BIG

        
         My girl had a BIG week.  It was one of those weeks that reminds me just how BIG she is getting.  Not size wise, but maturity-wise. And this momma wants to yell at the world "SLOW DOWN!!"
         She is 9.  But she sometimes acts 13.  I get the eye-rolling, the "duhs", the hand on the hip action, the "I Don't Want To Wear That!" yell, and all the loveliness that comes with a mother-daughter relationship.  But as much sass as I get, I get twice as much love and helpfulness.  Seriously, she is the biggest help with Bubba.

        
           This past week was Sissy's first attempt at the TAKS test- here in Texas that's the biggie test... Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills.  I am sure every state has their dreaded "test-time" of year.  The thing I hate the most about these tests are how much hype it gets.  Starting in Kinder, these kids are terrified of TAKS.  The whole school goes into a lock-down and no one gets specials or recess (including the younger grades who don't take it).  All this for a 40 minute test...um, what goes on the other 6 hours of the day?  You should see the look in my kids' eyes when you mention TAKS.  It's ridiculous.
         That said, I purposely did not hype it up at home. Besides making her go to bed a little earlier, it was an ordinary day at school.  And I am happy to say, she did great.  And she realized it really wasn't that big of a deal after all.  Big Girl!

         This weekend, after 4 years in Girl Scouts (One year of Daisys & 3 years of Brownies), Sis "bridged" to Junior Scouts.

           They literally crossed a bridge.....

         Ok, so they ran across it.....

         As I have mentioned before, I am proud of my kids' Scouting experience.  It is an incredible organization that brings service, attitude, confidence, and volunteerism to these young girls' minds.  Some of the amazing things our girls worked on this year included organizing a council-wide food drive to stock our local food pantry, selling cookies for troops overseas, and learning about traditions around the world at the World Thinking Day.   And as a Junior, we look forward to tackling more projects that benefit our local and global communities.
         It has turned out to be so much more than just selling cookies and singing songs.  But not that cookie selling is not important to this former-salesman mom.

         Top cookie seller.....oh yeah!   Breeding her early to expect to win.... And people ask us where she gets her competitiveness from!  Huh?  Like you need to ask?

It's That Time of Year!!

           Yay!!  Girl Scout Cookie time!!  Who doesn't enjoy a Thin Mint or Peanut Butter Pattie???  Especially in January where we have all made resolutions to lost weight???  It is Sissy's third year selling them and she really enjoys setting a goal and getting out there and selling.  But this year, she set an almost impossible goal.  One that at first I thought, "Great!  No Problem!!  We can sell these.  We have a booth at Walmart, they'll be flyin off the shelves!!"  

         Not so.  Her goal is to sell over 520 boxes.  Yes, you heard me.  520 boxes.  That is over 10,400 cookies.  What was I thinking????

         So I hit up my Bunco group, sent an email to my family, made hubby take the form to work, had her ask at her orthodontist office (I mean we're paying $$$$ for braces, can't they buy a $3.50 box?), and scoured the neighborhood with the 50 other girl scouts we have living here.  That sold a significant quantity.  All that we have left are the booths.  

        You know, the cute girls asking oh-so-politely, "Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies?"  I know I used to dodge them cause I never had cash on me- who knew that'd take a check???  But now, we are counting on our booths to get the bulk of our sales.  

         And oh how much fun these have been.  I mistakenly thought that NO ONE would be able to pass up these cuties and would be buying us out in an hour.  Not so. We have everything from the "No thanks!  I'm on a diet!" to being completely ignored.  How can you ignore my sweet girl?  

         And it is all about location- Blockbuster Video?  Not bad because we had the grocery store traffic from next door.  Walmart on a Sunday afternoon?  Not as great as we thought- most people "had bought cookies inside".  Yeah right, and you didn't see us as you went inside to shop??  

        And the place that made us laugh the most - the corner gas station where most were buying their 12 pack of Natural Light and their lottery tickets and had no interest in our cookies.  We had several interesting characters and what surprised us the most is the sweet man who told us "no thanks" as he walked to his truck to scratch off his lottery ticket.  Afterwards, he went back inside the store and came out with cash (and more lottery tickets) and gave us a $5 and walked away with out saying anything.  Sissy and I looked at each other & smiled - he must have won and wanted to share his good fortune with us.  That made our day.

          But for every ignore we get, we do have sweet folks who buy some cookies.  The sweet grandpa who tells us to "keep our change".  The busy mom who lets her 5 year old choose a box.  The teenagers who spend their allowance on 3 boxes of thin mints.  We are also getting donations to send cookies to troops overseas and many people are more willing to give us their spare change for that than they are to buy a box.  And it's these interactions that teach our girls all the values they learn from selling cookes...confidence, goal setting, and hard work. 

          But seriously Sis, is it gonna take 525 boxes to learn this???

I love Scouts

My sweet boy just joined the Boy Scouts. And his big sister has been in the Girl Scouts for the past 3 years. Can I just tell you how much I love this organization? I know, it has a horrible connotation with being "dorky" and when kids get older they won't readily admit to being in Scouts, but it is a fantastic program for kids.

Where else do you recite these fantastic words?

On My honor, I will try

To serve GOD, and my country,

To help people at all times,

And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

-Girl Scout Promise

I, (say your name), promise

to Do My Best

To do my DUTY to GOD

And my Country

To help other people, and

To obey the Law of the Pack.

-Cub Scout Promise

I was a girl scout for several years, so naturally I wanted to get Sissy involved when she was old enough. We have done so many fun things like learning to ice skate, visiting a pumpkin patch, cooking, crafts, but most importantly making lots of new friends. Yes, I have complained numerous time about the cookie time...I was the cookie mom 2 years in a row (the first year to 20 first grade Brownies!!) so I had a right. But I do feel it is an excellent organization that teaches our girls self-confidence, morals, and right from wrong.

Brody is now old enough to join Cub Scouts. He expressed an interest right away to join. Matt and he went to the first meeting where he made a boat out of 2 pencils and a piece of styrafoam- he was hooked. And when they talked about camping...he was over the moon! Matt? Not so much. But once he was able to see what a great opportunity this was for Brody, he warmed up to it all. And now he and Brody are busy working on his Bobcat requirements and out selling popcorn in the neighborhood! Whew! There is a lot to do with the Boy Scouts!!

Most importantly, the Scouts organization is rich with tradition, Boy Scouts starting in 1910 and Girl Scouts starting in 1912. And much of the foundation remains the same, including "duty to GOD" and "Serving GOD". What other public organizations for kids still have God in their by-laws? Still discuss the importance of God in our lives? Not many. And I like it.

I dropped out as a Junior Scout because we moved and we never picked it back up. I hope my kids ride this one out. I wouldn't mind my son joining the ranks of these former Eagle Scouts.....Gerald Ford (US President), Steven Spielberg (Producer/director), James Brady (US Press Secretary), or Walter Cronkite (TV personality).