Cookie Selling Underway!

We are so excited to have each of you Girl Scouts set your goals and work to achieve those goals.

Have fun, do your best, and encourage each other.

Remember: Pre-Orders begin January 9 through January 22.

Cookie Club is been a fun tool to motivate and generate excitement towards setting and reaching your goals. If you haven't already, please get your Girl ID and Password from your leader and check it out! We are given such an opportunity to grow in so many different ways though Cookie Selling. Be encouraged that the part you play makes a difference in our Girl Scout council, our community, our troop, and in you!

This year we have a line up of patches that can be earned for different aspects of your performance.

Here are the patches and their requirements:

PARTICIPATION PATCH

Girl who sells at least 12 packages.

GIFT OF CARING PATCH

Troop must donate at least two cases (24 packages) of cookies.

SUPER PATCH

Every girl who has a pre-order of at least 225 packages.

BOOTH SALES PATCH

Every Girl who participates in one or more booth sale.

GOAL ACHIEVER

Every girl who sells 225 packages or more.

RALLY PATCH

Every girl who particpates in a rally with either her service unit or troop.

I CALLED BACK PATCH

Every girl who calls back a customer on her order card for a 2nd order.

COOKIE CLUB PATCH

Every girl who signs up to join the Cookie Club.

Happy New YearTroop 9691!

Welcome back everyone! We hope you all enjoyed your time off from school and had wonderful holidays with your family and friends.

This week's troop meeting opened as usual with snack & drink, followed by the Girl Scout Promise. We then broke into our separate Girl Scout levels to go over all the highlights of our different activities and projects for our girl scouting year 2009.

What do you suppose the girls shared as their top projects/activities they enjoyed the most or were most memorable for them? (top three listed)


Armpit Fudge!
Decorating Pumpkins
Operation Christmas Child


Card for Mr. McMath
Operation Christmas Child
Christmas Projects/Craft Tables

Christmas Projects/Craft Tables
Sports and Games (Junior Girls were the Leaders!)
Card for Mr. McMath


Many of the older girls reflected on previous Girl Scouting years' activities as well and shared their favorite ones... Mosquito tag, and a trip to the Aquarium were among the top.

For our next order of business, each level leader discussed 2010 goals for the duration of our girl scouting year (now through mid May). At the beginning of the year, the girls suggested a variety of things they thought would be fun to accomplish through our school year; these items were re-addressed to help us plan our upcoming projects and activities. We took this troop meeting as a time to re-group for the new year and plan for future fun. Especially with the Brownie and Junior girls, this time of goal setting and planning allowed the girls to be more in charge of our direction to lead us into the new year. In general, January we are focusing on Girl Scout Cookie pre-orders; February is the month of "World Thinking Day" (Feb. 22); March we are hoping to plant a garden somewhere on school property (pending approval), dedicating the garden in Memory of Mr. McMath; April we will be learning about animals, and May... well, May we're hoping to have some fun surprises planned for our last month of the Girl Scout school year.

For our cookie season goals, we discussed what our troop accomplished last year during cookie season for sales. In 2009 we had 12 Girl Scouts participate (11 Brownie and 1 Junior) in cookie sales. Last year the girls set a goal of selling 900 packages of cookies through pre-orders (no Booth sales were done); actual sales were 875 packages, earning the troop $525.00. This year, 2010, we're hoping our entire troop (Daisy, Brownie, and Junior girls) will participate, a total of 24 girls. We have goal set to sell 1300 packages for this year, an $800.00 troop profit that will enable us to use on future troop projects and expenses to cover the purchases of patches earned for the duration of this year going into next school year. We will determine after pre-orders are reviewed as to whether or not we will do any Booth sales. The girls seemed excited for cookie season to begin.

FINALLY, we ended the last half hour of our troop meeting with a parent meeting to discuss information for the Girl Scout Cookie Season which starts this upcoming Saturday, Jan 9, for pre-orders. Important highlights of the parent meeting regarding our Girl Scout Cookie Information can be found HERE.

IMPORTANT- All Girl Scouts who want to participate in earning a patch/es for the 2010 Cookie Season MUST have a parent complete a parent agreement form and returned back to Teri Wymore by Wed January 6. Girls who do not have a parent agreement form on file by Jan. 7 (date they must be turned into the council), will not be able to participate in Cookie Sales.

Thank you Lauren (Allyson's Mom) and Connie (Jordyn's Mom) for providing snack and drinks for our troop meeting this week!

Cookie Information for Parents

This Cookie Season, Girl Scouts across the country will be inspiring change. Girl Scouts will discover what matters most, connect with people in your community and use the power of Girl Scout Cookies to take action and make the world a better place.

As we prepare for the cookie sale season, please keep in mind that the purpose of the Girl Scout Cookie Sale is twofold: first it helps girls develop a wide range of skills such as leadership, entrepreneurship, money management, decision-making, planning, goal-setting, interpersonal skills, teamwork and many more. These skills are best learned when a girl is an active participant in all aspects of the sale.

The second purpose of the cookie sale is to generate revenue to support Girl Scouting in Greater South Texas and is also the main source of income for our troop. The sale funds programs and services throughout the year and insures that Girl Scouting will be available in the future.

Each Box of Girl Scout Cookies are $3.50. A case is sold for $42.00. Each case holds 12 boxes.

Money from the profits of sales;

• To our troop~ $.60 per box with awards.
  
• The balance of profits go to Girl Scouts of Greater South Texas to help all the Girl Scouts in our 26 county jurisdiction.

Troop Pre-order Taking Begins Saturday, January 9, 2010

Troop Pre-order Taking Ends Friday, January 22, 2010

It is not recommended to take any money during pre-order taking. Each Girl Scout and their parent is responsible for managing the money from the sales of their cookies. If any money is taken during pre-orders and is lost, the parent is responsible for reimbursement.

(Please have order forms from pre-orders to Teri NO LATER THAN Sunday, January 24)

COOKIE DELIVERIES February 13 to 18, 2010... Collect money due at this time.

DO NOT HOLD LARGE SUMS OF MONEY IN YOUR POSSESSION. THE TROOP IS RESPONSIBLE TO PAY FOR ALL COOKIES THEY RECEIVE. ENSURE YOUR COLLECTED MONEY IS KEPT SAFE AND TURNED IN TO YOUR COOKIE MANAGER (TERI). IN A TIMELY MANNER.

All Girl Scouts who want to participate in earning a patch/es for 2010 Cookie Season MUST have a parent complete a parent agreement form and returned back to Teri Wymore by Wed January 6. Girls who do not have a parent agreement form in by Jan. 6, may not be able to participate in Cookie Sales.

Girl Scouts MAY use the internet to send emails to people they know giving them information that our troop is selling cookies and your Girl Scout was interested if they would like to make an order. Text Messaging, myspace, or Facebook may also be used to get the word out and make sales contacts. However, selling cookies ON the internet is prohibited (ie: eBay, Craiglist, etc).

"Gift of Caring"~ For various reasons, some customers do not want to buy cookies for themselves. With Gift of Caring, they have a chance to give to others while supporting Girl Scouting at the same time. The girls will be donating our "Gift of Caring" to Military personnel serving oversees, to the Ronald McDonald House, and to the Corpus Christi Food Bank.

Direct / Booth Sales Begin February 20, 2010 and Ends March 7, 2010 (more information will be sent at a later time regarding booth sales)

For more information on:

• Cookie Safety... (Click Here)
• SELLING TIPS... (Click Here)
• Five Steps of Cookie Success... (Click Here)
• How your family can be involved... (Click Here)
• "Gift of Caring"... (Click Here)
• "COOKIE CLUB" (with parental permission only)... (Click Here)
• Fun Activity Kit Downloads per Girl Scout level... (Click Here)
• What cookies are available this year... (Click here)
• Cookie Locator... (Click Here)
• Girl Scout Cookies FAQs... (Click Here)

Merry Christmas!

This month we had only one troop meeting due to Christmas break starting mid month. We started our meeting with our regular Girl Scout protocol of snacks followed by the Girl Scout Promise. For this meeting, as a celebration of the Christmas season, the girls worked on Christmas projects. We broke the girls into 4 groups by having them draw pieces of paper out of a bag with a sticker on each paper (there were 4 different stickers on the papers). The particular sticker each girl drew indicated what project table they would start at.

The 4 projects:

• a Christmas "cup cake"


• a Jingle Bell Wreath Ornament


• "Warm Fuzzies"


• and decorating Gingerbread Man Cookies

23 girls in our multi-level troop (Daisy, Brownie, & Junior), spent approximately 15-20 minutes at each project table in what felt like semi-organized chaos. They all seemed to have fun and that's what today was all about. Christmas music played in the back ground as the girls created their masterpieces. As each project was completed, the girls set them aside next to their specified Christmas gift bag. At the end of the troop meeting, the girls filled their gift bag with their projects to transport them home.

Thank you volunteer parents~ Amy, Irma, & Cyndi, and Girl Scout Leaders~ Novia, Lisa, Stephanie, and Kristi for all your help and supervision on these projects!

"Cup Cakes" in a Mug

These fun projects are basically making an individual size serving cake in a coffee mug. Each girl scout was given a Christmas mug for their project with verbal instructions on what to do and adult supervision at the microwave. After the girls made their cake, they got to eat it!

"Cup Cake" Instructions~

• 1/3 cup cake mix of your choice


• 4 tablespoons milk

Combine cake mix and milk. Stir 15 seconds. Microwave on High for 2 minutes.

"Jingle Bell Wreath" Ornament

As easy as this project seemed, this project table was the one that had the most challenges. The girls had trouble getting the bells to easily slide down the pipe cleaner; perhaps we should have used bigger jingle bells. After they got the hang of it and had their patience tested, each girl scout created a new ornament!

Instructions~

• 1 green pipe cleaner


• silver and gold jingle bells (we used 11 of each color)


• red plastic pony beads (we used 9 per project)


• green ribbon


• red ribbon

Thread the jingle bells and beads on the pipe cleaner in a pattern of 1 gold, 1 silver, 1 red bead, then repeat. Once you have covered your pipe cleaner, form a circle and secure. Complete your wreath by tying a green ribbon where you just secured the pipe cleaner, then finish by tying a decorative red bow at the base of the green ribbon.

Warm Fuzzies

A simple, fun idea to create little "warm fuzzy" critters. The girls were even naming them!

"Warm Fuzzy" Instructions~

• Small Piece of Any Furry Fabric
  
• Wiggle Eyes
  
• Pom-Poms
  
• Craft Glue

Glue a couple of wiggle eyes and a pom-pom nose onto a scrap of furry fabric of any work.

These projects can be kept to enjoy yourself, but warm fuzzies are much more enjoyable if you share them with others.

Decorating Gingerbread Men!

This project table was "finger lick'in" good! Girl Scout Leader, Teri, made the cookies the morning of the troop meeting, so the girls would be set to dress them. Each girl scout had access to a variety of colored icing, sprinkles, and candy decoration.

Gingerbread Cookie Recipe~

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 cup molasses

1 egg

1 TBS vinegar

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in molasses, egg, and vinegar until combined. Beat in as much flour as you can with your mixer; then stir in remaining flour by hand. Wrap dough in wax paper, folding ends secure. Chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease cookie sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into cookie using a 5" - 7 1/2" cookie cutter. (I used a copper one I bought from WalMart). Place 1" apart on prepared cookie sheet. Bake 5 " cookies for 6-8 minutes, 8 " cookies for 10-12 minutes. Let cool before decorating.

To decorate~ Our Girl Scout troop used all pre-made icing bought at the store, but if you want to make your own, here is a basic icing recipe:

Icing Recipe~

1 cup confectioner's sugar

2 teaspoons milk

2 teaspoons corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon vanilla flavoring (almond flavoring is also good)

Stir sugar and milk together in a bowl until icing mixture is smooth; beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing mixture is smooth and glossy in appearance. Add food coloring to desired shade. To thicken add confectioner's sugar to desired thickness. To achieve a piping effect, use a cake decorating bag. Ice cookie and set aside for the icing to harden. Enjoy!

Overflowing Generosity

This week's troop meeting was kicked off with snack, opening ceremony, then our service project of "Operation Christmas Child". The girls brought a variety of gifts (from suggested list) to fill individual shoe boxes. Our objective was to fill one box per Girl Scout level:

Daisies filled a box for a girl, age 2-4
Brownies filled a box for a girl, age 5-9
Juniors filled a box for a girl, age 10-14

The generosity of our girl scout troop and their families surpassed expectations. Donations brought by the girls filled a total of 10 shoe boxes !!! These 10 boxes will bless 10 different girls around the world at Christmas. We are proud of each of our girls and their giving hearts to make a difference in another child's life through this act of care and kindness.

Daisy Girls!

Brownies!

Juniors!

GIRL SCOUTS ROCK!

We filled 5 boxes at our troop meeting and with the overflow, 5 more were filled at troop leader, Teri's house.

...getting the boxes wrapped to make each gift special for the special girl who will receive it.
(lids have to be wrapped separate, able to lift open easily).

Ella's mom, Amy, will do the "drop off" of these boxes for our troop at her church. Once we get the tracking numbers for each box, we will add them to this post so you may follow the gift if you choose. Check back soon for tracking numbers.

Tracking Numbers: (We were unable to be obtain individual tracking numbers because the 7 boxes were paid for in one bank card transaction)
Daisies filled a box together for a girl, age 2-4
Extra box filled for a girl, age 2-4

Brownies filled a box together for a girl, age 5-9
Abby's extra box filled for a girl, age 5-9
Extra box filled for a girl, age 5-9
Extra box filled for a girl, age 5-9

Juniors filled a box together for a girl, age 10-14
Juniors filled a second box together for a girl, age 10-14
Extra box filled for a girl, age 10-14
Extra box filled for a girl, age 10-14

Thanksgiving Fun with Food

After "Operation Christmas Child", we worked on a "Make It and Eat It" project to earn a patch in honor of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. We made two yummy recipes~ Pilgrim Hats and Thanksgiving Cookie Turkeys. They are easy to make, & fun to "gobble, gobble" up!

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO ALL THE CO-LEADERS AND MOM'S WHO HELPED MAKE THIS TROOP MEETING A SUCCESS~ YOU ARE TRULY APPRECIATED!

Pilgrim Hats
Ingredients:
1 cup vanilla frosting
7 drops yellow food coloring
32 miniature peanut butter cups
1 package (11-1/2 ounces) fudge-striped cookies
32 pieces orange mini Chiclets gum (We didn't have chicklet gum; we used the center of cany corn cut into small squares)

Directions:
In a small shallow bowl, combine frosting and food coloring. Remove paper liners from peanut butter cups.
Holding the bottom of a peanut butter cup, dip top of cup in yellow frosting. Position over center hole on the bottom of cookie, forming the hatband and crown. Add a buckle of Chiclets gum. Repeat with remaining cups and cookies. Yield: 32 cookies.

Thanksgiving Cookie Turkeys
Ingredients:
2 Double Stuff Oreos (Halloween ones or regular white)
Candy corn
Raisinettes
Plate

Directions:
Open one Oreo. The half that has the filling will be the base for your turkey to stand on. Eat the other piece, if desired. Place the other Oreo on the filling standing upright. This is your turkey body. Carefully place five candy corns into the filling on the upright Oreo. These are the feathers. Place a Raisinette in front of the turkey body. This is the head. Place on your table as a decoration, or gobble it right up!

We closed our troop meeting with a recap of our activities. and discussed what we'll be doing at our next troop meeting. The girls gathered in their "friendship circle" by level to end the day...

GIRL SCOUTS ROCK!

"Operation Christmas Child"

During our next troop meeting, we will be working on a service project. Each of our Girl Scout levels will be filling a separate shoebox (provided by the troop) to send to children less fortunate through Samaritans Purse International Relief.

The Daisy Girls will be filling a box for a GIRL,
age category 2-4 years old.
The Brownie Girls will be filling a box for a GIRL,
age category 5-9 years old.
The Junior Girls will be filling a box for a GIRL,
age category 10-14 years old.

If you are able, please consider donating an item or two from the list below that your Girl Scout can bring to the next troop meeting for “Operation Christmas Child”.

Please send the item/s to school with your girrl scout on the day of our troop meeting. We will discussing with the girls the joy of giving and how simple acts of kindness can make a difference in someone’s life and an impact on the world for the good.

GIFT IDEAS:
TOYS small cars, balls, dolls, stuffed animals, kazoos, harmonicas, yo-yos, jump ropes, small Etch A Sketch®, toys that light up or make noise (with extra batteries), Slinky®, etc.

SCHOOL SUPPLIES pens, pencils and sharpener, crayons or markers, stamps and ink pad sets, writing pads or paper, solar calculators, coloring and picture books, etc.

HYGIENE ITEMS toothbrush, toothpaste, mild bar soap (in a plastic bag), comb, washcloth, etc.

OTHER Hard candy and lollipops (please double bag all candy), mints, gum, T-shirts, socks, ball caps; sunglasses, hair clips, toy jewelry, watches, flashlights (with extra batteries)

DO NOT INCLUDE: Used or damaged items; war-related items such as toy guns, knives or military figures; chocolate or food; out-of-date candy; liquids or lotions; medications or vitamins; breakable items such as snowglobes or glass containers; aerosol cans

After we pack our boxes and send them on their way, information will be posted on this site so you and your child can follow the box if you choose.

For more information about
“Operation Christmas Child”, click here.

Mr. McMath~ We Love You!

Courage...

Confidence...

Character...

As Girl Scouts, we focus on these areas to make a difference in our world. Having role models in our lives that demonstrate these qualities help us see first hand a living example of courage, confidence and character. In our time together this week, we wanted to honor a special person in all our lives who overflows these qualities and has been a blessing to us over the years~ Mr. McMath, our Superintendent! In this week's troop meeting, the girls made Mr. McMath a card to show him we love him, miss him and can't wait for him to come back to school. (photos below are a small sampling of the girls' card they made)

After our card making, the troop went outside to earn a patch for "Sports and Games". It was such a beautiful day; perfect for running some energy.

The Junior girls lead the Daisy and Brownie group in a relay race, giving them instruction and showing them what to do.

After the relay race, we played "Octopus Tag". Crazy fun, for sure! Our ocean was quite big, so the girls were all over the place! As we finished our meeting, the troop gathered back together indoors and shared all their favorite sports they like to play...

basketball... volleyball... soccer... baseball... gymnastics... softball... football... The girls love their sports!

Next troop meeting we will work on earning several patches:

Operation Christmas Child Project
(Thank you Ella's mom, Amy, for suggesting this wonderful service project)
MORE INFO will be sent email prior to troop meeting.

Make it and Eat it

"Jack-O' Lantern"

Thank you parents for your contributions of $3.00 to help defray the cost of this week's craft project. Also a thank you to Novia, Irma, Holly, Lisa, and Stephanie for helping set up and supervise the painting.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU to mom's Nancy and Lisa for donating the snack and drinks for this meeting!
The girls enjoyed them.

This week's troop meeting~ PART ONE... Have you ever thought about a tradition you do and have no idea how it all came about, you just do it year after year, because, after all, it's what you do. Carving pumpkins on Halloween is one of those traditions. In this weeks troop meeting, we talked (in general terms) about the myth behind the popular "Jack-O' Lantern" and the tradition of carving pumpkins. (For the detailed myth CLICK HERE)


The general myth of the "Jack-O' Lantern" shared at our troop meeting:
The legend of Jack O' Lantern goes back to hundreds of years in the Irish history. The original Jack O' Lantern was not a pumpkin, but a miserable, old drunkard man nicknamed Stingy Jack who played tricks on people and lied to anyone he came in contact with, including family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. Myth has it that when Stingy Jack died, he wasn't allowed to enter heaven or the other place, so he roamed around on the earth without any place to rest. He roamed around as a ghost with his lit lantern... this is when he was then called Jack of the Lantern (shortened to Jack-O' Lantern). The Irish people kept the fable of Stingy Jack alive by hollowing out turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets on All Hallow's Eve (Halloween) and making their own version of a Jack-O' Lantern with scary faces on them. They set a candle in their Jack-O' Lanterns and placed them on their front porch to ward off the evil spirits and keep the ghost of Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack-O' Lanterns. Irish immigrants brought the Jack-O' Lantern carving tradition with them when they came to the United States, and soon switched over to pumpkin-carving when they discovered that pumpkins were growing in abundance and much easier to carve than turnips etc.

Instead of carving pumpkins at our troop meeting (for safety purposes), we decorated them with washable poster paint to look like Jack-O' Lanterns. The girls had a good time showing their creativity in giving their pumpkins color and personality.

Below are some pumpkin carving ideas

for crafting your own pumkins at home...

IT WOULD BE A GREAT FAMILY FUN NIGHT!

Click Here for stencils

Click Here for stencils and other "how to" ideas

Click Here for carving tips