Girl Scouts Cookie Madness!

I was a girl scout. I am a girl scout. I am a Mom of girl scouts. I am a girl scout leader. I strongly believe that the practice of many scouts is ruining the experience for others. I call my girl scout troop, The little troop that could. With out getting into the back story here, I took over an active troop that was losing it's leader to military moving. Probably the same way I will end of up losing the troop.

As a girl, I came to loathe selling cookies. The younger & cuter you are the easier it is to sell. Simply because it is harder to say 'No', to cute little Daisy's and Brownie's, then it is to say 'No' to older, full of attitude, pimply, 'I'm to good for this' teenagers.

As a Mom, I have tried to teach my girls it is not about the prizes they get for selling cookies. It is pure and simple a fundraiser, and about being a part of something bigger then yourself, bigger then your troop. I have always thought is was interesting that cookie sales was right around the same time as World Thinking Day.

As a Leader, I try and teach my troop the same I do as a Mom. The politics come in- as not all the parents in my troop teach their girls that same as I do. Not all the parents agree with me that it is not about the personal prizes the girls get.

At the start of cookies, my troop set a goal to sell enough cookies for each girl to earn a t-shirt incentive. They voted to pool all the cookie sales. Meaning, if it takes 115 sold cookies to earn a t-shirt, and girl A sells 110 and girl B sells 120, girl B will pool her extra 5 cookies and both girl A & B will get a t-shirt. EXCELLENT! Equality on incentives in the troop.

I am finding myself ordering 9 more cases for my troop to sell half way thru cookie sales simply because one parent does not agree with her daughter's vote. Yep- you read that right. One parent does not want to pool her daughters extra cookies. I can not, nor should I, tell this parent that in doing this, the child is taught selfish ways. Politics.

So here I sit, ordering cookies, when I want nothing more but to make my last deposit and be done with cookie sales. I even find myself contemplating signing up for another site sale (yet I still loathe them) to help the rest of the troop earn the same amount of cookies as this single girl, so I don't have to explain to them about what I see as selfish choices, and going back on her word. (be impeccable with your word) And we've come full circle...

Remember & Enjoy

If I take nothing else away from today but to remember and enjoy, I am grateful. We had a playdate at the Cabrillo National Monument tide pools today. Simple, you think. Let the kids explore during low tide, have a picnic lunch- and they nap the afternoon away. No different then going to the playground. The event was simple- the practice of the event was simple. Seeing 3- two year olds explore tide pools was fascinating! They were all interested in different parts of the tide pools. First was the lone boy- he was interested in the crawling creatures, picking up rocks and looking at what was under them. The other little girl friend, that was with us, was not interested- at all. She didn't want to get wet, get dirty, etc. Then there was PJ. Her sole interest was in playing in the water. It didn't matter how- her feet, her hands, her bottom. I tried to get her interested in picking up hermit crabs or touching the sea cucumbers, she loves those things at SeaWorld. Nope. The movement of the water is what I think she was drawn to. Watching this young group of friends, all doing their own idea of fun, while in the same area, reminded me to enjoy the small things. Enjoy just the mere presence of your friends. Enjoy the beautiful environment we are in & the beautiful weather. Enjoy the movement of the water. Enjoy the tiny crawling creatures all around us. Simply- Remember to Enjoy ____________.

Toltec Wisdom

Several years ago, a dear friend gave me don Miguel Ruiz's book, The Four Agreements. Since then I have worked daily to follow the four agreements. Set forth they are simple:

• Be Impeccable With Your Word
• Don’t Take Anything Personally
• Don’t Make Assumptions
• Always Do Your Best

Two and three have prove more difficult then one and four. What brings me to writing about Toltec Wisdom today is my constant battle with learning to not personalize my daughters behaviors and choices. I know in my head their actions, their choices, their behaviors, are not a reflection of me personally. Knowing that should make it easy to separate myself. It does not. The physical space between my head and my heart may be small, but the spiritual space is enormous. As my daughters get older I find it harder to not take their actions personally, rather then easier, as I was hoping it would be.
It is easier to struggle with this daily however then it is to live with the pain and hurt that I feel when I do 'take it personally'. So today I accept, today I proclaim, loudly, for the world to hear (read: who will listen)

I am not the reason, I am the outlet

Lather, rinse, & repeat as necessary. Remember to breathe.

Hibernation

Bears everywhere are hibernating. I have joined their ranks. We may still be having beautiful weather here in sunny southern California, but I am staying indoors, as is the rest of the family. We are choosing to play Pictureka, and eat homemade guacamole, rather than do any number of fun outdoor activities that we regularly do. I, for one, am loving the time at home!

Out of Neutral & Into Gear!

I have not blogged in so long! Time to find the inspiration, the motivation and anything else that ends in 'ation' to get my hinnie in gear to write more and post more pictures.

I'll get working on that! All thanks to my friend Violet!

Holiday Photo Sensations

After a slight debacle and a great deal of frustration later... we ended up with nothing less than stellar, in my humble opinion, pictures for our cards. A mommy friend and fellow military spouse, Violet, a very talented up and coming photographer took some wonderful shots of the five of us, one not so sunny or warm December Saturday morning here in San Diego. Our setting was Presidio Park, in all its diamond in the rough greatness. Below you will find some of her wonderful work, that didn't make the cut for our cards or you can check out her other works, including her two beautiful daughters. Thank you again Violet! capturedbyviolet.blogspot.com

Yeah Teachers! Yeah Books!

It's back to school time! Everyone up! Robert continued his tradition of making a big breakfast for the first day of school. No one was super excited that I was taking pictures, but 'hey- it's tradition'! Then with butterflies and pancake filled stomachs off we went. Jazmin in her second year of middle school. She may only be a 7th grader, but she's taking 8th grade classes and is as tall as some 8th graders. Audrey in her last year at elementary school. A big 5th grader! We still have a few years before PJ starts school.