Mom & Me Day!

Sarah and I haven't had a Mom & Me Day in a long time, so we decided to have one on Wednesday.  I left work early and we made a day out of it.

I don't get out much.  So I finally got a chance to checkout Destiny USA (our mall up in Syracuse).  They have been a huge quest to expand over the last few years.  I'm liked what I saw.

First Stop:  Revolutions at Destiny

Although this was our first stop, we didn't stay long.  Why?  How about a TWO hour wait for bowling!  Honestly, if I was my decision only, we would have skipped this, but Sarah was excited.  So we decided to walk around the mall.  They have a policy where they'll call you, but you have 10 minutes to make it back or you give up your spot.  So we decided to not venture too far.

Second Stop:  The Amazing Mirror Maze

It was "okay."  $21 total for Sarah and I, BUT we were out in less than 20 minutes.  Luckily (and I'm sure they have people complain about this), they do allow you go back through backyards.  So we made it last about 40 minutes until Sarah "finally had enough."

Third Stop:  Window Shopping/Browsing

Since we still had an hour to kill at this time, we decided to venture around and window shop.  We are huge fans of the FiveBelow store, so Sarah did a bit of shopping.  We also took a few minutes to checkout cool things like Billy Beez and Pole Position.  My daughter can't wait until she gets older to race against her dad.

Fourth Stop:  Revolutions at Destiny

Okay, we get the call and hurry back to Revolutions!  Let me put it this way....TOTALLY worth the wait!  This isn't your traditional bowling alley.  Bright balls, huge TV screens built into the alleys, black lights/neon all over, music blasting and more!  To stay that Sarah was enjoying it is a huge understatement...she LOVED it!

For the experience and the very cool atmosphere, I was impressed with the price.  Including shoes...we paid $21.00 for us to both bowl 2 games.

Final Stop:  Dave & Busters!

Sarah really wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese again sometime, so I figured she like Dave & Busters.  I have to say that I liked it just as much.  We lucked out and happened to be there on 1/2 priced game day Wednesday.  That helped a lot because we spent $60 total for both of us.  This includes food (which was yummy by the way) and games.  If it weren't for the half priced games, we would have eaten through our card credits in less than 30 minutes.  Instead, we were able to drag them out for over an hour.


All in all, we had fun!  I'll go back to Revolutions at Destiny and Dave & Busters (but probably only on Wednesdays); however, I do think we'll skip the Amazing Mirror Maze next time.  Not necessarily because it was bad, it just wasn't right for us.

Snowshoeing with Girl Scouts!

Our Girl Scout troop went snowshoeing this past weekend!  It was so much fun!  I honestly think that I would like to go snowshoeing again!

This event was organized by our Girl Scout council.  It was very affordable; only $4 per girl.  The event went from 1-3pm and we were actually snowshoeing for about 1.5 hours of that.  So...needless to say...we were all very tired.  We went up a lot of hills and sometimes off trail (don't worry with a guide), so it was fun but a workout!

The entire time, the girls were all "cool look at that," "do you see a deer," "I love snowshoeing," "this is the best Girl Scout event ever."  That was until we had about 15 minutes left in the trip!  Then it was "I'm tired," "are we done yet," "whose idea was it to go snowshoeing?"  Too funny!

Snow Day!

I wish it was a snow day for me, but I still had to work.  When I got home, we enjoyed a TON of fun sledding.  Of course, what is sledding without a few wipeouts!

Girl Scouts & Benefits of Participating in Cookie Booths

As I think that I have mentioned many times before, I am a Girl Scout troop leader.  My troop is composed of Juniors (4th & 5th graders).  I have been very fortunate to have amazing parents and girls who jump at the chance to sign-up for Girl Scout cookie booths.  Not as many leaders are as lucky as me.  I have heard from quite a few leaders that they are having a hard time getting girls to cookie booths.

If you are the parent of a Girl Scouts, consider the many benefits of signing your daughter up for booth sales:

Money Earned For Your Daughter's Troop

The more girls who participate at booth sales, the more booth sales you can have and this means more money for the troop.  Now, leaders and troops do different things with cookie money.  We personally use the majority of cookie money for troop trips.  Active participation in booths means that my parents rarely have to pay for troop trips because the troop

Girls Acquire Money Skills

The only time an adult volunteer handles money at one of our cookie booths is when it is too windy for the girls to do it themselves.  While my girls are older and already have some money experience, the adding and subtracting and learning to count money back is a valuable tool.  For our area, Girl Scout cookie prices have increased to $4 (they were $3.50), which will make it much easier on them. Trust me when I say that my girls will be excited to not have to worry about those quarters anymore!

Girls Acquire Customer Service Skills

What I like about cookie booths is that even the most quiet Girl Scout (the one who you usually have to engage at meetings) comes out of her shell at cookie booth time!  These girls love engaging with customers.  They have come up with many cookie slogans, marketing tactics and even dances based around each cookie!  Knock on wood, we have always encountered great customers.  My proud moment is even a customer says "no," my troop girls still respond with "thank you anyways; I hope that you have a great day!"

Teamwork, Teamwork & More Teamwork!

Perhaps what I love most about cookie booth sales is that all Girl Scouts work together.  I'm sure that one of my seasoned pros could easily run a booth by herself, but they would rather work with their Girl Scout sisters and this makes me proud.  In the past, each girl develops a system themselves where they each get to spend time as the cashier, the stocker and the greeter.  At the close of each booth sale, I always hear "how did we do...never how did I do?"  As a Girl Scout leader, I am truly proud of the teamwork!

Cookie Rally!

This past weekend, a group of my Junior Girl Scouts hosted a Cookie Rally for our service unit!  They worked really hard on planning, making supply lists and then manning the stations at the cookie booth.  Our service unit uses an event like this to get the girls pumped up and excited about selling cookies!

As a troop leader, I can’t begin to explain how proud I am of these girls!  They hosted and ran a service unit event for 50 girls!  Yes…50 girls!

Fun activities included cookie twister, cookie goal necklaces, cookie themed duck tape headbands, decorating clipboards, cookie races and more!

I can't post many pictures due to privacy, but here are a few that I can share:

I Miss Summer!

This cold weather is making me miss summer!  I'm not one to complain about snow (after all, I love to go sledding), but I can deal without the VERY cold temperatures.  I'd really like it to be above 0 sometimes!

Here is to thinking about fun, warm summers!

Girl Scout Door-to-Door Cookie Sales Start Soon!

Starting Saturday February 1st, you may notice a little Girl Scout knocking on your door asking you if you’d like to buy Girl Scout cookies.

Girl Scout cookies are not only tasty, but they help support a great cause. Did you know that after the bakery is paid, all money stays within council? 

Each troop receives money from the cookies they sell. Regardless of how each troop chooses to spend this money, it goes towards creating fun, safe, educational and adventurous experiences for our girls and, of course, creating memories that will last a lifetime.

Don’t be afraid to ask a Girl Scout what their troop will be doing with cookie proceeds…in fact, most girls will be proud to tell you about their wonderful plans.

Over the past few years, our area has seen an increase in Girl Scouts. This is something that we adult volunteers are very proud of. This means that you’ll likely be asked to buy cookies from multiple Girl Scouts. While their adorableness and good manners are likely to reel you in, it is completely understandable that you don’t need 100 boxes of cookies! I feel for all the teachers who will probably be asked by no fewer than 10 Girl Scouts.

But, please keep in mind, these girls have worked very hard to set goals and are excited to contribute to their troop and local community (did you know Girl Scouts love to volunteer)? So if you aren’t interested in buying cookies, don’t be afraid to say “no,” but please remember that you are dealing with a child.

Be polite, but be honest with them. I know if you told any of my girls that you already purchased cookies, their reply would be “Thank You for Supporting Girl Scouts.” And, trust me….we all thank you!!!

Sarah Learning to Ice Skate

I love my family!  Sarah's birthday was the other day and there was no school on Monday.  My mom and her husband, Denny, offered to watch Sarah for the day.  Being it was still so close to her birthday, they wanted to mark the occasion with something special.

When my mom explained they were going to "surprise," Sarah with ice skating. I thought oh no!  I love my daughter but surprises aren't typically her thing.  Neither is falling down (haha read about our skating adventure last year).

But I have to say that I am very proud of her.  My mom snapped this picture of Sarah and Grandpa Denny.  Luckily he knew how to ice skate because I don't and neither does Sarah's dad!

Now, the "expert," ice skater is going to teach us to ice skate sometime.  I'm really hoping this makes roller skating with Girl Scouts this weekend go a lot better than last year!

I Consider It A Success!

When Dan let me know that he couldn't attend the Girl Scout family rollerskating party, I got a bit nervous.  I honestly thought about not going.  Hey...it is a family event...the Girl Scouts don't need their leader there!?!  Last years trip was Sarah's first time rollerskating and it happened to fall on her birthday.  If you ask her, it still goes down as the "worst birthday in the history of birthday parties."

Well, I found myself carpooling a few girls up and it wasn't so easy to back out anymore.  So we braved it!  Luckily, we got there early enough were Sarah was able to grab some training skates that don't roll backwards.  It was still rough-going (a bit of crying and a bit of screaming), but she was able to skate on her own and have fun.  Although many of her friends were "skating circles," around her, they did come to hang out with her every once in a while, which was really nice!

So all-in-all, I consider this years Girl Scout Roller Skating Adventure a Success!

We skate at Reva Rollerdrome in Auburn, NY.

Addicted To Fruit Ninja

I've got to get myself a Kindle Fire.  Better yet, I've got to NOT get myself a Kindle Fire.  Why?  Because I can totally see my productivity decline!

My daughter loves her Kindle Fire that she got for Christmas.  She loves downloading new games (or at least she did).  She has been so content with the games she currently has that she hasn't asked for anything new in about a full month!

We plucked down the 99 cents (big spenders we are) and purchased Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots.  She couldn't stop playing it!  One night, she says "Mom, try and beat my high score."  And...a monster was created.

Of course I beat her high score, it wasn't that hard at first.  After all, I'm an adult and she is a 9 year old.  With that said, my high score lasted for one day.  We did a back and forth a bit and now I can't beat her.  Think I'm gonna give up...nope!

How terrible is that I find myself playing on my daughter's Kindle after she goes to bed?  That is why I'm a bit nervous to purchase my own.  I wouldn't necessarily call myself a fan of games, but I can't stop playing...so addicting!  I'm afraid that if I had my own Kindle, I wouldn't put it down!

Loving Amazon's AutoRip Feature

My daughter has a Kindle Fire that Santa brought her for Christmas.  For her birthday, she got a ton of Amazon gift cards.  Seeing how most of the apps she likes are free and we utilize Kindle FreeTime Unlimitedwe weren't spending any of her gift cards!

Thanks to Amazon's AutoRipfeature, we have found a good use for her gift cards.  Sarah loves to listen to music, but she is one of those girls who has to have the CD booklet.  She loves leafing through the pictures, seeing if there are any lyrics in the booklet and so forth.

With Amazon's AutoRipfeature, we just ordered her some CDs.  In the mail, she'll get the actual CDs (booklets and all), but the music was immediately available on her Kindle.  Love it!  Right now, she is singing along to Taylor Swift on her Kindle while patiently awaiting her actual CDs to arrive.

I Shoulda Put Her To Bed

We had a VERY active night last night.  My daughter's birthday sleepover was finally hosted (rescheduled from last week).

Since she barely got any sleep and decided not to take a nap today, we decided bedtime was early.  However, she found herself getting ready right at the Super Bowl half-time show.  Being the active girl who can always be found singing and dancing around the house, I thought she might enjoy watching the show.

First, let me state that my daughter is nine years old.  We have been having a bit of problems with inappropriate dancing.  Let just say things that a nine year old shouldn't be shaking have been a shaking.  So we have had a few chats about how nine year old should dance.

So in that aspect, I probably should have known better than to let her watch a Super Bowl half-time show.  My fault.

At first, she noticed the singing difference.  She asked why Beyonce didn't sound as good as on the radio.  This was a proud mama moment (I was impressed she noticed) and explained lip singing and imagine how hard it would be to sing and dance at the same time.

Then came the moment I gonna remember as the "mom's lapse in judgement."  When she says to me, "I can't believe you are letting me watch....she is dancing kinda inappropriately."

My Life Is About To Become Hectic...Girl Scout Cookies in January!

As a Girl Scout troop leader, cookie season is that time of year you love it and hate it.  Never in my life have I experienced such a range of emotions.

Phase #1:  Excited

This is the moment you realize cookie season is fast approaching.  It is the moment that you get your girls all pumped up.  You run though customer service drills, you give them the low-down on safety, you work as a group on what to do with troop funds and so forth.

Phase #2:  Encouraged

This is the moment when all your girls turn in their initial order forms and you realize everyone did a GREAT job selling to family, friends and neighbors.  This is the "boy we are really on track to have a great sale," moment.

Phase #3:  Oh Crap, Do We Have Enough Cars To Get All These Cookies?!

This usually happens the night before pick-up aka Cookie Depot.  Despite all the planning and space calculations, you really begin to wonder if your four leader/parent vehicles is enough for all the troop cookies.  Second guessing yourself at the last minute...never a good idea!

Phase #4:  Why Did We Have To Sell This Many Cookies?!

This is the moment when all the Girl Scout cookies are unloaded into my house and ready for sorting.  This is also the moment that there is a very small path throughout my entire home!

Phase #5:  We Did It!

This is the moment when you love your co-leader, volunteers and parents who show-up the night of delivery to pick-up their order.  It is also the moment that you can walk through your house without bumping into cookie boxes.

Phase #6:  Proud

This is the moment you watch your daughter and her Girl Scout friends kicking butt with booth sales.  They do an awesome job at handling the sale.  Our customers are usually great about the extra minute or two it takes for them to tally up their total and make change.

Phase #7:  I Want My Life Back

This is moment when you realize, I have spent no less than three days a week hosting booth sales for the last three weeks.  My life has revolved around nothing but Girl Scout cookies!  And we still have a couple more weeks left to go...I want my life back and this is usually the time I'm saying "I hope that I never have to see another Girl Scout cookie again!"

Phase #8:  In Tears

This is the moment when you realize cookie sales end in a week and you still have 100 boxes of cookies left to sell.  Of course, you begin to panic...I don't want to be responsible for these cookies.

Phase #9:  Proud Again

This is the moment when you realized you were panicking and in tears for nothing because your remaining booth team rocked it and sold all the cookies.  Knock on wood...I probably just jinxed myself this year.

Phase #10:  We Did It And We'll Do It Again Next Year

This is the moment when cookie sales are finished and you realized "my troop did AMAZING."  Despite the wide range of emotions, you are totally proud of yourself, your daughter, your co-leader, your entire troop and all parents.  This the moment that you realize, despite all the complaining I love Girl Scout cookie season and I'll enjoy it every year that I am a troop leader.

Birthday Party Postponed!

Sarah's birthday party was supposed to be this weekend.  A sleepover with some of her friends.  With that said, she came down with a bad cough.  That cough gets worse with eating and lots of activity (all important components of a GREAT sleepover).  Not to mention that she has inherited by easy-gagging reflex...she got sick a few times.  Needless to say, her sleepover had to be rescheduled.

I felt so bad having to tell her.  Lots of tears!  In fact, a TON of tears!  Although she knows that we now have extra time to plan the best party ever and that everyone who was going to come today is still going to come next week, it is like we ruined her life!

Despite knowing we made the right decision, I still feel terrible!

Well That Was Fun...NOT!

Today is Sarah's birthday!  She is officially nine years old!

We had a roller skating event planned for Girl Scouts.  She wanted to do it, despite falling on her birthday.  "In fact Mom, that is the best way to spend my birthday.  It will be the best birthday ever!"  Words she wished she never spoke.

Needless to say, I wish that we had taught her how to roller skate.  The closet roller skating rink is 45 minutes away and, honestly, the thought never crossed my mind.

As much as I love my daughter, she is a total drama queen.  After lacing up her skates, she quickly stands up and comes right back down.  Not that hard, but you would have though she seriously injured herself.  It took 20 minutes of non-stop crying before her dad and I were able to get her to stand up.

Despite going slow, lots of help from my co-leader and some assistance from a rink employee, Sarah has decided that roller skating simply just isn't for her.  She fell A LOT.  Which is understandable from never having roller skated before; however, "every bone in her body hurt," "I'm gonna end up at the hospital," and so forth.

In about an hour and half of skating, she literally made it around the rink about 4 times.  Instead of arguing with her to give it some more tries (because it did become arguments at this point in time), I loaded her up with quarters and she spent the rest of the time in the arcade with some of her Girl Scout friends who had also had enough roller skating at this point in time.

The day was saved with a visit to Friendly's and one of her close friends spending the night for a mini-birthday party.  All in all, a great day.  However, I couldn't help but smile when she stated "I wish I could have those three hours of my life back."

Happy Birthday!

Tomorrow my daughter turns nine years old!  Nine years old.  Where has the time gone!  I can't believe how big she is getting!

Scholastic Book Club Orders

I'm usually a big fan of Scholastic Book Clubs.  I was slacking a bit at the beginning of the year and hadn't placed any orders.  After all, we make out pretty good at the library.  With that said, I love supporting my daughter's classroom with a book club order.

Her teacher mentioned in November, that any book club orders we wanted for the holidays would be stashed aside and we could pick them up with our parent teacher conference.  That got me thinking "wait a minute, I have tossed aside all these book orders and never actually ordered anything this year."

I ended up placing my order online, which makes it very convenient and the classroom gets a certificate for a bonus book or a discount on a book.

I just placed my second order this year, with a FREE book coupon redeemed.

I ended up buying:

My Dumb Diaries:  Nobody's Perfect, But I'm As Close As It Gets - Although I'm not necessarily a fan of the "dumb," in the title, my daughter loves these books.

Ramona Super Pack - I use to love Beverly Clearly books growing up and how to get her addicted to them too!

My Life as a Book - This just looked pretty neat and it was only $1!

Starring Jules #1: Starring Julies As Herself - This is the free book that I opted for and it looks so much fun-loving, like my daughter would love based on the cover and description.

Totally Love The Sledding Hill Behind Our House

I have said time and time again that I was a bit nervous about buying our house two years ago.  Our street isn't known as the best street in our little community.  Our cars were broken into at least 4 times in the first year we lived here.  Twice they made away with something (the second time wasn't much of a score...just a bunch of kid CDs).

Knock on wood, things have seemed to settled down (hope not to jinx myself tonight) and we have really great new neighbors.

One thing I wouldn't trade for the world is our property.  We have the best sledding hill right in our backyard.  It isn't too big.  It isn't too small.  It is the perfect size.

My daughter loves going outside with us to sled or play in the snow.  It is so much fun that kids ask to come over and go sledding (yeah...so excited to be the fun house in the neighborhood).

Lyrics in CD Booklets

A few years ago, my daughter got a CD player for her birthday.  Although she already had an mp3 player, we wanted her to have that cool CD experience that we had when we were younger...lounging in bed, flipping through the CD booklet, listening to music before bed or just because.

Sarah has recently said to me "I wish that you could see before you buy, which CDs have lyrics with them."  This very proud mom loved that she wants to spend her money on CDs that she can sing along to and learn what the songs mean.

Sounds so silly, but I'm very glad that she is learning that music is more than about the most popular songs on the radio or having a great beat to dance too...many songs and their lyrics have meanings.  Probably won't happen for a few years, but maybe she'll then understand why I love the Goo Goo Dolls and Live (many of their songs were written by their lead singers).

We All Made It Past Midnight!

My 8-year old has always said "I want to stay up for New Year's."  Two years ago, she almost made it.  Last year, she didn't even last until 10pm.  Last night, we made it.  All three of us made it until midnight!  We had a fun night of board games, video games and watching the ball drop.

We started out the night with some dinner (turkey sandwiches) and some snacks (chips, dip, cheese and crackers).

Next, we finally broke out Fibber.  Let me tell you...that is a VERY fun game that I'll have to review soon!

We played Fibber for about 2 hours (seriously, no one wanted to stop playing it)!  Then, we moved into the Xbox Kinect and we enjoyed some Kinect Adventures and Just Dance 4.  Even her dad got up and danced (boy was that a sight to see)!

When all was said and done, we hit the New Year's Eve show just in time to watch Taylor Swift sing a couple of songs and watch the ball drop.

Surprisingly, we had to practically drag Sarah to bed because she learned that Justin Bieber would be singing later that night, but we were all SO tired!  We compromised and decide to record Justin Bieber, which I'm sure she'll be up watching first thing in the morning.

Sarah looked up at me with those sleepy eyes at like 12:35 and says "Best day ever.  I wish we could do this every night."  This mom is glad we only get to do it once a year!