Bowling Fun

 Last week all the Girl Scouts had Rule 3 to themselves! We had an awesome time. So much fun for the younger Daisies who got to tag along with their big sis and boy where they spoiled!

A Touch of Spring

 The driveway looks like spring is here! Even if its only for a few days, I love the adorable art work!

Daisy Valentine's - Sisters to Each Other

Daisies are adorable, no doubt about that! I just love when my meetings all come together with their theme! This month is the celebration of Thinking Day. A day to celebrate girls all around the world. The end of February is our Service Unit's Thinking Day Celebration with girls "touring" around the "world" and stopping by seven different countries to learn about girls in those countries. They need a passport to "travel" so our craft was making passports. The girls decorated the cover and wrote their name inside. It is so hilarious to hear them talk about their personal "stats". Half don't know when their birthday's are, most don't know their address and the whole concept of what country they live in is well, they live in Ohio so that is good enough! It is so cute to hear them ask each other these questions!

What a great book! To help teach the lavender petal "Be a Sister to Every Girl Scout" we read this great Mem Fox book on diversity. We talked about people living in other countries specifically Girl Scouts. They may not have meetings that look like ours, their houses may be different, their food may be different but we are still all the same. Great opportunity to address that no matter what the differences are we still need to treat each other with respect. We then made our passports to take to Thinking Day.

What a great way to be a sister to all of your girl scout friends than to have a Valentine party and pass out Valentines to each other. Each girl got to take their valentines and pass them out to their friends one at a time. I try to, whenever possible, do exchanges this way so that the person who is giving can feel proud of what they are giving and also the recipient can acknowledge thanks. It is so very sweet to hear their voices say thank you for their treats to each other. It also gives them time to admire the work others put into gifts. Takes longer but worth the time in my opinion! I know that I love making my valentines and so do my girls. Half the fun is the delivering!

Lyza made some great brownie and popcorn for our snack!

Erin passing out her valentines!

Oh how fun to dump your boxes out and dig through!

So sweet!

Sweets for my Sweets

Every year I make these molten lava cakes for Valentine's Day. The kids love that they all get their own individual cake! I get so excited each year when they actually turn out and look good! I get way too impressed with myself.
This year they were beyond perfect. All the chocolate oozed out and I added a chocolate sauce drizzle on top. Even the raspberries were in at the grocery store and I didn't have to substitute with strawberries like some years.
I am in the process of gathering all of my favorite cookies and desserts for a Miller Family Cookbook and this has to go in the book. I even think it photographed well!

New Year's Resolutions

Sue and Mike Murphy


An open letter:


So… here it is the end of January. How many of those New Year’s resolutions have you kept? How about a resolution that will place no demands upon your wallet? This resolution can also make you a HERO – something many of us have always yearned to do.

What am I talking about? Becoming an organ, eye and tissue donor. Every day across America 18 people die awaiting a transplant. As of Jan. 7, 2011 there were 110,112 individuals in the United States awaiting a life- saving organ transplant. Every ten minutes another person is added to the list.

So what’s stopping folks from joining the donor registry? Sometimes myths such as apprehension on the procedure, the concern of whether the doctors will work to save your life if you are listed as an organ donor or how transplantation may reflect one’s religious views prevent people from registering.

Through educating yourself you can easily dispel these myths. The procedure of organ recovery occurs with the utmost respect to the donor and his or her family. The doctors that are involved in recovering organs are not the same as those that worked diligently to save the person’s life. Only when it is determined that a person will not survive and every effort to save a person’s life has failed, is the subject of donation brought up with the family. As for the religious beliefs, there is not one major religion in that U.S. that is opposed to organ donation.

Our son Jason was killed in an automobile accident in June 2003 and gave the “Gift of Life” as an organ donor. Since then, we have tried to help educate the public about organ donation and work to register donors. It’s amazing that 95 percent of American adults approve of donation as an important life-saving practice, but in a state as Ohio for example, only about 52 percent are registered donors.

So what’s stopping you from making a resolution to save lives? If you need more information, learn the facts to help you make an educated decision to register as a donor. Every donor has the potential of saving eight lives through organ donation and enhancing over 50 lives with tissue donation.

Aren’t you a giver at heart? We feel fortunate to have met Jason’s heart recipient and feel blessed that Jason decided to be an organ donor. To know that his heart beats on in Russ makes Jason our HERO. Be someone’s HERO this year and resolve to be an organ, eye and tissue donor.

Peace,

Sue and Mike Murphy, donor parents


Used with permission from Sue Murphy.

Love is in the Air, Along with Pizza and Dance!

I really do love Valentine's Day! It's a great craft holiday and time for simple fun and love. Girls especially love making valentine's for their friends and it is probably their favorite party of the year. My valentines to the girls are the ones above. I have had so much fun making these flowers! Believe it or not this is flat ribbon that when heated takes on this ruffled look. I stuck a glue dot on the back and put them on little doily cards so they can be removed and used. You can put a pin on the back and wear them, stick them on bobby pins and put them in your hair, there are limitless possibilities.

After hosting the Cookie Rally last month, we decided to celebrate with a pizza party. Celebrate they did! Not one piece of pizza was left, we decorated heart cookies, exchanged Valentine's cards and treats, and then moved on to Just Dance on the Wii. What an awesome group of girls!

Mackenzie stitched this for me!

Loads of glitter everywhere!

Kyle and Cynthia who both helped out! Cynthia is loved by all these girls!

Faith is so sweet always including Kyle in her cards.

I love every Valentine I receive here are some.

I think this needs to be framed in my house. Every day is  heart day at the Millers.

Skylar has made me some of the most creative cards. I commented on the paper heart when she walked in the door. I just love the paper she used. Skylar promptly told me that was good because it was for me, yeah!
Included is a poem (she is a wonderful poet):
To a great fun person
to who? you say
My 120 troop leader
I want to thank you and hug you
for every thing you've helped and cared.
Thank you Happy Valentine's!


Brought tears to my eyes!

Dance Party!