Friday, May 16, 2008

Banquet and Awards Ceremony


For our end of the year ceremony we had an Ice Cream Sundae party!!  Siblings, grandparents and all the moms joined in the fun as we celebrated our first year of Keepers coming to an end. 
My girls helped me set our table with various items that represented what we worked on over the past 9 months.  It was fun coming up with something that represented our Ice Skating badge. :)   Emily made an ice rink complete with a paper Zamboni.  I had a fun quiz for the girls to fill out as they arrived and were waiting for everyone else to get there.  The questions went over various things we learned this past year.  The girls looked at the table for clues to help answer some of the questions.  They did a great job filling out the quiz.  One thing that has been fun for me is to watch all their different personalities as they’ve tackled various assignments.  The quiz was no different.  Some were determined to get that quiz completed!  Every answer filled in.  Others, looked at it, answered a couple of questions and were done.  Both were perfectly acceptable ways to approach this quiz.  We had personalities that varied from more intense, "let’s get down to work and finish this task" to more laid back "it’ll get done when it gets done" and some in between.   The one thing they all had in common was how incredibly sweet and kind they all were.  They all have such a love of Jesus in their hearts, it’s really neat to see.



After everyone was there and quizzes were "graded"  we had our ice cream sundaes.  We scooped out the ice cream (or dairy free sorbet) into the bowls and the girls, their siblings and invited guests, took them to the table where they could top it however they liked.  Yum!

Once the bowls were licked clean and everyone cleaned up, it was time to hand out the badges.  The girls accomplished so much this year and through it all kept wonderful positive attitudes, even when things were hard. 
When planning our banquet, one of the moms suggested handing out roses to our daughters.  I thought it was a great idea.  I told the moms to be prepared to say something about their daughters as they presented them with their rose.  It was tough keeping our eyes dry as we all took turns telling our daughters what special girls they are and just how much they mean to us.  Our daughters didn’t quite understand why we were all teary eyed, but one day they will. 
We had a wonderful ending to a wonderful year.  We’re all looking forward to September when we will start another fabulous year of learning and growing.
Thanks girls and moms for a fun year!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Week 15 Ice Skating




For our last badge of the season we went ice skating!  We had a variety of skills, from never on the ice before to pretty confident.  After our half hour lesson everyone was standing on their own, knew how to come to a fast stop and could skate backwards!  What an accomplishment. :)   The girls spent the next one and a half hours skating around the rink practicing their skills and having a blast. 
Learning how to fall down
Listening to the instructor
Lesson over, the girls are ready to skate!



Everyone did an absolutely fabulous job skating and passed their badge work with flying colors.  Way to go girls!
To earn the ice skating badge the girls need to:
  • Be able to skate one mile by yourself.  We decided that 10 laps around the rink equaled about 1 mile.
  • Learn to skate backwards and demonstrate to your leader (or Mom).
  • Learn to come to a quick stop without falling or depending on anyone or anything to stop you.