Act Your Part Well

My kiddos are now Thespians.

Just like mom.  I am so proud!

The induction ceremony was last night and it was a completely lovely event.  The new officers took over, there were silly superlatives, achievement awards and a retrospective video constructed to tug at your heart.

In the superlatives, The Girl won Best Hair and Best Eyes.  The Boy also won Best Hair.  It must be good genes, all thanks to The Man. 

Congratulations to The Girl, The Boy, The Girl Who Thinks She Lives Here and all of the other amazing kids in EHS Thespian Troop 948.  

Awards and Fundraising

Our tiny troop of six girls doesn't do much now.  Not from lack of trying.  We schedule stuff all of the time.  But trying to wrangle six extremely active teenage girls into something simple like a meeting can be daunting.  A camp out?  Almost impossible.

We only have ourselves to blame.  Did we not raise them to be joiners, to be part of a team, to be leaders?  Yes we did.  And now they are out there being strong amazing young women.

Despite all of that, we do occasionally get them together and get things done.  Last week we had our bi-yearly awards ceremony.  Some leaders throw the badges, pins and patches at their girls the moment that activity is done.  We make them wait and make a big deal out of it.  Besides, it's more fun to get a pile of awards all at once.

This awards ceremony was extra special because it was showcasing our most active little Sweetie-Pie who just finished her Silver Award.  The Silver is the second highest award in Girl Scouting.  The amount of stuff you have to do to earn your Silver is just about equivalent with a Boy Scout Eagle Award.  (I feel very qualified to make this observation, so stick it in your ear if you disagree!)

So it goes without saying that Sweetie-Pie worked her behind off getting her project done and deserves mighty props for it.

Still only had four our of six for the ceremony.  These girls are hard to catch!

                                                                 ************

Yesterday the dance team threw a big fundraising event at Wolfey's Bistro to raise money to go to dance camp in July. This was my kind of fundraiser: An all-you-can -eat appetizer buffet plus all the soft drinks and draft beer you could guzzle in three hours. Who wouldn't want to come to something like that?

We went through many highs and lows in pulling this event off. The pre-sale tickets didn't go as well as we hoped. But the door sales were swift. Then Wolfey's charged us not only sales tax but tacked on a fairly fat gratuity. It looked like we had thrown a big eating festival for next to nothing.

A count up of the profits revealed a different story. It seemed that quite a few people who bought those pre-sale tickets didn't end up coming to the event. In end, instead of bringing a few hundred, we pocketed a cool grand.

Awesome sauce.

Go Go Go

The end of the school year means lots of events to attend.  Banquets, ceremonies, extra recital practices, fundraisers, holidays, and parties.  Plus we have a trip to Detroit thrown in the mix.  The calendar is rocking!

I'm not making any promises, but I will try to post the majority comings and goings in the days ahead. 

In the meantime, this video is like four minutes long, but it's worth every second.  You'll laugh. You'll gasp.  You'll swear to never ride a snowmobile up a mountain.

Epic Snowmobile Fail

Brand New Scouts

Our Boy Scout troop has had a membership problem for the last couple of years.   This past year we were down to eight registered boys, only six of who ever came to things and two of those were graduating soon.

Things were looking grim.

But then, through a series of visits to Cub Scout pack meeting, even more phone calls and quite a bit of pleading, we got a brand new bunch of fifth graders to join the troop.  This week we had our first Court of Awards ceremony where they all received their first Scout rank.

Now look close.  Can you tell the new guys from the old guys?

It might be tough to sort them out, but here's a hint:  There's four new guys, four old guys and two leaders in this shot.

Here, I'll point out The Boy for you among this crew...

There he is!

Not long ago The Boy was the new guy in the troop.  The troop in those days was also suffering from a membership problem because a bunch of the guys were ready to graduate.  Can you find The Boy in this picture?

No need for a big giant arrow to point him out here!

Leader Dinner

Last night was the Girl Scout Leader Dinner.  As the Service Unit Director I have had to organize five of these dinners in the past.  Some were successes.  Some were admittedly lame.  But the main purpose was always just to gather together as leaders, enjoy a meal and give out much deserved awards.  This was the first one in a long time I no part at all in organizing.  None.  Zero. Zilch.  I didn't even know what was on the menu when I showed up.  I'm lucky I went to the right place on the right day at the right time.

I am humbled to say today that last night's leader dinner was the bomb. The location was beautiful. The food was outstanding. The ceremonies were brief but touching. The awards were presented in a classy manner. There was a table laden with door prizes and I won a nice big candle in a scent that I didn't hate.  (That's actually a bit of a challenge for me.)

And there was wine. Bottles and bottles and bottles of wine.

Alcohol and Girl Scouting are two things that I have never, ever, ever seen before in combination. At least not at this kind of event. Sure, it's wine that makes the day camp planning meetings chug right along, but that's just us and we are at someones house.

Luckily I was standing with my day camp director when we discovered that beside the carafes of iced tea and water there were uncorked bottles of every type of wine you could want to sample. Without much discussion, we each had a glass of Riesling.  Within a few minute I just went back and brought the bottle to live at our table.  Save on steps that way.

It's good to hand over the responsibility to the new, upcoming guard.  One shouldn't be stuck in the same position forever.  And if this is how the newbies are going to throw dinners, then I am all for it.