A visit to a flower farm and more

Angelique joined a new Girl Scouts troop this fall because her original troop had disbanded. I volunteered to chaperon at her first event on Monday, August 30. The 9 girls each created All About Me posters and then took turns presenting to the troop as a getting-to-know-you event. Angelique was really nervous about meeting the girls and I noticed how she took extra care in brushing her hair and getting ready to go. Unfortunately, she inherited my introverted nature and it is hard for her to walk into new situations. Knowing this and having the same "fear-of-meeting-new-people" disability, I thought maybe I could help with the transition by being there with her. I brought my camera and took lots of pictures. Want to know something about taking pictures? It actually helps me cope with new situations because I have the camera as a small shield, it makes people smile, and relaxes me a bit. It is a tool in my introvert tool box.
The second reason for chaperoning the GS event was the agenda. We got to tour Forget-Me-Not flower farm about 20 miles outside of Fergus Falls. I do love me some flowers! What a beautiful treasure that I didn't even know existed. One of the features offered by the Kendra, the owner, is 14 weeks of fresh flower bouquets, one delivered each week during the summer with a final delivery of a dried flower arrangement. Can you imagine how uplifting it would be to receive or even better to GIVE one of these master pieces each week? My heart goes pitter-patter just to imagine it.
The girls divided into three groups and not only got to select some flowers, but they got to create a beautiful, one-of-kind bouquet for delivery. A custom signature card was added to the mason jar vase with their troop number and signatures. You can see the pride in their faces.

I thought the first event went very smooth, but as soon as we were walking back to the car, Angelique said, "I didn't think they were very welcoming to me. No one talked to me." I gently told her, "It may help if you approached and said something first." It is difficult to help out a shy girl, but I am hoping with a little more time she will adapt to her new troop. Maybe she will have to become the picture-girl in her troop!

Catchin' up

May was chuck full of activities and although I took a boat-load of pictures, I just couldn't keep up with blogging about it. Since my blog has become my only means of tracking the events and happenings in our life, it isn't fun being so far behind. With only one day left of May, this is going to be my catch up on a few events and important milestones before my feeble little brain forgets it all.

Remember Abby's poem "God's Gifts In My Life"? She found out that she got 3rd place in state for her entry. How fun for her!

Another milestone for Abby was earning her Bronze award in Girl Scouts and "walked over" from a Junior Girl Scout to a Cadette.
The girls in her troop (normally 5 girls) worked over a year to fulfill the requirements for the Bronze Award, which is the highest honor a Junior Girl Scout can earn. It requires her to learn the leadership and planning skills necessary to follow through on a project that makes a positive impact on her community. Working towards this award demonstrates her commitment to helping others, improving her community and the world, and becoming the best she can be. The girls created a blog about Fergus Falls so help people learn about the town and have family friendly activities to do. They also put together a Kid's carnival during Summer Fest.
As part of the "walking over" theme, the girls custom designed their own flip-flops and had a red carpet/runway to walk down.

Music, music, music... we were entertained by Abby's Spring band concert as well as piano recitals for both Abby & Angelique. This is the end of the first year of piano for Angelique and in true form, she has been completely different from her older sister. We struggled to get Angelique to meet her practice requirements on a weekly basis. There were times I felt like our fee for piano lessons was literally being flushed down the toilet. I don't know what the future holds for Angelique in terms of continuing to play the piano, but in the last 2 months, she has really done well and the amount of nagging went down considerably. We are taking the summer off, mostly because I can then take a break from trying to encourage (a.k.a. bribe/nag) her to practice.
Angelique had both of her performance pieces memorized and during her first song, she actually looked over at Steve and & while playing and smiled. It was so funny! She received a lot of praise from her teacher as well as from Grandma Shirley, who came to watch the recital. Hopefully, that will translate into a more motivated student this coming Fall. I can dream, can't I?.
Abby had two very challenging pieces that she played beautifully. She has just completed the end of her 4th year of lessons. As the difficulty increases, she has been getting discouraged at the time it takes her to master her songs. Hopefully, she will feel motivated enough to continue with lessons this Fall.
A Midsummer Nights Dream... It was a rather ambitious school play put on by Prairie Fire Children's Theatre in 5 days time. Try-outs are after school on Monday and by Friday night, they have their performance. As a 6th grader, this is Abby's last year at OLV. One of her most favorite things is being the play. She had the part of Starveling, a tailor, in the play, which she was completely thrilled about.
The play was funny and cute! Grandma Rose and cousin Logan came to watch the Saturday afternoon performance and they said it was worth the trip.

Angelique finished up parks-n-rec soccer this past week. It is a great activity to help her burn off her excess energy. As a 2nd grader, she hasn't started playing true games. That will come next Fall as a 3rd grader. Steve was the total soccer dad. He took her to practice twice a week for 6 weeks. I missed EVERY.SINGLE.PRACTICE. and I feel bad about it. I have a boot camp class that I go to which caused conflicts, plus Abby had problems getting all her homework done each evening without supervision. And it was a cold and yucky Spring, which is not fun for me as a spectator. Excuses... I know, don't judge me. Hopefully next Fall I will be able to be a proper soccer mom.
Luckily, Angelique never held it against me.