December 10th -- Meeting #5

We fulfilled our community service project during this meeting tonite -- we took the Girl Scouts out Christmas caroling at the Countryside Senior Living Center! The evening was very delightful... the girls all gathered in the main foyer and entertained the residents with many Christmas carols! Some of the residents even sang along!! We capped the evening off with a game of Santa Bingo in the dining room with the residents as partners!! It was an enjoyable evening for all!!

The highlight of the evening for the girls was a parrot named Moses! Moses is also a "resident" of the Senior Living Center and has a cage in the main foyer. He kept saying "hello" to the girls while they were standing around waiting to start caroling! I think he was also trying to sing along with some of the carols! Every once in a while, he would squawk during a song like he was singing! Check out the pictures!

"Moses"... the famous resident parrot!

Some of the residents that came to watch our performance:

Playing Santa Bingo with the residents:

More Santa Bingo:

Joy Hollow Overnite!!

Our overnite trip to Joy Hollow was November 13-14th. It was a dark and stormy night... well, it was raining!! I thought that sounded like a good beginning to a story!!! Anyway...

After loading up our cars with Girl Scouts, food and overnite supplies, we made the trek through the drizzling rain to Joy Hollow campground. The trip took a little bit longer than anticipated because of the detour we had to take due to road construction, and because we missed our turn to the campground (hahahaha!!) but luckily the ranger/groundskeeper for the Joy Hollow lodge was watching for us! He saw us miss our turn and was able to get us to pull over and turn around! We got to the lodge and everyone helped unload everything. The girl scouts ran around checking the lodge out, then launched into a game of charades while the leaders got supper ready. We had chili, chicken and noodles, cinnamon rolls, carrots and dip for our meal!! It was awesome!!!

Once supper was cleaned up, we decided to play games and do some face-painting!! The girls really had a blast with this... they could have done it all weekend! Most of them would paint their faces, then wash it off and paint something else on it!! We had cats, flowers, fairies,...

Since it was getting late, we pulled out the sleeping bags and put in a movie and had snacks while we watched the movie. Everyone was alseep by the time the movie was over, and the girls got a good 6-7 hours of sleep before they started waking up in the morning!

Breakfast consisted of french toast, sausage, bananas and hot chocolate... YUMMY!! After breakfast, we got dressed and went to the craft room and made "stained glass" votives. The girls ripped up pieces of colored tissue paper and glued them on to candle votive cups -- very cute! We also managed to act out skits while waiting for lunch. Once lunch was over, it was time to pack up and head back home... this was a very fun trip and the girls were great!! Hope we do it again soon!!

Upcoming Events!

Tuesday, December 1st:
*** Turn in Money from Nut Sales***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to turn in all money!Thank you!

Thursday, December 10th:
*** Troop Meeting***
Meet at Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM
Christmas Caroling at the Countryside Senior Living Center! Girl Scouts can be dropped off and picked up at the church at our regular scheduled meeting times! This is our community service project and anyone is welcome to join us! The address is 6120 Morningside Avenue. We will be caroling for the residents and handing out our cocoa mugs we made as gifts! We will be back at the church in time to be picked up at 8PM.

Thursday, January 28th:
*** Troop Meeting***
Meet at Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM

This has been a busy and exciting Girl Scout Year with lots of fun and learning to follow. Always feel free to offer suggestions for ideas and activities that we can do as a troop! We wish you and your families a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

November 17 -- Meeting #4

Tonight's meeting was all about the upcoming Holidays and our community service project... We had "stations" set up for different crafts/gifts. We split into groups and then went around taking turns at each station. We also made our own gift bags! Sorry we don't have any pictures to post of these stations, but we don't want to ruin the surprise!! Some of these things might be your Christmas present!!

One of our stations was making hot cocoa gift packs to take as part of our community service project. We mixed the hot cocoa mix from scratch, then put it into bags with marshmallows and placed them in Christmas mugs. We plan to hand these gifts to the residents at the Countryside Senior Living Center where we will be Christmas caroling!

Upcoming Events!

Friday, November 13th - Saturday, November 14th:
***Joy Hollow Overnite!!***
We will meet at the church by 5:30PM on Friday night and will return to the church at 2:00PM on Saturday afternoon. Please be sure the Girl Scouts have packed the following:

Sleeping Bag / Pillow
Clothes / Shoes
Pajamas
Jacket
Towel / Toiletries
Flashlight
Journal or Book (for "Quiet Time")

Monday, November 16th:
***Pick Up Nut Orders***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to pick up your nut orders! Girl Scouts have approximately two weeks to deliver these orders and collect the money!

Thursday, November 19th:
***Troop Meeting***
@ Washington Heights Church from 6PM - 8PM.

Tuesday, December 1st:
*** Turn in Money from Nut Sales***
Please meet at Washington Heights Church between 5:30PM - 6:30PM to turn in all money!
Thank you!

Any questions, please call Gay @ 712-389-5370!

Girl Power Event

Our "Girl Power" event was held this past Saturday afternoon at Johnson's ATA downtown. Ryan Johnson is the owner/instructor of the academy studio and he presented a very good program for our Girl Scouts. Ryan talked to the girls about "Stranger Dangers", how to build your confidence and self-esteem, and even how to deal with bullies. He also taught the girls several martial arts techniques to be used as self-protection. The girls were fingerprinted and given their fingerprints with an identification kit to take home to their parents.

Our Girl Scouts had a lot of fun learning the different martial arts techniques! You've been warned!... BE CAREFUL if you ask them to show you what they learned! You just might end up with a bloody nose!!!!

Masquerade Madness

The Girl Scout Council held a Halloween party for all the troops in our Morningside area. This party was called "Masquerade Madness"! The girls (and the leaders!) were encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes and enjoy a night of lots of fun!!!

There were several stations set up for each troop to rotate around and participate in... there was a station where everyone got to decorate their own masquerade mask, and a station called "Pumpkin Toss" which was a lot like a ring toss game you see at a carnival -- you just needed to get the rings around the stems of the pumpkins! There was also a face painting station and two more stations that were games -- one game consisted of tossing a ball that looked like an "eyeball" into buckets lined up across the floor. The other game was with donuts hanging on a string and everyone had to see who could get the donut off the string without using their hands!

The two favorite stations of the night were "Fear Factory" and the "Glow House"!! "Fear Factory" had dark boxes set up on a table that were labeled as "Maggots", "Brains", "Eyeballs", etc. You put your hand in the box and felt these things!!!! The objects inside the boxes seemed quite realistic and you could hear the shouts of "Ooh... YUCK!" and "GROSS!!" as each girl dared to put her hand in the box!! The "Glow House" was a dark room decorated with glow sticks and items that glowed under a black light! There was music playing and the girls entered into the room and danced around!! I think most of them would have stayed in there all night, they were having so much fun!!

We ended the evening with a snack and helped clean up the stations before heading home! When the council members asked if everyone enjoyed the party and had fun, there were many shouts of approval, so we hope they do it again next year!! FUN! FUN! FUN!!

Some pics from our evening:

October 29th -- Meeting #3

Tonight's meeting was all about learning about the founder of Girl Scouts... Juliette Gordon Low! Since Juliette's birthday is on October 31, we thought it would be a great idea to turn our troop meeting into a birthday party in honor of her!

We started the meeting with a crossword puzzle filled with fun facts about Juliette Gordon Low... did you know her nickname was "Daisy"?! That's how the name of the youngest Girl Scouts came about! We also figured out that if Juliette Low was still alive today, she would be turning 149 years old on her birthday!! WOW!!

But what's a birthday party without presents, cake, and games??! Of course, we had all that stuff, too! Each of the Girl Scouts brought a "gift" for Juliette Low in the form of a canned food or non-perishable item to be donated to the local Food Pantry. This will be part of our community service project. We also made sure to play games such as Pin the Tail on the Donkey and Musical Chairs!! We wrapped up the "party" with cake and punch!! I think if Juliette had actually been able to be there, she would have had a blast!! Looking forward to the next meeting in November! Hope to see everyone there!

Here are some pics from our party:

2009 Nut Sales!

Thank you to all the Girl Scouts in our troop and their families for helping this Nuts Sales be such a success! We have raised almost $300 for our troop! This money will be used to help cover costs of supplies, etc. for our meetings! Any extra money will go towards something "fun", such as a trip or party! Way to go, Troop #273!! WOOT! WOOT!

NOTICE!!! ALERT!!! NOTICE!!!

WE ARE CANCELLING OUR TRIP TO THE ANIMAL SAFARI DUE TO THE RAPID SPREAD OF THE H1N1 VIRUS!! SEVERAL GIRLS HAVE ALREADY HAD TO CANCEL DUE TO THE ILLNESS. BECAUSE OF THE RAPID SPREADING OF THIS VIRUS, WE DO NOT KNOW HOW MANY MORE WILL BE SICK BY THE DAY OF THE EVENT, NOR DO WE WANT TO UNKNOWINGLY INFECT ANYONE ELSE WHILE TRAVELLING TOGETHER TO THIS EVENT! WE ARE VERY SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE !

WE WILL STILL BE MEETING AT THE CHURCH ON SATURDAY MORNING AT 10:30 AM TO COLLECT NUT SALES ORDER FORMS AND REGISTRATIONS AND MONEY FOR THE MASQUERADE MADNESS!! (See previous posts below for more information.) THANK YOU!

Upcoming October Events!

Saturday, October 24th:
***Animal Safari***
This event is for all that signed up at the beginning of the year (see list of girls attending in previous post below). Please meet at Washington Heights Church by 10:30am. Girls will need a sack lunch and $5.00. We will be exploring local wildlife as we "safari" through the area with conservation experts. Please be sure to wear jeans and tennis shoes. Pick-up time will be at 6:00pm at the church! (Also bring your nut sales order forms and $3.00 if you plan on registering for the Masquerade Madness event! See the events listed below!)

Saturday, October 24th:
***Nut Sales***
Please turn in your Nut Sales order forms when you drop off your Girl Scout for the Animal Safari. Call your leader (Gay- 289-5370) if you are unable to drop off the form at this time and other arrangements can be made. Products will be available for you to pick up on Monday, November 16th from 5:30 - 6:30 pm at Washington Heights Church. Money from your orders is due Tuesday, December 1st from 5:30 - 6:30 pm at Washington Heights Church!

Thursday, October 29th:
***Troop Meeting***
Tonight's meeting will be a birthday party for Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouts! Since it's a birthday party, please bring a "present" of a canned food item(s) to the party. We will donate the items to the Food Pantry as part of a community service project.

Friday, October 30th:
***Masquerade Madness***
This council event will be held at Grace Methodist Church, 1735 Morningside Avenue (Morningside College campus) from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Wear your Halloween costume and join in the fun and games!!The cost is $3.00 for all currently registered Girl Scouts and $15.00 for anyone not registered as a Girl Scout. We can sign up for this event on Saturday before leaving for the Animal Safari, or you can turn in the form with your money to the Washington school office by Monday, October 26th. See the registration form for more details!

September 24 -- Meeting #2

At tonight's meeting, we made bracelets out of colored beads! The bracelets were called "Girl Scout Law" bracelets, and each color represented a character aspect of Girl Scouts... one color stands for considerate and caring, while another color stands for respect for others, and so on...
Be sure to ask the girls about them!

We also went over any upcoming events we have between now and our next meeting! You will find information on these events posted below:

***October 9 - 24, 2009: Nut Sales!
This sale gives our troop an opportunity to earn money for any troop events and recognitions we do throughout the year! Each troop earns 15% of all sales on the nuts and chocolates, 20% of sales on magazines, books, and CD's, and $3.00 for each completed Mag-Net booklet! (be sure to check inside your envelopes when you receive them and fill them out!!) This sale begins after school on Friday, October 9th. To save trips for parents, we will be accepting your orders back at the church when we gather for our Animal Safari trip on Saturday, October 24th. Just bring your order with you when you come!! Also, please let the Girl Scouts know that no money is to be accepted until the products are delivered! And please be sure to see your leader and sign a permission form before selling, if you haven't yet done so!!! HAPPY SELLING!!

***October 24, 2009: Animal Safari
Botna Bend Park, 42326 Mahogany Rd, Hancock, IA 51536
We will explore wildlife as we safari through the area with conservation experts! During our adventure, we can expect to see Bison and Elk herds. Please wear jeans and tennis shoes!
Drop your Girl Scout to the church at 10:30 AM and pick her up at 6:00 PM. Each Girl Scout will also need a sack lunch for the trip down, and $5.00 for supper on the way home! We will be stopping either for pizza or McDonald's!!!
Here is a list of who is signed up for this event:

Emily B.
Brianna B.
Teanna D.
Brooke E.
Nichole E.
Sydney F.
McKenna G.
Sarah H.
Madison L.
Abbie P.
Samantha P.
Jenessa U.
McKenna U.
Lauren V.


***October 29, 2009: Troop Meeting
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM at the Church
We will be having a birthday party for Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouts!!!

***November 7, 2009: Girl Power!
1:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Johnson's ATA, 209 6th Street, Sioux City
Amplify your courage, confidence, and character by learning about self-protection! We will be joining with local police officers as they show us how to find fingerprints, deal with bullies, and talk about possible "stranger dangers". We will also learn how to be safe while on the Internet. Martial Arts instructors will also show some techniques of self-defense! We will be meeting at the event instead of the Church for this event...
Here is a list of who is signed up for this event:

EmilyB.
Brianna B.
Brooke E.
Nichole E.
Sydney F.
McKenna G.
Sarah H.
Chloe H.
Madison L.
Brooklyn N.
Abbie P.
Samantha P.
Jenessa U.
McKenna U.
Lauren V.


If you have any questions about these events, please call Gay -- 389-5370.

August 27 -- Our First Junior Girl Scout Meeting

For our first meeting of the year, we "concluded" our Brownie Girl Scout years with stories and memories of the fun things we did, the Try-Its we earned, the special events we attended, and the friends we've made over the years! Now another year has come, and a new "journey" awaits us!

To help us start our new year as Junior Girl Scouts, Isabel from Cadette Troop #32 came to talk to us about her years as a Junior Girl Scout. She showed us her Junior vest with all her patches and told of all the experiences she had as a Junior Girl Scout. She also showed lots of pictures from all their special events and trips, and even taught us a few songs and games that we can do as Junior Girl Scouts!! Thanks so much, Isabel!

The second half of our meeting involved the parents and families. We talked about the new uniforms for Junior Girl Scouts and went over upcoming events for the girls to attend. We then capped the meeting off with an "Ice Cream Sundae Social" for all!! Here are some pics:


The girls are learning some new songs and games from Isabel:

Singing and entertaining while eating ice cream!:

Girl Scout Junior Vest

1 -- Junior Insignia Tab
2 -- World Trefoil Pin
3 -- Girl Scout Pin (traditional or contemporary)
4 -- Bronze Award Pin
5 -- Membership Numeral Guard
6A -- Sign of the Rainbow
6B -- Sign of the Sun
6C -- Sign of the World
7 -- Cookie Sale Activity Pin
8 -- Junior Journey Award Patch Set
9 -- Junior Badges
10 -- Junior Leadership Pin
11 -- Brownie Wings
12 -- Junior Aide Award
13 -- Bridge to Junior Girl Scouts
14 -- Safety Award Pin
15 -- Membership Star
16 -- Disc for Membership Star - green
17 -- Disc for Membership Star - yellow
18 -- Iron-on Troop Numerals
19 -- Troop Crest
20 -- Girl Scout Council Identification Set
21 -- Wavy American Flag Patch
22 -- Patrol Leader's Cord

Welcome to Junior Girl Scouts!

Welcome all!! Just a quick reminder, please be sure to register your Girl Scout for the upcoming year if you have not already done so. Girls are only allowed to attend one meeting for their troop without being registered. We don't want anyone to miss out on all the FUN!!

Each girl will be needing the official green vest, which costs $15.75 and can be bought at the downtown Walgreens or at the Girl Scout Council Office on Tri-view Avenue. Each girl will also need to purchase the book called Get Moving! Girl Scout Journey Book for $7.00. (The "Cookie Dough" each Girl Scout earned from last spring's Cookie Sales can be used towards the purchase of the Journey Books.) These books will be used at each meeting. There are two other books offered by the Girl Scout Council, but purchase of these is OPTIONAL! The Junior Girl Scout Handbook sells for $10.95 and The Junior Girl Scout Badge Book sells for $11.95. If you are interested in getting one of these books, I would recommend the Badge Book. Again, these two books are not required for our meetings!

The Girl Scouts also had the opportunity to order Troop 273 T-shirts! They voted on the color and style and the order has been placed! The T-shirts will be here in time for the next meeting! Please have the Girl Scouts wear their vest or T-shirt (or both!) to each meeting! Thank you!

Here is the winner of our T-shirt design:

Here is a quick listing of Upcoming Events that will be taking place before our next meeting:

September 8, 2009:
***EHS Homecoming Parade ***
Most of us will be walking with Washington School,
so we will not be participating as a Girl Scout troop.

September 13, 2009:
***l Scout Registration Nite***
2pm - 4pm at ??? (TBA)
If you are already registered for the upcoming year,
it is not required that you attend this event, but you
are more than welcome to join in the festivities!

September 20, 2009:
***l Kick-Off Event -- "It's Your Planet -- Love It!"***
1:30pm - 3:30pm at Chris Larsen Park along the riverfront.
See what Girl Scouts is all about! Visit booths to make
recyclable crafts, see new Journey books, and be able
to purchase items from the Girl Scout shop! Sioux City
Recycling Center will also be on hand! The cost is FREE for
all Girl Scouts -- each girl is to bring a bottle of water and an
empty milk jug.

September 24, 2009:
***Troop Meeting***
6pm - 8pm at Washington Heights Church

A New Year... A New Beginning!

Welcome back! (We hope you enjoy the "changes" made to our blog -- since we are Junior Girl Scouts and our color is green, we thought we would incorporate the color green into the blog also!!)

We will be starting our new year off with our first "meeting" on Thursday, August 27th from 6pm - 8pm at Washington Heights Church. We will have our meeting with the Girl Scouts for the first hour, then would like the parents to return at 7pm for a parent meeting the last hour. We will go over what being Junior Girl Scouts means, proper dress code, fees for registration and council events, etc. Please bring your wallet/checkbook to this meeting. We are not charging troop "dues", but there will be T-shirts available to order on this night and registration fees for those who have not yet registered. The highlight of the evening will be the ice cream sundaes provided for the Girl Scouts and their families at the end of the evening!! Be sure to be there, as you don't want to miss out on ice cream!!! We look forward to seeing everyone back!!

Overnight Camping @ Ponca State Park

This is our final camping event as Brownies! And what a blast we had!!! (Minus the two thunderstorms, of course!!) We took our Brownies girls to Ponca State Park in Ponca, Nebraska to do some overnight camping... in tents! Five adults and fifteen girls... equals one big party!!

Upon arriving to the State Park, we stopped at the Visitor Center to check in and get directions to our campsite. The girls had fun checking out all the cool history of the river and the area around the park. We even went down to a look-out spot and viewed the river and surrounding hills through the telescope! Pretty cool stuff! Rounded everyone back up into our cars and headed to the campsite next to set up. It was way down in the "boonies"... no cell phone reception unless you went to the top of the hill where the bathrooms were located! Even then, it was somewhat spotty!!! The girls played in the playground next to our campsite while we set up the tents and got the fire going to cook our supper. Each girl got to cut her own potatoes and make a potato pouch to put in the fire, along with hot dogs on skewers. We also had watermelon and were looking forward to smores later around the campfire! After supper, we sat around the fire and sang songs, told stories, and listened to thunder rolling in! We decided to hurry up and do the smores before it started to rain... once we got everything out, the rain burst out from nowhere... an immediate downpour!!! All the girls went running for the tents and the adults tried to salvage what we could from the campsite! Needless to say, the smores were ruined from the rain! Luckily, we also had a huge bag of popcorn that we passed from tent to tent to share! Once this storm quickly passed, we decided to just stay in the tents and visit until "lights out" at midnight. We were woken up again about 1:30am with another thunderstorm, this one being louder and longer lasting than the first. Took about a half hour before it passed over and moved on...

Woke up early to start cleaning up the campsite from the storms the night before... everyone took shifts going up to the bathrooms getting dressed, etc. then we all gathered together for a breakfast of bagels, bananas, and granola bars. After breakfast, we took our tents down and packed them up. We then split the girls into two groups... one group went horse-back riding, while the other group painted birdhouses and did a nature scavenger hunt. After about an hour, the two groups traded so the second group of girls could go horseback riding and the first group got to do the crafts and the scavenger hunt. I think I speak for everyone in saying that the horseback riding was the highlight of their whole trip!!! We had some girls that were scared to get on the horses because they have never been on them before, but with a little coaxing, an excellent park/stable staff, and some VERY patient horses, everyone was begging to ride more!!

After all these activities, everyone had worked up an appetite, so we had a picnic lunch of cold meat sandwiches and chips. Next thing we knew, it was time to pack up and head back home! My how the time flew! We had so much fun! We definitely have to do it again sometime!!

We took lots of pictures... to see them, just click on the link at the top and to the right under Troop Photo Albums. The pictures of our camping trip are included in here with all pictures taken throughout the year! Enjoy!!

Ponca State Park -- Here We Come!!

May 29, 2009:
***Camping at Ponca State Park!!
Tent camping, horseback riding, hiking, nature
crafts, campfire songs, games...
and tons ofGIRL SCOUT FUN!!!!!

We will leave from the church parking lot at 5:30PM. Please plan on arriving between 5:00-5:30pm to get the girls organized into cars with their camping gear. Please pick up your girl scouts in this church parking lot on Saturday, May 30th @ 2:30PM. Parent or guardian must sign permission slip before girl scout can attend this trip. Also plan on pre-registering for the 4th grade year when you drop them off Friday night. All forms are pre-filled out, you will just need to sign and pay the registration fee of $12.00 (the fee has increased this year from $10 to $12).

Camping List:

Sleeping Bag (pillow if wanted)
Sturdy Shoes -- tennis shoes (NO flip-flops!)
**We will be hiking and horseback riding.
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Water Bottle
Flashlight
Change of comfortable clothes**Do not send nice outfits - we will get dirty!Towel
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Soap

Itinerary for our Camping trip:

Friday, May 29th:
5:30pm - Leave Sioux City for Ponca
6:00 pm - Set up tents and camp; Go over rules & boundaries
7:00pm - Start campfire
7:30pm - Cook dinner;Clean up
8:30pm - Scavenger Hunt; List of nature "stuff" to find!!
9:00pm - Campfire; Songs, games, skits, S'mores and pies!
10:30pm - Pajamas, brush teeth, etc.
11:00pm - "Quiet Time"
12:00am - Lights Out!!

Saturday, May 30th:
8:00am - Breakfast and Pack up campsite
9:30am - Group 1 - Horseback riding; Group 2 - Bird Feeders
10:45am - Group 1 - Bird Feeders; Group 2 - Horseback riding
12:00pm - Lunch
1:00pm - Nature Hike
2:00pm -- Head back to Sioux City
2:30pm -- Arrive at church to be picked up!!

Any questions, please call Gay @ 712-389-5370

May 15 - Court of Awards

First of all, thank you to all the girls for being very well-behaved during this ceremony!! We really appreciated it!! I won't go into a lot of details since most of you parents were there, but this event is the culmination of everything we've done and accomplished throughout the year. As a troop this year, we earned six Try-It badges, participated in two community service projects, went swimming, stayed up all night at the mall, sold nuts and cookies, took part in holiday events, etc. etc. The list goes on but the most important thing was that we had FUN!

During the ceremony, we had 17 girls "bridge" over to Junior Girl Scouts! (Fifteen of them were at the ceremony -- two were unable to attend.) We are quite proud of our large group!! We hope the girls are looking forward to more fun and exciting adventures as Juniors!

Here are some more pics from that evening:

May 7 - Last "Brownie" Meeting!

Tonight was our last night meeting together as Brownies... when we meet again for the Court of Awards Ceremony, we will "bridging" over to Junior Girl Scouts!!

As you know from previous posts, we have been working on sewing jean bags to earn our last Try-It badge. Tonight we finished those bags up by decorating them with patches, jewels, pompoms, and even paint! Every single one of them turned out BEAUTIFUL!!

Once we finished the jean bags, we started on our donation bags for the American Cancer Society. A big THANK YOU to all of you that donated items for this worthy community service project! We decorated bags with markers, putting little cheerful pictures and sayings on them, then filled the bags with the donations! Everyone decorated a bag and was able to choose five items to be placed in the bag. We had so much stuff that we decorated extra bags to make sure everything was donated!!! The bags were taken down to the June E. Nylen Cancer Center downtown and were very much appreciated!! Congratulations to the girls for a job well done!

Last Two Events of the Season!!

May 15, 2009:
***Court of Awards Ceremony -- 6:30 PM
Grace United Methodist Church (Morningside College)
This is a time to celebrate our troop's accomplishments!
Girls should be wearing their vest and dress nicely!
Please arrive by 5:30-5:45PM for pictures! Tricia
Gallardo will be taking pictures... prices are $2.00
for a 5X7 or $5.00 for an 8X10. Payment of cash or
check must be made at the time of pictures.
Refreshments will be served after the ceremony.


May 29, 2009:
***Camping at Ponca State Park!!
Tent camping, horseback riding, hiking, nature
crafts, campfire songs, games... and tons of
GIRL SCOUT FUN!!!!!
We will leave from the church parking lot at 5:30PM.
Please pick up your girl scouts in this church parking
lot on Saturday, May 30th @ 2:30PM. Parent or
guardian must sign permission slip before girl scout
can attend this trip.

Camping List:
Sleeping Bag (pillow if wanted)
Sturdy Shoes -- tennis shoes (NO flip-flops!)
**We will be hiking and horseback riding.
Sunscreen
Bug Spray
Water Bottle
Flashlight
Change of comfortable clothes
**Do not send nice outfits - we will get dirty!
Towel
Toothbrush/toothpaste
Soap

Thank you all for an awesome year!!!
Gay Parker, Troop Leader
Please call if you have any questions!
712-389-5370

April 23 -- Sewing Our Jean Purse/Bags

Tonight we started our second sewing project... jean purses. Each girl had to bring a pair of jeans for this one! We started by having each girl cut the legs off her jeans. With the help of our volunteers (Abbie's grandma and Sam's grandma!) each girl got a seam sewn across the jeans where the legs were cut off. Next, each girl had to take one of the cut off legs and cut it in half, fold it in half lengthwise,then our wonderful volunteers sewed these pieces. The rest of the work was for the girls. They had to turn their "legs" right side out because now it was about to become the handle of their purse. Once they did this, they had to hand stitch their handle to their purse!! Many of the girls are still working on this! Once they have the handle sewn on, the bags are ready to be decorated with the many patches and decorations we have provided! Some girls got done with the whole project in this meeting, but some girls still need to decorate their purses. Some pictures are posted below:

April 18 -- Swimming at the Siouxland Y!!

What has twenty-eight arms and legs and swims all over????!! It's the fourteen girls from Troop 273!!! This night was such a blast!! The girls swam in the shallow water, played in the fountains and sprinklers, went down the slides, and even went into the deeper lap pool to swim laps and play water basketball! Snacks and drinks were served midway through the evening and then it was back to more swimming until we had to get out and get ready before parents started showing up! Posted below is a picture of all the girls in our troop that attended - they are standing on one of the slides in the water!

April 9 -- More Sewing...

Tonight we finished sewing our bean bags that we started at our last meeting. Because there were three adults and 14+ girl scouts, I was unable to get any pictures! Sorry!! Our hands were kept busy threading needles, cutting string, tying knots, getting out knots, etc. etc.!!! It was really fun to watch the girls learn how to use a needle and thread and see how much better they were sewing by the time they finished their project!! We will be working on jean bags/purses at our next meeting and we will get pictures... Promise!!

Upcoming Events!... Updated 4/15/09

April 18,2009:

***Spring Recruitment Event***

Swimming at the new Siouxland Y!!

Check-in between 5:45pm - 6:15pm

Swimming til 9PM... snack and drink included...

Cost is $6.00 per girl, however...

if you sold 100+ boxes of cookies,

you swim for FREE!!!!!!!!!

Don't forget your swimsuit and towel!

April 23, 2009:

***Troop Meeting from 6PM-7PM

Bring an old pair of jeans! We will be doing a final

sewing project and making a jean bag!

May 7, 2009:

***Troop Meeting from 6PM-7PM

We will be working on our final

community service project for the

American Cancer Society. Please feel

free to bring in any donations towards

the bags we are putting together! Some

examples are: playing cards, word puzzle

books, daily planners, activity books,

crayons, coloring books, etc.

This is also the last day to pay $5.00 for your

Girl Scout's Junior Bridging Kit. This kit is needed

for girls "crossing over" from Brownies to Juniors!

May 15, 2009:

***Court of Awards Ceremony -- Time TBA

May 29, 2009:

***Camping at Ponca State Park!!

Horseback riding, cooking, hiking... tons more!

Details and packing list to follow!

March 21 -- Mall Overnite!

WOW!!! What a night!! And I think I speak for everyone when I say, What a lot of FUN!!!! We had 13 girls from our troop signed up for the Mall Overnite event! Everyone met in the mall just before 10PM and managed to find a "campsite" for our troop -- we took a spot in front of Barnes & Noble... with over 500 girls attending, it wasn't easy to find a spot big enough for sixteen of us!!

Our evening began with a guest speaker, Jackie from KPTH Fox 44 news station! She was followed by a performance from the Morningside College Dance Squad (of which I didn't get any pictures... some girls needed a bathroom break at this time!!! Sorry!) and then a baton-twirling performance!! We also had a DJ for the whole evening/morning, so there was a lot of dancing, too! All this entertainment had worked up an appetite, so we took a break for pizza! Next, we went to the movie theatre to see a movie! The attraction was "Return to Witch Mountain" which was a good movie, if you don't mind all the special effects and loud noises!! Once the movie was over, we went back to our "campsite" and played games, then returned to the mall's Center Court for karaoke and drawings for door prizes. There was also a room with TVs set up so that girls could play Wii games!! The whole night was very busy and very entertaining -- everyone had a blast! We couldn't believe it when it was time to clean up and get ready for parents to come pick the girls up! Can't wait to do it again next year!! Check out the photos from the event posted below:

Setting up our "campsite" in front of Barnes & Noble:









There were over 500 girls attending this event!

Our troop leader - Gay; Volunteers - Miranda and Angie:

Guest Speaker - Jackie from KPTH Fox 44:

Baton-twirling South Dakota pageant queen, also a registered Girl Scout!:

The girls enjoying a pizza:

Karaoke - "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun!"

Check out the time on the clock!!