Ancient India Chaupar

In History we learned about the ancient culture that created Mohenjo-Daro in what is now India.  This culture amazes me in it's technology and sophistication.  The kids were especially surprised that archaeologists think they were a particularly peaceful culture based on the lack of weapons found in the ruins.  That makes it extra sad that invaders destroyed the culture and it was forgotten for so long.  So we remembered these amazing people by playing the ancient game Chaupar.  This game has many names, but is very close to Parchisi.

GS Cookie Rally

     Gwyn and Celee signed up to lead a station at the GSCM Cookie Rally this year.  It was held at the fairgrounds in Westminster and they earned their Community Service Bar for it so it was all good.  Lydia and Alexis also helped them.  Another Cadette troop came and helped at our table too.  The girls led a table with a Jeopardy game of Girl Scout cookie trivia.  Gwyn and Celee had spend a good bit of time creating the board and getting ready with Alexis and Lydia.  They worked hard and did a good job running the table for the whole afternoon.
     I pulled a double duty because the library also had a table.  Denise and I helped the Girl Scouts who came to our table make smash books where they could write about the things that they liked and the things that they did well.  They could also make cards to send to troops stationed around the world along with the Cookie Share orders.
     The girls all took turns running the table while the others could go around to the activities at the rally.  They got their faces painted, and did some Zumba.  They made pictures and cookie selling boxes.  They got to test a lot of cookies too!  It was a long 5 hours, but everyone had fun.  And it was nice to help out our Girl Scout council too!

EB Picnic

     We had the Sapphire Eternal Blessing Picnic at a pretty posh house out in Monkton.  The family that owns it is super nice and down to earth.  It is still like a different world to enter the place that is really more like an estate.  The kids tried to swim in the pool, which was heated.  But it really was just too chilly, so that didn't last long.  So they pretty much just played on the playground and spend an hour trying to organize a game of capture the flag.  They finally did get the game starting right before it was time for us to leave.  But Gwyn fell and caught herself with her hands which landed on these prickly balls that fell out of a tree.  I have no idea what kind of tree this was, but it is not fun to get them stuck in your hands.  They are tiny prickles and almost invisible.  But they wouldn't all come out and they stung and we ended up just settling for her holding wet rags in her hands until we could get home.  Gwyn tends to attract strange injuries.  But bless her heart, she had red hurting hands for several days afterward.

Our Next Circus Star

     Lyla is so enjoying learning circus skills.  She is getting pretty good at the flower sticks.

Midnight Madness

     Gwyn and Celee went to a small group of middle school girls that our friend Darby has started.  These girls will get together every couple of weeks to eat together and study scripture and talk about how to live their lives as young ladies who love Jesus.  It's pretty cool to see the 15 or so girls all middle school aged talking about these type of things.
     Lyla and I in the meantime went to Midnight Madness in Westminster.  We walked around and looked at all the hot rods and classic cars that lined the streets.  Then we rode on the horse and carriage.  We didn't even know this was going on downtown until we went to eat dinner at the Cup.  What a serendipitous evening!  We had a good time!  And it was nice to spend some time with Lyla just me and her.

She liked the bumble bee car best.

Gwyn and Celee had a good time too.  :)

Corky the Penguin

     I made my character debut at the Westminster Fall Fest Parade.  I got to don the Corky the Penguin costume and walk the parade route.  Celee and Lyla rode their scooters.  Gwyn was my handler.  This turned out really well because its hard enough to see out of the eyes of the head.  After I had walked for a little bit, the eyes fogged up.  Then I had zero visibility.  I could see the tail lights of the van in front of us, but that was about it.  Eventually I had to hold Gwyn's hand to make sure I didn't fall or run in to something.  I tried to be perky though.  I hopped and waddled and blew kisses.  I heard lots of kids yelling for the Penguin.  A few even knew his name is Corky.  It was super fun and I would love to be Corky again.  As long as I have a handler.

Celee's Investiture

     Celee's troop has an Investiture Ceremony each year.  This is a really nice way to mark the beginning of a new year of scouting.  Each level was called up and each girl was called one by one.  They each came up and lit a candle before receiving their pins and patches for the new year.  I get to be more involved in Celee's troop this year too which is nice.  I've always been pretty involved with Gwyn's and Lyla's troops, but never Celee's.  So we're looking forward to a fun year with this group of Cadettes.

GS Camping

     The GS Fall Campout was in Annapolis again this year.  Lyla's troop went.  Gwyn, Celee, and Natalie all went as helpers.  As you can tell, it was a huge bunch of silliness.  They had a great time.  I was only down there for a little while and got to go home.  This is one of the first campouts I haven't gotten to go to (besides the doomed Aberdeen one).  The older girls were in charge of helping in general and being in charge of the box oven and trail scavenger hunt stations for the younger girls on Saturday.  I think they were a little frustrated that they didn't feel like they had actual work to do.  The adult at the box oven station wouldn't let them actually do anything with fire.  But they did help out and had some fun.  The younger girls had a blast.  :) So as far as I know, the campout was a success.  Only one child puked, and no one got hurt that I know of.  So it was a good one.

The Maryland Wine Festival

     This was our view of the Maryland Wine Festival.  The girls were at the GS Campout, so we signed up to volunteer handing out the wine glasses.  We couldn't get there before our volunteer slot though and it was over at 6pm.  We went to the wrong tent for a while before we figured out we were supposed to help somewhere else.  When we got to the tent we were supposed to help at, they didnt' really need our help either.  It was the end of the day and most people weren't coming in to the wine festival at this point.  So four people to hand out glasses was a bit of an overkill.  So we listened to the good music and people watched for a while until they told us all to pack up.  Then we had about twenty minutes to walk around and taste and see before the festival was over for the day.  This actually was about all we needed anyway.  We were tired and hungry.  We tasted some yummy wines, found a few that I'll seek out if I ever need wine for something.  And then we got to go out to eat at Papa Joe's.  Date night!

SCCK ... I mean TGIF is back on!

     SCCK has a new name.  Now it is TGIF, or Together Growing In Faith.  New name, some new families, but the same great co-op.
     Lyla is taking Circus Stars, Joyful Jumpers, Ceramics, Hand Sewing, and Creative Kids.  This is the first time she's old enough to take the circus class, even though she's gotten to try some of the activities before.  Joyful Jumpers is a jump rope class.  In ceramics they are going to make things that will get fired at the end of the semester.  The projects for Hand Sewing looks so cute!  And who knows what will come out of Creative Kids?  But it's sure to be fun.
     Celee is taking Independent Drawing, Anime, Advanced Circus, and Not-So-Familiar-Games.  She opted for a study hall for the last class of the day so maybe we'll be able to get some math done during that time.  Celee really likes the drawing teacher, Mrs. Debbie.  She really encourages Celee and gives her a lot of good instruction.  Her Anime class is supposed to watch and draw anime, so that's just what Celee loves.  The Advanced Circus is sure to be fun.  and we're all excited for Celee to learn to play some new games to show us all.
     Gwyn is taking Sewing, Advanced Circus, Italian Cooking, and Paper Crafts.  She too opted for a study hall.  She took sewing last year and likes that this year they are supposed to learn to make a pillow and a toiletry bag.  She too loves showing off her circus skills.  Now that she knows what to expect from the Italian desserts class and has some friends in there, she's excited to make some Italian food.  Paper Crafts is going to be some origami and some other forms of paper folding.  It's all cool!
     I get to teach the Battle of the Books class this time with Nicholette helping.  We get to read cool books and play games to help prepare the 4-5th graders for a competition in April.  :)

Ancient Engineers

     We signed up for a program through the Maryland Science Center and the Walter's Art Museum called Ancient Engineers.  It started out at the Science Center where the kids learned about irrigation systems and had to construct some of there own.

They got a little goofy when we walked out of the Science Center and they heard the music that plays in the harbor area.

     The second half of the day was at the Walters Art Museum.  Here they also talked about ancient engineering from the architectural/art side.  At the end they got to construct a building of their own.

Youth Picnic

To kick off the new school year and the youth calendar, Stephanie hosted a youth cook-out at her family's farm.  The kids always love it there because there is lots of room to run, a pond, swings, and lots of other things to get into.  The paddle boat wasn't working properly, but they all enjoyed getting stuck out in the middle of the pond in it and then having to be rescued.  The herd of cows came over too and we got to feed them apples that had fallen off the nearby trees.  It's a slobbery, but fun thing to do!  And of course the awesome platform swing.  I think my girls could do that all day.  And they did.  The adults got to talk a little and plan a little.  The kids got to play and make memories.  It's a good way to kick off a fun year in the youth group.  :)