Serenity Year 9 2017
3/3/17
Serenity has been really busy with Girl Scouts the last two months. It’s cookie season! She wanted to sell 500 boxes so she could earn an adorable music box. That was more than double what she sold last year, so I was hesitant. I ordered enough for her to sell about 275, and she managed that by doing two booths at Papa’s house, going door to door in our neighborhood once, and selling at Eric and Kyle’s work. Plus, Papa is a big fan of the new S’more’s cookie, and so are his students, so he bought a bunch of those. So she made it to 275, but I thought she was pretty much done after that. She went to all the booths, partially because I had to go to take the cookies, and so she got about 80 more in sales. So I told her, if she really wanted that music box, to sell all the leftover cookies, and if she did that then I’d get her more to keep going. And she DID! She sold out of Samoas and was down to 7 thin mints, so I got her two more cases, and she sold all those and all the boxes in our donation box to get more. So I happily replaced those boxes and now we’re DONE with cookies for the year. I’m so excited that she made it to her goal, and that she actually went out repeatedly until it was done.
Besides cookies, her girl scout troop finished their Home Scientist badge, thanks in part to Science Saturday, their Household Elf badge(making natural air freshener, reusable bags, saving water and electricity, and other helpful things around the house), and their Water Journey(Love Water, Save Water, Share Water). They finished the Water Journey by making reusable grocery bags with slogans that urge people to save water. Hopefully it starts lots of conversations so they can talk about what they learned on their journey. They also decided to spend some of their cookie profits helping an orphanage in Tanzania with their water needs. Lillyan voiced the idea that they should help an orphanage, and the girls unanimously agreed. So sweet =) They also earned their World Thinking Day badge. That was a fun one. A few girls came to my house and helped me cook some Tanzanian food, coconut rice, fried plantains, and chai tea. We listened to African music and did a craft project designing Kanga fabric. So fun!
Besides Girl Scouts, Serenity is learning to play piano! She had lessons in the fall, but didn’t practice often enough to get to continue them. I told her if she practiced enough on her own, she could have the lessons back, so I’ve been teaching her the little bit I know. She’s been playing scales and learning to play Do a Deer from her Sound of Music piano book. It is sounding really good! She plays mostly the right hand, and I try to do the left. I need more practice too.
Serenity spends about half her playtime upside down these days, doing cartwheels. It’s so cute and fun, at least until she kicks someone in the head.
She still loves reading. We checked out the whole Sisters 8 series again so she could reread it. =)
Ann and John came for a visit, and Serenity is learning card games! She asked to learn bridge, but we are starting with Spades. She also learned Own Trump. She went on lots of walks with Vanaema. She’s fascinated by her fitbit, and she loves being in nature.
We are gearing up for the Drama Festival. Serenity is Loki! Eric and I both geeked out over that. I got to make her a costume =) And I made a few other props and costumes. Two ravens, a Frost Giant, a belt, and Mjolnir. Thor’s Hammer was so much fun to construct! Thanks to all the Samoa boxes in my garage from cookie sales it was a breeze. One Samoa box filled with floral foam for the middle, two more ends of boxes angled to add some dimension to either end of the hammer, a cardboard tube wrapped with duct tape and leather for the handle. Some black paint covered with silver paint, and some runes on the circle on top of the hammer. Easy and fun! Hopefully it stands up to some abuse as they rehearse.
