Service Project and Cookie Baking Bonanza!

Service Project and Cookie Baking Bonanza!

With overwhelming enthusiasm, our troop chose to making Christmas cookies and spread some cheer to others in the community. Today, they spent 5 hours making it happen! It's amazing to see a group of girls who are not only supportive of one another, but who work very hard toward a common goal. 

First, the girls could not have done all of this without the generous help of their parents. We had all of the ingredients, sprinkles, and decorations imaginable. In addition, we had amazing help from Claire Schnoebelen, Val Schnoebelen, and Heather Feller. Somehow, our troop is going to have to adopt Claire as one of our own. She managed to keep the girls on task when mixing dough, rolling cookie balls, and eating lunch. Hopefully our payment (in the form of cookies) showed our thanks! After all of that, she and Val stayed late and made sure every inch of the kitchen was cleaned up while the girls delivered their cookies. Thank you so much!

Our day started very quickly. The girls got to work unwrapping Hershey's Kisses and sorting M&Ms. 

Amy and Lily M

Once that was done, Heather showed part of the group how to melt the chocolate and make her peppermint chocolate candy and chocolate dipped pretzels. What a hit! 

 Madelyn, Lily M, Sydnee, and Gabby crushing candy canes

 Lexi and Gabby

Val helped the girls get started with the cookie dough. There was lots of measuring and math being done! When our girls get to fractions, they should be pros! 

 Val, Sophia, Sydnee, and Sarah

 Then things started to get a little crazy. We had the most enormous sprinkle station ever. The girls used it to their advantage and decorated every inch of those Spritz cookies. 

 Sydnee and Amy

 Sophia (our Sprinkle Sorter Extraordinaire!)

The rest of the morning became a big blur of whirring mixers, flour spills, measuring cups clanging, and lots of laughter. The girls worked incredibly hard and rarely wanted to take a break. They were anxious to help and didn't mind being asked to sweep or clean. Lily S even reminded the adults that Girl Scouts leave things cleaner than they found them. :) 

 Lexi, Lily M, Gabby

 Sarah's sugar cookie

 Sydnee and Lexi showing off theirs too

 Sarah back at work

 Lily and Gabby working on a recipe

 Santa's helper and a BIG plate of cookies!

 It doesn't look to chaotic but it was busy!

 Lily the expert icing maker

Here's an excellent example of their hard work and leadership. When the last of the cookies were waiting to go into the oven, all of the girls decided (without adult intervention) to start the dishes. They quickly formed a line and mapped out their own duties. They had that place sparkling in no time. 

 Lily S, Lexi, Madelyn

 Sydnee, Lexi, Madelyn, Sophia

The Schnoebelen's and Fellers were generous enough to order pizza for the girls for lunch. Thanks also to the Morarend's for the drinks. It was a great break for everyone. 

 Amy, Sophia, Claire, Sarah, Lexi, Lily S

 Madelyn and Lily M

 Sydnee, Gabby, and Madelyn

 Lily M

After lunch and clean up, it was time to pick our boxes and fill them up. Each girl brought home two boxes. We asked that they give away at least one of the boxes. They were asked to think of someone they know who might need a little extra cheer. Almost every one of them knew immediately who they would choose (an elderly neighbor, a grandma, a couple who doesn't have plans for Christmas). A few of the girls even decided they would give away both of their boxes. Such generous spirits! 

 Lexi putting her name on her box

 Lily S, Lily M, Madelyn and Amy

 Liliy M, Madelyn, Amy and Sydnee

 Sophia

 Heather and our favorite newest honorary troop member, Claire

 Sydnee, Madelyn, Val and Amy

 Gabby and Sydnee working on those last minute cookies

 Sophia wrapping her box

The troop decided to leave a box of cookies for Fr. Rudy and (Heather, help me with her name!) another one of the integral parts of the service community at St. Pats who came to visit us. We also went to visit the church secretary. The girls surprised her with a completely unplanned rendition of Silent Night. 

We then headed to the Fire Department to thank them for their service. We were greeted by two fire fighters who seemed genuinely touched. Sophia explained that we were a Brownie troop who baked cookies to thank them for their service. The girls sang another song for them as well. 

Our last stop was the Ronald McDonald House. Our timing was perfect as they were putting up Christmas decorations and decorating their tree. They sang a (very long but perfect!) version of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer before heading back to St. Pats. 

 Sarah, Lily S, Sydnee, Amy, Gabby, Lily M, Madelyn, Sophia

 Lily M, Madelyn, Sophia

 Lily S, Sydnee, Amy

 Lily S, Sydnee, Lexi, Amy

 Amy, Lily M, Madelyn, Sophia

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Gabby, Sophia, Lexi, Sarah, Amy, Lily M, Madelyn, Sydnee, Lily S

Again, many thanks to all who contributed and made this so successful for the girls. It was great to see their strong sense of service and their dedication to themselves and others. I'm sure I can speak for Heather as well when I say this group of girls continues to surprise us with their teamwork, respect, enthusiasm, resourcefulness, and kindness. If these girls are indicative of our future, we will be in excellent hands. Thank you again for sharing them with us. 

Troop 8060's Own Badge-O-Rama

Troop 8060's Own Badge-O-Rama

Our very own Badge-O-Rama was a success. The girls earned four badges (Hiking, Fair Play, Senses, and Pottery) during their big day. Be prepared for the 40-some photos below! 

We started out with a hike. The girls had a map of two routes and quickly picked the Mormon Hand Cart Path which turned out to be perfect! It was mostly a walking path with several overlooks into the ravine below. Along the way we played "I Spy" and stopped to listed to all the sounds. 

Here's our first stop: 

A little further along the path, we found another overlook.

That path was meant for walkers (so we weren't as worried about bikers zipping by!). By the end, they all found a walking stick, which you'll see in several photos.

We found a break in the path that let us down into the ravine. There was a small trail that let us quite a way back into the woods.

After learning to walk across fallen trees at camp, the girls were quick to want to try it again. Sarah was the first brave one to go!

Sydnee took the lead through the path.

 Sophia kept a look out for deer!

Gabby giggled the whole time. :)

And Sydnee was sure she could hear trains.

Sarah found a tree stump that was hollowed out. The girls took turns poking around to see what they could find in there.

After a good half an hour hiking, it was time to head back up to the trail.

We decided Sydnee and Lily M looked like the American Gothic painting so we had a brief (by that I mean 15 second!) art history lesson.

The first one down!

The second part of the day was focused on playing games and being a good teammate. We also learned about Title IX and how the University of Iowa's own Dr. Christine Grant championed the law that allows girls to have the same opportunities as boys in sports. The girls were in disbelief that it would be any different than it is now. What a wonderful thing!

We spent an hour or so playing several games. The girls took turns explaining the rules for games they all know. Here, Lily M and Gabby covered the rules for "Red Light, Green Light?"

Next up, Madelyn and Sophia had to explain "Mother May I?" They were quite stingy but the girls all made it across!

Three BIIIIIG steps:

Cartwheels:

 Hops:

More hops:

They also worked on teamwork while running. The last girl had to sprint to the front of the line while the rest of them continued to jog. They quickly learned about pace and talking to one another.

Finally, we saw this sign and thought it was pretty fitting!

And another one is out for the count! 

Our Hula Hooping Extraordinaires!

After all those games, the girls had lunch and took turns trying to guess which smells the other girls brought with them. Talk about creativity! Lemongrass, basil, cinnamon coffee, maple syrup extract joined some of the more easily identifiable smells like lemon, orange, and apple.

We packed up our stuff and headed over to Fired Up! And what kind of outing could we possibly have without silly-faced-photos?

Everyone loved this place! We had our own room and the girls were able to choose from one of four ceramic pieces to paint.

Once they chose their piece, they headed to the color wall to pick out four paints.

Then it was off to work! The owners were wonderful and spent a good amount of time teaching the girls tricks, helping with color selections, and giving encouragement.

After finishing their own pieces, they chose one group piece to make for someone special. I hope I can speak for Heather when I say we were both impressed by the amount of love, thought, and care that went into the project.

The owners' dog knew a ridiculous number of tricks and barked out his age for us.

Then it was off to see the kiln. The girls learned that it heats up to 1800 degrees and that the whole process takes 25 hours.

They also learned about the glazing process and realized it is very loud!

We hope the girls has as much fun as we did! Their badges will be awarded to them at our next meeting! The pieces will be ready next week so we will distribute them as soon as possible!