Brownies, year 1, meeting 1

You'll have to excuse me for a moment while I turn into a Mom here for just a moment..... my little girl is a Brownie this year!!!  Yes, I had already seen her in her Brownie vest back in May at our investiture, but it didn't really hit me until today.  On top of that, I have some exciting news- we recently found that I am having another Girl Scout!  I know my awesome membership representative is silently thinking something along the lines of oooo yay, a new member, more numbers for us!  Let's face it, girlie #2 will be in Girl Scouts one day just like her big sister and mom!

So, new year, "new" troop.  Sadly, we had one girl move out of state, and another had to transfer to another troop that met at a different time.  However, we did gain two scouts from a troop that disbanded, and two completely new scouts.  I had no doubt in my mind that our four new scouts would fit with our special group of girls (they fit in perfectly- you would have never known they were new!).  Like all first meetings of the year, it took us a while to get back in the habit, but once we got started, the girls were quick to remember.

Our first order of business after our openings- a new kaper chart!  We all loved our Daisy kaper chart, but it was obviously a kaper chart for Daisies, with Daisy kapers.  We're Brownies now, so we need a Brownie kaper chart!  We all know that we all need to help clean up and set up, so those we did not list specifically.  We also are no longer in need of one person each to pick out a song, a grace, lead us in the pledge, promise and law, and start the friendship squeeze.  Instead, we have someone to lead our opening, and someone to lead our closing.  We still have our snack person, but no specific snack helper.  Also listed on our new kaper chart is pet rock duty and elf shop duty (more on those two later).  We also have a "general" spot for helpers, and one blank spot.  The girls haven't decided yet what to list as their last kaper, but hopefully they will decide soon.

Well, what do you do when you have new scouts in your troop, and not everyone knows each other?  You go grocery shopping!  Ok, you don't actually go to the grocery store, but you do get to play a fun game.  The premise is that as you go around the circle introducing yourself, you then have to say, "and I am buying _____ at the grocery store."  The item you are buying has to start with the same first letter as your name.  For example, when it was my turn, I said, "hi, I'm Lindsay, and when I go to the grocery store, I am going to buy some limes."  Here's the hitch- you also have to list what everyone before you is buying, and their names.  So if you're last to go, you need to pay close attention!  It's a fun game, and a great way to learn new peoples names.

Ok, back to that kaper, elf shop duty.  Back in May when we had our planning day, the girls found the Brownie Elf paper doll at the back of the guide book.  They asked that we find something to do with it this year.  I told them I would come up with something, and that I did!  After I flipped past the Elf and another page of clothes, I found a few pages of items with prices on it, and a few pages of pretend money.  Oh, and more thing, the girls voted to do the money manager badge at our planning meeting.  After some copies were made, a quick shopping trip to the back to school section at Target, so came the Elf Shop.  All of the girls were given a Brownie Elf, the Brownie uniform, a pouch to store them in, and were started out with 17 Brownie Bucks (what we're calling the pretend money).  Then we had a discussion about needs vs. wants, and things that the girls would need to "provide" their elves with.  For example, even though it's still blazing hot here, it will get cold eventually, so they'll need to buy a sweater, warms socks, or a hat for their elf.  We then got on to food, and our elves need to eat just like us.  However, we need to feed our elves good, healthy good before they eat "junk" food.  The Brownie Guide book provided us with the perfect example- Girl Scout cookies and broccoli.  We need broccoli, but want the cookies (unless it's Girl Scout cookie season, at which point it's ok to tell our customer that they need the cookies).  We also touched on how the girls would earn Brownie Bucks, but said we would go over that in detail at our next meeting.

Next order of business, the pet rock.  Yes, I know at first glance this may sound cheesy, but it actually is one of those "bigger picture" sort of things.  That's about all I'm going to say because it's also one of those secretive things we like to do in my troop.  Don't worry, it's really, really cool!

Well, that was our first meeting!  It went really well, and, we actually finished ON TIME!  Shocker, right?!

One more thing- Zumba!  The weekend following our first meeting, we got to participate in a special Zumba class that was put together just for our Service Unit.  One of the local Zumba instructors is certified to teach Zumba to kids, and she did an amazing job.  The girls had a blast, and I hope we get to do it again!