Extra, Extra Read All About It

She’s hit it ‘BIG’! In our local paper today, an article has been written about our wonderful Girl Scout troop 228 and Baylee has been quoted. Confidence is bursting out of her. I love it! She and her Brownie sisters are living out their Girl Scout law by “making the world a better place” all the way across the globe and the writers of the Republic paper caught wind of it.

Weeks prior, our troop learned of a small village in Malawi, Africa, and how girls there are constantly infected with intestinal worms from simply playing in their natural environment mostly because they don’t wear or even own panties for that matter. The solution in the minds of our troop…buy 100% cotton panties of all sizes for these girls in need and have them hand delivered by missionaries. My troop of fifteen is calling it, “The Panty Project!”

Here’s how Baylee explained it to the press, “The panty project is important because girls in Africa need our help! They are getting sick from the dirt ground and in their homes made of mud. There aren’t places the girls can buy panties, and they don’t have much money at all!”

Our girls have been gathering and purchasing all kinds of packaged panties and is running a “Panty drive” throughout the school year during other Girl Scout events we are hosting as well as the hopes to set up booths outside stores like Kohl’s, Walmart, Old Navy, and Justice. There is such vigor in their plan to get the community involved and make a huge difference in lives of these girls in Africa.

We’ve been promised that upon distribution of the panties, photos will be taken in Africa and sent back to us so we can see the faces of the lives we’ve changed. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

For those interested, ‘drop your panties’ off at my house for a good cause any time. Whether they are hot pink, polka-dot, frilly, bikini, or plain Jane’s, they will be the perfect “fit’.

Mommy and Me Tea

Hats, gloves, party dresses, silver and fine china were all part of our troop 228’s Girl Scout kickoff for the 2009-2010 school year in a Mommy and Me elegant high tea. It was so fun being so “girly” and proper with our sister Girl Scouts, eating scones with Devonshire cream, tiny sandwiches, a plethora of desserts and great hot teas. Our “little girls” didn’t seem so little today as we watched them play the part of a fitting, prim young lady, holding rich conversations and using their best manners. I adore time alone with all of my kids and today, it was Baylee’s turn.I will cherish this day forever in my heart.

Rock 'n' Roll with Daddy

Being swung from side to side, thrown in the air, and feeling like the ‘princess in Daddy’s eyes’, were just some of the great things that came out of tonight for Baylee. The 2009 Daddy Daughter Dance (for Girl Scouts) was a blast, to say the least, and thankfully Cocoa and I were able to witness it from the sidelines as I was a helper and committee member. New for my troop this year, our girls preformed a dance for the rest of the 200 couples to Good Golly Miss Molly (thanks to Anissa and Emily) all wearing matching hot pink poodle skirts (thanks to April). They were fabulously precious! Oh how I wish I knew how to post videos on this blog! I think Baylee will be floating on cloud 9 for quite a while after tonight (and honestly…I think Jon will be too!)


(My favorite picture of the whole night!)


(Cocoa Kempiak didn't want to miss this important night either so he/she came dressed to blend in with the rest of our 'Pink Ladies'!)

(My amazing troop 228 and dads)

(April and I...we had so much fun serving and watching tonight all while we were playing dress up too. She's our faithful seamstress for the troop.)

Me and My Greek Goddess Weekend

What a blast of a weekend! Baylee and I, along with 8 other moms and 9 girls from our troop headed to Camp Willow Springs in Prescott for “Me and My Greek Goddess” themed Mommy and Me weekend. It was a packed ‘house’ with well over 200 families participating. From singing silly songs, tie dying, hiking, game playing, pottery painting, flag making, late nights, lots of laughs, SWAPING, and more…it would be hard to beat this time of togetherness. Here’s a few shots of our weekend away!

Badge Collector

Today our Girl Scout troop family met at a local park to celebrate all the accomplishments of the girls’ for this school year thus far with an award ceremony. Each precious gal spoke in front of the families and came up to receive her badges. We are so proud of Baylee, today she was handed 21 new badges. Look at her precious smile, she’s so excited. It’s only been a year and a half in this vest with a year and a half left. We’ve already began sewing patches on the inside of her vest, making it weigh a lot. It’s a great “scrapbook” of her journey in Girl Scouts. I can’t imagine what it’ll look like after the next ceremony. One things for sure, it’ll look cool!

Life is Sweet!

Life this time of year seems to revolve around Girl Scout cookie sales. Whether it be going door to door (like we began January 10th), picking up the cookies on Presidents’ Day then passing them out (February 16th), or booths starting up (February 20th through March 15th)…we truly are BUSY (ALL CAPS!).

I’ve never been one that embraces fundraisers but truly I’ve had a change of heart last year when Baylee became a Girl Scout and I see first hand the personal benefits it does for each individual. Baylee’s natural tendency is to be an observer and not initiate conversation with many, let alone a stranger, however when it comes to selling…she totally changes and grows in ways I’m not sure would be possible otherwise, at least not at this age. I’ve learned through the process that Baylee is a goal setter and a big dreamer. She gets her brain wrapped around doing her best; meeting new people, and helping others and nothing stops her…not aching feet, hour of day, many objections from potential buyers, or the rocking economy. She perseveres! And a beautiful thing we get to observe is her brothers coming along side her each step of the way, knocking on doors too and cheering her on!

So when you don’t hear from us for awhile…especially in the blogging world, don’t think I’m on strike or have lost interest in documenting our Party of Five’s happenings, it’ll just have to come when we have a chance to breathe.
Baylee’s goal she set for herself seems too high for the way the economy is this year but we’ll see. We’ve explained that to her but her response to us seems healthy. So…we’ll see come March 15th. In the meantime, if you are hungry for Thin Mints, Do Si Dos, Tagalongs, Samoas, Trefoils, Sugar Free Chocolate Chip, Lemon Chalet, or the new Dulce de Leche...just let us know. And if you want to be one who gives back, Baylee’s taking donations for the children (orphans you can say) at Sunshine Acres in Mesa. She’d like to get enough money donated to buy each kid there, their own box of Girl Scout cookies.

What’s your favorite Girl Scout cookie?

Miracle in the Desert

Each troop meeting, our amazing Brownie girls sacrificially drop money in a small bucket for charity. In November, the girls ran our circle time to decide what they wanted to do with our money. So many wonderful ideas were thrown out from adopting a family in need, taking care of soldiers from afar, an animal rescue, and much more. The girls voted, which they thought was really cool and chose this semester’s donations to go to Sunshine Acres, a children’s home here just minutes away in north Mesa. After calling the place and finding their needs (since we can’t give money), Baylee, Abigail, and Alyssa went shopping with the money from the troop and our Kempiak Party of Five’s extra donations. We were able to purchase $99 worth of batteries (for the kids’ toys they got for Christmas) and Mc Donald’s gift certificates for a fun treat out.
Today we dropped off our donations and to our surprise, we were blessed with a tour that took several hours which included meeting some of the sweet boys and girls that call this place ‘home’. Sunshine Acres is such a beautiful, sacrificial place to be. We all left motivated to help more, encouraged in fellow ‘man’, humbled, and very touched. We can’t wait to partner with them again and hopefully bring the rest of our Brownie family. ☻
Here's the girls on the "tour cart"...can you see their playground in the background?

Gilbert Days Parade

The city of Gilbert has a long-lasting tradition of coming together for a week’s span of time with many activities; starting off with a “hometown” parade, a rodeo, carnival, and family run. This is our Brownie Girl Scout troops second year participating in the parade, a highlight for many of the girls’ ‘year’ as they wave like movie stars to the hundreds of people that line the streets.

This year’s theme centered on the three “R’s” (reduce, recycle, reuse) so we decided to decorate ourselves and the float that way. We made big newspaper flowers and created posters with recycled materials for the float. The girls wore recycled hats while holding signs, and even yelled for the three miles, a recycle chant (thanks to Mikelle’s creative side). Right next to them, I followed by foot (with many sweet moms), pushing our home’s recycle bin and collecting recyclables found and given by the viewers. My once empty can ended up full (and heavy) by the end of the route.


We had a fun day and to top it off, our float won, “Most spirited!” With 19 fun- loving, energetically passionate girls, I wouldn’t doubt that title!

Veterans' Day 2008

The kids are off today for the holiday and I thought it would be a great time to visually show them the meaning behind their day off, so…off to a Veterans’ Day parade we went (with my cousin Laura and kids joining up with us as well). This was a great decision! I felt so proud to be an American facing the endless rows and miles of soldiers that paraded in some form or fashion down the city streets of Mesa.

Boy Scout troops at one point held flags with photos of Arizonan soldiers that have lost their lives sacrificially. This went on for almost a mile, I’d say. It was very touching!

After the parade some sweet gals from my Brownie troop held a Veterans’ Day ceremony with one other troop at a new senior living center. Again, another touching thing to do…very moving!


What a great, MEANINGFUL day this was!

God bless America!

Daddy/Daughter Dance

Baylee and Daddy had a very special night that will last in both of their minds and hearts for a very long time. The Girl Scouts hosted a Daddy/Daughter dance at Trilogy's Country Club in Queen Creek. They had professional photography, a Hawaiian catered dinner, dancing with a d.j. at hand, and lots and lots and lots of F-U-N!

Jon treated Baylee like a princess by really focusing on “just her” as well as opening doors, pulling out chairs, etc. Because of his example, she knows very well how a man should treat a lady! They both began the date a few nights early when they went shopping to find Jon a matching shirt and tie to her borrowed dress (thank you Shealeigh). Then the “Date” began with the exchange of a corsage and boutonniere that matched their ensemble of pale pink.

Baylee loved how silly her daddy was on the dance floor when it was the daddy’s turn to do the limbo. Jon, of course, got the whole crowd into his turn as he gently demanded them to push the “bar” down quite a bit. The room exploded with cheers and high fives as he accomplished his mission. Baylee was grinning from ear to ear! Baylee and Daddy danced the night away with over 100 other couples, doing all styles (line dancing, chicken dance, the twist) and ending it with a slow dance of “Butterfly kisses” (which yes…got Jon and the other dad’s choked up!).

Jon’s already marking next year’s dance on his calendar. There wouldn’t be much that could keep him away from taking his beloved daughter out again.

(I’m sure many are curious how we got so many photos of the night. Well, I had “kitchen duty” which allowed me to sneak out to take a few pictures here and there. I’ll volunteer any time to be an observer of this date. I wonder if I can observe all of Baylee’s dates, up close and personal. LoL)







Killeen/Slease/Gilbert daughters and dads
Kempiak/Stumbaugh-Henkel/Weissman daughters and dads
Visintainer/Phillips daughters and dads
Talley/Brotman daughters and dads
Kristin, Baylee, Sabrina
Baylee and Mikelle

These are the great daddy's from our troop!