'twas a gooood weekend

It was a busy weekend, but a good one for sure!

We started off the weekend with a bit of bouncing in the bouncy house.  Ray was getting it ready for our niece's birthday party so he decided to set it up and Emma could invite her friends that live on our street over to bounce for awhile.  And bounce they did!

Then we got ready and headed out to our fellow Daisy Scout's house for hot cocoa and cookies before we went downtown to take part in the Holiday Tree Lighting Parade.

When it was time we made our way downtown and got lined up to join in the parade.  It was going to go down the main drag in Morgan Hill and end with the tree lighting.  We marched along with other Girl Scout troops and the girls were so excited to see all the floats the other groups put so much work into!

We didn't see them but Ray was able to take a picture of the Marines who lead the parade.  They were so impressive!

There was this old firetruck and an old police car.

Lana's Dance Group

And here's our girls!  Their first time in the Holiday parade and in their Daisy uniforms!  They looked so cute!  It was so cool to see how many people came out to watch the parade.  They lined up along the street and cheered everyone on.  My parents, Auntie Marilyn, mother-in-law Frances & sister-in-law Theresa came all the way out just to watch the girls.  My mom had to leave right afterwards to go to work too!  It really solidified my belief that Morgan Hill is the best town EVER.  There's just such a feeling of community and pride.  And it was so much fun getting to spend more time with our Girl Scout parents.  We really lucked out in that department.  Each and every one of them is awesome and so gung-ho about giving our girls the best Girl Scout experience they can have.

After the parade we introduced the Kaisers and my in-laws to the Crying Tiger at Siam Thai Restaurant.  It's only the best steak EVER!

We had a great day and the weekend was only halfway over!

On Sunday we had the Minnie Mouse Chloe Day of Festivities!

 

My mom made Minnie cupcakes

Another picture of my sister not smiling - on purpose.

My friend Kim made the delicious cake pops!

I swear she's having a good time!

Chloe liked her dress up gloves.

Ray's downfall.  He spent time in the bouncy house.

big plans, my friends … big plans

Yes, I did.  I had big plans.  I was going to edit (and by ‘edit’ I mean add a watermark because I am actually too lazy to edit my photos more than that) all these pictures I’ve taken in the last few weeks and do a bunch of blog posts to catch up on everything that’s been going around these here parts.

I got as far as uploading all the pictures into Picnik, opening the first picture and then deciding I was just too tired and lazy to get into all of that right now.  Yes, I know, I suck.

So instead of updates about all the junk ‘n’ stuff that’s been going on around here you get this post.  Which is about nothing at all really.  Think of it as the Seinfeld episode of my blog.

We are now almost halfway through the month and I have only read 6 of the 20 books I have lined up for the month.  Though I am more than a third of the way through another 6 I fear I will not be able to make it to 20.  Though actually, next week Emma starts school so as long as I keep the house from turning into a toxic waste dump that’s 5 hours a day I could be reading.  Maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel.

In other exciting news on Thursday my friend JeNae and I attended a welcome meeting with two representatives from the Girl Scouts to begin the processes of starting Emma and Autumn’s (JeNae’s daughter, you’ve met her here before) Daisy troop.  I am so excited about this.

I was a Girl Scout from Brownies all the way through High School and then became a leader for 2 years.  I attended the National Convention in 1993 as a delegate chosen by the Board of Directors to speak about being able to substitute ‘God’ in the Girl Scout promise.  Having grown up Jodo Shinshu Buddhist it was an important issue for me.  I spent my entire Girl Scout career making a promise to an entity I did not believe in and I wanted different for other girls.  I spoke in front of thousands of people at the convention and later my speech was printed in the newspaper. 

Girl Scouts was incredibly important to me.  I made friends there that I still have to this day.  I believe that it gave me self confidence and in that time a safe place to land when the rest of the world was too hard to handle.  I grew up seeing how women could do amazing things either by reading about them in Girl Scouts or actually working side by side with them during my years as a scout. 

I earned both my Silver and Gold Award and you know, I still have a huge sense of pride and accomplishment about what I did in my years as a Girl Scout.  I can’t wait for Emma to experience this part of my world.  And she’s coming in during the best time ever!  2012 will mark the 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts! 

Hopefully, Emma will love Girl Scouts as much as I did … and on that note, it’s time for me to hit the hay!  Goodnight everyone!