Second Annual Halloween Costume Drive

We really, really need any boys costumes that we are able to collect. Adult costumes are fine as well, as they can be altered. Thanks so much for your help with our effort!!

Adult Brownie Vests

As Moms, we all have enjoyed seeing our girls earn their badges, fun patches, petals, etc. during their time first as Daisy Scouts, and now as Brownies. I absolutely love seeing the collections on the back of their vests-sort of like a Girl Scout Scrapbook.

 The thought has entered my head that we, as leaders, volunteers and parents, should also be able to earn and display patches along with our girls!  I've found lots of conflicting information on whether this is an acceptable practice. However, I did run across an awesome website where we can all purchase, if we so choose, our own Brownie vest! Here is the link:

http://www.questclubs.com/storeuniform.html

Another interesting fact about this site-its a sort of do it yourself approach to scouting. They have some very interesting patches and programs. You can even approach scouting as a family or a mixed group of boys and girls. Lots of opportunities!

I just purchased my own adult vest-and you are welcome to purchase one too, if you so choose! We don't have to wear them of course, only if we feel the need. It will be a great way to collect some of the great fun patches, etc. we earn!!

Upcoming Brownie Meetings

Brownie Itinerary 2012

Below are the Pins/Official Badges we will be working on this Brownie year:

1) First Aid Safety Pin and Badge 

2) Home Scientist  

3) Brownie Inventor

 4) Brownie Bugs 

5) Brownie Celebrating Community

We will also be earning several "Fun Patches" for the back of our Brownie vests:

*Fire Tour                                     
*Tennessee State Museum-if you attend  GS events
*Community Service

*Brownie Bridging                         

*Chemistry                                    

*100th anniversary                        
* Ms President (The White House Project)  

*Haunted House                              

*Tea Party                                     
* International Day
*Pumpkin Patch

~More details to follow on the cost of obtaining these patches-they are generally around $1 each. Each Brownie will complete 3-5 activities, even to achieve Brownie Fun Patches.

Below is a listing of upcoming Brownie meetings:

October

October 3^rd-Fire Station safety tour, 1300 Sunset Rd, Brentwood, Tn, phone: 661-7060, (finishing up our Safety Program), also kick-off service project “Halloween Costume Drive for the Homeless.”

October 10^th-no meeting-Fall Break

October 17^th-Weird Science-Home Scientist Badge!

October 24^th-Juliette Gordon Lowe Birthday Party Tea-Dress up for our Brownies and Moms!! We will honor the founder of Girl Scouts on her birthday! I would LOVE for Moms, Dads or anyone else to bring goodies!! I will supply the tea and petit fours!

October 31^st (Halloween)-no official meeting-please come by our Haunted Mansion (in our garage)!! You can even stay and help out!

Optional Fun Events:

October 20^th-(Saturday)-12-4, Tennessee State Museum, Haunted Museum Ghost Story Trail, Girl Scouts are Storytellers. This is a fabulous event sponsored by Girl Scouts of Middle Tennessee. Info about this free event:

http://www.tnmuseum.org/custpage.cfm/frm/64856/sec_id/64856  I am very sad that I will have to miss this wonderful event. My girls have the last football game of the year, and they have already committed to cheer. Please go if you are able and enjoy!!

October 21^st(Sunday)- Trip to Walden Farms Pumpkin Patch-we will meet at noon at the main ticket office. 

Waldens Farms is a fantastic place for our troop family to celebrate fall together! Here is a link to their site:

http://waldenfarm.biz/

Walden Farm is free to visit-unless you enter the special children's area, which I highly recommend! For adults to enter the children's area the fee is $1, for kids the fee is $4. I went with my family last year and made wonderful memories.  Some of the activities include a corn maze, a hay mountain and they have loads of other fun things to do! I am hoping we can all meet and have a lovely afternoon at the pumpkin patch!

October 26^th-(Sunday)-2-4, Tennessee State Museum, Free event, Juliette Gordon Lowes birthday celebration, singing, craft demonstrations, refreshments. 

November

November 4-(Day change to Monday)-Build a voting  booth in anticipation of the upcoming Presidential election

November 7-no meeting

November 11 -International Girls Day with Kappa Delta Sorority-Vanderbilt University Student Life Center, 2:00-Registration deadline October 28th, Fee $5.

November 13-Day change to Tuesday-Weird Science

November 21-no meeting, Thanksgiving

November 28-Make Juliette pearls-rededication ceremony

December

December 5-Service Project, make boxes for homeless kids  at Dollar General market in Nolensville.

December 12-Paint Christmas ornaments, decorate tree, Cookie kick off

December 19-Christmas Tea Party, last meeting 2012

Also-I will do an update soon on what fun patches will be available to our troop for doing various optional activities!

Final Bridging up Plans

My first inclination, when I heard the rainy forecast for Saturday, was to postpone our Bridging Up event at Cheekwood. Of course, who wants to do this stuff in the rain? But then I began to think of all of the excitement in our girls faces as they have been busy planning their ceremony. I think how excited they are to be starting over as new Brownies. Girls and Moms are so enthusiastic about the new uniform. They have already gone over to the store, and shown up at meetings in their precious ensembles. We have made a new Brownie banner, and we have a brand new Girl Scout flag, earned with cookie profits-we are planning on debuting at Saturdays event!

 I COULD NOT let them down! Of course, there's this- WE ARE BROWNIES!! A little rain should not phase us! So lets just pray for beautiful sunshine! So, unless it's a monsoon, or another 1,000 year flood (God Forbid)-the ceremony will go on! If I deem it completely a washout, I will text everyone as soon as I get up on Saturday.
Now-here are the details:
Ceremony:
We will be having our ceremony on a beautiful bridge in Cheekwood's Howe Garden-it will be under half an hour, and possibly shorter, depending on the weather. I need Mom's who are willing to help out-if you are coming and want to volunteer-please let me know. If I get desperate, I may just be grabbing you as you arrive! Please be prepared for rain with umbrellas and rain boots. Our ceremony will start promptly at 10 am. We will not be able to wait on late arrivals, as the staff of Cheekwood have been kind enough to allow us this time free of charge for our event. (To reserve the Garden is normally $1500!) Please arrive no later than 9:30 am at the front pay office to meet with our group.

Dress:
Girls need to bring their Daisy vest, if they have one. It will be part of our ceremony. If girls have their Brownie vests, or uniforms, they may wear them. ( I know they are excited.) Girls will, however, need to remove their Brownie vests before the ceremony begins, and give them to me. The Daisy vest will be worn for the first half of this ceremony. Girls who have not yet gotten their uniforms are asked to please wear the Khaki and White combination from last years Daisy Investiture ceremony. That is, Khaki on bottom, white on top.You may also wear a white dress. For the sake of uniformity, if the girls have either a pale blue button down oxford or polo shirt, they may wear those with the khaki bottoms. This combination looks very much like the Brownie uniform.  If possible, I would like everyone involved or attending the ceremony to please also dress in the white/pale blue/khaki combination. We look great all "uniformed up" and we plan on having a group photo made of everyone!! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to call or text me!
Lunch:
I have made reservations at the "Pineapple Room" at Cheekwood at 11 am! So far I have 18 rsvp's turned in-please let me know, if you would like to be added to this count. I would like to let them know how many on Thursday! The meals are reasonably priced at around $10 and under (kids are less, of course), and the restaurant has a great reputation for wonderful food!!
See you at Cheekwood Saturday at 9:30 am! Don't forget, if you have a Nashville City Saver Coupon book, a buy one get one free admission coupon is inside!!!
                                                 ~ As Always, your devoted Leader,
                                                                  Ms. Kim

Girl Scout Daisy Banner

Well, I won't be making this final "Flashback Friday" entry by midnight-but I started before then, so it still counts!

This was a truly fun meeting. The banner we made this afternoon, we have used in almost every meeting since, utilized during ceremonies, as well as cookie selling time. I saw my eldest daughter standing the other day and just staring at it. I asked her what she was thinking and she replied, "I was just thinking that I will always keep this banner as a memory of our troop, I just love Girl Scouts." Enough said. 

Girl Scout meeting #3

It was obvious to me by the third meeting that I was feeling the spirit of Girl Scouting, and I truly feel I was “Channeling Juliette.”  Along with planning  these initial meetings, I had been reading the story of Juliette Gordon Lows life.  She was such an inspiration to me, and I truly felt a kinship.  The story of how she founded Girl Scouts of America, along with the help of Lord Robert Baden-Powell, seemed so parallel to my experience with becoming a leader. Girl Scouts kind of fell into Juliettes life, just as being a leader fell into mine.   It’s not difficult to imagine why her idea of scouting was so quick to catch on.

The feeling I was having definitely starting catching on in my little Daisies by our third meeting.  After getting into our Daisy Ring, and going over all of the business of the week, we made Daisy paper dolls.  I explained to the girls that they should make their paper doll to look like them.  I also explained the importance in having respect for yourself, no matter what.  This lesson contributed to the girls earning their Purple Petal, for “respecting myself and others.” Then, we began working on our very own troop banner.  We attached a piece of Navy Blue Muslin to a round wooden dowel to make our banner.  Out of white felt we cut out “Girl Scouts” and “Troop #234,” and glued them to the top center of the banner. 

Then, we cut  a Daisy out of white felt for each girl,  with a yellow felt center.  The yellow felt center had each girls name written on it, to identify each “Daisy” girl in our troop.  The girls absolutely were so focused on this activity, and couldn’t wait their turn to place their felt Daisy in whatever spot they chose.  It was a very sweet experience for us all.  At the end of our meeting, we had our Friendship Squeeze out in the yard, finishing our meeting once again with “Juliette Taps.”   

Above, our Banner being used in our Daisy Investiture Ceremony 

Flashback Friday! Well...almost, I'm barely making it! Friday is almost over, but I did want to make sure and add this great blog entry of a past meeting before heading off to dreamland. So, here goes...

Girl Scout Meeting #2

Our second meeting was not difficult to plan, as I was still filled with enthusiasm, after the success of our tea honoring Juliette Gordon Low.  Keeping in mind, that many of our girls had not previously known each other, I felt name tags were a must.  Before the meeting, with the help of my two little Daisy daughters, as well as my 16 year old son, we created name tag necklaces, in the shape of a Daisy.

As the girls arrived, they each donned their nametag, and then played for the first few minutes in the backyard while everyone arrived.  The girls so much enjoyed this time, and it was obviously very important for their bonding.  

Twenty minutes into the meeting, everyone was gathered together for our first ever craft activity.  Our sweet girls made multi-colored pony bead bracelets, and in alphabet letters they spelled “Daisies.”  This activity was not only really fun, but helped the Daisies to earn their Violet Petal for “Be a sister to every Girl Scout.”  We had our Daisy Ring during this time, discussed plans for the summer for our troop, and sang a few songs.  The girls were so filled with enthusiasm, it was a really wonderful afternoon.  We also said our Promise, and talked about the importance of learning it.  Each girl was very aware, after only one meeting, of the quiet sign and the Girl Scout handshake.  We ended our meeting with a Friendship Squeeze and “Juliette Taps.”  It was obvious, at the conclusion of this meeting, our troop was going to be a success.  Our little Daisies all have BIG personalities, kind hearts and willing spirits!  

More Details about Bridging Up Luncheon at Cheekwood

Lunch at the Pineapple Room

Our Girl Scout Troop, family and friends have a tentative reservation for our Troop to have lunch at the Pineapple Room at Cheekwood after our "Brownie Bridging Up" Ceremony. We will have lunch together, following our ceremony at 11 am on Saturday, September 22. Our ceremony starts at 10 am & everyone participating needs to arrive no later than 9:30 am at the front office. 

Click below for the

Pineapple Room Menu

As you can see, the menu selections at the Pineapple Room are very well-priced, and I've heard the food is wonderful. The management set aside a special area for us, and I promised her our troop would be a very well-behaved group.

Everyone will be responsible for paying for their own meal. You will just need to tell your server who will be on which ticket. The only thing I will be needing from all of you, will be the number in your group in attendance for our meal. I would like to be able to give them a roundabout number as quickly as I am able. After we have lunch, it would be really awesome if we could all walk around as a group and enjoy Cheekwood! Please remember, we would love to have your family/friends attend! This will be a very special day!!!  

"Bridging Up" to Brownies

Actual first Brownie Promise

"Bridging Up" to Brownies Ceremony at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Our much anticipated "Bridging Up" to Brownies Ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, September 22 at 9:30 am at Cheekwood Botanical Gardens. Those planning on participating in the ceremony will need to arrive at the Cheekwood front office at 9:30 am, when they open. I know the time is very early, but Cheekwood has a new Fall Scarecrow exhibit opening that day, and anticipate larger than normal crowds. Our event organizer feels if we are the first to arrive, we will most likely have the garden to ourselves. Our ceremony will take place at the Howe Garden area of Cheekwood, which is a very short walk from the front office. Here is a link to Cheekwood's Howe garden:

http://www.cheekwood.org/Gardens/Howe_Garden_.aspx

Howe Garden is a place with a unique history, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out it was renovated only a few months ago. It is truly gorgeous.  

Click on the link below the picture of the garden to learn more:

http://www.pageduke.com/blog/?p=546

Please invite any family or friends that would like to see our ceremony take place, and your little Daisy become a Brownie. I have arranged for a special Girl Scout Troop discount of $3 per girl and $10 per adult for entry into Cheekwood. For those of you who purchased a City Saver Coupon Book this year, there is a Buy One admission, get the second for free inside-if you intend on using that, I would ask for the Girl Scout discount for your daughter, but pay regular price for yourself, so that you may use the coupon. 

Our ceremony should take no longer that 20 minutes. We will keep the ceremony shorter than usual, so that people within the garden may not be hindered to enjoy their day too much. I believe, even though there is a chance for interference from others in the garden, the trade off of having our event in such a place of beauty, will be worth it. 

As usual, we will have our flag ceremony, and some of the girls will be walking with the flag, and as flag bearer and color guard. You will all most likely recall this from our Investiture Ceremony last August. 

We introduced our troop banner last time, and now that we are becoming Brownies, we will be retiring this one, and introducing our new Troop Banner. We will be making our new troop banner at this coming weeks meeting. 

Of course, I will still be needing Parents to help out, as you all did before. We had such great success before, I can only hope things can go half as smoothly.

I am asking everyone, as they did before, to wear the khaki and white. Brownies, as well as parents, and anyone you invite as well. Just so that when we take a group photo, and conduct the ceremony-we look very uniform and pulled together. The girls do not need their entire new Brownie uniform for the ceremony. They will only need their Brownie vest. If you would like to attach the insignia, you may do that, and it would look very nice. However, I understand the time constraints, and if you cannot get your vest, let me know. I will make arrangements to get it for you. Please remember that on Thursday evenings, the Girl Scout Shop, locally here in Nashville, is open until 6 pm. 

One important fact to keep in  mind-this will be our Daisy Scouts very last time to officially wear their Blue Daisy Vests. We have worked so hard to earn so many awesome patches-so please make sure you have their vests looking really sharp. We want them to wear them with pride, and be able to show all that we achieved as a troop as Daisy Scouts!

So, in closing, here are the facts are about our Brownie "Bridging Up":

Date: Saturday, September 22

Place: Howe Gardens, Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Time: 9:30 am

Cost: $3 per scout, $10 per adult (don't forget your City Saver Book)

Attire: White & Khaki, don't forget both your Daisy and new Brownie vests

I have made a tentative reservation for our group to have lunch at "The Pineapple Room" at Cheekwood at 11 am.  More details on that to follow. Please don't hesitate if you have questions about our ceremony. I hope this will work out for you all to be able to attend/help out!

On the left of this picture, is the bridge where our bridging ceremony will take place. 

Flashback Friday

I'm starting a new feature to my brand new blog-it's called Flashback Friday! From our troops first meeting, I've  kept a sort of meeting journal. This journal has been instrumental in keeping track of what we've been accomplishing as a troop. But, more importantly, it's kept me working towards the vision Juliette Gordon Lowe had for all girls. I try to always remind myself that my girls are no different than that first group Juliette pulled together in Savannah. Their fragile self esteems need nurturing, their tender hearts need a soft place to fall, they need great role models and most importantly they need a safe place to always call their own. That was Juliette Lowe's vision-and reviewing my journal sometimes reminds me of that goal. So, today I will flashback to our troops very first meeting-an old-fashioned tea party that would have made the first Girl Scouts and Juliette herself very proud!

Our First Meeting Ever: A Daisy Tea Party

Juliette Gordon Low ventured to England to visit her friends Lord Baden-Powell, and his sister Agnes in 1912. Lord Baden Powell was the founder of the Boy Scouts, and his sister founded the Girl Guides, both only in England at the time. Juliette, or Daisy as she was called, was inspired to go back to her hometown, Savannah, Georgia, and start Girl Scouts of America. Juliette invited 18 young girls and their mothers for high tea, and on that wonderful day, March 12, 1912, almost one hundred years ago, was the beginning of Girl Scouts of America. 

That very first Tea Party Juliette hosted for her first troop in Savannah , was my inspiration for my troops first meeting. Our girls are little Daisy Girl Scouts, meaning they are kindergarteners and first graders, and I was hoping they would understand the sentiment of the occasion. I couldn't have been any more shocked when we had 13 attend, and thrilled. My little Daisies exhibited wonderful manners, and were so enthusiastic to share "Tea Time" together. It was wonderful.

They used real china, linen napkins, and drank Earl Grey Tea. I explained to the girls how Juliette indulged in an English tea tradition, scones, during her meeting with Lord Baden-Powell. Each girl had scones, and were given both jelly, and whipped cream, to make their tea party truly English. I also served chocolate chip cookies, cucumber sandwiches and chicken salad sandwiches. My daughter Maddie has gluten allergies, so everything was either made gluten-free or had a gluten free version. 

During this, our first meeting, we talked all about Juliette Gordon Low, and some of the traditions of the Girl Scouts. We sang, played games, and learned the Girl Scout promise and handshake. I bonded with these girls, and I believe they bonded with each other. It was an awesome experience, and exactly what Girl Scouts is all about. We shared ideas for our new troop, and talked about suggestions the girls had for our group. Petting a horse, having a campout, and having another tea party were some ideas my little Daisies had for our upcoming summer meetings. 

After tea, we assembled our first ever Daisy Ring, and it was a sweet experience, and one I look forward to repeating soon! The Moms of my little Daisies were wonderful during the Tea Party, and I really don't think I could have had such a fabulous first meeting without their help. The enthusiasm, ideas, praise and positive reinforcement of these great Moms will keep me going-and their involvement and offers to volunteer will make our troop successful, and a wonderful memory for all involved. I can't thank them enough. I am honored, touched and enthusiastic to continue this Journey with my sweet girls this summer! The first meeting of Girl Scout Daisy Troop # 234 was a great success, and our meetings are only going to 

continue to get better!

Our First Daisy Ring was made on this First meeting-such a great memory!

Brownie Uniform

At one of our recent meetings, I asked the Brownies and their Moms about uniforms. We had three options: # 1) just purchase a vest or sash and wear what we wore as Daisies to formal meetings, khaki on the bottom, white on the top.  Option #2) Purchase the whole shebang-Brownie official uniform: blue shirt, brownie  brown sash or vest, brownie brown skirt and of course brownie brown tights knee high socks. Option #3) For now just purchase sash or vest, and worry about it in a few months. I was VERY surprised by the response. Moms and Brownies adamantly chose to go with the entire Official Brownie uniform. I was surprised, but pleasantly so. You see, I actually wanted my entire troop to have the entire official uniform, but just figured parents would rather defer the costs. I am so happy they chose to take this option. Doesn't this little Brownie look precious?

So, here we go, details about what to order. Another secret wish of mine, as a Brownie Leader, for our little Brownies, was that they all have the vest over the sash. We like to earn lots and lots of patches, and love fun patches-the vest was the only way to go! So below is the list of what you will need to get your uniform. You can purchase it online here:

http://www.girlscoutshop.com/gsusaonline/LandingPage.aspx?subCatId=OfficialUniformsBrownie&rn=OfficialUniforms

or another option is to go to our local Girl Scout Store, the link below provides all of their info about location, hours, etc:

http://gsmidtn.org/shop-information/

Your Girl Scout Brownie Uniform will need:

1) Girl Scout Brownie Vest

2) Insignia for the vest 

a) Brownie Insignia tab

b) Brownie Official Pin

c) World Trefoil Pin....

3) 100th year anniversary pin (below)

*A special note about this pin. Only girls involved in Girl Scouts this special 100th anniversary year are allowed to wear these on their uniforms. Very sweet.

4) Updated Unicorn Troop Crest (Below)-Make sure you order the new one, they are so much prettier. Our troop voted this past meeting to change our troop crest from the Falling Stars Troop Crest we used as a Daisy Troop, to the Unicorn Troop Crest. It will be used while we are Brownies, and we will reevaluate when we Bridge up to Juniors in 4th grade. 

The official meaning of the Unicorn troop crest::

ƒ Unicorn - Unicorns are mythical creatures that are beautiful and courageous. With this symbol, you show you 

have the courage to spread beauty with words and actions. 

I believe our girls made a very wise choice!

---------------------------------------------------------------

5) Bridge to Brownie Girl Scout Award  

This award is only given to girls who participated in the Daisy program, and have taken the time to find out what their future holds as Girl Scout Brownies. It's quite an honor to wear this on your vest. 

---------------------------------------

6) American Flag wavy patch

7) Brownie Troop Numbers (make sure they are actually for Girl Scout Brownies, and that they look like this:

Of course, as you already know-we are Brownie Troop # 234!!!

--------------------------------------------

8) Brownie Girl Scout Council Identification Strip Set-make sure you chose the council as Middle Tennessee

9) Brownie Safety Award Pin-this is an award we will be earning. I will include a list below of which uniform insignia pieces will need to be brought to our troop "badge vault." Badges in the Badge Vault are to be earned at a later time, and will be labeled  with Brownies names as they are placed within. 

10) Official Girl Scout Membership Star-one star can be worn for every year your daughter has participated as a Girl Scout, no matter the level. For example, girls have been in my troop since we began, would have 2 stars for the two years as Daisy Scouts, and at the end of the year, they will receive on more for Brownies. The membership disks are the same for every Girl Scout, but they have different color disks that go behind the stars to indicate level (i.e. Daisy, Brownie, Junior, etc.)

11) Membership Disks-Blue for Daisies, Green for Brownies. Purchase as needed.

The following are patches we will be earning in upcoming weeks, and you can purchase now.

12) Brownie Home Scientist Badge

13) Brownie Inventor Badge

14) Brownies Bug Badge

15) Brownie Celebrating Community Badge

That is all you will need for the Brownie vest as far as insignia, until after Christmas of 2012.  Eventually, the Brownie vest will look like this-

There are a few patches and pins on this vest, that we will be earning over the next two years. Of course, we love our fun patches-and we will do lots of activities to earn those!

Next I will list all of the other pieces of clothing for the Brownie Uniform:

1) Girl Scout Brownie Short Sleeve Shirt. If you want to save a little money, I see absolutely nothing wrong with purchasing a blue shirt that looks like the Brownie shirt. In the boys department at many stores, they sell blue oxford type button down collared shirts. I also know that Wal-Mart has polo uniform type shirts that would work. Just a thought, to maybe save a few bucks, or to give you a few more options. 

2) Official Brownie Uniform Tie

3) Official Uniform Brownie Skort

4)Official Brownie Socks or Tights

...and that's the entire Brownie Uniform-head to toe! I noticed they had the cute little Brownie above wearing Penny Loafers. That would be super cute, but just wear whatever flats or shoes you think will work.

------------------------------------------------

In closing, here is a simplified list of what our Brownies will need as far as uniform:

1) Brownie Vest

2) Brownie Skort

3) Brownie Tie

4) Brownie Shirt

5) Brownie Tights or Socks

6) Insignia 

* Official Brownie Insignia Tab

* Official Brownie Pin

* World Trefoil Pin

* 100th anniversary Pin

* Unicorn Crest

* Bridge to Brownie Girl Scout Award

* American Flag Wavy Patch

* Brownie Troop Numerals-2,3,4

* Brownie Girl Scout Council Identification Strip Set-make sure you chose the council as Middle Tennessee

* Brownie Safety Award Pin

* Official Girl Scout Membership Star

* Membership Disks-Blue for Daisies, Green for Brownies. 

* Brownie Home Scientist Badge

* Brownie Inventor Badge

*  Brownies Bug Badge

* Brownie Celebrating Community Badge