Sunny weekend

We had a lovely sunny weekend. On Saturday Eve had her Girl Scout pinning ceremony. She’s still a Girl Scout, but now with more pins and badges!

Taking an oath, I think. I was a little distracted by Arlo.

Awww…. they used to fit in these baby swings!

Then Sarah came to sleep over afterwards. This morning they woke up at 5am asking to go swimming. Wheee!! We decided to hit up our old favorite, Lake Pineo, before they officially open next weekend and start excluding non-association members. :/

It was a beautiful day!

Swimming. Eve is in there somewhere too. Maybe behind Sarah. Or maybe underwater. You just never know with that girl.

These two are going places in life! :)

I wish they would let us swim here all summer. It’s such a perfect beach.

Then we got lunch as the Quechee Snack Bar (deep fried everything!) and washed it all down with some ice cream. Then home for an afternoon on the computers. :) Happy Sunday. I’d like to say Happy Summer Vacation, but alas, four more days.

Girl Scouts in politics

We had the best field trip today!! Eve’s Girl Scout troop (finally) got started again with their first meeting last Wednesday to hand out cookie sale sheets. (buy cookies, you want cookies, cookies, cookies, cookies) They also talked about the badges and which ones they might like to pursue. One of the badges is called “Inside Government” and it involves interviewing an elected official and attending a town meeting. We joked about how that would be an easy one! When we got home we told Alan about it and he loved the idea and readily volunteered to help out. He told the Select Board about it at their meeting the next night and one of the women on the board told him about a “women in politics” (EmergeVermont) meeting happening on Saturday. One rapid thing led to another and by Saturday morning the troop was gathered at the leader’s house and preparing to attend this event. We weren’t sure what to expect, but we knew the agenda said “Lunch with a local Girl Scout troop.” We were expecting to walk around and ask a few questions (“take a poll” is what the badge requirement says) of various women, then leave. Instead we got so much more!!

She jumped right into Alan’s chair! This girl is going places. :)

When we got there we were welcomed warmly and eagerly. The girls were invited to sit in the Select Board chairs and they held a mock meeting with conference attendees coming up to the podium and asking the girls questions. When there was an extend pause in the questioning I said that really the girls are supposed to be asking the women in politics questions, so they all swapped rolls and the girls asked the questions. We had several Select Board members there (from our town and surrounding towns) and even a woman from our town who is a Vermont State Representative and an amazing person!

Eve is the only one not making a funny face here. LOL!  Becca White, in black, ran the “meeting” and everyone loved it.

Our future town government! Holding a “mock” Select Board meeting. Discussing important issues such as banning cigarettes and rescuing puppies.

Ruth from EmergeVermont even had a presentation prepared to show the girls, all about how to get involved even if you aren’t old enough to run for public office. They gave the girls stickers and coloring sheets too.

How to be and involved citizen, even as a child.

After pointing out the humor in it, Ruth presented the Girl Scouts with some cookies her daughter had made. She said, “When I told my 12 year old daughter that Girl Scouts were coming to the meeting, she said, Oh, Can I make them Cookies??” So she did. Very sweet.

Time for a few fun pictures at the end. Ruth asked if we would be ok if they used them in promotional materials and online forums. That would be fun to see!

Your Candidacy Begins Today. #runlikeagirl

Our Girl Scouts with Becca White, VP of the Select Board, and Gabrielle Lucke, Vermont State Representative. They are hanging with a good crowd!

I am so pleased with how well the day went, how eager the women were to have our girls there, and how happy the girls were to be there! Gabrielle Lucke invited them to tour the State House too, if they wanted to Girl Scout field trip. She offered to personally give them a tour if she was available. I love our state!!

She’s back!

We picked Eve up from camp today.  She was so bouncy and happy to see us!  We all had brunch together, then Eve gave us a tour of (some of) her favorite places.

Someone was happy to see little sister!

Siblings reunited!

Brunch in the dining hall. (Ignore that pile of carbs on Lex’s plate.)

Eve took us on a tour of her favorite places. (This is kind of a trippy picture!)

See the pretty horses.

She told us stories the whole way home and then went right to her room and almost cried from exhaustion.  I thought she would take a nap, but she listened to music and worked on a friendship bracelet while I took a nap!  😄

My favorite story came when I asked if she got the package I sent her with the disposable camera in it.  She brought her toy camera to camp, but it takes terrible pictures and probably ran out of battery, so I made a special trip Wednesday to the drug store and post offic to get her a camera.  I envisioned pictures of her friends and her counselors and the horses.  Ya know, camp pictures! I had plans to make copies of some of them to share with the other two families.  My plans evaporated when I ask her about the camera and she said, “Yeah, but it was really confusing.  I mean, it had no screen so I didn’t know if the pictures were good, then I couldn’t figure out how to make it work, and I think it needs something called film?!”  I was laughing so hard!!

Now the neighbor kids are over.  We couldn’t say no to them because they are leaving tomorrow for a month long vacation!  I think everyone will sleep well tonight.  I know I’ll be happy to have Miss Eve back in her own bed.  ❤

PS. Lex and Asher saw the camera on the counter after I unpacked Eve’s stuff.  Eve peeled off all the stickers and wrappings so its just a weird black box.  Lex figured out how to take a picture, but I had to show him how to scroll forward to take the next one.  The boys took a few pictures of each other but got bored when they realized they couldn’t immediately see them. Hahaha.

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Miss Eve goes to camp

We dropped Eve off at Girl Scout Camp today.  She is there with two friends from school.  She was so excited!!

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All packed and ready to go!

Her friends came over to our house this afternoon and we caravanned up together. It was great to have her friends and MY friends there for support! :)

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She was so excited! She rolled down her window and said hello to every councelor that gave us parking directions along the way. Look at that smile! <3

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Three eager girls heading to check-in!

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Her GIANT Valentine’s Day puppy went to camp too! :)

We parked and headed to the check-in lines. Fortunately all three ended up in the same camp sight (there are multiple sites with many cabins/tents/treehouses each). We had a little scare with them being in different groups, but when faced with a few panicked mothers the nice councelor fixed the problem asap! LOL!

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Head checks for all the girls. Of course, I checked her this morning! I DID NOT want to be the parent bringing her girl home with head lice before camp even started! :)

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This way to Tall Timbers!

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Eve’s cabin. It is small and HOT!

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Eve got the top bunk because her buddy wanted the bottom bunk. Her other friend is in the other bunk in the cabin, with one other girl who they don’t know. They promised to be nice and inclusive with her! :)

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Her shelves, fully stocked.

It was great having the other families and all the siblings there. The moms helped the girls set up and make beds while the dads/boyfriends/friends chatted with councelors and played with siblings. The girls made name tags, met their councelors (at least two of them, one named Pickles and the other named Hatter — both camp names, I’m assuming!), found the water fountain and bathrooms, and generally settled in. The mom’s laughed, exchanged advice and support, and everyone parted in good spirits.

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Saying goodbye to brother. Neither of them seemed too upset. I’m curious how they will feel later in the week.

I have been texting with the other two moms and that has been fun. I’m very glad to have their support. One’s daughter has gone to visit family for weeks at a time and the other girl goes to visit dad on a regular basis, so I’m the only one with separation anxiety, but they are nice and supportive and giving me gentle loving grief.

Eve will either have the time of her life, which is what she’s expecting, or it will be miserable. The temps will be pushing 90° all week with rain in the forecast for two of the days, though not a cooling rain. I hope she has a great time!

Now we are watching The Martian, a movie that’s not appropriate for her, and staying up late. Lex has karate camp this week so I will have a few mornings to myself again! Hello naps! LOL!

PS.  Since this is the digital age, camp now has an email system.  You can send an email and they will print it and deliver it with the daily mail call.  If you would like to email Eve, let me know and I’ll send you instructions.

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Ticks and lice and nothing nice

Warning: reading this post will make you itchy all over. Consider yourself warned!

For the past many years I have kept my head buried pretty deep in the sand when it comes to the whole tick thing. When the kids were younger I’d check them, sometimes, in the bath, but that was the extent of my tick related efforts. This year, however, they are consuming my thoughts.

Maybe it’s because we started letting Daisy go outside a few weeks ago and within days we discovered a big, fat tick on her back. Alan and I spent a long time that night attempting to remove it, resulting in fur and cat scratches everywhere. Alan eventually managed to sneak in on her when she was sleeping and get it off. Thankfully! I was texting with my friend off and on during and she said to leave it alone, it will fall off, happens all the time, etc. I was so grossed out!! She sleeps in Lex’s bed and cuddles with the kids and blech!

The next day we got her a flea collar. She is now the dorkiest cat on the block, wearing not one, but TWO collars around her neck. Lucky kitty. A few days later we found another tick on her. Ugh!

Or maybe it is because the ticks are everywhere this year. Two days after the Daisy/tick incident I discovered a tick crawling up the back of one of my kiddos at school. He was laying on my lap being fussy so I started rubbing his back. A moment later I said, “what’s this bump on your back?” I pulled up his shirt and found a tick crawling up his back. YUCK!! I did not react calmly, instead I practically dragged this poor kid around by his shirt trying to get to a good place to dispose of the tick. At the Montessori school we respect all life and gently escort bugs and spiders outside, but this tick when straight down the toilet, despite gasps from the little kids!

A few days after that one of the teachers discovered something that looked like it might be a head lice nit in the hair of a child. The teacher showed me the nit, told me all about checking the child’s hair, and so that became the primary topic of conversation between the teachers for the next few days. So far (knock on lots and lots of wood!) we haven’t seen anything else or heard any reports from families.

However, between all these buggy incidents I am now totally paranoid! Every time I have an itch I feel the need to check for ticks, or lice – nothing nice!

Eve and I participated in a Girl Scout event this morning that had us traipsing through the forest. I insisted she and I both wear long sleeves, long pants, socks tucked in, and hair back with hats on. One of her friends said, “Eve, it’s summer time, you don’t need to wear long sleeves,” and Eve fired back “I found two ticks on me and do you know why they didn’t bite me? Long sleeves!!”

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Eve pulling garlic mustard plants with a fellow Girl Scout.

Are you thoroughly itchy now?! I am!! I hate bug spray almost as much as I hate sunscreen (well, maybe more) but this might be the year I try it again. Or maybe I could get us all tick anklets?

Happy summer! ;)

The cookies are here!

Eve is doing quite well with her cookie sales. She alternates between totally motivated and totally bored of the whole thing. She was eager to hit a goal of 350 boxes so she could get a little stuffy prize, but got bored and cold (it was cold when we were going door-to-door in January!) and decided 283 was enough. I agreed completely! The cookies came in this weekend and we realized just how many 283 really is!

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Counting cookies

 

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Daisy was intrigued.

 

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While Eve was at scouts, Lex and I organized the cookies. I like this bar chart arrangement.

 

 

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Daisy likes the cookies! Well, the boxes anyway. She is a very happy kitty with all these boxes around.

Today I picked the kids up at school and we delivered teacher orders. Then we went to Alan’s office and delivered work orders. Then we stopped at a friend’s house and delivered her cookie. The kids were all worn out! Eve rallied after dinner and delivered a few more boxes to our very local neighbors. Thursday we’ll be out (weather permitting) delivering around the neighborhood.

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This afternoon we delivered to school. Eve had lots of teacher sales. Everyone was happy to see her this afternoon! :)

This is fun, but I’ll be happy when it’s over. :)

Girl Scout cookies

I can’t believe I haven’t posted yet that Eve joined Girl Scouts. She has been doing it for a few months and absolutely loves it. She’s earned some badges and ironed them onto her sash all by herself. Apparently they don’t sew them any more. She’s done some experiments and made some new friends. She loves it. She also is eagerly selling Girl Scout cookies right now! She has set herself a lofty goal and is working hard to achieve it. If only the weather would be a little more cooperative for door-to-door canvasing! Let me know if you are interested in ordering any cookies. I can ship them anywhere! This year they have:

  • Savannah Smiles (lemony)
  • Trefoils (shortbread)
  • Do-si-dos (peanut butter sandwiches)
  • Samoas (coconut/caramel)
  • Tagalongs (peanut butter patties)
  • Thin mints (of course)
  • and Rah-Rah-Raisins (oatmeal raisin cookies, new this year!).

Each are $4/box. They also have gluten-free Toffee-tastic for those with allergies. Let me know if you’d like any. Eve says thank you.

Cub Scouts, Wolf Pack

After our first cub scout meeting, the Valley Quest outing, and a summer to think about it, Lex is still super excited about joining Cub Scouts. So we did. Tonight was the first meeting. It was a bit chaotic, but mostly because the pack leader was trying to talk to the parents for awhile. Now that the details are out of the way, he promises next meeting will be much more controlled. They had a snack, went outside to play soccer for awhile (which Lex LOVED!) and then just ran around while the parents did a little more paperwork. The leader has two boys, one in Lex’s group, and seems really with it. This is his first year in charge. I was told he was an assistant last year. He seemed great. Lex had a great time so I filled out the paperwork and wrote the check. I guess you’ll find us at scout meetings on Wednesday nights for awhile!