torch

please read the torch, it should have come to everyone in the mail. it is the newsletter we get 5 times a year. this is a great resource for up coming events (the belmont shore parade is mentioned in this one) and you can see emily and sage planting the second oak tree at camp shiwaka (it is still ALIVE, barely!) if you have any special things you want mentioned in future newsletters, please send them directly to georgia and/or to me. i would love to have our girls featured more. our duck patrol adventures will be talked about sometime soon.

the cooking meeting was FABULOUS!! the girls did great and i am eating my pumpkin bread as i write this, yum! thank you soooo much christine for welcoming us in to your house, it was such a nice change. please send me pictures (i forgot my camera!) so i can post some pictures here. the girls shared in a tradition my family has: saying "thankfuls" at mealtime. we went around the room and each girl said what they were thankful for regarding camp fire. everyone said sweet things, each comment was special. i loved natalie's thanks at sharing camp fire with her mom (who was also in camp fire), ryann thanked ME for letting her in our group (thank YOU ryann and kim!!) and all the girls were thankful for their camp fire friends. this is something we might do regularly at our own meetings, it is a peaceful thoughtful tradition.

on that note: i hope all of you know how thankful i am to have all of YOU in my group of kids, moms, dads and family members... this is a dream come true for me, i am so proud of all of you and brag continuously about all my camp fire families. this thanksgiving i send all of you my heartfelt thanks for continuing on this camp fire journey with me. i know it gets crazy sometimes but this long haul commitment will be worth it, i am so sure of it!

happy thanksgiving!

baking at the whipps

november 24th meeting is at christine whipps house
6-7pm

happy thanksgiving everyone!

our next two monday meetings will be at the church, christmas crafts.

belmont shore parade is saturday december 6th, jami is in charge. we meet at the same place (on quincy avenue in belmont shore)
more info to come on that event

december 15th is at ryann albins house, cooking meeting

december 22nd is our christmas party at danica's grandmas house
gift exchange: please ONLY HANDMADE GIFTS, keep it simple and inexpensive

kiniya

great job girls! this was an amazing event. thanks to danica and sage for representing our group, you rocked!!!

kiniya

congrats to sage and danica who were picked from the hat (sorry i forgot at the meeting) to read at kiniya (about our service project) this thursday.

the alternates are annika first and then emily.

i am looking forward to seeing everyone on thursday. i will be buying ducks, chickens, part of a water buffalo and a tree SOON!!
we might have some more money trickling in to buy some honeybees, stay tuned!

cleaver bead meeting

thank you cleaver!!

grunion gazette

we are in the paper! thanks to everyone who came to this event, we will do monthly patrols starting in january!

reminder: Christmas party is scheduled for monday december 22nd, 6pm to 7pm.... this year we will have a homemade only gift exchange, no purchased gifts please. keep it simple.

there will be two christmas craft meetings in december to give you ideas for homemade gifts.

update

here is gerrie schipskes blog about duck patrol.

monday nov 17th, meeting at the church; christmas bead craft, getting ready for kiniya, charity chore list due, 5 dollar donation due for heifer international, we are choosing our animals tonight

thursday nov 20th KINIYA 6pm, be at the flagpole by 5:45pm parents drop of kids and head to the back of camp shiwaka. pick up after the ceremony at the council (the girls will sing the recessional out of the ceremony and meet at the lodge for cookies)

thank you lisa and janet for donating cookies for kiniya

monday nov 24th meeting at christine whipp's house, we are baking pumpkin bread and honoring thanksgiving

monday dec 1, monday dec 8: christmas craft meetings at the church

saturday dec 6 belmont shore parade. parade starts at 6pm, we need to be there by 5:30 pm. wear blue pants, white turtleneck and/or sweater with vest over. we have some santa hats for everyone to wear. jami is in charge of this event, we need everyone to sign permission slips prior to the event and only two parents can walk in the parade. more details to come soon.

monday dec 15th meeting is at kim albins (ryanns house) we are assembling dinner to freeze and take home.

CHRISTMAS PARTY WILL BE MONDAY DEC 22nd at dori's mom's house, thank you dori for helping with this event. we will be doing a homemade only gift exchange. more info to come soon.

please check the all council calendar i handed out at the beginning of the year if you need to look up events for next year. january we will be having a bead ceremony meeting and handing out all the beads earned so far this year and doing a bead craft for our vests. candy sales begin in january, we wont have as many meetings but need everyone to get to the candy sales to make selling candy easier.


last, if you want to go to lazy j weekend, the deadline is november 22nd to pay your 20 dollar deposit.

Bead Fair

we earned 7 beads from 7 stations, this was so fun and i want to thank all the volunteers from our group: anne marie, kim, christine and dori. we had a large crowd participate from our group and i was impressed with how well behaved you all are, thank you!

next meeting is monday november 17th, bring your charity chore form filled out with the beads you earned (list your chores and we can figure out the beads if you need help) bring your 5 dollars to donate to the heifer international, we will be picking our animals at the meeting. if you forgot your 5 dollars today at the bead fair, please bring it to the next meeting (i have a list if you dont remember, the 5 dollars is for the beads you earned and the cost of supplies).

we will be decorating our kiniya poster, talking about kiniya "manners" and doing a christmas bead craft with CLEAVER!! for those of you who dont know who cleaver is, she was a girl i went to camp with as a kid, we are still great friends. "cleaver' is her camp name, her real name is LESLIE! do you remember MY camp name? ask cleaver at the next meeting!

Kiniya begins at 6pm thursday november 20th, please be at the flagpole BEFORE 6pm, shoot for 5:45. please dont be late if you can help it, this is a FORMAL event, wear your uniform, eat something before you come, wear close toed shoes, bring sit upons (flashlights are optional) it might be chilly, wear a sweater or sweatshirt UNDER your vest.

duck patrol

thanks so much you guys, i was so happy to see such a big crowd today, you should all be proud! gerrie schipske was very impressed with us! we will be doing another duck patrol in january so be ready to go after the holidays.

newsflash!

we have a reporter coming to the duck patrol, bring out all your big guns! (just come in uniform) and we will be in the newspaper girls! i am so proud of us!


2pm to 3pm sunday november 9th

Lazy J Ranch

Lazy J Ranch February 27th to March 1st 2009

The weekend starts at 5pm Friday and ends Sunday at noon
Cost is $125 per person (children and adults) and includes all actiites and meals

A $20 dollar deposit is due by NOVEMBER 22nd and obligates you to the total payment, due Saturday Feb 7, 2009. if circumstances change and you get another girl to take your place, this is fine but you must make arrangements yourself.

We need to drive our girls there ourselves, the camp is located in Malibu so it will be quite a drive on friday. i plan on taking my husbands truck and can load everyones bags in the back. i can take up to six people (if we squeeze a kid in the front seat).

the weekend is very exciting, the girls will be doing horseback riding and spend a lot of time taking care of the animals there. there are counselors who will run the camp and take the girls to each activity, the parents who want and/or can go will not be required to participate. emily and i are planning to go, let me know who wants to attend and if any parents are interested in coming as well. i know we cant accomodate ALL the parents so i will try to be as fair as possible to determine who is going, i am sure we can take one parent/3 girls so if everyone went, 5 parents could go. on the other hand, if NO ONE wants to go (just send their kids alone) i will need at least one other parent to go. basically i need a minimum of 2 adults including me and a maximum of 5... does that make sense??

to offset the cost i am going to organize a garage sale in january. everyone who participates will take an even piece of the proceeds to be used toward the cost of the lazy j ranch weekend. after you get all those great christmas presents and dont have any storage space left, you can donate to our garage sale, make some money for lazy j and get some closet space back. woo hoo! another group did this and make 500 dollars! we can do it guys!


ok! so get your deposit to camp fire asap if you want to go, this will be a blast for the girls! email me with any questions.


remember to come on sunday for the duck patrol, 2pm to 3pm at the duck pond, wear your vest, bring a friend

no meeting monday november 10th, bead fair tuesday november 11th at 930 to 1230 (sack lunch to be eaten after is optional)

Duck Patrol and Sewing meeting

thank you for a wonderful sewing meeting tonight christine! i will post pictures soon.

this sunday is our duck patrol at el dorado duck pond on studebaker, from 2pm until about 3pm. please wear your uniform and be ready to spread the word: "Do not feed the ducks!" bring your friends, siblings, neighbors and anyone who will come, we need a big crowd! we will have another duck patrol after the holidays so please come show gerrie schipske we are committed to helping save the ducks!

bead fair on tuesday november 11th from 930am to 1230am, the flyer says to bring a sack lunch, this is optional. i personally wont be able to stay to eat so make sure a parent is available to stay with anyone wanting to eat at the council.

i am working on an event to meet with an artist at a gallery in los angeles, this might come up quickly, i will keep everyone posted. i can take four maybe five girls with me if it is hard for parents to get there. more info to come. maybe one or two parents will be willing to carpool and we can get more girls there.

no meeting monday november 10th

bring your 5 dollars and charity chore lists (please look up chores in your bead book, i sent home a flyer with chore ideas) to the november 17th meeting. we will be picking our heifer animals and doing a christmas bead ornament craft with cleaver.

kiniya is thursday november 20th, the flyer says it starts at 6pm, i will find out if this is correct asap, please stay tuned for more on this. i was told it was at 7pm and wrote this on a memo so please be aware the time may change.

november 24th meeting is at christine whipp's house

belmont shore parade is saturday december 6th this year.

i have tried to keep everyone up to date, this has been a busy fall. make sure the girls have filled out the first few pages of their workbooks, we are up to page 8 and 9 now. if you havent been to a meeting, go over the first few pages and make sure everyone understands we are working on the "trail seeker" patch which consists of several projects we need to complete during the year. the patch can only be earned if all parts are completed. the service project is either the heifer international donation or the duck patrol. each girl needs to do at least one of these to earn the service project section of the trail seeker award.

this sunday is the duck patrol and the donation is due by november 17th, make sure you do at least one of these options. if you attended day camp, you have earned the environment portion. day camp and/or spring camp out is the outdoor camping portion. we have already done a lot to earn this award, please read more about it in your workbooks. also, please make sure everyone has the bead book, you can get it at camp fire council



thanks!