Thinking Day 2010

Today Mikaela and I had the pleasure of celebrating Thinking Day 2010 at the Gainesville Mountain Center.

For those not familiar with girl scout history:

Lord Baden-Powell was born in England about 150 years ago! When he was an adult he wrote a book about camping, first aid, animals and lots of other things. He called this book “Scouting for Boys”. Lots of boys in England bought the book. They loved it so much, they started little groups called Boy Scouts. In the groups they did all the activities Lord Baden-Powell talked about in his book and they talked to their friends about how much fun it was. In just a little while, Boy Scout groups began popping up all over the world.

Lord Baden-Powell had no idea how many boys there were in these groups so he decided to call them all together for a big party in London. He invited ‘anyone doing Scouting’ to come to the party. Was he ever surprised when eleven thousand boys showed up. But he was even more surprised by the small group of girls that came as well!

Lord Baden-Powell stood in front of the girls and asked, “Who are you?”

Together they replied proudly, “We are the Girl Scouts.”

Lord Baden-Powell’s sister Lady Agnes Baden-Powell was at the party too. She smiled at the girls, then turned to Lord Baden-Powell and said, “It looks like you’re going to have to have to write a book for the girls too.”

“Hmmm. How about you doing it, Agnes?” replied Lord Baden-Powell.

And so Lady Agnes Baden-Powell wrote a handbook for the girls. Over time younger girls wanted to join in the fun too, so the Brownies were formed.
Just like the Boy Scouts, the Girl Guides and Girl Scouts spread all over the world!

Thinking Day is a very special birthday. It is the birthday of Lord Baden-Powell and Lady Baden-Powell.

The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts chooses a theme for each World Thinking Day and proposes related activities. This year's theme was:

"Together we can end extreme poverty and hunger"

Juliette Low founded scouts here in American in 1912. She was a good friend of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, and having lived in England her interest began there.



When we entered, we saw an assortment of girl scout history. A favorite was an American Girl doll wearing her own girl scout uniform!



We were given passport books and were ready to venture on our "trip around the world."

Our first stop was Haiti. We learned that Haiti means "mountainous region." It was interesting to learn that Haiti has the highest unemployment and illiteracy rate.

China was cool! We learned that I was born in the year of the rabbit, Mikaela was born in the year of the horse, and this is the year of the tiger! Mikaela learned to write the Chinese symbol for tiger.


Off to Ireland. Here we learned the story of the blarney stone. You must lean overbackwords, and kiss the wall for the legend to hold true for you.


The girls and I found the promise in England to be interesting - girls promise "to serve the Queen and my country." We read the promise in most country and the differences were fascinating. In Japan we learned that girls promise to "love Buddha."


Mikaela reading about girl scouting in Japan.

In Australia - that treat behind her is fairy bread - a special dessert served. Did I mention that there was food in every country? YUMMY.


Ireland - two times! In each country, we read the facts that the troop had presented, got our passport books stamped, sampled a treat, and participating in swaps.

Swaps, the tradition of Girl Scouts exchanging keepsakes, started long ago when Girl Scouts and Girl Guides first gathered for fun, song, and making new friends. Some scouts have named

SWAPS:
Special
Whatchamacallits
Affectionately
Pinned
Somewhere

Each one is a memory of a special event or Girl Scout Sister.


Playing the harp.

Learning about the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). She encouraged us to learn about the WAGGGS pin that we wear on our uniform. So - I looked it up:

The gold band surrounding our pin symbolizes the sun that shines on children all over the world.
The blue background symbolizes the sky above us, all over the world.
The gold trefoil is the sign of Girl Scouting and Girl Guiding around the world. The 3 parts of the trefoil stand for the 3 parts of the Promise.
The star on the left, the same side as our heart, stands for the pledge that all Girl Scouts and Girl Guides try, on their honor, to keep: the Promise.
The right star, on the side of a helping hand, stands for the Girl Guide and Girl Scout code of conduct--the GG/GS Law.
We place a compass needle in the center, to serve as a guide pointing towards the right way in life.
At the base of the trefoil we place the flame. Its burning represents love for humanity and international friendship.

In Greece we met one of the older girls from the fashion show.

In Hungary we practiced saying hello and goodbye!

At the end, there were various games to try out.

And crafts.
And good friends.
Interesting music.
And silly moments!

Forget the Joneses Continues

Today is day 10 of our Forget the Joneses project participation as a family.

I love that we are teaching our children about the basics of money. We have spent a lot of time discussing our spending freeze with them. We've talked about only buying things that we need, focusing on our spending so that our family can meet goals, and prioritizing and really thinking about each thing we buy.

I think this does an amazing job of modeling how I want them to spend their own money. I'm sure that you, like me, have had those moments where kids make quick decisions with birthday money while you cringe. I know that the toy is junkie and will break.......probably before we even get home with it. I talk, and talk and talk about making good choices, wise spending....sometimes they hear me, other times not so much.

As part of this process we wrote a family mission statement, and are using that as a guide when making purchases. Xander educated most of the Athens Kroger on Tuesday as to the basics of a spending freeze as he simultaneously inspected EVERY item I put in my buggy. ("We're on a spending freeze - you can buy Lucky Charms but we can't - it's not on our list".......repeat.....every aisle)

We are also using our mission statement to guide our discipline, our time spent together as a family, and our goals for house projects.

Today, as a family, we made envelopes to organize our spending. We are going to be using the Dave Ramsey cash only approach this calendar year.

The basic plan is that you pay all your bills, and then withdraw the amount of money you have budgeted for spending - in cash.

You divide the cash out into envelopes - we have groceries (week one and week two), gas, family fun, and date night.

For other expenses that we are saving for - car oil changes, tags, insurance, etc. - I am transferring those balances directly into savings so that we never "see" those funds.

I find myself much more careful in the Kroger when I know that I only have cash to pay at the checkout!

For the kids, they will have three envelopes - save, spend, and give. They will begin to give of their own money at church (which I guess technically is still our money....).

Thanks to my friend for sharing this great site with me that taught me how to make these fabulous envelopes today!

Mikaela's three envelopes - give, save, spendMikaela's envelopes bounded together

Xander's three envelopes - spend, save, give

Family envelopes - groceries, gas, family fun, date night

envelopes bound together - aren't they going to be cute in my checkbook holder?

Snow Day 2010

Mikaela schooled all day Thursday in her winter coat - just in case the snow came down.

No snow in the morning.

No snow when we went to pick up Xander from school.

No snow during lunch.

As we sat down to finish our afternoon school work - SNOW.

Beautiful, white fun snow flurries.

So Proud of Xman

Xman and Ms. Marni - our therapist

Xman with his Certificate of Achievement for conquering fears - We played legos, ate yummy junk food (of his choice), listened to the radio station he picked, colored only Star Wars pictures.........an afternoon to celebrate Xman!

A little Twister hopscotch when we got home to continue the celebration!

Happy Half-Bday Mikaela

Because we love to eat cake.........any cake..........for any occasion.........today, we celebrate Mikaela's half birthday (a house hold tradition).

One pan of yummy peanut butter brownies.

One gappy grin smiling 7 AND a half year old!

One goofy younger brother - helping to celebrate and sing!

Daddy's Perspective of 2009: Xander

Alexander Hayden Thrailkill:
Daddy’s Perspective of 2009
1. You are doing a great job reading. I love hearing you read the BOB books when you go to bed.
2. I can’t believe what a great football player you’re becoming. I was very proud to see you wearing #77 on the field.
3. Of course, you are constantly making heads turn every time you enter the room due to your fancy sense of style.
4. I really enjoy seeing you playing outside and running around. You are getting very fast and strong.
5. We both still enjoy playing and watching superheroes. The other day you and I spent about 30 minutes in a book store looking at comic books together. I hope this continues.
6. You’ve gone from play wrestling with me in the living room to Folk Style wrestling on the mat. I’m proud to say that I am you first official wrestling coach. Keep up the good work.
7. You’ve progressed musically this year. We’ve played so much Rock Band and Guitar Hero that you now want a drum kit. I pray that music is something you will continue to enjoy through the years.
8. You and I have really spent a lot of time together this past year. I am looking forward to spending even more time with in 2010.

Daddy's letter last year

Daddy's Perspective of 2009: Mikaela

Mikaela Grace Thrailkill:
Daddy’s Perspective of 2009

1. Wow! You are reading so many cool books. It is amazing to see how well you read, as well as how much you enjoy reading.
2. I am very proud of your writing this year. The Thanksgiving essay you wrote is spectacular.
3. You have become very active with riding your scooter and jumping on the trampoline. You know how I like to exercise.
4. I will always remember you being a cheerleader for the 7-8 Panthers. You did a great job!
5. You have begun making great friends, especially at church. I think we’ve broken the record on birthday party invitations this year.
6. You are growing up so quickly—let’s slow down on the make-up though.
7. I just love playing video games with you. Right now, I think the DSi is your favorite system to play, but I really enjoy playing the music games and My Sims Agent with you.
8. My favorite part of Kaelee is how sincerely sweet you are you. I love that you still want to snuggle up with me and watch a movie. I pray that will never change.

Daddy's letter last year