls' troop took all those little weasle girls to her CAR TO SLEEP???????? I had a 6 year old, an 8 year old, and several 10 and 11 year olds sleeping IN THE COVERED WAGONS!! And my 12 and 13 yos slept in the CAR! ;-)

The next morning I met up with another leader at a lodge. She said she saw all those girls sleeping in that car, she would have invited them in to sleep in the left over lodge bunks. I told her don't you dare invite them into the lodge. Those girls have been camping every year for years! The nerve. :-o

Next time I will just drop them all off at Jennifer's car and take my other troop camping. lol.

When they got back down to camp with all their stuff, I told them to stay there so I can take a picture of them being the poor campers. They all said ok, we are proud of it. and they smiled for the camera.

Whittling

Another May campout hit. Whittling. I gave everyone a bar of soap to practice with, and their own pocket knife to take home. There is no longer any info through Girl Scouts on using knives. That was very disappointing. Plenty of online info through Boy Scouts though. And thanks to Memaw who knows a lot about this kind of stuff!! Thank goodness no one lost a finger and all is well.

Brenda and Bret have whittled several sticks from our KY property into wands since.

Learning to make a camp fire

 The girls were all finally going into 5th grade or older (for the exception of Marley who came with us by default). This was the year to learn how to build a fire.

Prior to the campout we made fire starters at our meeting. When we got to camp, everyone got a book of matches to practice lighting. They we reviewed what we need to build a fire, the girls collected the wood from the surrounding area, and each girl made her own fire. Supervised of course. I was very proud of each one of them for their accomplishments! Biggest issue, I had to keep a close eye on those girls to make sure they weren't making huge bonfires, as each girl wanted to do. Your first camp fire is such an amazing feat you don't ever want it to end.

Camping Scout Style

 Some special people got Makeovers. Memaw is the favorite for both troops! Her granddaughter is in Bret's troop, but every time Brenda's troop gets to attend an activity with Memaw, it is big excitement for everyone!

 Creeking is a must! You will never believe what the big excitement was for going creeking this year... They all couldn't wait to pee in the creek!!!!! Ewww.

 There was even some late night pranking going on while us adults slept evidentally...

Brenda and her gang insisted on sleeping under the stars the first night which meant and adult, you guessed it... ME, had to sleep outside too. I think I was the only one of us who actually slept. The rest of "us" were up pranking the sleepers.

After last year's camping fiasco, I wanted to make this year a real great time. Our May Campout featured such activities as creeking, fire building, whittling, duct tape creations, night hike, spending one night in the covered wagons, outdoor cooking, shrinky dinky necklaces, hula hoop making (AND hooping of course). We started out our campout at Kroger where the girls broke up into groups to shop for the food they would cook, then off to camp we went where the fun never ends. They cooked all the food that they ate, and played inbetween.

Bridging Time AGAIN!!!!!! AAAAAAH!

Bret and her second year Juniors Bridged at our annual Girl Scout Campout this year! I cannot believe they are Cadettes already. At the ceremony I asked for a show of hands of which girls had been with me from my first year as leader of our troops. Only Bret in her troop. Brenda Miranda and Desarae had been with me all along in Brenda's troop. So sad that they keep growing. Yet such proud moments for me to be part of.

Marley's troop also Bridged to Brownies this year.

 Here are the bridging Daisies.

 They bridged at Build A Bear. Since this is the 100 years of Girl Scouts anniversary, Build A Bear has Girl Scout Bears. Marley made a Daisy bear, but it is sooo cute, I want to go out and get a Brownie and Junior outfit so that it can grow with her. I know I am a big sap for these kinds of things. Brenda and Bret made bears too. There are no Cadette outfits :-( We will have to sew our own sashes. Brenda made a cammo bear of course, the hunter in her couldn't resist. Bret and I chose the most raggedy looking dog because it had to be done.

I pulled this photo out of my archives. :-( This was Brenda's first bridging ceremony. The year she bridged OUT of Brownies into Juniors. Awwww. That makes me even more sappy.

Father/Daughter Dance

Bret works so much (Big Bret that is) that he hardly gets to spend quality time with the girls. I was very excited to hear that our Girl Scout service unit was hosting a Father/Daughter dance this year. He got to be the dad and have some fun with the girls. And I BARELY had to drag him there to do it. ;-)

Bret, the Photographer

Cool badge for her last Junior year in Girl Scouts. Photography. She was so excited to get her own video recorder/camera for Christmas this year. She has turned into quite the photographer. BTW the cat is Shmellow, a neighbor cat that Bret adores!!

Dance, Dance, Dance

Dancing their butts off? Maybe. Bret said this was a hard year. She is considering Jr. Roller Derby for her activity next year instead of dance. Marley is looking forward to being old enough for Jazz. Brenda... she didn't dance this last year. She wants TV acting lessons next year. Since that isn't happening we will see what next year brings for her.

Wow!!! Here I am sitting here again. My computer has been ever slow, my ipod which became my new computer, didn't download photos to my blog, and I have been so busy. A bunch of months later, and a new computer... here I am again. Let's get reaquainted in top speed instead of snail speed (that probably is insulting to the snail. Maybe.)

Brenda's first buck

This account of the kill... Posted on Brenda's Facebook.

"first deer ever and it got to be a 8pt buck so yay for that. thankfully this time i dident hiperventilate and wimp out like last time. after about an hour of finding blood and trying to track where it went to it finaly paid off by finding out that it was one of the bigger bucks on our proporty. dad said that the rack is big enough to where we can get it mounted. we even found the bullet that i shot it with and we are going to put it with the mount.and i shot it with a Savage bolt action .270 cal rifle. named him ocho bucko because ocho cinco is the number 8 bangles player and my buck is an 8pt buck."

A friend said, "Did you kill it?" and Brenda responds, "Yes, it's dead." lol.

re going to put it with the mount.and i shot it with a Savage bolt action .270 cal rifle. named him ocho bucko because ocho cinco is the number 8 bangles player and my buck is an 8pt buck."
.

Twins?? Or just good friends...

Another biggie on Marley's list was an American Girl Doll. ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A DOLL! Have you seen her messy room?? Not a'happenin'. But so we found this cutie thing that appears to her to be an American Girl Doll. We didn't tell her that it was one, we just didn't discount her idea that it was. Then she came into our rooom today reminding me that there should be an American Girl Doll code so she can get on the computer to play games with her doll. She decided that it must have gotten thrown out and moved on (thankfully) without more thought on the problem.

A Surprise that Everyone Enjoyed

Pregnant Brittany and little CallieMae showed up for a visit yesterday. They were in town for a few days before heading back to Florida. It has been months since the girls have seen CallieMae. It was such a great time for all of them. Then CallieMae got cranky quick, hitting and flailing and telling everyone "no". We snapped a few photos and they were on their way. It was a good way to end our Holiday Festivities.

Who put the Easy in this thing???

So one of Marley's big ticket items on the list this year (a bit down from the million dollars and puppy that she DIDN'T receive) was an Easy Bake Oven. And I use the term Easy very lightly. Thanks to a kind friend who was moving and downsizing we aquired this lightbulb box for free and were able to turn it into a prized Christmas present with little effort.

Three days in a row, Marley and I have baked cookies (and again I use the plural 's' VERY lightly, lightly as one might step on thin ice in the middle of an ocean.) We have a choice of making one cookie (two inches in diameter) or 6 teeny little cookies. Once we made the "big" one and twice we made the six tiny ones. Each time it takes about 25 minutes to do, most of the time is spent waiting for the lightbulb to warm the plastic box. Then when it is done another 10 minutes to cool the cookie. FOR ONE COOKIE!! We could bake two dozen cookies in this time in a REAL oven. And we do bake together all the time. I love to bake, and Marley USUALLY bakes with me. So I don't understand her delight in this thing. But I am patient and I am delighted in her pride at her cookies. So one cookie at a time we go along together. And one cookie at a time, we are happy.

If I could take a moment, since it is Christmas, to relay an old childhood memory that surfaced when the Easy Bake Oven idea popped up in Marley's mind...
My sister had an Easy Bake Oven when we were little. I don't remember ever using it. But I do remember sitting in the back of the station wagon, Remember that seat that folded down in the back? The seat that when in use faced the back window/door? There was this little handle hole in the seat when folded down. A hole so that you could reach in and pull the seat back into position. In that hole, my sister saw the box for an Easy Bake Oven, and proceeded to tell my mom how she knew she was getting it for Christmas. My mom told her some story about how it wasn't for her, or it was just an empty box she was using for storage or something like that. Funny.

My sister was such a spoiler of holidays like that. I figure I was 6 or 7 when she spoiled Santa for me. We were going to visit my Grandma for Christmas and my mom said hold on in the car, she had to run into the house and get something. She was gone about 10 minutes, maybe longer. My sister insisted that Mom was in the house putting the presents under the tree so she could say Santa did it when we got home from Grandma's. Then when we got home she even pointed out how Santa's S was in my mom's writing.

We all (even Brenda and Bret) go through leaps and bounds to keep Santa in Marley's Christmas. She only has a few more years to be young. And we so want her to have that just a little bit longer.

Me and My ipod touch

So we had our unschoolers xmas party, and this is what I find when I get home. :-)

Me and My ipod touch

Even Marley finds purpose in my new high tech toy. Glad to have it, though it turns out i don't get to see it much, what with everyone else's hands on it all day. :-) Wise toy indeed, even though my hub doesn't agree.