Happy Birthday Juilette Gordon Low

Some of the older Girl Scouts in our town planned a birthday party event for Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts. Most of the girls in our troop signed up because we thought it would be a fun activity for them to attend.

A few days before the event, I was explaining to Claire that she was going to go to the middle school with some of her friends and some of the older Girl Scouts were going to do lots of fun activities with them to celebrate Juliette Gordon Low's birthday. Claire asked if we were all going to sing Happy Birthday to her at the party. I explained how she had died a long time ago and this "party" was just a way to celebrate what a special person she was because she "invented" Girl Scouts.

A few hours later, out of nowhere, Claire asked, "Mommy, is that lady who started Girl Scouts going to be in a box?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Claire: "Because she died."

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, Claire has been to a lot of funerals. In her little 5 1/2 year old mind she thought the "party" might be a wake since I mentioned that Juliette Gordon Low died. Of course, I explained that it wasn't a wake and she died a long time ago. This event was just a little celebration because she was such an amazing woman for starting Girl Scouts.

It was a really fun night full of lots of great activities for the girls. At the end of the evening the girls decorated cupcakes and sang Happy Birthday.

Girl Scout Campfire

The day after our first Daisy meeting, we had our very first outing. Our town Girl Scout organization planned a campfire. All of the Girl Scouts in town were invited to attend and we thought it would be a fun activity for our troop.

Our 12 Daisies joined over 100 Girl Scouts around a large campfire. Individual troops were invited to share a song with the group. Reluctantly, I offered to lead our troop (and a first grade Daisy troop) in a song our girls had learned at our first meeting (I'm a Little Daisy). The girls were so excited! It was great -- the girls sang their hearts out and I even remembered all of the words and movements!

After listening to lots of troops sing and participating in a few songs, it was time for our troop to toast marshmallows and make s'mores. All 12 girls circled around the campfire and held long sticks containing their marshmallows over the flames until they were toasted. The warm marshmallows were plopped on top of a piece of chocolate and squooshed between two graham crackers, then devoured.

It was a fun night -- the first of many memorable Girl Scout activities!

Daisies

I have such fond memories of being a Brownie and a Girl Scout during my childhood -- singing, playing games, doing crafts and projects, camping, going on field trips, etc. I naturally wanted to be involved when Claire had the opportunity to join Girl Scouts! I approached another mommy to see if she would be interested in being co-leaders. She had already planned on being a leader with another mom, so I offered to be a third leader and they accepted. After a few planning meetings, we were all set!

We had our first meeting today. In a word, it was AWESOME! Everything went so smoothly and the girls are fabulous -- so sweet, friendly and enthusiastic! Claire only knew half of the girls beforehand, but I can already tell that she will be fast friends with the other girls. I am looking forward to a wonderful Daisy adventure!