Lived In: October 2013

I know friends. It's been a while. A long while. I've been standing with Texas women, as many of you know. When the fight is hard, and the cause is important, it is sometimes worth the sacrifice.

But....I am a mostly mushy Mommy (still a "Mommy" although I'm sure I'll graduate to "Mom" soon), and when Iris came home from 1st grade with Girl Scout flyers, she insisted, "I don't want to be in the Girl Scouts and sell cookies. I want to start my OWN girl and boys club!"

As her 7th birthday drew nearer, she could only think of getting together with her pals and having a real club. Voila - The S'mores!!!

This is at the finale after they'd created their sashes (faux suede and iron on banding from Joann's Fabrics), earned their badges (iron on, of course!), had a contest to pick their name (Troup S'mores), roasted weenies and hamburgers and veggie burgers (you know me!) and made and enjoyed their very own s'mores! Plus, camp fire stories in the tent by John Hewlett, you remember him. There's video of that for those who would like it later....

The party invite photo from Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom.

The inspiration. Minus the injuries. Okay, Miss Kitty did scrap with 9 month old Sabine --- :(

The cake. I did my own recipe, and we grabbed the "log" and "fire" idea from pinterest here - basically, smash up jolly ranchers, and melt them on parchment paper on low in the oven for 10 minutes, then cool in the fridge and break them up for the fire. The "logs" are those yummy pepperidge farm chocolate cookies.

The sashes. Thank goodness my Mom saved me in a pinch. I got the fabric out 3 hours early, and realized.... I need a home economist. Elaine to the rescue! We used a faux suede material and the fabric tape you iron on - I recommend sewing before if you want them to last - might take a day of prep, but well worth it. I'm going to have our Marmie sew up Iris and Sam's.

The name nominations for interested parties: 007 (Ryder's nomination), BFF's (Coco's nomination), Ranger 99 (Orion's nomination), Hot Dogs (Scout's nomination), S'mores (Iris's nomination), and Cheese Burgers (Sully's nomination).

The styrofoam board is Iris's creation for a name nomination board.

Iris's welcome sign to the Troop!

My 7 year old! Iris T. Nicholson, working on Pinwheels for Peace to earn her Peace badge! Print outs & directions here.

And, below the butterfly bracelet project for the butterfly badge. Project print outs & directions here. When you move your arm, they REALLY do fly up and down like a butterfly. We did Blue Swallowtail and Monarch butterflies which are migrating through our yard and TX on the way to Mexico right now.

If you are interested in some Daisy, Brownie, or Girl Scout ideas for a party or troop, this is a nice little site.