Friday April 15, 7:30pm

Friday April 15, 7:30pm

Court of Awards and Ice Cream Reception

Location:
Amy's Ice Cream/Phil's Ice House

2901 South Lamar Boulevard

Austin, TX 78704-4711

(512) 707-8704

Wear your vests!

We take Hwy 71 West and exit South Lamar. Turn right. It will be a few blocks up, on the right, next to a Half Price Books.

Please eat dinner ahead of time as a family. This location sells burgers (menu here) and the Rockin' Tomato (menu here) is in the same parking lot.

Schedule (hopefully) :
At 7:30 we will meet inside Amy's. All girls registered to Troop 1563 will assemble with Mandy and get in line to pick an ice cream or fruit ice (non dairy.)
After we've ordered, and families have had a chance to do the same, we'll have a seat outside to eat and play on the playground.Then we will do our Court of Awards.

Please remember the Girl Scout Law and "Use Resources Wisely." Don't let your eyeballs get bigger than your tummy when ordering and end up throwing away perfectly delicious dessert. Go here to see flavor listings.

To Receive Patches:
To receive patches at this Court of Awards, girls must turn in completed Badge Worksheets (including the "What I Learned or Liked Best" section) by Tuesday April 12. You can bring them to the Monday April 11meeting, or drop them off anytime on Tuesday. That is of course, assuming the Shop has all the patches in stock.

When choosing patches to complete, remember our Troop will be bridging to Juniors this June. Try Its are only for Brownies- so it would be best to complete any she's almost done with. Some of the Council patches the girls may be working on (found here) will carry over to Juniors- that does not mean take them off the Brownie vest and move them to the Junior vest. It means don't rush to finish Council patches because she can still work on them as a Junior- but there will be additional requirements. The only pieces that move from the Brownie vest to the Junior vest are her WAGGS pin and her membership stars. (And the colored discs that go with the stars.)

As a Troop we are currently working on the Her Story and Girl Scout Ways Try Its. Most of this work will be done at meetings. If you have questions about which activities your daughter has or has not done on ANY patch, just give me a shout. We will try to have one more "Brownie" Court of Awards before we bridge.

Meeting Monday August 23, 6-7pm

This event has passed.

Attendance:

Amri
Atalli
Emonee
Brigid
Faith
Desjonique
Ariana
Madison
+parents and siblings

Thanks:

To the girls for their fabulous performances, and to the parents for providing snacks, and to everyone for helping clean up. 

Reminders:

 2010-2011 Registration Papers have been sent out. If you need more, let me know. The forms and fees are due by September. Our Service Unit is trying to organize a Registration Rally for new girls. All Scouts that get a new girl to join (regardless of which troop) are eligible for an Add-a-Friend patch.
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Original Post:
Tonight: girls will perform their Best Memory Showpieces. We will also have our Court of Awards. Feel free to bring snacks for the families to enjoy. See ya tonight!

Friday May 21, 6-7:30pm Bridging Ceremony

This event has passed.

Attendance:

Amri
Atalli
Mikayla
Ariana
Emonee
Brigid

Notes: 
Great job coming together to support area Girl Scouts! Thanks, parents, for bringing items for the reception. I'll be putting up our pictures soon, but there is something wrong with our Snapfish account. They might not be visible until their service department corrects the issue.

Next year, when our girls bridge to Juniors, we'll try to find someplace with an air-conditioned venue. 

Upcoming Events: 
We are postponing the field trip we had tentatively set for Sat 5/29. I hadn't realized that's Memorial Day Weekend and lots of people are going out of town. We will continue with our Monday night meetings- next field trip will be our Community Service Outing to Night of the Bat, Sun June 6. I need to know how many parents and kids plan on attending- Bat Conservation International will try to get us all t-shirts.

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Original Post:

The local Girl Scout Bridging Ceremony is Friday May 21, 5:45-7:30pm 
Ceremony begins at 6.
Richard Moya Park
10001 Burleson Rd.

The Scout year ends in May, marked by Bridging Ceremonies. When we leave this ceremony, our troop will be 3rd grade Brownies.

It is strongly suggested that our entire troop attend. There will be other troops moving to the next level of Scouts and our troop will help out with this significant moment in their Girl Scout experience.

After the Daisies cross the bridge to our waiting group of Brownies, our Troop will say
"Welcome, Sisters!"
Then Ariana will step forward and say
"We would like to sing you a song."
Then Troop 1563 will sing the Brownie Smile Song.
When the 3rd grade Brownies (not us) cross the bridge to become Juniors, we sill say
"Farewell Sisters!"

It is likely that all the Scouts in attendance will sing "Make New Friends" and recite the Girl Scout Promise. We'll see what the other troop leaders want to do.

What to bring:
If you would like, you could copy the words to the Brownie Smile song onto an index card and bring it with you.
After all the attending troops have bridged, there will be a reception. Our troop needs to supply a total of 60 individual-size bags of chips and 2 cases of bottled water. PLEASE tell me what you plan to bring by clicking the link that says "# comments" under this post, it's next to the thing that says "posted by Supermandy."
Emonee: 22 bags of chips 
Brigid: one case of bottled water 
Ariana: one case bottled water
Mikayla: chips
Amri: 12 bags of chips

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We will also use this ceremony to hold our next Court of Awards (complete with cookie prizes and membership stars*.) Many of our girls have near-complete Try Its. All Activities need to be complete with sheets turned in no later than Wednesday 5/19 for her to receive patches this month. Please call me if we need to make any arrangements.

What to wear:
The Brownies in our troop need to wear their vests and brown bottoms (shorts, skirt, etc.) If you need to buy brown bottoms, I suggest shorts, as you will need them again for our Overnighter at the Dell Diamond. Target has a good selection of brown summer bottoms right now- including cotton shorts and skorts for $6. If the girls have other Official Brownie Uniform pieces (hats, ties, shirts, etc.) this would be a fine time to wear them.
Alexis is "flying up" to Juniors. She will be vested into her Junior uniform and receive her Brownie wings. She should arrive at the ceremony wearing her Brownie vest, and khaki bottoms. During our part of the ceremony, Alexis will read what she has prepared for her Fly Up.


*Each star stands for one previous year of Scout membership, which is why stars are given at the end of the year. There are colored disks worn with the stars to indicate which levels the girls have been in. The membership stars are one of the few pieces that move from uniform to uniform as the girls progress.

Amri and Madison should each have one star with a blue disk, symbolizing their 1st grade Daisy year. This will be the first star (green Brownie disk) for everyone else.

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Fri 4/23/10, 6:30pm Troop Dinner at Pluckers

This event has passed.

Attendance:

Atalli + family
Mikayla + family
Emonee + family
Alexis + family
Ariana + family
Amri + family

Notes:

What a fabulous turn-out! Wow! Way to support Girl Scouts! Thank you everyone. Sorry I was late...We won't know which service unit had the highest turn out until the Friends of Girl Scouts lady releases that info, but the girls that hosted the event tonight said they think Troop 1563 had the highest Troop turn-out. I'm so proud of you guys! Girl Scouts of Central Texas gets 20% of the profits from all 5 Pluckers GS Night Patio Sales. I'll let you know when I find out how much money was raised. Our troop doesn't get a check or anything, but that money goes towards keeping costs low for Council sponsored events (like the over-nighter at the Dell Diamond.) The money also helps out with scholarships and financial aid and such.

Some of us sampled Fried Caramel Delights- yum! (vanilla ice cream with chunks of caramel delights, sprinkled with toasted coconut...)

We had our 2nd Court of Awards. Great job, girls! Keep up the good work. Whenever you complete four activities on a Badge Worksheet, fill out the bottom section and turn it in so that you can get the patch at our next ceremony. Some of you owe worksheets for badges you received tonight- get those to me on Monday, please. The "Recognitions" page has been updated.

Additional Notes:

We are starting work on our Careers Try It, pg. 22. Atalli's dad works downtown, across from Town Lake. He is going to ask his boss if we can set up our Lemonade Stand there (Sunday, May 2.) If not, we will do a stand closer to home. Everyone needs to go to the Lemonade Day website to register- and afterward, to a RunTex location to pick up your free supply back-pack. I've not picked up Amri's  yet, but it's supposed to have everything we need. We will need to do some advertising (tell your friends and family.) We will discuss it further at Monday's meeting. When you register, it asks which contest you want to enter. We picked "best stand."

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Original Post:

Come on out, eat dinner as a troop- and with oodles of other Scouts- and raise money for Friends of Girl Scouts. The Service Unit with the best turn out gets some sort of a prize. I'm not positive, but I believe kids always eat free at Pluckers. In any case, this event will not be paid for by the Troop.

Please let me know if you are coming so that we can try to all sit together. Our April Court of Awards will be held while we are waiting for our table. If your daughter has any completed Badge Worksheets, I MUST receive them before Thursday in order to get the badge. Anyone not in attendance will receive their patches at our next meeting. If your daughter needs to carpool, please let us know in advance.

Girls should wear their vests.

We will be meeting at the South Lamar location at 6:30. (Take 71 to Lamar, turn right.) If you can get there a little early, that would be great. I have no idea what sort of wait there might be.

Volunteer Recognition is at 7pm. Pluckers will be offering a special dessert: Fried Caramel Delights- yum!

 Tell all your friends and family to eat at Pluckers that night- they can go anytime between 5-8pm. The hostess or the waiter will ask for our Service Unit name- be sure to say Mustang Valle.

See the Flier

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Monday March 29, Investiture Ceremony

This event has passed.
Notes from today's meeting:

Attendance:

Emonee (Texas Flag Bearer)  
Amri
Ariana
Brigid (American Flag Bearer)
Mikayla (Color Guard Caller)
Madison
Atalli (Girl Scout Flag Bearer)
Troop Leader Mandy
Assistant Troop Leader Gloriana
and about 23 guests

Notes:

Thanks to everyone for bringing supplies (food, plates, tablecloths, etc.) and helping set-up/break-down tonight. It was nice to see so many faces out to support our Girls. We started the evening with a flag ceremony, followed by candle lighting for the Girl Scout Law, then did the Investiture Ceremony. Next we did our Court of Awards. Recognitions earned, but not yet received, are the Add-a-Friend patch (for Amri, Emonee, Ariana) and the My First Cookie Sale and Cookie Booth Patches (both for Brigid.) I will look into these this week. We finished the night with a pot-luck reception where girls and parents got to know each other a little better. The Preferred Method of Contact sheet was filled out.

Assignments for the week:

• Any pictures from today (or from the trip to Zilker Gardens) can be shared in the Troop Gallery by e-mailing them to mncarrasco516@hotmail.com
  
• Parents and Girls should look through the Possibilities Catalog (or look at the Events Calendar on-line) for potential Troop activities. Please e-mail me your list of preferences so I can begin planning our Spring Field Trips. Please keep the Troop budget in mind- as well as transportation and supervision requirements- when making your selections. Additionally, let your daughter know we can't do every activity that gets suggested. *Note*  Field Trips do not have to come from these sources. The only requirement is that the trip relates to the Discover/Connect/Take Action List.
• Any girls that identify what kind of birds we saw nesting under the highway where we parked at the Botanic Gardens on Sunday will receive a surprise at our 4/5 meeting. Write down everything you remember about the birds, and use whatever resources you have at your disposal. 

Note about coming Meetings:

Our next meeting is Monday 4/5, at the church. We will discuss our Earth Day Event: attending the Earth Day Festival at McKinney Roughs Nature Park: Saturday April 17 (time to be determined later.) All children that complete the park's Passport to Nature challenge will receive a patch. This event is open to Tag-a-Longs.

Earth Day is Thursday April 22- which also happens to be Girl Scout Leader's Day (but we do not meet on Thursdays.) We will, however, be having a Volunteers' Thank You Party at our Monday 4/19 meeting, in honor of Leader's Day.

Leader's Day Links

GS Central
Holiday Insights



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Original post:

updated 3/29

Monday March 29: Troop 1563's Investiture Ceremony
This event will run longer than an hour. It will not be at the church, it will be in the meeting room at the Ruiz Branch of the Austin Public Library.  1600 Grove Boulevard (512) 974-7500 (Take 71 past the airport. Turn right at Riverside, right at Grove. Library will be on left.)

Girls should arrive at 6pm to help set up.
Guests (family and friends) can show around 6:20.
Investiture Ceremony begins at 6:30, followed by a reception.
Room must be clean and empty by 8pm.


What is an Investiture Ceremony? It is the ceremony used to officially welcome a new girl or adult into Girl Scouting.
What is a Rededication Ceremony? This is the ceremony done by returning members to reaffirm their commitment to Girl Scouts.

We are a brand new troop. Some of the girls have been in Scouts before, for others it is a new experience. At Troop 1563's Investiture Ceremony, we will Rededicate our returning Scouts, and Invest our new Scouts. Additionally, we will have our first Court of Awards- at which the girls will receive any Try-Its, patches, and other recognitions earned thus far. All Scouts in attendance will receive an Investiture patch. In the future, returning members of our Troop will receive a Rededication patch.

The Girls will recite the Girl Scout Promise (from memory), commit to investing themselves to the Troop, and be officially "vested" with their uniforms.

It is very important for all members of our Troop to attend. Family and friends are also invited to support our Girls in their commitment to themselves, their Troop, and the Girl Scouting Movement.

What to bring:

• Uniform (all insignia properly attached.) Please write your daughter's name on the tag. Give the vests to me upon arrival. I will use them in the ceremony. You do not need to bring your Girl Scout Books.
• Food/Beverage for the reception. I am expecting about 30 people (10 Scouts + their guests.) You can bring a snack or a more substantial "dinner" item. Fruit tray, veggie tray, chips, pigs in blankets, chicken nuggets, pb sandwiches, tea, water, lemonade, juice boxes, cookies, and brownies have been committed.
• Disposable plates, napkins, cups,cutlery,etc. Please let me know if you are willing to donate these items. Otherwise, the Troop will provide them. Plates, cups, napkins, and utensils have been committed.
• Girls should dress nicely- either their official GS uniform, or their "Sunday Best."
• Bring your camera! Any pictures you would like to share in the Troop Photo Gallery can be emailed to mncarrasco516@hotmail.com. Additionally, you can submit photos to our GS Council for use on their website, or in future publications.

If you have any questions, please contact Mandy. 512-850-3044
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