American Heritage Girls

This blog post is in response to never end questions about what AHG is, why we left GSUSA, and what we think of AHG.

1) I am going to answer the Girl Scout question first.  Why did we leave?

• We had many reasons for leaving.  GSUSA has become all about girl empowerment.  If you have ever met my daughters you will realize that they are empowered enough! They need to learn humility.  
• We left because we moved away from our troop, and comfort zone. I figured if we had to meet all new people, we may as well try out a Catholic troop.
• We left because of a connection between GSUSA, WAGGGS, and Planned Parenthood.  Once my girls knew that PP performed abortions, and that GSUSA has been associated with them, my girls were done with GS.
• I could have mostly ignored ALL of those reasons.  The REAL reason we left GSUSA is because they insulted Catholics when they released the Junior Journey called aMUSE.  In that book they reference a play called "Simply Maria."  Yes, they only mention the name of the play and the author.  Yes, they use the author as a role model for girls.  Simply Maria sounds like a wonderful play.  I could see Diva asking to find it and read it. When she sees a play she wants to do, we try to read an excerpt to find out what it is about before pursuing it.  This is what I found as an excerpt from it.
• PRIEST. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here, under the Catholic church, in the holy house of God, to unite these two people in holy matrimony. Marriage is sacred. It is the unification of a man and a woman, their love and commitment, forever, and ever, and ever, no matter what! Well, then let's begin.María, do you accept José Juan Gonzalez García López as your lawfully wedded husband to love cherish, serve, cook for, clean for, sacrifice for, have his children, keep house, love him, even if he beats you, commits adultery, gets drunk, rapes you, lawfully, denies your identity, money, and in return ask for nothing? (MARIA thinks about it and then turns to her parents who mouth to her "I do.")
• I do not want my CATHOLIC girl to read that.  She is gentle, sheltered, loving, and so much more.  I do not want her to read a play that makes fun of one of the most sacred aspects of my life.

2) What is AHG? To me, AHG is a Christian, our troop is Catholic, scouting program for girls.  We do all the things that you would expect a scout troop to do.  We perform service. Our troop, collectively, performed over 400 hours of service this year. (I will update with an exact total later, the paper is in the van, it is midnight, and I am in my PJs).  Our troop changes the missals at the sponsoring church as needed, we make and deliver cards and gifts to a local nursing home, we make layered cookies in a joy for the firefighters  The girls can earn patches!  Not for talking about our feelings like  you do in the Daisy Journeys.  Nope, my girls earned many patches, for Theater, Dance, Music Appreciation, Cooking, Outdoor Skills, World Heritage, Travel, Sewing, Computer Fun, and more.  We also take field trips.  We have seen the inner working of a bank and an airport.  We have toured Sinsinawa Mound and learned about Fr. Mazzuchelli.  All in all, AHG to me, is an organization that encourages service to others, learning new things, going new places, and making new friends.

3) Do we love it?  YES!  All 4 girls and myself love it.  We have so much fun.  I am the new Outdoor Coordinator.  I am planning 3 day camps.  Each camp is 2 days long.  The girls will learn about birds, insects, fire safety, how to build a fire, how to cook on the fire, how to use a pocket knife.  They will go on hikes, whittle a bar of soap, feed the troop, dissect owl pellets, make a nature journal, and start a bird life list. But most of all, they will have fun, make friends, and learn new things.

 NEW FRIENDS

BEST FRIENDS, SERVING TOGETHER

at the Right to Life Chili Luncheon

SINSINAWA MOUND

FIELD TRIP!

 learning so much about Fr. Mazzuchelli

Curly Girl is no longer curly...

Well, our little curly girl is not only "not curly" she is officially bald.  Before going into the story, I want to remind you what CG looked like before.

Now for the back story...

Curly Girl has always had a soft spot for children with cancer, even though she does not personally know anyone who has cancer.  Her grandmother died as a result of complications due to cancer before Curly Girl was born.   Curly Girl's older sister, Diva showed Curly Girl a story about a girl shaving her head for cancer, in an American Girl magazine.  Curly Girl came to us asking if she could raise money and shave her head.  After telling her to pray about it for a few days, we agreed to allow it.

I searched online to find a local event for St. Baldrick's.  The only local event was a BaseBald event with Loras and Coe College Baseball teams.  They agreed to let Curly Girl join their team.   Curly Girl has raised just over $2000 for the event, she raised more than any other participant.  She was also the only girl who had her head shaved that day and the youngest person. 

Curly Girl  was the first to have her head shaved, followed by her dad, the Loras College baseball team, coaches, staff, and the Coe College team and staff.  Capri College in Dubuque sent caring young woman to shave the participants.

This event has grown beyond what we could have ever imagined.  Not only did CG raise way more money that we expected, she has been contacted by 2 members of St. Baldrick's staff, and shaken many hands. There is even a chance that her story could be published in an American Girl magazine as a follow up to the original story.

If you would like to make a donation, it is still open - Curly Girl's Site .


oops....I forgot the "after" shot...she is so stinkin cute as a Baldy!

Our Irish Dancing Beauties :-)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!


As you can imagine, St. Patrick's Day can be crazy for Irish Dancers and their Mom and Dad.  We had a lot of fun, but came home tired!  I am so thankful that we we to Mass last night.


It took a very long time getting everyone ready.  Only 3 wigs were put on, Curly Girl would not wear hers because it hurt her head.  She wore a bun instead.


The girls danced 4 dances at the fest: light jig, slip jig, and 2 different 2 hand reels.  My twins were partners. Identical 2 hand reel partners is just too cute to resist.  Also, the older 2 did a fabulous job.

Wondertwin A, Curly Girl, Wondertwin B, Diva

 

I guess you need to turn you head sideways until I figure out how to rotate this!

 All 4 girls with Fr. Dan

 A quick jig at St. Patrick's Church before heading to the Irish Fest

Humbling

Below you will see what has been my Facebook status for the last 10 days or so. Curly Girl's giving nature has once again humbled me beyond belief. I could not do what she is planning.


Hey friends! Our daughter, Rita age 8, has decided to fundraise for childhood cancer research. On April 14, 2012, Rita will participate with the Loras College Baseball team in a St. Baldrick's event. She, along with the ball team, will have her head shaved. She is collecting donations for St. Baldricks between now and then. Here is a link to her St. Balricks page http://tinyurl.com/7rrs5dy . To date, she has raised $575.

Please share this on your blogs, twitter, Facebook, everywhere! If you share it, please let me know :-)

Schooling made fun

Lately we have been in a rut with school.  Therefore today Wondertwin C decided to read to the dog rather than to me.  Apparently, Tosha really likes Green Eggs and Ham.  Also, Wondertwin A has been struggling with motivation to do her Math.  Today and yesterday, I added an activity to each answer.  She is reviewing one digit subtraction, so 9-7=2, do 2 jumping jacks, or tell 2 sisters that you love them.

American Heritage Girls

As many of you know, when we moved we decided to not put the girls in Girl Scouts.  There are many reasons for this, one being that GSUSA chose to use an anti-Catholic play as an example in one of Journeys.  This was not okay with me!

In our new home we discovered American Heritage Girls.  AHG is a wonderful Christian scouting program for girls, with a strong service component.  Our troop is sponsored by a local Catholic church, therefore there is a strong Catholic feeling to it.  Our girls pray Catholic prayers and learn about Catholic customs.  They also perform service for others (and are rewarded with stars), work on various badges (Curly Girls has earn many already, including ones for: sewing, stamp collecting, home decorating, money management, and more!).  All of the girls have earned multiple patches and service stars.

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments and I will update this post with the answers.

Some picture from our local Right to Life March Chili luncheon, the AHG troop helped to serve the chilli.

Wondertwin C and A

Curly Girl on the right

Diva on the right

New Chapters

So, the Crazy family is starting some new chapters in our already crazy life.  We hope and pray that these changes will be for the betterment of all of us.

Next year Diva will attend middle school at a local Catholic Middle School.  Many things led us to this decision.  First of all, it is an amazing middle school, and a perfect match for Diva.  She will have opportunities to get her Diva-ness out in an appropriate way (aka, she will be performing LOL).  They have small classes, and they keep the 6th graders away from the 7th and 8th graders as much as possible.  Diva's favorite things about the school are that she already has a friend there (from American Heritage Girls) and the school is implementing 1 to 1 computers (aka she will have her own laptop).

Another change in our lives is that Mom (me) is trying to stay off of facebook.  It started as a sort of protests, I did not want to keep reading about how great the Obamacare plan is for America. I realize that people have difference of oppinion, and I am okay with that, it is the bashing that was getting to me. Being off of facebook is challenging for me, I use facebook more than I should.  I am hoping that this allows me to break the habit.